Grow Mediums B RICH'S RDWC budget build

[BRICH999]

Been doing the 5 gallon bucket dwc for a few grows and i think its time for an upgrade. While i love the undercurrent or even better alien pro rdwc systems, 1000-1500 seems overpriced to me. So ill try to build one for much less.

For buckets i started with 4 rectangle 8 gallon buckets from zenhydro and one 13g version. If height wasnt an issue id have used all 13g pots.

Many systems use very large connecting pipes(4"!?). I cannot figure out why but the bigger piping the more money fittings are so i went with 1". Should flow plenty of water and i dont see roots being able to block the openings. After bulkheads installed

Care should be taken to ensure good seals with bulkheads. Drill holes from inside bucket and i use a lighter to deburr the holes. My favorite trick is using aladdin magic lube on all seals. Its teflon based and non toxic and worth every penny. Plus a tube goes a long way.

During this time i also tore out my floor pan and resealed it. Flexseal actually works pretty well to waterproof my plywood tray just incase something leaks someday.

Also going to double my air output and increase bubble coverage. I went from one 45lpm pump to two. Instead of airstones im using 60" bubble walls. They were cheap and able to be bent in any shape which is perfect for my square buckets.

I added the 2nd air fitting so they will be in a closed loop, one per bucket. Now each plant will be getting about 20lpm which produces a very nice boil

Got it all loosely plumbed together for leak test, dont have my external water pump yet, should be in in the next week or so but it will be right in the middle of the pots there the 1/2" line runs back to the res.

Still in progress, will update as it comes together. Still to do: finish plumbing and reservoir, source small external water pump(might add a filter sock if i can figure out easy mounting without putting more holes in bucket) and net pots to lids(havent figures out a good way to make a 9 3/4" hole in plastic). Still need to mount 2nd air pump and run tubing for that.

 

[BRICH999]

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[BRICH999]

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[islandgrower]

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"carpe diem"

 

[Muddy]

There's two reasons they use the larger pipe. First, if your water pump is too strong the individual buckets won't equalize fast enough and the solution can back up in the first bucket after the pump. That happened to me on my DIY veg rdwc. I initially used 3/4" tubing and it backed up in my epicenter there my chiller discharges into the system. The other is that roots do get in the pipes. With larger pipes even if the roots are in there they aren't as likely to restrict the flow. My Current Culture system uses 2 1/2" pipe and I've had roots go all the way into the next bucket.

Did you get a chiller? If not, I highly recommend you get one. A 1/10 hp is all you would need for that system.

 

[BRICH999]

Thanks for the tips muddy. Havent gotten a chiller yet, maybe in a grow or 2 if i start having issues. Guess its tough for me to comprehend needing piping that size in mind where im used to aquariums and flow under pressure. My last big aquarium was pushing over 5000gph through 1.5" pipe. Im hoping to keep flow in this system around 250gph to start for 10x turnover roughly. Not much progress yet, still waiting on my water pump hopefully today or tomorrow

 

[Muddy]

rdwc is just the opposite, you don't want any pressure, just a nice, gentle flow through the grow buckets. To give you some idea, my UC8 holds 50 gallons of solution and has a 500 gph pump. All the piping between buckets is 2 1/2", as well as the end manifolds. Intake is from the center of the back manifold. The intake, the output from the pump to the chiller, and from the chiller back into the system are all 3/4" tubing. The chiller dumps into the epicenter, which then flows into the front manifold. So there's pressure from the pump, through the chiller and into the epicenter, but no pressure throughout the system. I built my veg the system the same way, except for 1 1/2 pvc instead of 2 1/2. The epicenter is not only a great place to add nutes and monitor the system, but also serves to equalize the pressure coming out of the chiller.

 

[BRICH999]

I blame @mephisto because i just might be hella toasted but i swear the edit button disappeared from my previous posts.

Anywho made some progress.

Got my pump. Rated for 320gph, was cheap on amazon and not moving that amount im sure. Thats ok though because i dint see high flow necessary, maybe im wrong. Light bulb went off so i incorporated a tee after pump with 2 ball valves. 1 is a return to the reservoir and the other will be connected to a length of tube to use for an auto water changer. Emptying buckets just became a 10 minute ordeal with a trashcan on rollers

Got my 2nd air pump hooked up with a couple more bubble rope wall contraptions. Actually uses a dorman car part universal vacuum tee because 1/4 to 1/8 tee was tricky to find local

Might try to see if i can buy the lids of an undercurrent system sometime because they are prettier than mine but i think mine will work. 6" net pot hacked into these weird bucket lids. Problem is they lock on back 1/3rd of lid so front 2/3 can open. Oh well should function and maybe able to peek into pots if necessary

And as you can see i snapped off the return bulkhead on the side (again) i really wish i put the return anywhere else.

Also hooked up a new carbon filter with insulated duct. What a difference that insulation makes! Tough to find in 4" so i had to buy about 6x as much as i needed but so worth the money

And I dropped 4 more mephisto mystery seeds into germ since im about up and running.

 

[Muddy]

Looking good. Have you tested it yet? I hope I'm wrong but I still think you're going to have problems with the system level not equalizing and backing up in your rez.

 

[BRICH999]

Yeah its up and running. If i add a full 5 gal bucket of water to the res it takes about 15 sec to equalize among all 4 pots. The issue may come if they get partially blocked by roots but im hoping not to run into an issue. Time will tell. Did start planning one for a friend which will be bigger and better (more expensive) than mine. That one i may go with the cc 3" bulkheads but i dont like how they attach. Hard to tell from pics but the connection is on the outside with the nut on the inside? Odd they would do it different than every other bulkhead ive encountered. Also found their new and improved lids i thinm ill order for my friends setup. Should be able to build comparable but maybe better system for about 2/3 of what they want.

Funny i didnt even know of current culture a month ago, yet i engineered a system so similar to theirs. Thought i was genius using the bubble wall ring contraption then i see cc offers like 4 of that style (for way more $). Found the supplier for that airhose though so i may just pick up a roll