From Soiless to Hydro

I will say another mistake that I made with that system was running the lines through the lids of the buckets.

You’re better off if you run them through the bucket itself on the upper part instead of the lid, that way it’s easier to remove the lids if you need to

My system now has the type a lid that only part of it folds up and I can run lines through the park that doesn’t

This system does recirculate but it’s not This system does recirculate but it’s not an undercurrent type system that has pipes connecting the buckets

That bucket May not look very big but it’s a 13 gallon bucket and It holds 10 gallons of water when full

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People are always curious at how high you can set a scrog net Also, I have pretty extreme height limitations that I have to work around so that scrog right there is set at a mere 6" above the bucket

The line that feeds the bucket with water is running for the side Of the bucket and the air hoses are running for the top of the lid

Here you can see the line that feeds Water 2 the plant just sprays highly oxygenated water all over the roots

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What my aeration looks like

This is what I mean by a “rolling boil”

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EZ Stor Container/Bucket 13 Gallon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LUZV0EY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8KnQCbE9FR55S

EZ Stor 703994 lid, Brown/A

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S27QDKO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_SLnQCb12WZ7B7

That’s about the best I can do off the top of my head but I’ll be happy to try and answer anything else if you have questions

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No questions for now. You’ve been a great help.

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How do you keep the roots from clogging the exit pipe? Is there any reason why I could not have the water routed through each bucket (perhaps two in parallel) with the return from the last in the line (total 4 in my case)? Or should each bucket have it’s own supply and return line?

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They have grown into the pipe a little on me before but I’ve never had it slow water flow to the point that water levels get unlevel in the buckets.

I always used 1.5" uniseals and PVC but stepping it up to something larger can always help too

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You can do whatever you want as long as you keep these 2 things in mind: 1. the rate at which water drains from the buckets must equal or exceed the rate at which water is distributed to the buckets.
2. Water must be distributed equally amongst all the buckets.

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For the chiller, I have a separate pump in my reservoir, pumping through my chiller, and back into the reservoir. The chiller instructions will tell you what size pump you need. I have 2" lines connecting my containers, and a 3/4" return line. These are NOT connected to the chiller. It should be treated as a different system as far as plumbing goes. My pump for chiller is half the size of the other one. If you force too much water through, you lose a lot of cooling capacity. I have the 1/4hp chiller like the one you showed. I use 20gal trash cans. 2 for plants, one for reservoir.

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This is where your system differs slightly from my old undercurrents I used to build.

I would pump the water out if my reservoir, to the chiller, then to the plant bucket. The water would then drain out of the plant bucket, through the pipes and back to the reservoir creating the “undercurrent” effect.

I assume you have a second pump dedicated to circulation? @Grandaddy013

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You are correct, my friend. I have a 960gph for circulation

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The reason I did it that way is I felt the water in the plant bucket was more integrated into the chiller that way…

I only was circulating it through one plant though and that made it a little easier.

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The way I been running my system now it’s a circulating one bucket.

So if you took your chiller and connected it to your plant bucket, and circulated the water out of that bucket, to the chiller and back into that same plant bucket and then disconnected all your PVC pipes from that same bucket then you would have my system now @Grandaddy013

Or an even easier understanding: put the plant in your reservoir and disconnect the PVC, and keep the chiller exactly how it is and you will have my system

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@TDubWilly @Myfriendis410 it looks like you two use an RDWC system to grow. I understand most of it and actually think I am going to do a DWC top-fed but wondering while using that system do I need to worry about temperature and how do I check it while the system is running? Is it advisable to get thermometers for your tubs to monitor that? How often does the heat in the tubs/totes/pails get that hot to require chilling the water? I am not planning on doing more than two plants at a time at least for now but… So if I do a DWC next Jan in my basement will I need to get a chiller? That you probably will not know but you might know if it is likely that I would really need it?

You will need to think about this as you build your system

Sure you could do that but most ppm meters have built in thermometers on them

Depends on the surrounding ambient temps and what all devices (pumps, air stones, etc) that could potentially heat up the water

It really depends in where you live and what variables you have to deal with. Many people that live up north are able to manage getting by without one. Me and @Grandaddy013 are here in the southern US making it more of a necessity than our northern counterparts

That’s what I do. Make sure you turn off the top feed after the roots hit the water or your plant will damp off.

There are ways around this but as a beginner it will probably be best to shut it off

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Tdubwilly has you covered. Besides: he’s who I go to for answers haha!

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Who???

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@TDubWilly and @Myfriendis410 LOL thanks for the reply. I thought that was the case. Before I build a RDWC with cooler I think I will just go with a conventional Top-fed DWC and I read that to shut off the top feed after about 3 weeks. On my personal grow journal I put up a link to a guide on DWC and it specifically talks about top-fed as well. It is very informative and a lot of what I read in there is and has been said on this forum many times.

Being here is awesome because I get to look at bud porn. LOL

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