Separate resorvior for solution or not

Ok I’m within days to start my DWC System. I’m planning to operate 4 plants with a top drip system. I am wondering should I run a seperate resorvior outside grow tent with pump in resorvior for the solution ( purpose of seperate resorvior is to keep temp down easily and solution replacement), or inline pumps to move solution in 5 gal buckets.

I use a recirculating DWC system. It has 4 five gal bucket grow sites and a separate five gal “feeder” bucket w/ pump.

Nice set up for adding water/nutrients to the system and ease of nutrient solution changes.

Mines actually in the tent, but I run a chiller to keep everything cool.

Thanks man, I appreciate your help. When it’s time to change the solution, do you fill the 5th bucket with fresh solution and run it through for an hour then dump what’s in the extra bucket.

All the buckets are connected to each other by a manifold and the pump in the feeder bucket pumps the solution from the feeder to all 4 grow sites. It’s all gravity fed.

The feeder bucket has a drain spout at the bottom with hose attached that I use to drain the entire system. Once drained I fill the feeder bucket with fresh nutes and the pump distributes to each grow site.

I have a total of 5 buckets, so the feeder bucket needs to be filled 5 times for the appropriate water level to be reached in all buckets.

Works quite nicely.

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I bet your plants grow leaps between new solution day. Do you have a shut off valve for each bucket. My plants are just showing life. Ive read solution should be at bottom of net pot and I have read it should be lower. Do you know of a formula to decide how much solution I should use? Thanks

I don’t have a shut-off for each bucket, only on the drainage plug at the bottom of the feeder bucket.

As far as where the nutrient soln should be in relation to the bottom of the net pot, I’ve done it both ways. In my old system using a shallow tote (6" deep), the bottom of the net pot was sitting in the nutrient soln. In my new system with the 5gal buckets the nutrient soln is 2-3 inches from the bottom of the net pot. Both ways worked fine.

I was a little worried when I first started with this new set up that the plants roots would dry out and the plant would die before the roots made it into the nutrients. But everything went just fine.

I went with a white widow clone and two super lemon haze seeds. All of them are doing great. I just top fed them twice a day until the roots hit the nutrient Soln.

Man you just answered a major concern with DWC. I was worried with the same thing. In all my notes this was a common issue. GreenMachine thank you.

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