URDWC what size pump?

[Cold$moke]

If your set up right it is enough.


Adding DO to water is easier then peeps think
Its getting it through the mass that is usually the problem


I use both airstones and water fall

The fall agitates the top and the stones churn up from the bottom.

But i circ fast enough if i put fresh air vents in i could run just on waterfall.


Lots of guys run waterfall.


My next setup will require 0 air pumps (even though ill probably add it since its running )

And 0 circ pumps . Just a cheap pump on a timer . Areation will be supplied by other means.

Find my journal im going to be building it in a few weeks

 

[Cold$moke]

Rdwc is sweet but from a practical stand point is a waste of excess power consumtion

But growth rates cannot be denied thus the paradox

Just my oppinion not fact

 

[JSB99]

Rdwc is sweet but from a practical stand point is a waste of excess power consumtion

But growth rates cannot be denied thus the paradox

Just my oppinion not fact

Because of running an additional pump (air)?

 

[Cold$moke]

Nah air pump and circ pump i want to minimize my op costs while maxing it at the same time or at least find that even middle ground

 

[Cold$moke]

I will only switch from rdwc after i find a suitable substitute though

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

Rdwc is sweet but from a practical stand point is a waste of excess power consumtion

But growth rates cannot be denied thus the paradox

Just my oppinion not fact

I feel about the same. Explosive veg growth. Keeps me coming back year after year. I pulled an extra 20 amp last year so at least I've got head room if I need it. If I went led or cmh I could probably run all but my ac on a single 20 amp

 

[Cold$moke]

Yea powers not a problem i ran a 100 amp sub panel to my room by my self

I doubt im over 2kw with every thing in my toom running at once

But i inttended half of the panel will go to my little work shop

But i want to not have to depend on a circ pump nor air pump.... or at least have the option to run without them should they fail .

If you went with a gravity feed it would be powerless (how it was originally designed not by me)

Bjt since im in an enclosed space i dont really trust gravity as i would rather deal with a cheap pond pump then a flood by all means lol

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

Yea powers not a problem i ran a 100 amp sub panel to my room by my self

I doubt im over 2kw with every thing in my toom running at once

But i inttended half of the panel will go to my little work shop

But i want to not have to depend on a circ pump nor air pump.... or at least have the option to run without them should they fail .

If you went with a gravity feed it would be powerless (how it was originally designed not by me)

Bjt since im in an enclosed space i dont really trust gravity as i would rather deal with a cheap pond pump then a flood by all means lol

Nice. It takes balls to pull some mains sized copper alone. Unless you can pull your meter but my electric company charges 250 for broken tags whether you did it or not.

 

[Cold$moke]

No tags to break here

 

[kingtitan]

With air stones in RDWC you only need 6.5-7 cycles per hour but more wont hurt. Only problem I found is that the last buckets that I pull from is slightly lower then the rest SO i tune it down with a ball valve.

Before the next run I will try to level it in a way so it compensates for this. If you take a look at Current Culture UC systems on their web page you can see the specs on the equipment for each setup. We all run ours much better then those retail ones!

Take JSB advice and skip the buckets and do totes, I did. Also any pipe over 3/4 is hard to seal on round buckets, may leak. Go with as big pipe as you can. I did 1.5inch cause it was getting expensive for the setup for sizes going up from this.

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

With air stones in RDWC you only need 6.5-7 cycles per hour but more wont hurt. Only problem I found is that the last buckets that I pull from is slightly lower then the rest SO i tune it down with a ball valve.

Before the next run I will try to level it in a way so it compensates for this. If you take a look at Current Culture UC systems on their web page you can see the specs on the equipment for each setup. We all run ours much better then those retail ones!

Take JSB advice and skip the buckets and do totes, I did. Also any pipe over 3/4 is hard to seal on round buckets, may leak. Go with as big pipe as you can. I did 1.5inch cause it was getting expensive for the setup for sizes going up from this.

Yeah I did bulkheads and tube for my buckets and it always clogs. Def do totes uniseals and rigid pipe. 2" was cheap enough. I think about 75 for all of it excluding the hudrofarm bucket lid pots and bucket spacer rings. I just had like 8 buckets so didn't mind chopping 4 up. I saw a 4 site uc system selling for 350 a few years ago and it was anemic in comparison to what you can build for a fifth the cost

 

[JSB99]

Yeah I did bulkheads and tube for my buckets and it always clogs. Def do totes uniseals and rigid pipe. 2" was cheap enough. I think about 75 for all of it excluding the hudrofarm bucket lid pots and bucket spacer rings. I just had like 8 buckets so didn't mind chopping 4 up. I saw a 4 site uc system selling for 350 a few years ago and it was anemic in comparison to what you can build for a fifth the cost

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2" PVC and adapters, fairly cheap at Lowe's. I think a 10' 2" pipe was around $5.00. Elbows, tees, etc.., were really not much more than 3/4" adapters. The Unions, if needed, are a little expensive (around $6.00), but you can get a 2" rubber coupling for around $4.00, and it'll serve the same purpose. I use one of these for the pipe coming into my tent. Comes with the clamps too!

I did find that going larger than 2" gets expensive. I finished a grow recently, and had no problems with roots growing into the 2" pipes at all. Granted, that has some to do with using totes, instead of buckets. There's so much room in those totes that I don't think there was any danger with roots coming close to them.

The large totes and 2" pipes probably take care of any concerns with the roots, but I do think that the number of containers between the input and output manifolds would probably determine the need to go larger. I imagine this would be to account for the large pump needed to get DO to the center of the roots, on the very last tote. You'd want as little bottlenecking as possible, with many containers. I think it'd probably be better to split up the system, using a pump for each couple of totes, instead of one large one for all of them.

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2" PVC and adapters, fairly cheap at Lowe's. I think a 10' 2" pipe was around $5.00. Elbows, tees, etc.., were really not much more than 3/4" adapters. The Unions, if needed, are a little expensive (around $6.00), but you can get a 2" rubber coupling for around $4.00, and it'll serve the same purpose. I use one of these for the pipe coming into my tent. Comes with the clamps too!

I did find that going larger than 2" gets expensive. I finished a grow recently, and had no problems with roots growing into the 2" pipes at all. Granted, that has some to do with using totes, instead of buckets. There's so much room in those totes that I don't think there was any danger with roots coming close to them.

The large totes and 2" pipes probably take care of any concerns with the roots, but I do think that the number of containers between the input and output manifolds would probably determine the need to go larger. I imagine this would be to account for the large pump needed to get DO to the center of the roots, on the very last tote. You'd want as little bottlenecking as possible, with many containers. I think it'd probably be better to split up the system, using a pump for each couple of totes, instead of one large one for all of them.

I agree I contemplated doing 2 pumps a 350 for the far 2 and a 300 for the near 2. Sticking with airstones nor now though so I opted for 1 500 gph to just do the 4. After losses it'll swap probably 5 or 6 times an hour. That'll he plenty to keep it all homogenized

 

[kingtitan]

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to find the 2" PVC and adapters, fairly cheap at Lowe's. I think a 10' 2" pipe was around $5.00. Elbows, tees, etc.., were really not much more than 3/4" adapters. The Unions, if needed, are a little expensive (around $6.00), but you can get a 2" rubber coupling for around $4.00, and it'll serve the same purpose. I use one of these for the pipe coming into my tent. Comes with the clamps too!

I did find that going larger than 2" gets expensive. I finished a grow recently, and had no problems with roots growing into the 2" pipes at all. Granted, that has some to do with using totes, instead of buckets. There's so much room in those totes that I don't think there was any danger with roots coming close to them.

The large totes and 2" pipes probably take care of any concerns with the roots, but I do think that the number of containers between the input and output manifolds would probably determine the need to go larger. I imagine this would be to account for the large pump needed to get DO to the center of the roots, on the very last tote. You'd want as little bottlenecking as possible, with many containers. I think it'd probably be better to split up the system, using a pump for each couple of totes, instead of one large one for all of them.

Man you are lucky! unions here are $15 and up (2" was $36) 1.5 inch pipe for 10' was $25. 2" started at $40. So basically my setup for 2" would cost me 2-3 times more and then I might as well get retail unit LMAO. Didnt bother with looking at $$$ for anything over 2" in my area.

 

[JSB99]

I agree I contemplated doing 2 pumps a 350 for the far 2 and a 300 for the near 2. Sticking with airstones nor now though so I opted for 1 500 gph to just do the 4. After losses it'll swap probably 5 or 6 times an hour. That'll he plenty to keep it all homogenized

Yeah, airstones can definitely help supplement lack of flow. Yesterday, I was thinking about going from my 400gph to a 1000gph, but I realized that I wouldn't be adding any more DO than I do now. I realized this after @Cold$moke posted the maximum amount of DO a plant can consume. So I can either double my pump size, and turn off my air pump, or just leave it as is. The results are going to be the same, so I'm not going to mess with it

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

Man you are lucky! unions here are $15 and up (2" was $36) 1.5 inch pipe for 10' was $25. 2" started at $40. So basically my setup for 2" would cost me 2-3 times more and then I might as well get retail unit LMAO. Didnt bother with looking at $$$ for anything over 2" in my area.

Ouch the good old home Depot was my friend. 2" is standard home drain size for my local code. So it's all dry cheap. I used regular old tees at like 3.50 each. The sweeping 90° was like 2 bucks the 10 foot stick was like 8. I did have to order the uniseals online. They were probably the most expensive part. Like 4 each. Well the 12 gallon tote. They were I think 7 each and I had to get a 6th because I prefer to just drill holes without planning too well. I do have all the tools needed though. So if you had to buy a drill and a hole saw and a miter saw or hack saw it could add up quick

 

[JSB99]

Man you are lucky! unions here are $15 and up (2" was $36) 1.5 inch pipe for 10' was $25. 2" started at $40. So basically my setup for 2" would cost me 2-3 times more and then I might as well get retail unit LMAO. Didnt bother with looking at $$$ for anything over 2" in my area.

Damn, dude! However, if you go with the large totes, you'll be using a little less pipe. And, if you plan it out well, it's not too bad of an up-front cost. Measure twice, cut once LOL!

 

[JSB99]

Ouch the good old home Depot was my friend. 2" is standard home drain size for my local code. So it's all dry cheap. I used regular old tees at like 3.50 each. The sweeping 90° was like 2 bucks the 10 foot stick was like 8. I did have to order the uniseals online. They were probably the most expensive part. Like 4 each. Well the 12 gallon tote. They were I think 7 each and I had to get a 6th because I prefer to just drill holes without planning too well. I do have all the tools needed though. So if you had to buy a drill and a hole saw and a miter saw or hack saw it could add up quick

I always went to HD, up until this past year. Lowe's really beats them in prices with PVC!

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

I always went to HD, up until this past year. Lowe's really beats them in prices with PVC!

It's just about a half mile farther and I'm just so lazy. I take the wife there though. She can play with all the ceiling fans and planters while I do the real work. So I guess they each have a place

 

[Cold$moke]

My returns are 2s as well its the smallest i would go .

My feeds are 1inch