Leakless RDWC

[Airwalker16]

If it becomes an issue I'll just make panda film cozies for each bucket. I'll be using h2o2 anyway. Panda goes white to outside, black to inside.

Yes upload, I'd like to see it

Here you are sir.
inline pump keeps water cooooool as can be. No residual heat sitting in the res. There's no chiller on this one, but it sits on concrete. Also, flooming. each bucket has a line.

 

[Airwalker16]

I don't see why you'd even risk it being an issue.... These buckets were frosting buckets from my local grocery store. They were white. I spray painted them black with that rustoleum stuff I told you about. Sanding is a bitch but I wish I'd done it. A sand BLASTER BOX would be SO NICE for something like this though.

I would make your system light proof before you start anything in it. Prevent a shit show before it even happens, man. H2o2 is great. I used 29% for the first year. But as long as you keep your water COLD and DARK, things will run smoothly. I assure you that.

 

[fridayfishfry]

I don't see why you'd even risk it being an issue.... These buckets were frosting buckets from my local grocery store. They were white. I spray painted them black with that rustoleum stuff I told you about. Sanding is a bitch but I wish I'd done it. A sand BLASTER BOX would be SO NICE for something like this though.

I would make your system light proof before you start anything in it. Prevent a shit show before it even happens, man. H2o2 is great. I used 29% for the first year. But as long as you keep your water COLD and DARK, things will run smoothly. I assure you that.

All my greenhouse/outdoor YouTube home slices use white buckets.

Every black outdoor bucket DWC I've seen comes with brittle leaves from plant heat exhaustion.

To your satisfaction I've always used black buckets for indoor growing.

 

[fridayfishfry]

Instead of chiller I could partially bury a 55 gallon plastic drum to cool the water. 6 ft under the soil is 50°F year round. So how deep is it 65°F? Airwalker? Bueler?

 

[Airwalker16]

All my greenhouse/outdoor YouTube home slices use white buckets.

Every black outdoor bucket DWC I've seen comes with brittle leaves from plant heat exhaustion.

To your satisfaction I've always used black buckets for indoor growing.

Oh snap this is going OUTDOORS?! I see your reasoning then.

 

[Airwalker16]

Instead of chiller I could partially bury a 55 gallon plastic drum to cool the water. 6 ft under the soil is 50°F year round. So how deep is it 65°F? Airwalker? Bueler?

Hm. I'm not really sure... I'd try 3ft?
So you're just going to circulate the water down into the res and pump it back up or what?

 

[fridayfishfry]

I'll post pics of the whole thing.
It's half built and I took a lot of breaks for mid-build replanning.

x10 buckets 4 gallon
x10 buckets 2 gallon as netpots
x2 totes 40 gallon reservoirs (60 gallons true together)
It's a one-way flow, the water will just be flowing counterclockwise pumped from tote to tote.

2 rows of 5 buckets connected at one end and a tote per row at other end.

You'll see

The underground reservoir idea is to replace a tote with buried drum.

Pump would be at bottom of drum where it's cold. Return would be at ground level and would flow into the drum.

I could just get a lot of tubing and bury it.

 

[fridayfishfry]

Tote goes where the blue tub is
Receiving tote goes where the green sprayer nozzle is next to the saw.


Kelp brewing

 

[fridayfishfry]

 

[fridayfishfry]

 

[Lordhooha]

View attachment 4144342 View attachment 4144332

Those hdx totes are what I use instead of buckets. 27 gallons of roots yo lol. I love my rdwc.

 

[Michael Huntherz]

If you cant drill a hole maybe stay away from diy?

#lmao

 

[Keesje]

inline pump keeps water cooooool as can be. No residual heat sitting in the res. There's no chiller on this one, but it sits on concrete. Also, flooming.

I really like your system and your roots look very healthy.

About the inline pump, I wonder if it makes a huge difference if the pump is in or just above the water.
The water that flows through the pump is also meant to cool the engine.
So water that comes in at one side will leave the pump a tiny bit warmer at the other side.
The heat that leaves the pump via the air, will heat up the air a tiny bit. This air will also heat up your water and system as well.
It are all little bits of course.
The law of Conservation of Energy says that energy (heat) remains constant in an isolated system.
Let's say your growroom is an isolated systems.

Of course there might be a chance that the warm air looses some of it's heat when it touches the walls.

Did you ever measure for a longer time if the water stays cooler when you have your pump above?
And also what the difference in temperature are in the air.
I am really curious, because I like your set-up and thoughts about it.

 

[Airwalker16]

It's a constant 73-74*F

 

[Keesje]

Ok, but what would it be if you would put your pump in the reservoir?

 

[fridayfishfry]

If the water warms it becomes what is called hyperoxygenated this makes more oxygen available.

Cold water holds more oxygen, when it warms, it lets off oxygen eventually but remains hyperoxygenated for a time.

 

[Purpsmagurps]

HDX CLUB

 

[Airwalker16]

Much hotter. The motor isn't sitting in the reservoir man. You gotta understand that the water is simply going through a propeller and up the tube.it's barely in contact with heat like you say. Submersing it is what heats things up. The motor for the propeller gets quite hot. I'd say itd be in the 80's.

Ok, but what would it be if you would put your pump in the reservoir?

 

[oill]

Hey everyone!

I’m starting a new grow soon, and I was wondering if anybody had ideas on how to create an RDWC system that doesn’t involve drilling holes in buckets. I’ve been down that road before, and it usually leaks. Don’t want to chance it I my new apartment! I was thinking some kind of top feed system would be best, but I’m not sure how to drain each bucket. Thoughts?

Use large low wide containers with many sites then have less joins

 

[SmokeyMcChokey]

Here's the problem with dwc, you will experience spills regardless of the fittings. It's just the nature of the beast. When you're dealing with a large volume of water, steps can be taken to minimize the outcome of a spills or leak. For instance, I built an enclosed frame and pond liner around my tent/dwc to catch up to 120 gallons of water.

Let me give you a real life example I experienced about a month ago. I built my rdwc rock-solid, with 2" pipes and bulkheads. A leak was the furthest thing on my mind. However, I walked in to my room to find my reservoir overflowing. I use frozen water jugs in my water during the summer to help keep the temps down. What happened was the jug floated over to the reservoir bulkhead, and blocked it. So, water was being added back to the reservoir with none going out. Now I tie my jugs to the reservoir.

Being in an apartment adds so many other variables, with a dwc. My advice would be to grow in Coco coir, which is still technically "hydroponics".

This. For instance I came back from vacation and my pump just decided to vibrate out the little plastic hose fitting that goes to the pump outlet. The stream went up and out the hole for the out hose and airlines. No matter what you do it's going to find a way to spill or leak at some point just be ready to deal with the issue