New DWC Aerocloner leaks!

jjng5

jjng5

Well-Known Member
Hello all --

My friend needs help! He was saving his homemade cloner aero bucket for his clone tent, but rockwool sucks in DWC and he's had to cut every big of rockwool out after it bread pythium for the SECOND time in his DWC buckets... see his concurrent thread (link https://www.rollitup.org/t/rockwool-root-rot.980877/ )

Down to his issue at hand... he started setting up his homemade aero bucket to transplant his root rot shocked plants to. However, he's having some water leaks around the rim. He purchased some bathroom silicone from Home De-pot that is waterproof, weather-proof, and mold proof. See the photo attached. He's thinking that he needs to run a thin line around the lid but wants to be precise. Anyone have thoughts on the best location?

P.S. On a side note, my friend received some new fem seeds today (as he's concerned some of his pythium infected root rotters might parish. Is it a bad idea to start new seedlings in a shared aero bucket aero cloner in the same way it's a bad idea to put in the same DWC chamber?

Thank you!
 

Attachments

A

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
If you recess the lid so its inside and below the lip of the main tote it`ll never leak, unless you fill the tote up with water until it overflows ;)
 
shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
Atomizer said:
If you recess the lid so its inside and below the lip of the main tote it`ll never leak, unless you fill the tote up with water until it overflows ;)
Click to expand...
This is how hdx totes are and mine still leaked. I ended up just accepting it because I had an asphalt floor.

I dig the curtain idea!

Those roots seem to be sticking together a lot and one of them is very brown. I also wouldn't be laying your roots against the outside of the container.

Sorry, wasn't the question.
 
shawnery

shawnery

Well-Known Member
True indeed but the lid is also inset quite a bit so I thought it was relevant but perhaps not. I was thinking about putting some weather stripping down?
 
Palmerrdgrower

Palmerrdgrower

Well-Known Member
I turned all the sprayers so that the pressure is towards the top not the sides. Also the pump should have a gate to slow the flow of water.
 
fragileassassin

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
shawnery said:
True indeed but the lid is also inset quite a bit so I thought it was relevant but perhaps not. I was thinking about putting some weather stripping down?
Click to expand...
This is what I did, but im going to have to change it out as it actually made my dripping worse lmao.
I used some stuff that has a little channel down the middle and the water collects up in that channel and runs down to the corner and drips out.
Will be replacing it with some flat waterproof stuff soon.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-cloner-looking-for-feedback.977305/
 
A

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
Take a look at how this amazon chamber and lid interface is designed. 30 seconds in for the bottom and 1:35 for the lid.
 
jjng5

jjng5

Well-Known Member
The manufactured aero buckets appear to be created in a way where the plastic seams are made to prevent leaks (like in the video above). Rubber totes obviously aren't made the same way, but I wouldn't want to spend $100's on a $30 bucket. To each their own though.

Here's what my friend discovered... he really appreciates everyone's feedback on the subject! Silicone is only good in very thin applications and not as a primary means for keeping water out. If you put it on thick, it just pulls off slowly with the humidity and constant water presence. My friend purchased 3/4 x 7/16" marine (boat) rubber weather-proof stripping. He applied it all along the top of the tote (not the lid) with a small strip of silicone for additional adhesion. It took several attempts. He figured out that it matters how the lid fits into your tote (look at the construction and think critically about where water is going to be vulnerable -- in his case it was every where except for the corners of the bucket. He realized too that long single strips are much better than a number of short segments (as it only gives water an opportunity to leak between the segments). Then too he realized that still managing to get past, so he wiped dry and went back to applied with his finger a thin strip of silicone around the inside of where the top tote met the rubber weather-proof strip. Finally with the lid pressed down and snapped into the place... no leaks (at least not yet... *knocks on wood*)! If he ends up getting any leaks, I like the curtain idea as a last resort. Not my first go too, because I would think it would make cleaning difficult and may be difficult to manage long term, but a good idea.
 
jjng5

jjng5

Well-Known Member
shawnery said:
This is how hdx totes are and mine still leaked. I ended up just accepting it because I had an asphalt floor.

I dig the curtain idea!

Those roots seem to be sticking together a lot and one of them is very brown. I also wouldn't be laying your roots against the outside of the container.

Sorry, wasn't the question.
Click to expand...
My friend will be pleased if 2 of these strains pulls through... he started 6 other fem strains already which he plans to keep separate from these and used peat based jiffy pellets for starting medium after transplant from paper towel. He plans to cut open the peat pellets to transplant into DWC once they're established enough. My friend has had very little luck with pythium / root rot... so frustrating.
 
GreenTools

GreenTools

Well-Known Member
EPDM self adhesive weatherstrip. 5/16" - 3/8" comes in a roll. Apply that to the top of your bucket, and press the lid down tightly, put a couple of self tapping screws to hold the lid down. When you have to change the reservoir take the screws out and leave the weatherstripping in place. No more leaks, and not messing with silicone shit all over the place...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top