Help with RDWC current issues!!! Please

BigMBigBuds27

BigMBigBuds27

Member
Hey so I got my setup going as you can see in the picture... Resivor outside 4 buckets in. My issue is that when I turn the pump on it sucks all the water out of the Res and for some reason isn't flowing back into the Res to get it filled.... If I shut the pump off then some water slowly flows back into the Res. I've tried having one return line open one closed.... Is this a issue of not enough water add more?

Thanks any help would be awesome
 

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macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
BigMBigBuds27 said:
Why would the pipe size matter? Water flows through just fine when I'm filling the res why would it do it when the pump is on?
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How big are your pipes? What size pump? Often the pump will fight to circulate properly if the ID of the pipes aren't big enough, it will wear your pump or quicker too. I was quick to say what I think it was because I've dealt with this myself in the past. Control bucket would be super low, raising water on the plants.
 
BigMBigBuds27

BigMBigBuds27

Member
macsnax said:
How big are your pipes? What size pump? Often the pump will fight to circulate properly if the ID of the pipes aren't big enough, it will wear your pump or quicker too. I was quick to say what I think it was because I've dealt with this myself in the past. Control bucket would be super low, raising water on the plants.
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Pipes are 3 quarter inch and the pump is 400 GPH. I won't have access to the tent till the weekend. I think maybe adding more water would increase pressure to cause a flow... Maybe idk...
 
BigMBigBuds27

BigMBigBuds27

Member
rkymtnman said:
that is what i thought of too when i saw the pix. put the amount of water that would normally be in there and see what happens.

if more water doesn't solve it, i'd increase return lines to 1.5" pvc. keep the 3/4 for your feed lines
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I will try this on the weekend thanks so much. Love this group. It's because if you guys my first grow went so well
 
macsnax

macsnax

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
that is what i thought of too when i saw the pix. put the amount of water that would normally be in there and see what happens.

if more water doesn't solve it, i'd increase return lines to 1.5" pvc. keep the 3/4 for your feed lines
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I was waiting for you to pipe in, pun intended, lol. I'm not running my system right now, so I'm a lil rusty on pinpointing details.
 
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DaFreak

Well-Known Member
I'm curious because I've done high volume RDWC but on what of these setups what it the goal for exchange rate. With a 400gph that would be 25x per bucket and hour? Obviously as much as you can, but what's the golden rule?
 
BigMBigBuds27

BigMBigBuds27

Member
DaFreak said:
I'm curious because I've done high volume RDWC but on what of these setups what it the goal for exchange rate. With a 400gph that would be 25x per bucket and hour? Obviously as much as you can, but what's the golden rule?
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My understanding is to have as much flow as possible to create as much oxygen as possible
 
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DaFreak

Well-Known Member
Well you can't push more than can flow back so get a smaller pump. I would actually get 2 pumps. A smaller one to feed the pots and another one to just make a water fall in the control bucket for 02.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
DaFreak said:
I'm curious because I've done high volume RDWC but on what of these setups what it the goal for exchange rate. With a 400gph that would be 25x per bucket and hour? Obviously as much as you can, but what's the golden rule?
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in my experience, gph doesn't matter too much as long as it's not way over what the return pipes cand handle. there are flow calculations for each size of pvc pipe per hour.

but i think if you have your feeds as waterfalls into each bucket, you can drop very low on gph pump size. the waterfalls make all the DO you need.
 
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DaFreak

Well-Known Member
Agreed, waterfalls kick ass, why I suggest a cheat for his control. They sound so relaxing too. Used to just sit and relax in my rooms with waterfalls.
 
BigMBigBuds27

BigMBigBuds27

Member
I have the water fall system set up and working perfect..only change I'm making there is going to out a elbow joint into the bucket so the water shoots straight down. The pump it self has a low to high dial. So on the weekend when I get there I'll fill em up more turn the pump down and see what happens
 
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Aqua Man

Well-Known Member
DaFreak said:
I'm curious because I've done high volume RDWC but on what of these setups what it the goal for exchange rate. With a 400gph that would be 25x per bucket and hour? Obviously as much as you can, but what's the golden rule?
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10x total volume per hour.

To the OP as others stated your pump is pushing more water than can flow through that small tubing. Minimum 4x per hour total volume but if you grow some bigger plants you may start seeing some issues. 10x is ideal more is ok as long as your not beating up the roots

This for adequate even nutrient concentrations but more so adequate replenishment of o2
 
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