Waterfall RDWC

[Kndreyn]

I've been wanting to experiment with a Waterfall system. I just want a small system for 4 or 5 plants. I'm old and have a lot of brain cells that have gone dormant. So some ideas from you experts would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking of getting two of these and plumb it up for the system. This is 27 gallons and they have a 38 gallon also..

 

[Airwalker16]

I've been wanting to experiment with a Waterfall system. I just want a small system for 4 or 5 plants. I'm old and have a lot of brain cells that have gone dormant. So some ideas from you experts would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking of getting two of these and plumb it up for the system. This is 27 gallons and they have a 38 gallon also.View attachment 4584190.

Check out j232s build. Fragileassassin and I walked him through his whole setup.

70gal RDWC Waterfall update

Alright, it wasn’t the most fun I had at 3am on a Monday night, but I got it done. After the idea was planted to update my month old system to waterfalls I just had to do it ASAP. I currently have a grow on the go but I am at half capacity so it worked out. Systems is 5x25gal totes filed to...

www.rollitup.org

 

[Kndreyn]

Check out j232s build. Fragileassassin and I walked him through his whole setup.

70gal RDWC Waterfall update

Alright, it wasn’t the most fun I had at 3am on a Monday night, but I got it done. After the idea was planted to update my month old system to waterfalls I just had to do it ASAP. I currently have a grow on the go but I am at half capacity so it worked out. Systems is 5x25gal totes filed to...

www.rollitup.org

So am I understanding this correctly? You're using 3/4" PVC for the feed and return and reducing the feed to 1/2" to increase the pressure from the manifold?

 

[Airwalker16]

So am I understanding this correctly? You're using 3/4" PVC for the feed and return and reducing the feed to 1/2" to increase the pressure from the manifold?

Yes but 2" returns.

 

[Kndreyn]

Yes but 2" returns.

Ok, I'll need to find a source for the 2" bulk heads. I didn't see those on Home Depot's site.

 

[thenasty1]

Ok, I'll need to find a source for the 2" bulk heads. I didn't see those on Home Depot's site.

marinedepot.com

 

[J232]

So am I understanding this correctly? You're using 3/4" PVC for the feed and return and reducing the feed to 1/2" to increase the pressure from the manifold?

I didn’t reduce to 1/2” anywhere on my manifolds but you will want to.

 

[Airwalker16]

Ok, I'll need to find a source for the 2" bulk heads. I didn't see those on Home Depot's site.

Alliedaqua

 

[fragileassassin]

27s are pretty much perfect for 2 plants imo.
I think 2 of those hooked to a small bucket on the outside to use as a control res would work quite well.

 

[Kndreyn]

I didn’t reduce to 1/2” anywhere on my manifolds but you will want to.

Yeah, I saw the comments and thought that's what you meant. Thanks!

 

[fragileassassin]

Here's a few pics of a 4x 27 gal setup in a 4x8 I built for a local guy so he could run 8 plants.
I dont have any pics of it completely finished, but you get the idea.

 

[Kndreyn]

Here's a few pics of a 4x 27 gal setup in a 4x8 I built for a local guy so he could run 8 plants.
I dont have any pics of it completely finished, but you get the idea.

View attachment 4584345View attachment 4584346View attachment 4584347

Sweet, so two of those totes will be perfect for what I need.

 

[Kndreyn]

How often do you guys change your reservoirs out? And does the Lucas formula work ok in these systems?

 

[Kndreyn]

27s are pretty much perfect for 2 plants imo.
I think 2 of those hooked to a small bucket on the outside to use as a control res would work quite well.

That's what I'm going with. I think just for the experiment I'm going to buy two of them. One for the plants and one for the reservoir. Then I can easily add another later. I see most of you are using a chiller. I don't think I'll go to that expense. My plan is, I have a freezer sitting just outside my grow room. So I'll freeze some half gallon jugs of water, and every morning when I go open the doors, I'll drop a jug in the reservoir. This is just an experiment for me, so we'll see how that works.

 

[rkymtnman]

How often do you guys change your reservoirs out? And does the Lucas formula work ok in these systems?

i think 10 days is about max. but some people do nute top-offs and only do a few changes per grow.

and Lucas works for just about every system.

 

[Kndreyn]

i think 10 days is about max. but some people do nute top-offs and only do a few changes per grow.

and Lucas works for just about every system.

Yeah, I guess I'll have to see how this goes. I did some calculations and for just the small setup I'm doing for two plants would require about 40 gallons of nutrients. It seems like a waste to dump 40 gallons every couple of weeks. I'm currently using Maxibloom, so I'd go through a bag of that pretty quickly changing it out that often.

 

[Airwalker16]

That's what I'm going with. I think just for the experiment I'm going to buy two of them. One for the plants and one for the reservoir. Then I can easily add another later. I see most of you are using a chiller. I don't think I'll go to that expense. My plan is, I have a freezer sitting just outside my grow room. So I'll freeze some half gallon jugs of water, and every morning when I go open the doors, I'll drop a jug in the reservoir. This is just an experiment for me, so we'll see how that works.

I think Lucas is stupid. just use the gro too. Frozen bottles will become a nightmare for you.

 

[J232]

i think 10 days is about max. but some people do nute top-offs and only do a few changes per grow.

and Lucas works for just about every system.

I have it figured out that I can add back 7 gallons with 50ml calmagic, 50micro 100b for a no gain in ppm. As in now I can go 8-10 days before I would need to change over. I couldn’t go more without problems based on my experiences up to this point.

I think Lucas is stupid. just use the gro too.

I went back to Lucas, the plants didn’t do anything different with grow for my 2 week tryout. I’m interested in seeing if I can make it threw flower on it. If I’m not impressed I’m going with jacks for a try. I think Lucas will always keep a plant happy but if you lose you mojo on it, your fucked.

 

[fragileassassin]

Yeah, I guess I'll have to see how this goes. I did some calculations and for just the small setup I'm doing for two plants would require about 40 gallons of nutrients. It seems like a waste to dump 40 gallons every couple of weeks. I'm currently using Maxibloom, so I'd go through a bag of that pretty quickly changing it out that often.

Veg tends to be very forgiving with this, as long as things stay stable you can pretty much just do full strength nutrient top offs for a month long veg. too much longer than that Ill change once in the middle.
Flower is a little trickier since theyre constantly changing, but once you get a good feel for reading ppm and the plants to dial in what they want you can let it go for a good while, but theyll drink a lot more of it than you think in flower. One nice thing about the totes is you can usually afford to let the water level drop quite a bit before refilling it or changing it because of how the roots grow out into them. A few inches of roots out of the water is fine as long as you have the main mass in the water and enough agitation of the water to make bubbles. Theyll splash up on to the exposed parts and keep them wet enough.

The wasted water volume is also why I grow my plants out a good bit in the cloner first. No point in wasting 40 gallons of water on small seedlings.

 

[Kndreyn]

Alliedaqua

Are you using the slip inlet and slip outlet version of the 2" bulkhead? And I see they have a screen for it. Are you using any kind of screen to keep any roots out of the reservoir?