snutter
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
I was going to send this to a friend on this site, but then decided to post it for all to see. This is how I build my reservoirs. It's simple, fast, cheap, and very effective!!
Pics 4, 5, and 6 show what you will need. An 18 gallon bucket with lid, some 1/4" flexible tubing and airline T's, airline holders and Mesh Baskets (sorry no pic, but you know what they look like). You will also need an aquarium air pump, which I didn't take a picture of. Sorry. I suggest you buy one for a 20 gallon tank. They are $10 dollars at any PETCO or PETSMART.
1) Drill a 1/4" hole on the side of the reservoir near the top for your flexible tubing to be fed through. cut a peice of tubing about 3 feet long and feed it through the hole.
2) at the end of the tubing inside the reservoir connect an airline T
3) Cut a piece of tubing about 8 to 10 inches long. Connect this tubing in a circle to the airline T. this will make a small circle as seen in pictures 7 and 8.
4) super glue your airline holders to the inside of the reservoir. I taped mine down because I use the reservoir in my pics for mixing nutes. These airline holders are to hold your airline to the side of the reservoir where it enters, and to hold the circle of tubing you made earlier to the bottom of the reservoirs. Just like you can see in the pictures. DO NOT super glue the tubing to the holders. Situate your tubing until it sits in the reservoirs just like my pictures.
5) Pull the tubing out. You now need to drill 3 VERY small holes in the circle portion of the tubing, at equal spacings. This is where the oxygen will come out to feed your roots. I used a 1/16" drill bit for this.
6) place tubing back in to the reservoir. Connect it to the holders.
7) You now need to trace out your mesh basket on to the lid of the reservoir. Cut out the hole, and place the basket in. It should fit firmly in the hole, and not fall through, so don't cut the whole too big around... You can always cut more off later if you need to. I use hydroton rocks for my planting medium.
the last picture shows the tubing coming out of the side of the reservoir and connecting to a box. The box is there to simulate the pump, I hope you get the idea. I just let my pumps sit on top of my reservoirs. This way if the electricity went off for some unknown reason the water can't back up and ruin them!!!
There you go. Pretty simple. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I attached a few pics of what my girls look like as well.
Now about Nutrients, here is what I now do:
I use general hydroponics Micro Flora and Micro Bloom only.
I use 8ml/gal of water Micro, and 16ml/gal of water Bloom in 12 gallons of water. Do not mix nutes together in same measuring cup. Measure them and pour them in to the water separately. If you mix them together, you can cause certain nutrients to bond together, or lock each other out and then they won't feed your plant. Not good...
I USE THIS FORMULA ALL THE WAY THROUGH. THAT MEANS DURING VEG AND FLOWERING. IT NEVER CHANGES. And it works. And it's simple. Simple is good. Also, I keep my PH at 5.3 to 5.6. Never below or above (if I can help it. No one's perfect all the time, heheh). I read about all these people using all these different products, and maybe that works for them. But I see a lot of problems arise from so many different things going on too...
I give my girls a fresh batch of nutrients every 2 weeks, or if they've drank 12 gallons of fresh water. Whichever comes first. That is to say that each day I add water to my reservoirs to keep them topped off at 12 gallons. I keep track of how much I add each day and once it hits 12 gallons, I drain my reservoirs and give my plants a fresh batch of nutes. Right now my girls are drinking about 1 gallon a day, so I'm changing nutes every 12 days. That's VERY reasonable to me, and really not that much work. And not very expensive either.
I hope this helps some people out. Try it. it really is easy to build and maintain.
Good luck and happy growing!!!
-Snut
I was going to send this to a friend on this site, but then decided to post it for all to see. This is how I build my reservoirs. It's simple, fast, cheap, and very effective!!
Pics 4, 5, and 6 show what you will need. An 18 gallon bucket with lid, some 1/4" flexible tubing and airline T's, airline holders and Mesh Baskets (sorry no pic, but you know what they look like). You will also need an aquarium air pump, which I didn't take a picture of. Sorry. I suggest you buy one for a 20 gallon tank. They are $10 dollars at any PETCO or PETSMART.
1) Drill a 1/4" hole on the side of the reservoir near the top for your flexible tubing to be fed through. cut a peice of tubing about 3 feet long and feed it through the hole.
2) at the end of the tubing inside the reservoir connect an airline T
3) Cut a piece of tubing about 8 to 10 inches long. Connect this tubing in a circle to the airline T. this will make a small circle as seen in pictures 7 and 8.
4) super glue your airline holders to the inside of the reservoir. I taped mine down because I use the reservoir in my pics for mixing nutes. These airline holders are to hold your airline to the side of the reservoir where it enters, and to hold the circle of tubing you made earlier to the bottom of the reservoirs. Just like you can see in the pictures. DO NOT super glue the tubing to the holders. Situate your tubing until it sits in the reservoirs just like my pictures.
5) Pull the tubing out. You now need to drill 3 VERY small holes in the circle portion of the tubing, at equal spacings. This is where the oxygen will come out to feed your roots. I used a 1/16" drill bit for this.
6) place tubing back in to the reservoir. Connect it to the holders.
7) You now need to trace out your mesh basket on to the lid of the reservoir. Cut out the hole, and place the basket in. It should fit firmly in the hole, and not fall through, so don't cut the whole too big around... You can always cut more off later if you need to. I use hydroton rocks for my planting medium.
the last picture shows the tubing coming out of the side of the reservoir and connecting to a box. The box is there to simulate the pump, I hope you get the idea. I just let my pumps sit on top of my reservoirs. This way if the electricity went off for some unknown reason the water can't back up and ruin them!!!
There you go. Pretty simple. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I attached a few pics of what my girls look like as well.
Now about Nutrients, here is what I now do:
I use general hydroponics Micro Flora and Micro Bloom only.
I use 8ml/gal of water Micro, and 16ml/gal of water Bloom in 12 gallons of water. Do not mix nutes together in same measuring cup. Measure them and pour them in to the water separately. If you mix them together, you can cause certain nutrients to bond together, or lock each other out and then they won't feed your plant. Not good...
I USE THIS FORMULA ALL THE WAY THROUGH. THAT MEANS DURING VEG AND FLOWERING. IT NEVER CHANGES. And it works. And it's simple. Simple is good.
Also, I keep my PH at 5.3 to 5.6. Never below or above (if I can help it. No one's perfect all the time, heheh). I read about all these people using all these different products, and maybe that works for them. But I see a lot of problems arise from so many different things going on too...I give my girls a fresh batch of nutrients every 2 weeks, or if they've drank 12 gallons of fresh water. Whichever comes first. That is to say that each day I add water to my reservoirs to keep them topped off at 12 gallons. I keep track of how much I add each day and once it hits 12 gallons, I drain my reservoirs and give my plants a fresh batch of nutes. Right now my girls are drinking about 1 gallon a day, so I'm changing nutes every 12 days. That's VERY reasonable to me, and really not that much work. And not very expensive either.
I hope this helps some people out. Try it. it really is easy to build and maintain.
Good luck and happy growing!!!
-Snut
