My Hydro Set-Up. +Rep For Constructive Input

[ish800]

What are your temps in the water right now? Have you ever grown in the summer, what were your water temps like?

You can forecast, you know. Or just wait until the summer and see how it works out.

 

[Hippie55]

The drwaing makes sense to me. Are you going to use a drip ring for each bucket also?

 

[Hippie55]

I mean a drip for each net pot

 

[Stoner Smurf]

No sir, I was not planning on using a drip ring. I clone in a DIY EZ-Cloner, just plan on letting the roots get long enough they reach the oxygenated water. There are no air stones on the picture, but obviously I will have air stones hooked up to the tubes. I didn't think drip rings to be necessary. The bitches gotta work for their food a little bit, can't just give right to them.

By the way hydroalltheway, I apologize if I came off as an ass. I wasn't trying to, no hard feelings on this side. I was just reading your posts and saying out loud, "really....." so I had to say something

 

[hydroalltheway]

I like that, a lot.

One question hydroalltheway, what do you use the strings for? (to tie down the plants)

I will be putting more string up to tie the branches down for the bottem of plants

 

[hydroalltheway]

By the way hydroalltheway, I apologize if I came off as an ass. I wasn't trying to, no hard feelings on this side. I was just reading your posts and saying out loud, "really....." so I had to say something

Hey not a problem we can all say what we like and I didn't think you cames off sounding like an ass

 

[MediMary]

Pictures, I want to see pictures of your setup! +rep for pictures.
lol
Howdy smurf.

pictures please

 

[Stoner Smurf]

Soon MM, very very soon. I plan on putting up a journal once the girls hit flower, since I am running a perpetual and the veg room is no fun for most people to watch. The picture in this post in my flowering rig, my veg rig is a little different. When I first started growing I got a 1000w MH light to veg under. Hindsight is always 20-20, I wish I would of went with 2 400watters. Soon I will probably swap it out, but I want to finish upgrades to flower first. My veg rig is shaped in a diamond kind so 10 plants fit under one light. Once they hit flower I spread them out quite a bit more. Not the ideal set up for veg, but it works for now.

I have clones in an aero cloner, and my 2" uniseals should come today or tomorrow, they were shipped out on Mon. Soon as the uniseals come, I'll do the final set up (all holes and what not are already drilled.). Maybe then I will snap a picture of my empty veg rig, and then shortly after I will have a journal up. Is your UC up and running yet?

 

[MediMary]

I like the veg room, I wanna see the veg= ). hehe.
think this is going to be a great show!

 

[Stoner Smurf]

ish this is going to be my first hydro grow, so I can only guestimate what my water temps are going to be like. I will be using DM Zone so that will help prevent problems. I have every tote wrapped in duct insulation to help keep temps down. I am pretty sure once I get my .25HP chillers which I have not bought yet temps shouldn't be a problem. Until then I am just rollin' the dice. But I have a couple 'water chillers' that were grown in dirt curing in jars now.

MM if I posted pictures now it would be of a bunch of plumbing fittings and empty totes I finally got my uniseals in the mail today. So assuming this final coat of black paint drys I am going to assemble tomorrow. At least the bare bones, I am still waiting for 1/2" uniseals, got them from a different company. The 1/2" are needed for the return pump, which by the way was the only part that was very confusing for a DIY.

My clones just got roots so I still have a few days til they need to go in the system. But I will take pictures of what I get done tomorrow. I have another hurtle to overcome veging multiple plants in a single tote. I need to install plexi-glass dividers in the bottom of the veg totes to prevent the roots from getting all tangled. That's getting done tomorrow when the paint drys. The black totes didn't need to be painted, but I used a combination of those and clear roughnecks, the clear ones needed several coats of black paint. The home depot totes had yellow lids that slightly leaked light so those got a coat of blackness too.

MM I promise to get pictures up ASAP. But I think you may be disappointed, I am small potatoes to what ya see on the farm. I am veg'ing under a 1k MH and flowering under 2 600w HPS (1200 watts, I know such hard math). Planning on swapping out the 600's for 1000's, but after I buy 2 .25HP chillers, Co2 generator, and a sentinel CHHC-4. So I may get them up this grow, or it may not be til the next one. Luckily for me plantlightinghydroponics.com exists. They fucked my last order all up, but they fixed it and you can't beat their prices on anything.

It should of been noted at the start of this thread but better late than never, this will be an all legal medical grow. And since I am under these silly plant restrictions I am really hoping to hit at least .9g/w if not 1g/w.

 

[MediMary]

Im small potatoes too, Just a personal grower. those guys have more light on one plant than I have in my whole grow room.
lol
I wanna see the fittings, seriously, I love diy.
just cause I have a uc, doesnt mean I won't ever build another diy.
don't want to pester you, just really like seeing builds.

 

[Stoner Smurf]

I am almost done. I am pretty much where I'd be if I bought a UC system. All that's left to do is hook up the PVC and make sure there are no leaks. Here's some pictures of the build to hold ya over until I get plants in it, hopefully on Mon.

This is the general layout of my Veg rig. The flower will be more in a straight line, but as you can see this is set up in a diamond shape.


Here's a picture of a beautifully drilled and installed uniseal:


This one is for you MM, heres's a bunch of plumbing fittings for the return pump. Also pictured is my return hose, air pumps, return pump, and a few other fittings.


Now last and not least, this is a picture of the absolute hardest part of building this system. This was a headache and a half, and I am not 100% it will work but we'll see. Since I run a perpetual, I need to be able to move my plants from the veg room to the flower room. So it's important that all the roots don't get tangled under the lid, at least while in veg. So I installed plexi-glass dividers, water can get around them hopefully they will block enough roots.


I will have more and better pictures come Monday or Tuesday.

 

[MediMary]

Cool man +1 looking great!
im interested to see how that plexiglass works!


Edit*

Apparently I don't spread my loving around enough. LOL
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Stoner Smurf again.

 

[Stoner Smurf]

Yeah I swapped out most of the plexiglass. It works wonderfully but it's near impossible to cut to size. Using any power tools on it will break it. So you have to use a razor knife and cut the shit out of it then break it. Unfortunately it rarely breaks smoothly. One tote has a piece of plexiglass I got lucky on. The rest have styrofoam dividers, I wrapped the styrofoam in in panda plastic so the roots would not grow into it.

 

[RawBudzski]

1st problem you have is your Blue hose is kinda crooked.. and that res needs a black container so no light gets to it. I CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH IT !!! and I would pic a better color than brown for your boxes cause it wont look good with blue jeans you wear when tending to your crop.

So I've grown pretty tired of dirt. There is so much about growing in dirt that just sucks. So after this crop I'm going to be switching to a DWC system. That will be about 3 weeks from now. So I am gathering the parts to start building my system. I was hoping someone with some experience in hydro would look at my plan and make sure they see no flaws in it. I would be very grateful.

My scanner is broken so here is a very very rough MS Paint Drawing:
View attachment 1363576
It is 5 18-gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck containers linked together using pvc pipe. Each Rubermaid will house 2 plants in netpots with hydroton. I am unsure what size net pot to use. So my first question is what size net pot should I use? I usually veg for 3-4weeks before flower.
A 1000GPH pump with the help of gravity circulates the water between all the containers. There is a 5 gallon bucket for easy ph testing and the filling and emptying of the system. The bubbles come from two air pumps, either the 35 Watt Commercial Grade Air Pump or the 80 Watt Commercial Grade Air Pump. Which of those two air pumps is more suitable (both are links above)? The 35w seems to give off almost as much air at a fraction of the electricity but maybe I am reading it wrong.

Finally I want to get a .1 HP water chiller and hook it up to the 5 gallon bucket. The problem is that is the most expensive part and I don't have that money right now. Will I be good without a water chiller for the winter months? I will have one by spring. Also is a .1HP chiller big enough or would I need a .25HP chiller for a system of this size.

Like I said if anyone with more experience than I could share some of that expertise I'd be might grateful. I will rep you for sure and maybe one day I will be able to return the favor.