Will this easy RDWC work?

[m420p]

I posted this in a thread in the Hydro section but it was late in the thread and wanted to get some quick thoughts, hope no one cares. I looked into a couple kinds of RDWCs but I am only doing two buckets(for my late flowering plants that drink a lot) and they just seem like to much. I was thinking something like this:

The water level would be a little lower in one of the buckets but doesn't really matter much and only the res will lower in solution level so I would just have to keep up with that. Don't mind the image name, I used the two buckets from a separate image and did the rest. It obviously has a pump.
View attachment 1747809

 

[Father Earth]

looks like it would work to me. Nice circuation but im no pro at hydro.

 

[m420p]

looks like it would work to me. Nice circuation but im no pro at hydro.

I guess I should add I'd be using PVC pipes for bucket > bucket > res and then tubing from pump to first bucket in line. I was mainly worried about the circulation but I think it should be just fine.

 

[m420p]

Any other thoughts? I plan on using a 396 gph submersible pump. Should be good enough right?

 

[sicks stuff]

in the most basic of terms you will not get complete exchange of either of your two hydro buckets with this method,
true there will be some exchange, but never a complete exchange with this setup.

look at your two buckets on the left. they have low spots. (true the bubblers, and waterfall, will help with water turnover. but not completely)
basically, the water off-fall will fill to the invert of the first pipe, and move to the next bucket (leaving an unknown quantity of unmixed, unknown condition water in your hydro bucket)
then most of the new and partially mixed water will move to the second bucket, and then off to the reservoir, leaving behind again an unknown quantity of unknown condition water in the second bucket. if ya down get good mixing the res. water will simply move across the top of the two hyro buckets and back to the res.
so depending on volumes and mixing you could have three unique sets of water conditions with this system.

do ya see that? lemme see if i can werk up a simple sketch to help ya out.

 

[m420p]

in the most basic of terms you will not get complete exchange of either of your two hydro buckets with this method,
true there will be some exchange, but never a complete exchange with this setup.

look at your two buckets on the left. they have low spots. (true the bubblers, and waterfall, will help with water turnover. but not completely)
basically, the water off-fall will fill to the invert of the first pipe, and move to the next bucket (leaving an unknown quantity of unmixed, unknown condition water in your hydro bucket)
then most of the new and partially mixed water will move to the second bucket, and then off to the reservoir, leaving behind again an unknown quantity of unknown condition water in the second bucket. if ya down get good mixing the res. water will simply move across the top of the two hyro buckets and back to the res.
so depending on volumes and mixing you could have three unique sets of water conditions with this system.

do ya see that? lemme see if i can werk up a simple sketch to help ya out.

I know exactly what your saying, thats what I was worried about. VERY PRODUCTIVE FIRST POST MY FRIEND.

But, really thinking about it all I care about is the level of the nutrients in the buckets, if you look at my set-up in my journal, its a pain to move the plants and add water and nutes every 2 days. I honestly think the water will move enough to keep the ppm's close enough to where I want them in each bucket and res.! Impressive first post though, lol.

 

[drgreentm]

i have seen heath robinson make very simular systems to this with great results, what you could do, instead of the waterfall in the first bucket, is put a line to each plant as a top feed that is constant. this would also help allot with the amount of DO (dissolved oxygen) being put in the water. i have seen his systems run top feed RDWC with no oxygen pumps in the water and get go DO levels so i think your system would work fine, just make sure the drain can keep up with the pump or you will have a flood on your hands nice ingenuity.

 

[m420p]

i have seen heath robinson make very simular systems to this with great results, what you could do, instead of the waterfall in the first bucket, is put a line to each plant as a top feed that is constant. this would also help allot with the amount of DO (dissolved oxygen) being put in the water. i have seen his systems run top feed RDWC with no oxygen pumps in the water and get go DO levels so i think your system would work fine, just make sure the drain can keep up with the pump or you will have a flood on your hands nice ingenuity.

Thanks for your post, I was hoping someone would mention that they have seen set-ups sort of like this with great results. I've seen the set-ups with the top feed but I think I'm just going to keep it simple and cheap, lol, already put plenty of cash on this room. And ya, I'll pry use 1" pvc tubing for drainage to each bucket, also thought about using 1" flexible tubing and just angle them down to the bucket and res a little to increase water flow, I imagine 1" pipe or tubing will be a big enough drainage for a 396 gph ecoplus submersible pump that uses a 1/2" outlet.

 

[sicks stuff]

can you add a couple of more pieces, like a controller bucket and a float valve?

bucket n lid bux 5, float valve bux 10.. then you will have something like this:


the water cross-overs will be at the bottom of the buckets, slightly raise the res. to optimize fluid, move the pump to the furthest bucket, the float valve will set the critical water level, (water seeks it's own level)
the pump is manual you run it near dry (don't burn out the motor) water exchange takes place in your largest vessel the res.
set the pump outfall at opposite ends of the res. turn on the pump, empty all the buckets, water fills the controller bucket and every other
bucket (timing depends on x-over pipe size. this is one way to maximize water exchange at minimum cost. (space, that's another problem) lol

 

[m420p]

can you add a couple of more pieces, like a controller bucket and a float valve?

bucket n lid bux 5, float valve bux 10.. then you will have something like this:
View attachment 1747965

the water cross-overs will be at the bottom of the buckets, slightly raise the res. to optimize fluid, move the pump to the furthest bucket, the float valve will set the critical water level, (water seeks it's own level)
the pump is manual you run it near dry (don't burn out the motor) water exchange takes place in your largest vessel the res.
set the pump outfall at opposite ends of the res. turn on the pump, empty all the buckets, water fills the controller bucket and every other
bucket (timing depends on x-over pipe size. this is one way to maximize water exchange at minimum cost. (space, that's another problem) lol

Dude, why did you even do that, now I have a problem on my hands. I really like my idea but that system would almost be perfect for my set-up. No lie. My buckets sits in the floor of my attic so I could just put the res ON the floor of my attic unlike with my set-up where I would have to put the res IN the floor of the attic. Well, looks like that squashes my idea, which I still think was a good one. lol Thanks for taking the time to draw that out! It's going to my journal and I'll have to make a decision after thinking lol.

 

[Mrfootball420]

with a few more pieces of pipe you could just build an under current system like this which is a far superior design. you can make its as big or small as you want.


[video=youtube;7cLeJPl3Ml0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cLeJPl3Ml0&feature=related[/video]

 

[m420p]

with a few more pieces of pipe you could just build an under current system like this which is a far superior design. you can make its as big or small as you want.


[video=youtube;7cLeJPl3Ml0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cLeJPl3Ml0&feature=related[/video]

Isn't this basically what sicks stuff drew out but on a bigger scale and without the raised res?

 

[sicks stuff]

I know exactly what your saying, thats what I was worried about. VERY PRODUCTIVE FIRST POST MY FRIEND.

But, really thinking about it all I care about is the level of the nutrients in the buckets, if you look at my set-up in my journal, its a pain to move the plants and add water and nutes every 2 days. I honestly think the water will move enough to keep the ppm's close enough to where I want them in each bucket and res.! Impressive first post though, lol.

as i understand it, plants use nutes, the PPM is altered, an adjustment is required, but in the above system the low nute level in the hydro buckets, basically remains in the hydro buckets, there is little to no water turn-over in these buckets. interestingly i go away for a week at a time and i'm searching for the same type of system as you are seeking. in fact i've just begun testing...
(albeit on a small scale)

here you can see my test res and the controller bucket below..


float valve to set critical water level, unfilled:


filled and water xfer shutoff:


still remaining is to attach my hydro-buckets, calc volume, calc res. volume, and calc pump GPM, but i'm werkin' on it, hell i just started this mission this morning, and i'm testing as i go...

i too want a 'simple' system that i can go away for a week at a time and not have a nute, or Ph upset...

i guess we'll travel this road together...

 

[m420p]

as i understand it, plants use nutes, the PPM is altered, an adjustment is required, but in the above system the low nute level in the hydro buckets, basically remains in the hydro buckets, there is little to no water turn-over in these buckets. interestingly i go away for a week at a time and i'm searching for the same type of system as you are seeking. in fact i've just begun testing...
(albeit on a small scale)

here you can see my test res and the controller bucket below..
View attachment 1747984

float valve to set critical water level, unfilled:
View attachment 1747986

filled and water xfer shutoff:
View attachment 1747987

still remaining is to attach my hydro-buckets, calc volume, calc res. volume, and calc pump GPM, but i'm werkin' on it, hell i just started this mission this morning, and i'm testing as i go...

i too want a 'simple' system that i can go away for a week at a time and not have a nute, or Ph upset...

i guess we'll travel this road together...

I almost wanna try my idea and compare with your set-up, but I think I might end up doing what you are. Your first pic with the test res. and controller bucket below is ingenious, might do that as it will save on space.

 

[sicks stuff]

Isn't this basically what sicks stuff drew out but on a bigger scale and without the raised res?

eggzakery... ...

you can make the system i outlined as large or as small as you'd like, i prefer to do my measurements in a controlled environment before adding chemicals, so i do it in the res.
the recirc. pump, and the res. size needs to be calced on your particular system..

the sketch i put up is not the only way, it's a concept...

 

[m420p]

I got a question for everybody. Using the set-up that I drew up or that sicks stuff drew up, how often would you completely change out the solution and how would you clean the buckets themselves out? If I didn't want to lift the plants off the buckets.

 

[sicks stuff]

I got a question for everybody. Using the set-up that I drew up or that sicks stuff drew up, how often would you completely change out the solution and how would you clean the buckets themselves out? If I didn't want to lift the plants off the buckets.

what are ya after?complete change out time?
volume gallons/gph pump
or
how often?
if you can condition the medium with chemicals/nutes and make the system acceptable for the plants on a per/hr. per/day per/week schedule
is that what you are after?
the bigger (volume) you make your system vs. the system draw plants vs. evap vs. system size the better off you are, to diminishing returns..

what you asking appears to be a derivative min/max equation of how big my fluid system can be vs. cost vs. time...

good luck on that equation, experimentation would be your friend in this instance..

but basically, build the biggest res. you can afford that suits your system, so that evap. and plant req's. don't deplete the system, then build it...

 

[m420p]

what are ya after?complete change out time?
volume gallons/gph pump
or
how often?
if you can condition the medium with chemicals/nutes and make the system acceptable for the plants on a per/hr. per/day per/week schedule
is that what you are after?
the bigger (volume) you make your system vs. the system draw plants vs. evap vs. system size the better off you are, to diminishing returns..

what you asking appears to be a derivative min/max equation of how big my fluid system can be vs. cost vs. time...

good luck on that equation, experimentation would be your friend in this instance..

but basically, build the biggest res. you can afford that suits your system, so that evap. and plant req's. don't deplete the system, then build it...

I don't mean how often I will have to add nutrients and adjust ph and ppm cause I will check that every 2-3 days if not daily. I mean will I ever have to take out all the solution from each bucket and the res and clean out the buckets while still growing the plants?

 

[m420p]

Bump for this question^

 

[BendBrewer]

Some people change out their reservoir every week or two.

Lucas states that by using his ratios and top off method one can get 3 grows out of one solution change. Lucas is the same amount of the same 2 nutes from start to finish so there is no need to change the reservoir out. Top it off with 1/3 strength ratio water and in theory you will stay at the proper ppm and ph levels for the entire run. It's STUPID simple.

And I wouldn't suspend my return lines. Get them on the floor.