RWDC, Do you need air pump in every container?

J

jshrooms

Member
I had this idea of just super aerating the main reservoir doing RDWC and skipping out putting an air pump in each tote.

Im using 4, 15 gallon totes. SOG style with 12 plant in each, connected to one external resevoir.

What size water pump would I need for this?

will be approximately 105 gallons at the most running through here so I was thinking a 185 gph water pump would work?

But am I able to just super aerate the reservoir and skip putting any air stones in the totes? Or does it not work that way?


Sorry first time hydro here. xD
 
jason1976

jason1976

Well-Known Member
yes you need air in every pot. the more the marrier. i didnt use enough air in my first run and it shows. the second time i upgraded to 2 inch cylinder type micro pore stones. what a diffrence . yes air in every pot dude.
 
overachiever

overachiever

Member
I agree!!!! when I pull my plants down the root ball pretty much eats the air stone....its so deep inside the roots I have to cut them to get it out, so im sure they just love it!!!
 
J

jshrooms

Member
So, even if I have like 8 air stones in the res, it wouldnt make up for the fact of not having two or so in each tote.

I thought since the res would be pushing the water out to the totes it would keep that aeration from the res in the water throughout the circulation?
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Well, your pump is way too small to adequately circulate the water

You would not need individual air pumps if you connected them all together ala Undercurrent, which I am not a fan of, but...

Go to my thread and see how I do it. Easily adaptable to 12 plant SOGs

hth
 
J

jshrooms

Member
PetFlora said:
Well, your pump is way too small to adequately circulate the water

You would not need individual air pumps if you connected them all together ala Undercurrent, which I am not a fan of, but...

Go to my thread and see how I do it. Easily adaptable to 12 plant SOGs

hth
Click to expand...
Well since I plan on running a perpetual system of 24 plants every 30 days. I am going to essentially have two separate systems, side by side.

For each system I have 1, 185gph pump. Functioning like this Res-->bin 1 -->bin 2---> Return to res , one of those for each wouldnt work fine?

What size external reservoir would you recommend for this size system?

I already decided on air stones in all bins and have everything already set to go I just have to pick the best size external reservoirs and assemble.
 
S

savana

Active Member
I don't run air stones in my rez. I run 3 air stones in each container.I would go with about a 800 gph water pump if I were you. Lots of air and moving water will help prevent a lot of problems.
 
M

Musangwow

Member
Air stones are not needed, plant will grow in a nutrient rich solution but, the oxygen provided by the stones helps them grow twice as fast. Some famous guy came up with a method of just floating plants on Styrofoam something like The Kratky Method if you wanted to research it look for Kratky method hydroponics.
 
Krabby

Krabby

Active Member
I don't run air in the main res, the water that is pumped back in is so strong that it creates a lot of oxygen pouring/splashing back in, as far as the plant tubs go I run 2 big round air stones in each container running 24/7
 
R

ricky6991

Well-Known Member
couple things....

first yes you need air stones in each bucket, if you dont and let them sit they WILL eventually burn really bad and get locked out of nutrients. dont be cheap an put the stones in.

put few airstone and pump in the rez to keep water moving so less likely to get issues inside rez.
 
I

iadburner

Active Member
jshrooms said:
I had this idea of just super aerating the main reservoir doing RDWC and skipping out putting an air pump in each tote.

Im using 4, 15 gallon totes. SOG style with 12 plant in each, connected to one external resevoir.

What size water pump would I need for this?

will be approximately 105 gallons at the most running through here so I was thinking a 185 gph water pump would work?

But am I able to just super aerate the reservoir and skip putting any air stones in the totes? Or does it not work that way?


Sorry first time hydro here. xD
Click to expand...

People are always commenting like they know everything simply because they haven't come across a certain method or whatever else. You definitely can run an RDWC without any added air from pumps whatsoever. The key is a waterfall effect with the return to your rez. This requires elevating your buckets above your rez so that the return is elevated as well. Do a Google search for "Big Tokes Bio-buckets." It's on a different forum, so I won't post the link here. He does an excellent tutorial of exactly how you can create an excellent system without added air. You will need a much larger pump, though, as someone here had said.
 
J

jshrooms

Member
iadburner said:
People are always commenting like they know everything simply because they haven't come across a certain method or whatever else. You definitely can run an RDWC without any added air from pumps whatsoever. The key is a waterfall effect with the return to your rez. This requires elevating your buckets above your rez so that the return is elevated as well. Do a Google search for "Big Tokes Bio-buckets." It's on a different forum, so I won't post the link here. He does an excellent tutorial of exactly how you can create an excellent system without added air. You will need a much larger pump, though, as someone here had said.
Click to expand...
This is actually what I was imagining, thank you.

I actually already went ahead and went the classic route with airstones in everything.
 
J

jshrooms

Member
iadburner said:
People are always commenting like they know everything simply because they haven't come across a certain method or whatever else. You definitely can run an RDWC without any added air from pumps whatsoever. The key is a waterfall effect with the return to your rez. This requires elevating your buckets above your rez so that the return is elevated as well. Do a Google search for "Big Tokes Bio-buckets." It's on a different forum, so I won't post the link here. He does an excellent tutorial of exactly how you can create an excellent system without added air. You will need a much larger pump, though, as someone here had said.
Click to expand...
This is actually what I was imagining, thank you.

I actually already went ahead and went the classic route with airstones in everything.
 
jason1976

jason1976

Well-Known Member
note in top right below the name"stranger" use air stones. i have dwc and rdwc. i have hempy buckets and coca coir. use the air stones. oxygen in the pots and res help out with everything.
 
Jimdamick

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Me myself, I oxygenate the shit out of my res, and seeing as I have rapid flow through my pots, I count on there being enough oxygen in that water to compensate for airstones in every pot. I run a lot of pots, and to put a stone in every pot would be a big pain in the ass. As long as you have good flow, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
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