3 DWC 3-gallon buckets connected together - No recirculation

Is it a good idea not to use a pump for recirculation ?
I mean it's only 3 buckets with each their air stone so there is already a lot of water movement.
All I want in fact is having to adjust ph/ppm only once, not 3 times !
And I do not want any pump to add heat and problems.
I want to stick to DWC in my small little 2x2 grow tent, no other system types.
This is only for vegging mother plants under a small MH.

Any advice ? Should work ?

pppp1500 said:

Is it a good idea not to use a pump for recirculation ?
I mean it's only 3 buckets with each their air stone so there is already a lot of water movement.
All I want in fact is having to adjust ph/ppm only once, not 3 times !
And I do not want any pump to add heat and problems.
I want to stick to DWC in my small little 2x2 grow tent, no other system types.
This is only for vegging mother plants under a small MH.

Any advice ? Should work ?

Click to expand...

I have a 4-1 gal bucket system. add some h2o2 & you'll be fine.

do you have any pic ? that's very small !!!
so you mean that you don't use a pump at all ?

6

pppp1500 said:

do you have any pic ? that's very small !!!
so you mean that you don't use a pump at all ?

Click to expand...

I do use a pump.

This would work. Add a control bucket so u dont have to lift the lids and for the extra buffer. Im gonna do this with 12 gal totes in the near future if coco doesnt work out for me.

As you said its much easier checking one bucket than 3. Id add a pump though for mixing or else you would be pHing 3 buckets still. You know what I mean? If you pH one bucket and theres no water exchange its not gonna bring the other buckets down. It will but over a long period of time. Which would work if you had a lot of time or a pH doser. Something tells me though you are doing this to save time. So add a pump. Dont run it as your main source of DO but just so you can circulate when adding nutrients and pHing.

That will work fine but as above states without a pump doing ph or adding nutrients will be a bit hit and miss from one pot to another.
I would add a small water butt and a small pump so you can empty the system back to a butt and do all you adjusting in one container then when your happy with it pump it back. this way you can add a float valve for auto levelling of the nutes as well.
You can buy flexi tanks/butts so they pack up small if space is an issue and are relatively cheap.

To be honest a small pump will not heat your nutrients that much compared with your lights and ambient heat levels in the tent.

neckpod said:

To be honest a small pump will not heat your nutrients that much compared with your lights and ambient heat levels in the tent.

Click to expand...

This.

My pump runs 24/7 and is an 1000gph and my chiller barely kicks on set at 66F now that winter is coming and room temps are 72F vs 82F

Definitely get a pump and run waterfalls to the tops of the bucket and,if you find it makes,your water too warm use it only to circulate and removal for res changes.

My setup I have 2 valves on the supply side. One thats normally closed to drain and the other thats normally open closes to divert water to the drain side.

firsttimeARE said:

This.

My pump runs 24/7 and is an 1000gph and my chiller barely kicks on set at 66F now that winter is coming and room temps are 72F vs 82F

Definitely get a pump and run waterfalls to the tops of the bucket and,if you find it makes,your water too warm use it only to circulate and removal for res changes.

My setup I have 2 valves on the supply side. One thats normally closed to drain and the other thats normally open closes to divert water to the drain side.

Click to expand...

I bought my system and didn't diy it but plan on changing it all next year to a bit more custom,
I too run rdwc and have my pump running 24/7.
My chiller probably only comes on 2 to 3 times an hour.
I only water fall in my brain bucket and I also floom.
Each bucket still has an airstone in it but again this will be changed in the new year for water falling to each bucket. I will leave the airstones in as the water agitation is still a good thing.
Won't be going back to soil not now I have cut my veg time by at least a third and increased crop size by prob 20%.

LOVE THIS RDWC BOOOM!

firsttimeARE said:

This would work. Add a control bucket so u dont have to lift the lids and for the extra buffer. Im gonna do this with 12 gal totes in the near future if coco doesnt work out for me.

As you said its much easier checking one bucket than 3. Id add a pump though for mixing or else you would be pHing 3 buckets still. You know what I mean? If you pH one bucket and theres no water exchange its not gonna bring the other buckets down. It will but over a long period of time. Which would work if you had a lot of time or a pH doser. Something tells me though you are doing this to save time. So add a pump. Dont run it as your main source of DO but just so you can circulate when adding nutrients and pHing.

Click to expand...

That's what I did...


On another note how grody your guys' buckets get? I added floralicious plus and its daaaark stuff.. I still need to wrap my buckets in foil, some algae growing, is a lil that bad? Is mine a lil? (9day old water..)

JSheeze said:

That's what I did...
View attachment 4240380
View attachment 4240384
On another note how grody your guys' buckets get? I added floralicious plus and its daaaark stuff.. I still need to wrap my buckets in foil, some algae growing, is a lil that bad? Is mine a lil? (9day old water..)
View attachment 4240381

Click to expand...

not going to work ….why you using promix with a Dwc setup ( bug city coming soon )
floralicious plus and its daaaark stuff.?... not for Dwc may have organics in it
Good luck

Terry385 said:

not going to work ….why you using promix with a Dwc setup ( bug city coming soon )
floralicious plus and its daaaark stuff.?... not for Dwc may have organics in it
Good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks, but can't use organics in DWC? Seems to be doing ok.. The mix is coco, perlite, neem, so far no bugs @ 4wks in. I had coco and I like coco so I used it. Hydroton works obvi too.

I got the idea of adding floralicious plus from another grower (Taviddude) that had good results with it in his DWC, but have you had bad experiences with it, or other organics?
.
.
.
QUOTE from Taviddude...

https://www.rollitup.org/t/floralicious-plus-whats-the-point.836398/

"
You'll get a million different opinions on here, no doubt.
I will tell you from personal experience that it is not hyped up at all.
If anything, it gets overlooked by people not wanting to spend the money.
I've tried with and without when I couldn't afford it, and there's a BIG difference.
Enough that I've resigned myself to buy the shit at whatever it costs.
If you overlook floraliscious + you really stepping on your own toes.
It'll pay for itself quick.

As far as it fueling root slime in DWC.
You would have to have the shit in the first place.
Could it add fuel to the fire by introducing carbohydrates?
Yes, just like any other product that contains sugars.
If you have root slime, it's common sense to stop using sugars until it's under control.

Could it CAUSE root slime? Hell NO.

It's actually a root zone inoculant and will help in NOT getting root slime in the first place.

It's 20% Kelp...

If you really look into it yourself and read about it, you'll realize it's one of the best single supplements out there.

Ever seen 5 pounds pulled from a 4x8 tent full of autoflowers?
I did it with 3 bottles.
Floranova Bloom (start to finish, No veg formula)
Floralicious + start to finish
Liquid Koolbloom during flower.

All General Hydroponics.

Other than 1 base nutrient (hell, I don't even use a Veg nute), and a bloom booster during flower, it's the only additive I use.

It's the most expensive part of my nutrient program, and I won't grow without it...
Trust Me. If I thought I could get away with not using it, I would.
"

I used pro mix one time in one net pot fast why to start a seed about 4 to 6 weeks in seen what I thought was gnats, was root aphid killed every plant in both tents eats roots at stem plant stops drinking and turns yellow not good

Get some kind of pump, even a small one. It doesn't have to be an "undercurrent" system to be RDWC but just be careful with your lines getting clogged - happens real fast sometimes. Topping off nutrients/water and adjusting pH will be much more reliable this way.

Terry385 said:

I used pro mix one time in one net pot fast why to start a seed about 4 to 6 weeks in seen what I thought was gnats, was root aphid killed every plant in both tents eats roots at stem plant stops drinking and turns yellow not good

Click to expand...

Ever try SF nematodes? I've used as a preventive and had success. I had root aphid the previous grow (flood table, coco grow) and didn't know about nematodes until it was too late, so the next time I used as a preventative with success. They cheap and keep in fridge. I have a batch in case I get bugs.

** I also add "neem cake" in with my mix so it hinders bug development within.

I've battled bugs just about every grow from gnat to aphid to mite, I now firmly believe in IPM (integrated pest management). I use neem cake in soil, order lady bugs (cheap) along with cucumeris (cheap predator mite) and swirskii (more expensive, if it gets bad) to prevent mite infestations. I keep nematodes on hand for soil or water born larvae and I hit the plants once with forbid 4f at flower and then add the predator mites and lady bugs after.

I totally agree, you put all that time into growing something only to have it be crushed by bugs at the end sucks the fat one, been there plenty of times lol but I think I got a system now that works pretty well. But I'm sure I jyst jinxed myself haha, here we go!