Do you have a few pics of this setup in a thread you can link to or something maybe plz?
i don't, sorry. but i'd be happy to try to describe whatever you want explained. basically 3 of the 27 gals ( 2 in the bloom room, 1 outside) all connected underneath by 1.5PVC. instead of a bulkhead fitting, i used shower drains. basically a slip bulkhead fitting with a metal grate to keep out wayward hydroton. a pump in the control that went out to the 2 via heater hose into a sprayer head for a waterfall.
Take a few pics.
I am in the process of helping a friend build a "modular" 4x 27 gallon site setup with a 5th outside for control res in a 4x8 tent so he can run anything from 2 to 8 plants. I think im supposed to go over later today and help install the bulkheads, ill snap some pictures of it for you.
it's partially disassembled. i just use the 2 totes to hold my waterfarms now since they are still plumbed to my floor drain. control tote was removed years ago. and it's all up on cinderblocks so you can't see the underneath of the totes either. sorry.
sounds simple yet effective. I think I can picture it. Sounds like its setup kinda similar to my veg system.
yeah, it's not complicated at all. shower drains in the bottom of each tote. i only needed 2 feed lines from the control. the part of most rdwc i didn't like was that when you emptied it, it still had a bunch of water at the bottom of each tote. which i solved with drain on the bottom and not sides.
Did you do anything special to the shower drains to make it leak free? Silicone or adhesive?
Im betting it was something like this one. I saw some that were essentially a bulkhead with the strainer screen on them and wanted to use them, but it was not cost effective enough for me at nearly $10 each.
yes, liberal application of aquarium silicone. i probably built it 5 yrs ago maybe and still (knocks on wood) no leaks. there's no pressure on the drains anymore. it's just overflow from the waterfarms now.
it wasn't much more than a bulkhead and i could source them locally but i figured the metal grate would be perfect for keeping crap out of the lines like hydroton or dead leaves, etc.
Come to think of it I did look at those at Lowes, they were a little more money than bulkheads so I went with those instead. I also needed 12 of them.
i only used 3. and i was impatient and my local ACE had 3 of them. lol.
I knew I stole someone's idea of shower drains, but I couldn't remember who. I did shower drains in the bottom of 5 gallon buckets which worked out great. Like you say, its really easy to completely change all the water in the system. .Lots of surface area to seal to my buckets with aquarium silicone as well. They are also a lot cheaper than 2" bulkheads, I got mine for $14 each at a plumbing wholesale while 2" bulkheads were $35-40 each. The only downside is that you need to raise the buckets to get the drain and associated piping underneath. I raised mine about 7" (2- 2x4s stacked on edge).
Bulkheads are $6.
Maybe where you are, we get fleeced on everything in Canada. I bought all my shit at a plumbing wholesale on a friend’s account so I could get his discount, and 2” bulkheads were still $35. I bought the beefy ones though similar to these
