Air pump size question. DWC noob.

CYLOC

CYLOC

Member
This will be the first time I use DWC. I have done a lot of reading on this. I have found that MOST people say that you should use a pump that is rated to 4 times the size of your need. On to the question. I have a pump rated for a 40 gallon tank. Would this be enough for me to pump air into 2 5 gallon buckets. I will be having 2 to 3 plants in each. Thanks for the help.
 
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abefroman35

Well-Known Member
i heard that it should be like -- i am probably wrong, but -- 1 watt per gallon of water... again i could be wrong, but that is what i believe... hopefully others will answer this for you better.
 
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snocat

Active Member
the more air the better,I had an 18 gal dwc with a 4 outlet pump,ended up with 2 males 2 hermies,so I took the 2 females that were left and put them in 5 gal buckets now I have 1 pump runing a 6 inch stone in 1 and 1 with 4- 6 inch stones in it, waiting on the results if any.I already had the pump so I figured I would see if there would be any differance between them. peace and grow on
 
CYLOC

CYLOC

Member
Looks like I may just be using one 5 gallon bucket for now. I may make a ten or 15 gallon out of a rubbermaid instead. Not as many seed germed as I would have liked. I think I should be ok with the 40 gallon pump and the 8 cfls I have to start. Using 6 6500k 26watt bulbs and 2 23watt 2700k for veg. I may eventually make it to 10 bulbs.
 
kentour69

kentour69

Active Member
Yes sir that seems to be a likee a good setup... and you can NEVER have too many bubble the more the marrier.. just make sure to keep the top of you plants within inches of those cfl's... i keep mine about an inch away for the best chance of your ladies soaking up what little lumens we have... good luck with the grow man hope to see some updates of the grow...
 
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snocat

Active Member
whats the noise level with that pump I thought of getting 1 in the future to replace the 2 I have.but noise is a problem for me
 
tea tree

tea tree

Well-Known Member
1 watt per gallon is right. I have a 35 watt pump for 5 five gal buckets and a 20 watt for a 5 gal and a ten gallon. I wud not use the hydrofarm pump. It is a scam. 8 watts! Get on eBay and buy a 50 dollar 20 watt or a 60 dollar 35 watt. These are the real comercial airpumps and work very very well. Only thing is sometimes airstones are not big enough. Like for my twnety watt I have more that one airstone. Not just 20 watt in one 1 inch airstone! Cant handle it. I notice direct increases in growth, like when you lower feed times in ebb and flow and get a jump, when I added multople airstones to high powered lines. I read the 80 dollar hydrofarm add once and was depressed to see that they pulld an 8 watt scam. 35 watts is like 60lph I think. I follow watts tho so I firget. One watt a gallon. Helps with heat too. Get one with a metal manifold. Beter qualtiy.
 
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Tulane41

Active Member
I have a tetra pump (bought from walmart). It is rated for 20-60 gallon tanks and has 2 tubing attachments for $20). I use that for two 5 gallon buckets and my plants are looking lovely. Just be sure toget a couple extra airstones and give them a scrubbing once a week after you start going heavily on nutes otherwise they will clog up and become ineffective. Just a light scraping is all you need to do. A link to my journal is below.

https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/329416-400w-dwc-grow-white-rhino.html
 
CYLOC

CYLOC

Member
Thanks for the replies. I will look into the wattage of my pump. If it is to small I will return it and get a larger one. I will keep you posted.
 
CYLOC

CYLOC

Member
Ok. I looked into the pump I have. It is only 3.5 watts. I am going to be returning it this weekend, and getting the 80 gallon pump that is rated to 7.0 watts.
 
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jimmygreen

Member
I don't have anything to contribute about the airpump but I was intrigued by your set up.

You put 2-3 plants into a single 5 gallon bucket? Is that right?

I had no idea that was even done. Don't the roots compete and get tangled up into a mess?

I would really like to know if it works because it would solve a space issue I'm having.
 
CYLOC

CYLOC

Member
jimmygreen said:
I don't have anything to contribute about the airpump but I was intrigued by your set up.

You put 2-3 plants into a single 5 gallon bucket? Is that right?

I had no idea that was even done. Don't the roots compete and get tangled up into a mess?

I would really like to know if it works because it would solve a space issue I'm having.
Click to expand...
I have seen it in several of Roseman's threads that he has 3 plants in each bucket. So I am just following along with him. I don't see there being a problem with the roots. I have seen where people have to trim the root ball bc it gets very big. I will be monitoring the water levels on a daily basis and have 5 gallons of pre-mixed nutes for the weekly swap. I also have a 5 gallon water bottle the will hold PHed water for in between fills.
 
mr. green thumb 01

mr. green thumb 01

New Member
thanks meetzu just bought a 60 watter after realizing I have the same 3.5 watt pos walmart special. I never knew 1 watt per gallon or how much air for a plant I just figured...give it air and it will breath, but just goes to show my ignorance :-)
 
dankasaurusrex

dankasaurusrex

Well-Known Member
tea tree said:
1 watt per gallon is right. I have a 35 watt pump for 5 five gal buckets and a 20 watt for a 5 gal and a ten gallon. I wud not use the hydrofarm pump. It is a scam. 8 watts! Get on eBay and buy a 50 dollar 20 watt or a 60 dollar 35 watt. These are the real comercial airpumps and work very very well. Only thing is sometimes airstones are not big enough. Like for my twnety watt I have more that one airstone. Not just 20 watt in one 1 inch airstone! Cant handle it. I notice direct increases in growth, like when you lower feed times in ebb and flow and get a jump, when I added multople airstones to high powered lines. I read the 80 dollar hydrofarm add once and was depressed to see that they pulld an 8 watt scam. 35 watts is like 60lph I think. I
follow watts tho so I firget. One watt a gallon. Helps with heat too. Get one with a metal manifold. Beter qualtiy.
Click to expand...
The hydrofarm pump is 20 watt. Not 8. They sell bigger ones as well. I have had great success with it. It's 45 lpm and definitely not a scam. I'm pulling almost 1gram/watt (600w hps) using 5/5 gallon buckets which I only fill with about 3.5 gallons of h2o/nutes. Please don't take this post as disrespect, I just want the readers to have the facts straight (the specs are in the link I included). I will say, it's pretty loud. But certainly less loud than my Elicient exhaust fan. Hope this helps. Cheers everyone!
 
tea tree

tea tree

Well-Known Member
right on. i read the 8 watt model and assumed that was it. it seemed a little weird that was it. thanks. no offense, always good to hear good news. I hate it when a hydro company lets me down. they are my church as i still attempt to get this grwoing thing down. my 20 watt is louder than my 35 watt. however my 35 watt gets got and only came with a plastic manifiled. I would buy the more expensive models if you can from reputable hydro stores like activa or whaterver as the cheap knockoffs are kinda scary. I am not sure how nice all activa is but mine is and real stores carry them.
 
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karmeron

Active Member
mr. green thumb 01

mr. green thumb 01

New Member
For that price (54$ + shipping to be exact ) you can get a 60 watt hydroponic plant pump from with 8 outlets at hydroponics.net. Great prices! Good stuff!
 
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