DWC Setup 2000w

rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i'll just describe what i built and your handymen should have an idea how to do it:
2 27 gal totes (walmart) with 2 6inch netpots in each. mine was a 4 site rdwc. at the bottom of all totes, install a shower drain. then i had a 27 gal tote outside my bloom room as a control reservoir. hook up all the shower drains (3 total) with PVC.

i had 2 air stones per tote. i had a 1000 gph pump in the control res that fed into something like a kitchen sink sprayer on the top of each tote in the bloom room. the best way to add dissolved oxygen is not airstones/airpumps. it's actually a waterfall which is what the kitchen sink sprayer acted like. so basically the pump in the control res would suck the water from the 2 totes into the control tote.

the chiller was hooked up to a small pump in the control res.

like cheeba said above, once i got it dialed in, it was incredible. root balls at least as big as basketballs. huge roots= huge fruits.

if you have the patience and don't mind checking on it twice daily, rdwc is great. only adjust pH once/day. check twice. take lots of notes. you'll start to see patterns. with your roots always in nute solution, things can go wrong really fast.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i personally would not do bulkhead or any other fitting in a round bucket. find some square 5 gal pails. a bulkhead fitting works much better on a flat vs slightly round surface.
most any design will work: just need to move a lot of water and keep it highly aerated.
 
S

S13hitman

Well-Known Member
That's the reason I went with bins and not buckets. Plus with a 5g bucket, things can go wrong even faster with less water. At least with my 14g bins, I have a little more insurance. But I notice things changing in a few hours, imagine it with a 1/3 of the water.
 
K

kesaber

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i'll just describe what i built and your handymen should have an idea how to do it:
2 27 gal totes (walmart) with 2 6inch netpots in each. mine was a 4 site rdwc. at the bottom of all totes, install a shower drain. then i had a 27 gal tote outside my bloom room as a control reservoir. hook up all the shower drains (3 total) with PVC.

i had 2 air stones per tote. i had a 1000 gph pump in the control res that fed into something like a kitchen sink sprayer on the top of each tote in the bloom room. the best way to add dissolved oxygen is not airstones/airpumps. it's actually a waterfall which is what the kitchen sink sprayer acted like. so basically the pump in the control res would suck the water from the 2 totes into the control tote.

the chiller was hooked up to a small pump in the control res.

like cheeba said above, once i got it dialed in, it was incredible. root balls at least as big as basketballs. huge roots= huge fruits.

if you have the patience and don't mind checking on it twice daily, rdwc is great. only adjust pH once/day. check twice. take lots of notes. you'll start to see patterns. with your roots always in nute solution, things can go wrong really fast.
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Do you have pictures of this buy any chance? Like I said I'm not very handy myself so I only caught most of it. I like your 27 gallon tote idea seems easier. Can my resevoir also be a 27 gallon tote?
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
water chillers are expensive, most res temp isues are caused by a hot room. if ur room temp is around 70 u dont need a chiller. if ur res temps are a bit high, i recomend filling gatoraid bottles 3/4 way with water freezing them and put a bottle in the res and switch it once a day, cools the water and costs nothing
 
K

kesaber

Well-Known Member
TheChemist77 said:
water chillers are expensive, most res temp isues are caused by a hot room. if ur room temp is around 70 u dont need a chiller. if ur res temps are a bit high, i recomend filling gatoraid bottles 3/4 way with water freezing them and put a bottle in the res and switch it once a day, cools the water and costs nothing
Click to expand...
Could that potentially make the water too cold? How do I know that will put my water temps at 68 degrees?
 
K

kesaber

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i'll just describe what i built and your handymen should have an idea how to do it:
2 27 gal totes (walmart) with 2 6inch netpots in each. mine was a 4 site rdwc. at the bottom of all totes, install a shower drain. then i had a 27 gal tote outside my bloom room as a control reservoir. hook up all the shower drains (3 total) with PVC.

i had 2 air stones per tote. i had a 1000 gph pump in the control res that fed into something like a kitchen sink sprayer on the top of each tote in the bloom room. the best way to add dissolved oxygen is not airstones/airpumps. it's actually a waterfall which is what the kitchen sink sprayer acted like. so basically the pump in the control res would suck the water from the 2 totes into the control tote.

the chiller was hooked up to a small pump in the control res.

like cheeba said above, once i got it dialed in, it was incredible. root balls at least as big as basketballs. huge roots= huge fruits.

if you have the patience and don't mind checking on it twice daily, rdwc is great. only adjust pH once/day. check twice. take lots of notes. you'll start to see patterns. with your roots always in nute solution, things can go wrong really fast.
Click to expand...
So this is what I have so far. 2 27 gallon buckets with two 6" netpots each. i'm going to get a 112w 110LPM airpump with two 8.5" airstones in each. Also getting the ecoplus 185 submersible pump
 
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jcommerce

jcommerce

Well-Known Member
A chiller is, indeed, a large expense up front, but it is a sage investment in my opinion. I've been using the same 1/10 HP for nearly 8 years now and it's paid itself off in spades (knock on wood). Without CO2, you want your ambient room temp to be around 76F, ideally. Add CO2 to the mix and you want the room to be 82F or so, and you can forget about keeping the water cool enough w/o a chiller. The water temp will want to gravitate to this temp and a pump will inevitably add some heat as well. Anything over about 72F and you're looking for root trouble and all that comes with it, even with products like Hydroguard and Hygrozyme. I personally wouldn't want to deal with adding a frozen drink bottle every day. It's nice just knowing that when water temps hit critical levels, which they will after the HPS has been on for a while, that the chiller will kick on for a bit and get temps back to acceptable levels.

In a perfect world, you'd either have your chiller in a separate room or have its exhaust ducted and vented to flow out of the room (chillers are just like small refrigerators and their condensers give off heat). Check out Bulk Reef Supply. I'm not affiliated, just a huge fan. They have chillers, pumps, bulkheads, RO systems, John Guest fittings, all types of PVC parts. They kick ass and they ship quickly (and free with bigger orders).
 
K

kesaber

Well-Known Member
jcommerce said:
A chiller is, indeed, a large expense up front, but it is a sage investment in my opinion. I've been using the same 1/10 HP for nearly 8 years now and it's paid itself off in spades (knock on wood). Without CO2, you want your ambient room temp to be around 76F, ideally. Add CO2 to the mix and you want the room to be 82F or so, and you can forget about keeping the water cool enough w/o a chiller. The water temp will want to gravitate to this temp and a pump will inevitably add some heat as well. Anything over about 72F and you're looking for root trouble and all that comes with it, even with products like Hydroguard and Hygrozyme. I personally wouldn't want to deal with adding a frozen drink bottle every day. It's nice just knowing that when water temps hit critical levels, which they will after the HPS has been on for a while, that the chiller will kick on for a bit and get temps back to acceptable levels.

In a perfect world, you'd either have your chiller in a separate room or have its exhaust ducted and vented to flow out of the room (chillers are just like small refrigerators and their condensers give off heat). Check out Bulk Reef Supply. I'm not affiliated, just a huge fan. They have chillers, pumps, bulkheads, RO systems, John Guest fittings, all types of PVC parts. They kick ass and they ship quickly (and free with bigger orders).
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input that was very helpful. Have anything to say about the two 27 gallon tote idea with 3/4" pvc and the supplies I'm getting?
 
jcommerce

jcommerce

Well-Known Member
kesaber said:
I was still planning on using 3/4" tubing, should I go larger or is that okay?
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I personally use 1/2" pvc from my pump to all totes, with a 3 inch gravity return. The key is to keep the tubing from the pump as similar to the output as possible. Sure, there are certain needs for reducers, but water pressure is a constant from pressure source to outlet. I'd rather have too much diameter on my return line than too little, otherwise...floods are more apt to occur.
 
jcommerce

jcommerce

Well-Known Member
kesaber said:
Thanks for your input that was very helpful. Have anything to say about the two 27 gallon tote idea with 3/4" pvc and the supplies I'm getting?
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I keep my mothers in separate DWC (not RDWC) 27 gallon totes (the black and yellow ones from Lowes). I do this in case the chemistry gets fouled or disease hits one tote...then, at least, I have another tote with the same genetics as a backup. I use 10 and 14 gallon totes in my RDWC systems. I also use jet head valves instead of airstones. Airstone pumps put off a lot of heat (and additional power) and their lines can become a tangled mess...not to mention, you need to change out the airstones every couple of months (or less) to keep them from getting clogged. Rather than do this, I utilize the pressure from my pump to the fullest by using these: http://www.amazon.com/Gilmour-Stream-Water-Nozzle-Control/dp/B00303MVME It's like a cyclone in my totes.
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
kesaber said:
Bump
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if ur new to growing, check out B.C. NORTHERNLIGHTS GROW BOX, they have won several grow gear of the year awards and all u need is water and seeds they come w/ everything..i have a mothership and a bloombox i use for my mothers, clones, and veg chamber.. then i built a 4x6' nft table for flowering..when i started out 20 years ago i wasted thousands figuring everything out, small 150 watt hps's emilies garden's and etc. if u really need to learn, a growbox by BC, will get u growing and after a few runs youll b able to build ur own wether its dwc,nft aero, ebb n flow..1st run in my bloombox i had 9 plants yield 3/4's of a lb, now i use it just to veg n clone but i still think it was a good investment, pluss it paid itself off in 6 months after that,,all profit..jus check it out somthing for u to concider,
 
K

kesaber

Well-Known Member
TheChemist77 said:
if ur new to growing, check out B.C. NORTHERNLIGHTS GROW BOX, they have won several grow gear of the year awards and all u need is water and seeds they come w/ everything..i have a mothership and a bloombox i use for my mothers, clones, and veg chamber.. then i built a 4x6' nft table for flowering..when i started out 20 years ago i wasted thousands figuring everything out, small 150 watt hps's emilies garden's and etc. if u really need to learn, a growbox by BC, will get u growing and after a few runs youll b able to build ur own wether its dwc,nft aero, ebb n flow..1st run in my bloombox i had 9 plants yield 3/4's of a lb, now i use it just to veg n clone but i still think it was a good investment, pluss it paid itself off in 6 months after that,,all profit..jus check it out somthing for u to concider,
Click to expand...
Do you say that because there is something wrong with my setup? What is it?
 
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