First DWC LED auto

Hellow,

I'm going for my first DWC grow, seems a cool project and since i have the place now i can do it easily.

My set up ;


Tent 1.5x1.5
3 LED lamps 300w
14 Autoflowers in boxes of 44L. ( 2 in one box so 7 boxes)


I calculated that i need the folowing ;
Air pump that handles 60L/min
Waterpump that handles atleast 2500/hr

Now my question is, which pumps should i buy.
I want to keep it low budget, but it has to be quiet.
I know there are several small air pumps and those are fairly quiet , but i would like to use 1 pump and not several ones. Anyone has advice on this ?

When i grew on soil , i only used autoflower mix as additive.
Well i saw on hydro its much more important so i'll look into this as well.
Ordered an PH/EC/TEMP meter.

And thinking on ordering an reverse osmosis machine too.
And probably a frame underneath my boxes for if a water leak occures.

Picture ;
purple = air pump
grey = waterpump
Red cilinder = flexible hose for water

censorship said:

Hellow,

I'm going for my first DWC grow, seems a cool project and since i have the place now i can do it easily.

My set up ;


Tent 1.5x1.5
3 LED lamps 300w
14 Autoflowers in boxes of 44L. ( 2 in one box so 7 boxes)


I calculated that i need the folowing ;
Air pump that handles 60L/min
Waterpump that handles atleast 2500/hr

Now my question is, which pumps should i buy.
I want to keep it low budget, but it has to be quiet.
I know there are several small air pumps and those are fairly quiet , but i would like to use 1 pump and not several ones. Anyone has advice on this ?

When i grew on soil , i only used autoflower mix as additive.
Well i saw on hydro its much more important so i'll look into this as well.
Ordered an PH/EC/TEMP meter.

And thinking on ordering an reverse osmosis machine too.
And probably a frame underneath my boxes for if a water leak occures.

Picture ;
purple = air pump
grey = waterpump
Red cilinder = flexible hose for water

Click to expand...

Air pumps aren't quiet. You need to make a Recirculating DWC(RDWC) and use a 3/4" manifold from the reservoir that goes to 1/2" lines to the top of the sides of each bucket. Here.

This is the miniature:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/i-gotta-lose-the-air-pumps-how-plus-my-awesome-mini-dwc.960807/page-2#post-14251657

This is the flower setup:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/i-gotta-lose-the-air-pumps-how-plus-my-awesome-mini-dwc.960807/page-2#post-14251659

https://www.rollitup.org/t/i-gotta-lose-the-air-pumps-how-plus-my-awesome-mini-dwc.960807/page-3#post-14262160

Small update ;

Bought 2 decent airpumps. Still want to make the bubbles from the bottom.
Maybe i add the above system. But i wonder how they do it ?
Is it with just one airpump ? I was thinking on doing something similar but only make 1 waterfall in my reservoir bucket.

Bought a waterpump , good air inline + carbon filter.

Today i start with building my set up and checking if i miss something.


Now , i'm needing some advice on the nutrient schedule for autoflowers.
Never used alot of additives but willing to try it now since its important on dwc.

I'm thinking on this now ;


hydro guard -

GPleds Spray-LED
GPleds PH-LED - ph down
GPleds Hydro-LED A/B
GPleds Roots Hydro-LED
GPleds Flowerpower Hydro-LED

Guess you didn't take my advice to help you keep it quiet

Well i decided to do it both if one system fails .. Another still would be running so no sudden death of the babies.

censorship said:

Well i decided to do it both if one system fails .. Another still would be running so no sudden death of the babies.

Click to expand...

I suppose that could be true.

Between the airpump and the fans, I don't know which one made the most racket.

Get a HyperFan and use no airpump.

Well the fan is adjustable , and i will make a softbox around it to lower the noise if needed.
Did that in the past also and worked good.

Does anyone have a recommendation on nutrients for autoflowers ?

All I can tell you about my experience with autos is that they can be finicky. I'd suggest that you start out light and see how it tolerates before adding more.

Got almost everything in place.
Bought nutrients & tent. Fan + CO killer came in. Ordered a speed controller because of the heavy noise. ( And maybe making a softbox for it )
1 of my Air pumps came in today , boy that sucks.
Well tomorrow i go to the shop for the hoses , probably will be already a bit better. But will need to make a softbox to quiet that fucker down.

My ec meter came in also , apparently my water is 350-380ppm. I wonder if this is fine or if a RO system is needed ?

Estimation : starting in 2weeks because there are still some older people who want to visit our new home.

I just today got in the mail my new 6" fan. It's one of those plastic ones that's kinda like a hyper fan. Black with red blades.
I will NEVER use a centrifugal fan ever again. I'll be upgrading all my fans to these. They're UNBELIEVABLY more quiet than those stupid centrifugal fans. Good riddance to em.

Okey update again

The construction has taken place.
Damn it was a hassle to put up the tent on my own. And also to place the pond foil in it.
Almost everything is connected. (With pvc glue + hotglue on top ) So hopefully no leaks
When i receive my other pump, i'm going to test it.

Also ordered an aquarium heater since the water can get cold (15 °C since its winter)
So i also might need a system to heat up the tent, because my leds won't give alot of heat. Ideal temp is 22 right ?

Brown box is my Airpump softbox.
The other led i will hang when i'm done with testing.





Now the thing is , i buyed these nutrients :

Hydro A + B
PK 13-14
Root stim
Hydro spraymix

What is the Real table of EC i want ?
Because i read alot of different things on the internet ..
I know that if the EC drops alot , plants are taking up alot so more can be added. And the opposite also. But i wonder what the ideal numbers are where i want to sthrive too.
I used the plagron calculator but i really don't get it. It says that i need to use 0.12L of Hydro A & the same amount of hydro B in the first week already. I think my total water unit will be 120L. But 0.12 still seems alot for me

I guess you have a plan for those transparent totes regarding light leaks?

Sorry to be the one to tell you the bad news.... but this is not going to work at all.
At the very least, you're going to need to paint all your boxes black some how. You can't let any light into the root zone or to your nutrient solution at all. Your clear feed tubes arent going to work either. Theyll be full of algae in no time.
It also looks like you just drilled holes in the boxes and stuck the pipe into it without using any kind of bulkhead or connector? My money is on everything leaking so bad it doesnt hold water passed the level of the pipes.

My two first tries in dwc was in a white tote, no transparent at all, but ,,,, white. The result was that i had to trash them. Now i run in a black tote with no leak what so ever. So far so good

Thanks for the input !
About light leaks , yes i have reflection foil for heaters. Enough to seal the whole space perfectly so no need to paint.
About the clear feed tubes ? You mean the tubes that are going from my waterpump to the buckets? I thought algea was only possible with light + not moving water ?

And i bought very bad boxes, couldn't even drill in it without breaking them .. So i started using the soldering bolt and melting the plastic until it would fit.
Problem was, couldn't find bulkheads here in my country .. And on the internet its very expensive. + i wouldn't be able to use it since i can't drill in my boxes.
I know that sucks, but pvc glue is strong and i don't think the water pressure is that high .. Time will tell !

Today i was thinking that it would be better to make 1 big box from pond foil myself. In a wooden frame. No hassle with al the boxes seperately.
I was trying to do this low budget but i'm now already past 1000€

If you want to use your system how it is, you would need to make sure everything but the plant pot is covered by your reflective material. No light can get to anything else.
I made the same mistake when I started and used transparent blue tubing to the manifold for my top feed. They were full of algae within a couple weeks.
You will have to cover your entire system with the foil and just cut holes in it for each plant

Look up hydroponic tables and look around about those to get some ideas of what is possible. The only major downside of using one big res is that your roots will all grow together.

Uni-seals are one of the cheapest bulkhead options available, you can order them pretty cheap online.
https://alliedaqua.com/equipment-and-supplies/plumbing-and-fittings/bulkheads-and-uniseals/uniseals-all-sizes/
https://www.aussieglobe.com/uniseal1.htm

When drilling thin plastic like that with a hole saw, you will need to have one that has a pilot bit in the middle of it that sticks out further. You have to fully commit and run your drill fast and apply light pressure to cut through. Going too slow will cause the teeth of the holesaw to catch and dig into the plastic, this is usually when itll rip a chunk out or crack it.

I wish you the best of luck getting those connections water tight. Not saying its impossible, but im not optimistic about it being done easily. Most silicones and adhesives dont adhere to the plastic boxes very well.

I have over 5k USD into my whole room.

Ya I saw the setup and was like here is someone who jumped the gun and didn't research quite enough.

Like i said , i'm having a big tube with 2.5m² of this :

But it makes only sense to put it over everything after i tested the waterproof-ness.

I bought a hole saw to do it properly in the beginning. With a pilot like you mention, i tried it 2times but its even the pilot that makes the plastic crack. So that was the reason why i went soldering.
Then i thought about a schoolproject where i had to make a big air pressure cannon. With pvc glue all went good under 2bar. Only higher bars made the pvc glue burst. So me was thinking, water pressure will be less then 2bar so it shouldn't be a big problem. Well, we shall see. I think i test it tonight already !

If it doesnt work, i still can buy new strong containers and then i'll do it with the uniseals & drill like my original plan was.