RDWC water level problem

Hey there i cant figure this one out. 27 bucket RDWC. 3 rows of 9 buckets. each row connected to 1 1/4 drain pipe running back to main control bucket. 2 of the 3 rows keep perfect water level. Third row stays 2 inches higher then the rest. When i unplug the feed pump all buckets level out. i just cant figure this one out. Only thing i see is that my drain pipe is longer from that third row to control bucket but that shouldnt make a diffrence should it?

any ideas?

was hoping to get my babies in the buckets today because they are long over due

thanks everyone

you'd probably have to take some photos or draw a diagram as to how the thing is actually hooked up because its left me confused. maybe someone else can help but with those details I don't have a clue. I never did understand the idea of rdwc without taking the chance of flooding something, thats why I bought a controller bucket.

here are some pics and diagram

i even tried raising the whole third row but the same thing happens
again when pump is not running they all level out to within a half inch but soon as pump is on that third row ends up with an inch to an inch and a half more water in them.

God I love physics problems. Although I'm kid of bummed that you did not provide enough info to really solve your problem. That is not a true rdwc system and that may be part of the issue but I am confident that we can figure it out. Because each bucket appears to only have one connection there is no means for the water to actually pass through the buckets, thereby enabling pressures and therefore water elevations to equalize.

What you have set up is basically medi bucket set up where the water is pumped in and drained out several times a day using a reservoir. In your system you turn on the pumps, the buckets fill up and then water will stop entering the buckets and will just flow through the hose.

Anyways, Since there is no drain, the water elevations in the buckets is a function of the pressure within your water pump line. The farther the water has to travel the less pressure and the lower the water level. On the same token, depending on the size of your pump and where it is hooked up, friction within the tubing will decrease flow rates, increase pressure, and cause a backwater effect. So in the case of your third row, the long drain line and it's resistance to flow is causing your water levels to increase on that row

Thats makes so much since.

But how do i fix the problem? do i make the hose the same length on all 3 rows?

nice system but certainly not designed right. you'd need to tie the three end buckets together and pump back to the main res from there allowing gravity to circulate the water in the rest of the buckets. Looks like a good place for a ebb and flow controller and a huge main res to mix back to.

and still that wouldn't work well.

The ebb controller and huge ass res would work well, making that a true rdwc system would mean more holes/bulkheads in those buckets.

oh I wasn't looking at your diagram right and didn't see the lines feeding the buckets. how do you control levels? I'd think you'd pull water from the end bucket and let gravity take over from there or risk a flood.

nm, 55 gallon drum, cap ebb monster controller and a bluelab guardian and you're set! good luck and happy growing.

made drain hose on row 3 as short as i can. left that row raised 5/8 higher. And now all water levels are within a 1/4 inch. was a ruff day lol

obviously ive never done this type of system before.
my plan is to have a 55gal drum filled with ph'ed water. and i have a tunze osmalator auto top off thing for aquariums which will ahve a censor in my control bucket with the pump that will auto top off as plants drink. so basicly i fill the system up to where i want the water level to be and place my censor in that position as they drink the 84 gallons of nutrient mix the tunze thing will auto top off the control bucket with straight water and gravity should do the rest... i hope lol

I tried this method sorta with a JBJ ATO , they're for aquariums too, damn thing glitched so much I never got past testing it to determine it was unreliable .

you should have just bought a ebb controller bucket, although they're fairly expensive they're very reliable. good luck with that and look forward to seeing it in action.

yeah tunze had better reviews then the jbj i couldnt find one bad review so we will find out shortly and i only paid 150 for it so if it fails then i will have to build an ebb controller bucket.

so with these types of systems do you start your cuttings in straight water or start with like 1/4 strength nutes?

yeah im pretty excited about this new room been working on it for 6 months. its 9 x 15, 4 x 1000w with grostar reflectors, 18000 btu mini split ac, co2 burner dehum and all that good stuff. ive got white russian and church babies ready to rock and roll as well as 2 lemon og kush, 1 sour cream, 1 of my crosses, 1 master kush, 4 raspberry kush all from my visit to mendocino county as well as a tangerine dream which will be in soil under the 4th 1000 watter

Yeah, You should REALLY think about getting a control bucket. There is a place online that sells a kit, they work very very well. Its like $110. but then you could run it like an ebb and flow system only in reverese. mostly full, then empty and refill a couple times a day. much better way to keep the nutes fresh in each planter.

jesus, I hope you have some growing experience because if not you're in for a ride with a room like that.

legallyflying said:

Yeah, You should REALLY think about getting a control bucket. There is a place online that sells a kit, they work very very well. Its like $110. but then you could run it like an ebb and flow system only in reverese. mostly full, then empty and refill a couple times a day. much better way to keep the nutes fresh in each planter.

Click to expand...

I do this every two hours.

Adikid said:

Thats makes so much since.

But how do i fix the problem? do i make the hose the same length on all 3 rows?

Click to expand...

make the drain line on the one thats giving you issues bigger.... (larger diameter pipe/tubing)

water level is pretty good now all within 3/8" which i think is perfectly fine.

yeah i have been growing for 16 years 1 of which was growing hempy style and 3 years ebb n flow but 0 experience with this type of setup

so am i on the right track with filling with nutrient solution and then having ph'ed water top off for the week?

and what do you guys or girls feel about building a chiller out of a small freezer with a pump circulating solution from control bucket threw coiled up tubing in the freezer then back to the control bucket? low flow pump of course

I think you should check out the UC forum on thcfarmer for some food info on dwc. UC is different with lower Nute levels but the talk of running sterile and no organic nutes will do you good. Trust me, DWC is NOT like ebb and flow and I learned the hard way.

The chiller with the freeze is not a good idea, mostly due to those pesky laws of physics. What does make a great chilller is a dehumidifier, a bucket of water and a stainless steel wort cchiller coil. Your looking at about $200 in parts ($100 used dehu) but it works awesome!! Runs for an hour every two hours and keeps 40 gallons at 64

http://www.jonolavsakvarium.com/eng_diy/chiller/chiller.html