Share Your R-Dwc?

Looking for ideas on R-Dwc systems. Have my eye on a couple in particular but was hopeing to get some peeps with proper setups to give me a run down on parts and maybe a tutorial I guess.
It would be cool to have a lot of the same info in one thread as well so I don't have to bounce around copy n pasteing.
Thanks ahead of time for the knowledge.

I agree RDWC does sound appealing, especially if you could get the SCROG method down. Checking one main rez that fills your others would be sooooo much simpler when everything starts getting crowded! Hopin some peepz will post some brainfood on this thread for surez. Good idea for a thread DL

For sure bro. Its nothing dealing with a couple reservoirs and by all means that all u really do need to blast out some real nice DWC bombers.
But realisticly RDWC DOES offer much better bennies in the long run.
Like u said ONE main res.
The ability to keep the res out of the flower pad.
Which in turn offers easier manageable water temps.
Not haveing to top off daily.
Less work in the long run I guess.
I recently helped my buddy setup an ebb n grow.
Very simple once put together he's got his flooding seven times and its all good.
But I'm in love with dwc and after seeing that I know I'm going to try and build a system that just constantly flows I guess just on a smaller scale.
I know the fittings I need. As well as the hose.
I'm curious if anyone has anything similar to what I just mentioned tho.
And if so.. I'm curious how many pumps they are running.
I'm thinking one intake maybe one out take but I don't know. I know the ebb n grow is setup like that n I already have all the buckets.
I'm gonna go with a cooler for my main res but like I said I'm just unsure about the pump setup

OK here is what they are selling at my local hydro shop.
5 gallon with a netpot lid (they have different sizes but 6" is best imo)
About 3 - 4" down they drill a hole and put a grommet in there and a 1/2 " male T adapter
Opposite that hole they do the same thing so the T's are on the inside of the bucket.
They take 1/2" flexible hose and connect the ends to the T's so they form a circle around the inside of the bucket.
They put the desired number of sprayers into the flexible hose on the top and (this is key) they put a few jets on bottom of tube to shoot water into the bottom of the bucket (this eliminates a need for an air stone since the jets aerate the water).
They then drill about 3" up from the bottom a 1" drain hole and put a bulkhead with a 1"adapter on the outside. This feeds back from each bucket to a large main drain line that goes to the "control bucket"
The control bucket has an external pump (important because submersible would raise water temps) the pump feeds the 1/2" sprayer and jet lines to each bucket (which you can chain)
They also have a 1/2" elbow at very bottom that has a gauge on the side so you can see the current water level in each bucket.

Advantages of this system are:
1. Lower res temps because the pump is external.
2. No need for air stone.
3. If a sprayer clogs the jets + the 3" of water before it hits the drain should keep plant alive with minimal root damage. + multiple sprayers.
4. Professional looking and clean setup.
5. This setup provides the optimal root saturation according to what I have read. Which is to have top 1/3 of roots moist but exposed to air, 2/3 or root mass sprayed with nutrient solution, 3/3 of root mass submerged in aerated nutrient solution.

Disadvantages are:
1. Res changes are a bitch, since there is 3" of water in each bucket you need to drain each one for a complete change.
2. If a sprayer clogs you might not notice since the plants can continue to thrive, this requires regular manual inspection.
3. Not very compatable with a scrog, unless you could somehow attach the screen to the lid.
4. Pump runs 24/7. You could put it on a timer, but they just leave the demo running at the store.

That's a very interesting setup tps the stuff they are comeing up with these days shits always evolveing and always getting better and better.
Still I'm looking to keep it real simple bro. Like I said the ebb n grow I helped my buddy setup took all of about an hour on a 12 bucket system! He set the timers n shit after I left. I need to get back over a tear apart that setup I think. It perfect for what I have visioned for what I wanna do except I want to keep my buckets flowing steady constant and hard.
Yea I think that is my best bet just go check it out it shouldn't be hard. Do away with the timer and expensive float valve system and just make the buckets flow. I'm tryna stay real simple.
Maybe ill rig up a bucket and get a couple pumps to see how it all works and go from there.

And yes I know a lot of peeps are prolly gonna look at me funny too but I've never really ran my buckets with a lot of air bubbles either way I've stayed real cheap on my designs. I'm a firm believer u don't need a lot of air in the system to be perfectly honest I think too much oxygenation is the most critical point when peeps are dealing with ph fluctuation. There I said it but its true. Just set up a res ph and don't add any air its gonna stay ph'd to whatever it was phd at with little to no swing at all. I'm not saying that u don't want air bubbles in your system tho u need circulation and movement or it will stagnate I know this too. But too much air does play a lot of tricks on ph and I don't think its neccesary.

Check out post #298 in this thread for the pictures of mine
.https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/366114-official-dwc-cooler-club-any-30.html

I call it a folded RDWC, the bubbler bucket in inside the reservoir to save pace and keep it cool. I currently have two of them running and they work very well.
If you don't care about pictures, here's the text:

Well, I may have lost my mind on this one. I like the cooler for it's size and shape, it fit's in with my plans for a perpetual grow but there were two things bugging me. First, I don't like fact that the reservoir level keeps changing and I don't like the amount of air it takes to oxygenate the entire cooler. Before this, I grew in an RDWC using a 5 gallon bucket and remote reservoir and liked it but like I said the cooler size works better, so I came up with the Franken-Cooler. It's a 5 gallon bucket, set into the lid of a cooler that pumps nutrient into the bucket, from the side and bottom where it flows out a series of holes, near the top and back around again. This way the nutrient solution in the bucket stays constant, whether there is 5 gallons (minimum to recirculate) up to 10 gallons, the max the res holds. This way I just oxygenate a smaller cylinder instead of a large rectangular cooler. My plan is to do a 30 day cycle, from aerocloner with 3" net pots, right into this with no other media involved. After watching it work for a while I think it may actually be able to function as an aerocloner itself, meaning from cutting to harvest in the same cooler. Anyway, here's pictures of Frank

Thanks man soon as I got a chance to sit down n look at it I'm gonna go check that out.

Cool. If you take a look in my sig you will be able to see mine.

For sure I got a lot of things to catch up on. I will also check urs out as well dre y'all r pimps n apprechiate ya shareing. I really gotta get back to this been consumed with everything else n got off track. Rdwc so much less work. I gotta do this!

Easiest way to do RDWC is to pump water out of your control bucket and into your grow tubs, either right through the hydroton or in through the side somewhere.

Then you let the water flow back out of your grow containers and back into the control container by drilling holes in the grow container right at the bottom of the netpots. Water constantly pumped in flows back out of this hole which keeps the water level in the grow containers constant, wherever you drilled the holes, only your control container drops in level. You just need to have your control container slightly lower than the drains are placed on the grow containers so that it can drain back nicely.

Yessir I may possible have to go that way. The control units for the system I have in mind is way too much like three hundo.
So ur idea along with Whodats Rrdwc rig is prolly the way I'm gonna have to go.
Keep it real simple n just feed the buckets individualy from the main res and lettum drain back on there own.

Does kinda suck tho cause I'm already dealing with head room issues and to think I have to elevate the buckets I'm not thrilled with which was why I haven't done this yet.

If you have head room issues, work on a lower profile style growing than using buckets. Not to steer anybody away from DWC or RDWC but you can build an aero system that sits much lower than buckets or look into NFT or ebb and flow. You might also want to look into scrogging, that saves a ton of height and auxin manipulation gives you lots of bud sites off of one plant.

Heres a good link...I made my 5 Bucket set up following that it works great!

http://speedyseedz.com/forum/showthread.php?2961-Easy-DIY-Multi-Bucket-RDWC-System-for-Grow-tents-*External-Res*&p=103556#post103556

I built a simple rdwc setup,I used a 400 gph pump, 1/2" and 1 1/2" clear tubeing a 42 quart cooler for my res and 4 square kitty litter buckets,you will have to put in a ball valve to control the flow,you run the 1/2" tubeing from the pump to the first bucket and 1 1/2" tubeing out to the next bucket and so on,I insulated the buckets with silver back insulation,if you got the money those 5 gal team coolers are the way to go(thats what I have now)you use rubber gromets for the fittings that go into the buckets to seal the tubeing,I have mine set up in a square,a frozen gal. jug of water in the res. every other day to keep my temp between 60 to 70 deg.I cant get the picture thing to work so I tryed to explain it the best I could,it really isnt that hard to do you will have to set the proper flow with the ball valve and with a few extra fittings you can make a drain setup that uses the pump to speed things up,do a little reading and you will find some pics to get some ideas,but I highly recomend useing the 5 gal team water coolers the pump creates heat and will warm your res. over time so you need to keep things as cool as possible cooler water holds more oxygen than warm water and less chance of root problems good luck

you don't have to raise the grow containers if you use a low profile control bucket. As long as the drains are just slightly higher than the water level in the control container.

Another way to go is to use a float valve and the level of the system is maintained by the float valve adding water from another res or fresh tap water to keep it all topped up. Then your drains don't need to be graded, you just put them on the bottom of the grain containers and bottom of your control container. Slightly more complicated but you can then control your water level if you're into that.

Shafto said:

Easiest way to do RDWC is to pump water out of your control bucket and into your grow tubs, either right through the hydroton or in through the side somewhere.

Then you let the water flow back out of your grow containers and back into the control container by drilling holes in the grow container right at the bottom of the netpots. Water constantly pumped in flows back out of this hole which keeps the water level in the grow containers constant, wherever you drilled the holes, only your control container drops in level. You just need to have your control container slightly lower than the drains are placed on the grow containers so that it can drain back nicely.

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Hey DL nice ideas bouncing around. You guys got me thinking RDWC too. I like the simple stupid designs...Gotta work though....
Hey Shafto you wouldnt have any diagrams or pics by chance? is it that simple?

Thanks Natty and yea a pic or diagram would be real helpfull. I've decided to put off the rdwc till this round is over but she will be on recirculation next round for sure. Many props for the knowledge and ideas all much apprechiated!

onthedl0008 said:

Thanks Natty and yea a pic or diagram would be real helpfull. I've decided to put off the rdwc till this round is over but she will be on recirculation next round for sure. Many props for the knowledge and ideas all much apprechiated!

Click to expand...

Here's a quick sketch of a style I like, it feeds fresh water into the controller to make up for water loss, constant recirculation and aeration in each bucket. Bucket aeration is optional but if not aerated more flow should be used. The lines are only located above and below the buckets in the drawing for clarity.