Undercurrent pipe size question

JSB99 said:

Possibly, but not for certain. I've mentioned it before, but I've got 50 - 60 gallons in my RDWC, using both a commercial air pump, and an inline water pump, and no chiller. My temps hover between 66 and 68, and all I'm doing is using evaporative cooling. Even in the summer I was able to keep my temps at bay. I think part of it is just having the lid off the reservoir, to let the warm water expell heat.

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Start adding more lights in then watch what happens lol

Niblixdark said:

Start adding more lights in then watch what happens lol

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I hear ya. An ac hood definitely helps there. I added 8 x 23w cfl's for supplemental light in the corners. But because I can't contain the heat from the mini-ballasts, my tent goes up a few degrees, and it's more difficult regulating temps. This is only temporary though.

I moved to CMH and Quantum Boards and theres a lot less heat generation from them. Nothing beats the clarity of CMH for artificial lighting

firsttimeARE said:

Ive done mediumless but the plants always tip,over once taller than 12"

My aeroclone,jist has 2" netcups and collars

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I'm using 3" collars and never have an issue. I do find the neoprene collars tend to give out a bit too easy, but using a more rigid foam like from pool noodles works flawless. I cut them a bit thicker, close to 1.5", and have never had any issues with it toppling or falling through. I do use a scrog screen though which helps stabilize things a lot.

firsttimeARE said:

They do. And they are cheaper. Same black and yellow ones

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Be careful with the yellow lid totes, the plastic is not even close to light proof and can cause problems. I bought one of the yellow top 15-17g (cant remember the exact size) ones and painted the top with several coats of black as it transmitted light very easily.

Sureshot2 said:

Be careful with the yellow lid totes, the plastic is not even close to light proof and can cause problems. I bought one of the yellow top 15-17g (cant remember the exact size) ones and painted the top with several coats of black as it transmitted light very easily.

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Yep, they let a lot of light pass through. I had originally made cardboard cutouts for the lids, which worked really well, but the cardboard started curling with the humidity, and pest control over-spray. I ended up just pouring the remaining Hydroton onto the lids, which has not only worked really well, but it looks pretty cool too.

With cardboard:


With Hydroton:

I havent had an issue with light.

Making another RDWC today. I'll take pictures of my setup. The hydro store only had those cheap active aqua bulkheads so I cant complete it unfortunately. I ended up picking up a dozen that they had in stock of the botanicare ones.

Spent $35 at the hydro store for (12) 1" bulkheads, 15ft 1" tubing and then $20 at home depot for all the fittings. Got about $20 more to spend on the rest of the bulkheads and prolly $30 for a 500gph pump. I had the totes already in 12gal, but they wee $5 per x 7 so $35.

$140 for a 6 site rdwc, not bad.

I have old 5 gal buckets ill cut and use as spacers and get prolly 8-10gals out of each site, so 56-70gal setup. Those will prolly be a PITA to cut. Wish a had a band saw. Guess my jigsaw will have to do

The only thing im concerned about is the totes being too small and sucking in roots. Some roots get sucked back on the 27gal and If there were less space for the roots to go. We'll see. Each totes has 3 ways of exit

JSB99 said:

Yep, they let a lot of light pass through. I had originally made cardboard cutouts for the lids, which worked really well, but the cardboard started curling with the humidity, and pest control over-spray. I ended up just pouring the remaining Hydroton onto the lids, which has not only worked really well, but it looks pretty cool too.

With cardboard:
View attachment 4041999

With Hydroton:
View attachment 4042000

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Yeah I tried mylar sheets over them cut to size but it was getting grimy and losing reflectiveness in spots. Then I tried foil, but same problem, it gets grimy between the foil and lid where moisture gets trapped. Finally settled on just painting it with a durable plastic safe matte black, and cleaned the dust off after it was fully dry - works like a charm.

That is cool though JSB. I was wondering what that was in the pics you posted before I saw the hydroton in the totes in the background and thought does he fill up an entire tote of hydroton? Must get expensive lol.

I had some leftover rigid insulating board 1" that I cut and taped up the edges with sheet metal tape so it was all nice and reflective and no insulation burrs were showing but I noticed 0 difference between plants that had the board and plants that didnt.

Plus my canopy is so thick its pretty shady at the top of the res, lol.

Sureshot2 said:

Yeah I tried mylar sheets over them cut to size but it was getting grimy and losing reflectiveness in spots. Then I tried foil, but same problem, it gets grimy between the foil and lid where moisture gets trapped. Finally settled on just painting it with a durable plastic safe matte black, and cleaned the dust off after it was fully dry - works like a charm.

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I might spray mine after this grow. Plasti-Dip and Flex Seal work really well. They create a thick rubber coat that doesn't crack, and blocks out pretty much all light.

firsttimeARE said:

That is cool though JSB. I was wondering what that was in the pics you posted before I saw the hydroton in the totes in the background and thought does he fill up an entire tote of hydroton? Must get expensive lol.

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LOL, no doubt! It'd be pretty heavy too! After the cardboard failed, I was just looking for anything that would work temporarily, as the plants were getting too big to easily work around. After pouring the extra Hydroton on, I noticed that quite a bit more of the stalks were being held in place by the pellets. So if anything, it would help hold up the plants when they got bigger, as well as block the light, which it did really well.

The totes filled with Hydroton would be kind of cool, for a top-feed, soilless grow. I know growing entirely in Hydroton is doable, but I can't recall seeing anyone actually doing that. Maybe the other mediums tend to work better.

JSB99 said:

LOL, no doubt! It'd be pretty heavy too! After the cardboard failed, I was just looking for anything that would work temporarily, as the plants were getting too big to easily work around. After pouring the extra Hydroton on, I noticed that quite a bit more of the stalks were being held in place by the pellets. So if anything, it would help hold up the plants when they got bigger, as well as block the light, which it did really well.

The totes filled with Hydroton would be kind of cool, for a top-feed, soilless grow. I know growing entirely in Hydroton is doable, but I can't recall seeing anyone actually doing that. Maybe the other mediums tend to work better.

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Tons of people use all hydroton for flood and drain. I use all hydroton for rdwc and dwc

This was what I made to block light.

Lowes has those totes but 40 gallon with black lids!