what do I need to get for my first DWC system?

I am planning to setup a DIY DWC system for 45 plants with 5 gallon bucket for each plant. For the controller, I am planning to use a 30-35 gallon bin. And for the reservoir, I'm planning to get a 50 gallon bin. Are the size of the controller and the reservoir big enough to operate 45 plants? How strong are the air pump and water pump do I need to get? If I get a water chiller, do I still need a water pump? If you guys can recommend some of those water pump and air pump out there that suit with my setup, that would be great!

Thanks in advance!

so is this going to be a RDWC? How are you going to do 45 DWC plants in 5 gallon buckets. this is going to be huge man. i got to see your setup

Why dwc for such a large scale grow?

and for a dwc system that large. your going to need atleast 45 air stones... maybe 90 to double them up.

Frito Bandito420 said:

so is this going to be a RDWC? How are you going to do 45 DWC plants in 5 gallon buckets. this is going to be huge man. i got to see your setup

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Yea, this is going to be a RDWC

GrowTheChronic said:

Why dwc for such a large scale grow?

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What other methods would you recommend?

First I Would Reccomend Soil For Large Scale Easier Less Maintenance Still Gonna Be Alot Of Maintenace And Hydro Methods Im Not Sure Maybe A Ebb ?

45 site grow. Are you going to supply the whole neighborhood??

I would like to see this set up too. Do you have any pix.

aydtxn said:

I am planning to setup a DIY DWC system for 45 plants with 5 gallon bucket for each plant. For the controller, I am planning to use a 30-35 gallon bin. And for the reservoir, I'm planning to get a 50 gallon bin. Are the size of the controller and the reservoir big enough to operate 45 plants? How strong are the air pump and water pump do I need to get? If I get a water chiller, do I still need a water pump? If you guys can recommend some of those water pump and air pump out there that suit with my setup, that would be great!

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

I use 5 gal buckets.....I have a 6 bucket system......my controll bucket is only 5 gal, it only needs to be big enough to set the water level.....my reservior is a 60 gal barrell......I use almost a full barrell of nutes every 6 days at the stage I am at now....you are going to need a lot of water for 45 buckets....You might want to have several barrells set up for nutes...

Right now my plants are useing over 1 gal per day....45 of them would suck a barrell dry in one day after they get big....I am thinking that I would run up to 8 buckets per barrell....that way you could change nutes after 4 or 5 days.....Thats a pertty big grow OP....

I don't use pumps I let gravity feed my controller bucket....I put my barrell on a little bench off the ground about 14"s.....I do have a little pump plumbed in to pump out the old nutes out of the buckets....that's the only pump I use....

I will post some pic's of my system.....I use two air pumps that are ideal for 6 buckets.....a#5 air pump for the 6 air stones and a #3 air pump for the drip rings....The #5 air pump comes with an 8 hose manifold so it could do up to 8 buckets....and the #3 air pump has a 6 hose manifold....these pumps work good for a 6 bucket system.....there could be a big commercial air pump that would be more suitable for the system you want to put together....These pumps are a good match up for six buckets....

Any way I don't claim to be an expert but my results have been good....

feel free to to come over to my thread if you have more questions....link at bottom of my post and Happy NewYear....

Thank you for your reply Nitro! That was really helpful.

As for the nutes, I've seen a few feeding schedules that go by Ml/gallon. Now my question is, do you calculate how many gallons are in all the buckets + the reservoir + the controller to find out how many ml you need to mix the nutes? OR you only go by the gallons in the buckets?

faller200 said:

45 site grow. Are you going to supply the whole neighborhood??

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I have a big family lol

if you dont already have the equipment id scrap that idea lmao

aydtxn said:

Thank you for your reply Nitro! That was really helpful.

As for the nutes, I've seen a few feeding schedules that go by Ml/gallon. Now my question is, do you calculate how many gallons are in all the buckets + the reservoir + the controller to find out how many ml you need to mix the nutes? OR you only go by the gallons in the buckets?

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When I make up a barrell of nutes I just fill the barrell to the 55gal mark.... and just make that much at a time....then I put it into the buckets....6 buckets and the control bucket hold about 17 gals of water....

So basically you just go by the gallons in your barrel to make nutes then the plants will pull the needed nutes from the reservoir by themselves. Did I get it right?

aydtxn said:

So basically you just go by the gallons in your barrel to make nutes then the plants will pull the needed nutes from the reservoir by themselves. Did I get it right?

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Thats right....I let the buckets fill up and I will have 40gl left over......then I let gravity and the plants do all the work...

Thank you Nitro! I finally have all the information I needed to get my system started.

45 plants, and not quite knowing what you're doing. I'm down to keep track on this grow

I will start off with a few plants before I make a move on my big plan.