Currently using a DWC system should I upgrade to a RDWC system?

[Herby Paisley]

Hi folks I have been growing hydroponically with a DIY DWC system a.k.a bubbleponics and have been having good success with it.... I was wondering should I upgrade to a Recirculating DWC system? Or just stick with what I have now... Does it produce better results? Like plant size and yield?.. If I do upgrade it will probably be a DIY RDWC system too, So anyone with RDWC build experience I would like to pick your brains as well on materials to use to build it.. Thanks in Advance everyone
Cheers

 

[sativuhhh]

how big of a space are you growing in and how many plants are you wanting to grow? Cool with a big crop of one strain? If you are trying to grow a bunch of buckets it makes a lot of sense. rwdc will make it nice not having to constantly be lifting a lid and the plant and allows for scrog netting a lot easier on the plant if desired. You do have to be a little more on top of things if you aren't full flushing weekly balancing nutes and fresh water addition. Get's spendy to flush the whole system if something goes weird vs an isolated bucket.

Your best bet is to go read a bunch of the completed journals and find ones that look good for your space and and read their blogs on all their problems and leaks and lessons learned, and see the ones that are doing successful grows issue free. Get all the very best fittings and cut no corners on they diy. So many devastatingish stories of leaks and you'll see what not to do. And what appeals to you.

 

[bluenoserjoe]

Hi folks I have been growing hydroponically with a DIY DWC system a.k.a bubbleponics and have been having good success with it.... I was wondering should I upgrade to a Recirculating DWC system? Or just stick with what I have now... Does it produce better results? Like plant size and yield?.. If I do upgrade it will probably be a DIY RDWC system too, So anyone with RDWC build experience I would like to pick your brains as well on materials to use to build it.. Thanks in Advance everyone
Cheers

Hi Herby. Looks like you want a four plant system to stay legal.Check this out, has been trouble free for a couple grows now.

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• bluenoserjoe
• May 4, 2019

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• bluenoserjoe
• Apr 6, 2019

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• bluenoserjoe
• Mar 28, 2019
• 2

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• bluenoserjoe
• Mar 28, 2019

 

[Herby Paisley]

Nice set up I like how compact it is, thanks for sharing!

 

[Herby Paisley]

how big of a space are you growing in and how many plants are you wanting to grow? Cool with a big crop of one strain? If you are trying to grow a bunch of buckets it makes a lot of sense. rwdc will make it nice not having to constantly be lifting a lid and the plant and allows for scrog netting a lot easier on the plant if desired. You do have to be a little more on top of things if you aren't full flushing weekly balancing nutes and fresh water addition. Get's spendy to flush the whole system if something goes weird vs an isolated bucket.

Your best bet is to go read a bunch of the completed journals and find ones that look good for your space and and read their blogs on all their problems and leaks and lessons learned, and see the ones that are doing successful grows issue free. Get all the very best fittings and cut no corners on they diy. So many devastatingish stories of leaks and you'll see what not to do. And what appeals to you.

Thanks Sativuhhh.... I have been reading grow journals for awhile now and have recieved a few good Idea's, I realized after I posted the loaded question I was asking a lot with all the variables that go with a grow, I was just curious with all the hype about RDWC that I would maybe look into making a system and try it out and also just wanted some build idea's beyond my own... Believe me I've built a few hydroponic systems I know what you mean by leaks and cutting corners its not worth it, It just causes more problems down the road for ya during your grow, making for an unhappy grow experience. I like doing things right the first time that's why I ask a lot of questions before I start a project... lol Cheers

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Challenge with rdwc is they all drink the same stuffs, nutes, goodies, alien spawn....whatever

For me it's easier for individual DWC buckets

Easy to change water in each
Easy to adjust nutes for each plant if needed

But.. ultimately it's yer call and yer grow

 

[Herby Paisley]

Hey Mr.Scorpio thankyou... You are starting to become my voice of reason on here ....lol , I think I'm going to stick with the DWC system like you, just seems RDWC will just bring more issues for me to deal with all the plants at one time instead of each individually, I like the idea of being able to contain problems to one unit instead of spreading to all them. Cheers

 

[Herby Paisley]

Well folks I think I may venture into the realm of RDWC after all... As some of you may know my brother Bubba Paisley has started to take interest in growing he joined this sight not too long ago and now he has his own place to grow so I was thinking hmmm why not have him start out on a rdwc system and we can both learn it together on how to maintain that type of system at his place

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Dive in


Hope the pool has water in it


Lol

 

[Herby Paisley]

LOL...Plus I really like bluenoserjoe's set up he posted on this thread!

 

[Salton]

My answer would be absolutely yes. I love the ease of it. I’m old, and bending down is harder, and it’s easier for me to change one large Rez than multiple buckets.
I am close to starting my third grow, and with what I learned the last two times, I’m pretty excited.
Go for it.

 

[Indiva710]

It's all up to you on what your wanting out of a grow and your lifestyle more or less as well as size etc..I have done both and done diy of course and I like rdwc better however each system is best in it's own place so all up to you..I like not having to check every bucket 1x1 vs check my control bucket and the top off res and call it a day..it is alot more expensive but also depends on the route your going too as you can do it with 1in hose or 3inch pvc also depends on the amount of room you have on the size of container will you be veg and bloom in the same buckets..I have a 4 site rdwc for veg in a 4.5x4.5 tent it's 8gal 2in pvc all pvc no hoses and there is no elbows on the system and I can take it all apart and reach everything to clean.alita 60 air pump with 2 large pop can size air stones ea bucket and the 13gal top off res nothing in the control bucket since it's where the return is with waterfall..
Thing is with the different strains wanting different nutes etc the same can be sAid from the same strain in seeds being diff phenos they want diff things too so that really only works for clones....I personally haven't had a issue that's a big deal at all.... My bloom tent is a 8x4 4 site with 3in pvc no hose and tees only no elbows I also use waterfalls for it no air stones...I also can seal off each one of my totes and make it a dwc setup on if a plant would have issues and not infect the rest of the system very easily...I also drain the system all but 200ml in ea tote only...just planning and doing lots of research and sketch it out a bunch too...as there's soooo much into it if you want to make it technical and you can make it more simpler whatever you do do not use uniseals it isn't worth it but bulkheads and if you get 2 or 3in use the current culture ones they are the best ones to use and making sure you can clean thee entire system with a brushes etc don't rely only on cleaners and instead of rubber end caps they make test plugs from 1.5in-4inch I believe maybe even bigger and they are like .50more than the cheap rubber caps and the test plugs no tools needed which is nice....I do water changes as needed and in veg I went 6 weeks without a res change and well the same for bloom and my water is clear pH stable plants aren't having any issues just loving life and getting fat drinking 2gal a day almost each..I also run sterlie and it has alot of factors too like your water quality nutrients you use water temp d.o and circulation etc..as I've had nutrients that I've had to do weekly changes with and more with air stones and when I did Bennie's which now I think is a complete waste in hydro...
So I do dwc for things like male plants of course and my lpa cloner is pretty much the same however I use a 1/2 tube to check the level so I don't have to pull off the lid not to mention I can drain the system from it easily and it's easy to take a sample check water quality and if I need to add I can do so from the tube and use a turkey baster to mix the cloner and go from there for pH tds ...I also will be adding fogponics to my new cloner too and see how it works both will be on timers....here's some pics feel free to ask away if you have any questions happy to help...as I didn't cut corners and did it the right way..now my veg setup is a updated version of current cultures previous bucket setup with the ez store bucket however I had to rebuild it change the width and no elbows...plus I added my drainage kit too..orbit pvc fittings are key too as they are removeable/reusable plus not to mention that they allow the pvc to spin so threaded fittings and pumps are a non issues as I run all my pumps inline well besides my cloner hope this helps...
So I am using cultured solutions nutes with r/o which honestly it has been my favorite liquid nute I have used as it is stable and clean dye free however my days of using liquid nutes are over and when I'm out of c.s I will be moving onto Jack's and going dry nutes for everything..in hydro silica is a nice plus to have especially if you train your plants alot and scrog them yes it's a must have in that case...

 

[Herby Paisley]

Indiva710... Wow another great set up thanks for sharing the pics and your take on RDWC and DWC systems... later on down the road if my brother Bubba paisley and I decide to take on RDWC I'd like to ask you and bluenoserjoe a few more questions when time comes on how to best go about doing the diy way with RDWC systems..

 

[bluenoserjoe]

Indiva710... Wow another great set up thanks for sharing the pics and your take on RDWC and DWC systems... later on down the road if my brother Bubba paisley and I decide to take on RDWC I'd like to ask you and bluenoserjoe a few more questions when time comes on how to best go about doing the diy way with RDWC systems..

I'm here most days for an hour or so , would love to answer any questions. As soon as the weather cools a little more I will be setting everything back up with minor changes. So looking forward to starting a new grow, really miss the zen garden.

 

[bluenoserjoe]

Indiva710 that is one clean diy set up .

 

[Indiva710]

Thanks it took lots and lots of research and I pry did 20 diff designs for ea setup too..as I was going to keep the original current culture uc4 setup stock how it came but I was building my bloom room so I figured I would rebuild them both which I am glad I did...so far I have zero regrets on it or anything I would change..also with both my setups if I get a sick plant I can either remove it of course but I can seal it off in the bucket it's in and make it a dwc setup until it would be resolved or whatever..also with both my drain kits the totes furthest from the drain pump is just a hair higher than the others for veg it's just a lil lower same height for both buckets... And bloom the pump is in the middle of the 4 sites well 5 w the control so the totes on the outside the drain. Is highest and then lowers towards the middle I do this so they drain. Fully and nothing is left in the system...unions are a must have for anything over a few feet that you can easily remove and clean...also inside of my bulkheads for the drains I got thread x slip which thread is on the outside and the slip inside so I got 90 elbows with street fitting so they can slide into the bulkhead and don't need to thread them plus the threads just more things for bacteria to get to and if the elbow doesn't reach the bottom of the tote to fully drain. It get a piece of pvc if its a snug fit with the bottom of the tote u will need to notch out the bottom of the pvc I usually use a drill bit and make a cross with the bottom of the pvc just enough for h2o to suck thru but don't go to high the 4 inlets has been enough for my doings also it acts like a filter too so your pump won't get clogged or whatever...the orbit fittings I use are a huuuge plus that's for sure however if you want to be able to remove them like they are made you will have to keep about 1 to 1.5in on each side for the tool to fit in is probably thee only bad thing I've found with them like on my veg setup the drain kit is a very tight fit but it worked out and also on the return line on the rdwc to the pump I put the large pvc tee the 2/3in that pointed to the ground not level like most ppl do you do that cuz it makes the pump easier to prime however you will need to have the bulkheads higher in the totes cuz of that or you would have to raise the buckets if you wanted to have the bulkheads at the lowest part of the side..as current culture did that as well with their new kits...and please do not use elbows unless you can remove them to have access past them to clean..orbit fittings come in 1/2,3/4,1in so they work great for return lines/drain kits, waterfalls etc..DO NOT BUY THE BLACK AND BLUE ORBIT FITTINGS THEY ARE FOR PEX PIPE ONLY NOT PVC!!!!!..home Depot sells both the pvc ones are white with either green or blue ends....

 

[Dr Fish]

Herby:
Rdwc covers a lot of different methods.. What I do for my rdwc is more than a little different from most water growers.. I don't use any air stones or electric water pumps.. I use a duel diaphragm GH air pump to run 2 or 3 Waterfarms.. With WFs I only need a small chiller for the reservoir in the summer.. Not needed in the winter.. A couple of my threads may give you a new slant on rdwc. Waterfarms only cost about 60$ ea.. Make WFs out of buckets even cheaper.. The cost of my mods are fairly cheap and not to difficult.. I do credit my 2 315 watt lec lights for my over1gpw on 100 day grows..