I have a very good question for everyone

[philipmarrone94]

So I'm building a recirculating system.5gal res with 2 2gal. Buckets..with a sermisable pump.. wondering they most efficient way to circulate it..???? Push water through the bottom and return on top...??or or pump water through top while it returns through the bottom..??? Any thoughts please ??

 

[Old Salt]

I designed a system, where the water entered at the top, and exited on the bottom. BUT, the exit had a riser tube in it to control the water level in the pail, so it actually drained from the top as well. The entrance and exits were on opposite sides of the pail. I used threaded bulkhead fittings in the bottom of the pail, so this design required that the pails be raised a little.

The level of water in the reservoir needs to be at or below the level in the pails. Setting the reservoir on the ground allowed more water in the same size footprint. The reservoir had a side entrance for the water return from the pails. This arrangement keeps the water level in the pails constant, even with a low reservoir.

 

[Bigjake8]

I tried pushing in the bottom and out the top/ side worked but could of used a bigger pump than I had
If you drop in the top you will get a little waterfall action and ad some o2

2 gal. Is kinda small buckets will work but 3 or 5 gal be better
I also just used a ebb n flow valve on the buckets for drains because they had the screens on them so the roots wouldn't plug the lines up

 

[philipmarrone94]

I tried pushing in the bottom and out the top/ side worked but could of used a bigger pump than I had
If you drop in the top you will get a little waterfall action and ad some o2

2 gal. Is kinda small buckets will work but 3 or 5 gal be better
I also just used a ebb n flow valve on the buckets for drains because they had the screens on them so the roots wouldn't plug the lines up

My tent only 24-24-48 so.have to utilize every bit of room I'll try 3g..

 

[philipmarrone94]

So what would be more efficient ...flow up into a.waterfall drop to the buckets..or the bottom flow.and return to res..sounds like waterfall because the added O2.

 

[Old Salt]

Don't worry too much about waterfall. The added O2 is negligible. Don't forget DWC or RDWC need a large airflow to keep the roots aerated. This puts far more O2 into the water and root zone than any waterfall additions.

 

[Bigjake8]

I'd say the top I'm feeding 6 5gal buckets with a 250 gph pump and when I bottom feed 4 it would hardly fill the buckets up to just below the net pot where my drain was but with the 6 going in the top it's easier on the pump and I'm actually flowing more water


Dam that is small
A 3 and 5 gal. Bucket is same width about 13 inches but the 3 gal. Is about 4 inches shorter so that would gain you height look for a square tote or something but even Your 2 gal. Will fill you up with plant my first dwc was 2 gal and it got over a QP dry

 

[Bigjake8]

Yes you do still need airstones in there