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seeking advice for plant setup


bl0nd3

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Hey Fellow growers, hope you all had a merry christmas!!

 

 

Im still yet to create a proper setup, for now im just going with the flow, but I want to create a system setup, and I have an idea I wanted to run by other users who would have more experience and would be able to let me know if the design would work before I go purchasing all the parts etc.

 

*my main requirement is to have the ability to move my plants from inside at night, to outside in the sun during the day. So one bucket per plant is probably required, as i cant see little 5 foot, 42kg me lifting a large tub full of water with multiple plants. Also important is shut off/ closure valves (I think thats what they are called, iv never done any irrigation or retic before so any correction would help when it comes to buying the parts lol)

 

*i like the idea of using the air rocks to add oxygen to the nutrient solution.

 

*I like the idea of constant flow through the buckets.

 

- i see their are numerous setups, many with different names such as ebb and flow, DWC, floating,

 

Heres an idea of the type of setup I want to make but im curious to know about how the water flow works - will a pump be required in each bucket, and if the plants will require a feed from above the root surface (so a drip feeder aswell as the circulating water below), or if the circulating water is enough to feed the plants?

 

 

 

setup.jpg

 

I read the thread " a simple circulating system" thats pinned and while it looks awesome, i would prefer to have just one water tank with the air stone and pump, is their any reason why i would need two seperate tanks?

 

 

Also regarding bucket size, is it a negative thing when the roots become bunched up, as seen here?

 

deep-water-culture-cannabis.jpg

 

 

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Also - what type of water pump am i after, just having a look on ebay and i see heaps, but they all seem to be for water-fountains and air pumps, where as i want to push the water through a tube, so what is this type of pump called? or can i use the water fountain pump and not attatch the fountain part?

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DWC in summer is difficult you will almost certainly need a chiller to keep ur nutes at about 21c.  you also need airstones in the tanks with ur plants in them too. 

 

I think you will find it does not lend itself to dis connectiong and moving ur plants either.

 

Coco is much more forgiving and will also lend to moving ur plants around

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Hey you want be able to grow in rocks outdoors ATM to hot you wouldn't be able to keep nutrient souloution at a decent temp . Even if this setup was inside you would need a chiller unit. If I was you I would grow in coco and hand water a lot easyier than having to worry about pumps and stuff coco holds good amount of moisture which we need in Perth ATM it's goin to be a hot summer.
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I suppose first thing to decide is what media you are going to grow in. I have seen I think you asking questions about Coco and soil.

If this is your media of choice then it in some ways rules out the drawing you have as most soil and coco systems don't recirculate because the medium tends to deteriorate over time and block the system and pump rotors. Most who use this system run to waste, which means water goes in top, through the soil and waste water runs down a drain. 

 

The system you have drawn is a soilless hydroponics or DWC, the clay balls in the Nettie pots is there only to stop the plant from falling over, and the roots are in the oxygenated water all the time. So pump going at all times and air stones in each pot. The reservoir is recycling the water to ensure the nutrients are equally distributed.

 

The system I use, and I'm not saying its to everyone's taste, is a top feed recirculating system using clay balls instead of soil.

The clay balls give the roots room to collect water and air and if the pump goes they will still have a small supply to keep them alive till I fix it.

I have 13mm feeder hose from my submersible pump in the reservoir (50litre) out to 4 x 4mm feeder rings around the plants.

The timer is set for 5min feeds every 2 hours so with a 750 litre/hour pump EACH plant gets 4 litre of nutrient rich water over that 5 mins then 2 hours to get air and for the roots to reach out.

 

My pots are 19ltr inside 27ltr pots, inside with holes in bottom, outside with one 19mm drain hole set 5cm above bottom. The water runs through the balls and into the bottom pot then back to the reservoir, but if the pump fails there is enough water in the bottom of the outside pot for the roots to stay alive.

The inside pots can be taken out of the main system and swapped into the veg room as this system is identical.

The pots are set on top of a small frame (6 inch) so that there is a downward flow to the reservoir at ground level and are detachable. I have used hose Quick clips on the drainage pipe and installed a 19mm inline tap, so that when I clean my reservoir and when I flush, I can just turn off the drain (trapping the water in the pots) unclip and take outside and hit with hose.

 

The reservoir has air stones to oxygenate the water and keep the nutrients in suspension and is easy to manage. I just maintain the water level and ppm.

Its simple and except for the clay balls can all be bought at Bunning's.

 

hope this helps.

 

You will notice in the pics you see a float valve as well. this is because sometimes am away for a couple days and in flower that means I could run out of water so it is connected to an external Extra Rez so when the level drops the tank is auto filled back up again but you wont need that so just ignore the float (and the green plants) in the pics.

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