Wilma 4 pot system advice

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Not a big fan of these style of systems, though at least this one looks more robust than the fabric style Growlush version.  2 big problem for me are: 1 the res is in the grow room rather than out, which exposes the res to potential heat issues and light leaks.  2 is the difficulties in draining, flushing, cleaning the res when it's in the tent and under the plants.  On top of that, I know I can build a customised recirc hydro system to suit my situation better than a prefab at a lower cost, but do understand the temptation of prefab.

 

I just drilled out 4 new holes in each one 8mm bit. Have. Also added an airstone and air pump to oxygenate the nutes . I put a chux wipe in each base to stop any of the Coco falling into the rez.

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Ummm, why coco?  It's a recirc hydro system.  Even if you want automated feeding of coco there are cheaper and simpler options that don't end up with coco and roots in the res and pump.  It's designed for top feeding clayballs or perlite.

 

Extra drain holes in those pots would be a good idea though.

 

[Homebrewer]

Not slot at this stage. Cold in Melbourne. Maybe a chiller later in the year as it heats up.

 

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[Homebrewer]

The lads in UK let the roots into the aerated tank. They thrive in it. I'd be concerned about the fouling the pump. I'm going to add feeding rings and upgraded pipe instead of the tube as I'm concerned they may block restricting the feed.

 

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[Gazza2001au]

Another member here done a 3 plant recirculating coco system under 3x 600w lights just a few months back he was having a shit fight with the unstable PH, people told him coco was not meant for recirc systems however he went a head and pulled a nice harvest

 

go clay balls its more aerated much more oxygen to the roots

 

Hashy these systems are more based around F&D systems some actually are F&D but keeping the res inside of the growing area minimizes the overall footprint of the growing equipment, some people don;t have the space to store a big tub plus there tents probably why these little systems were designed for people living in small one or two bedroom apartments in the big cities 

[Homebrewer]

A mate uses Coco perlite clay ball blend in his and the results are very impressive. 4 pots using scrog nearly a pound of top shelf gear.

 

 

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[Indycar]

Hmm, 11 litre pots. Once the clayballs go in it doesn't leave a lot of room for the plants root system.

 

You'll certainly grow plants in them, just that options of growing some bigger plants may be limited.

[Indycar]

You could run the roots into the rez, but then you'll have hassles when changing out the nutes (plant roots becoming entangled), and risk roots getting sucked into the pump and fowling that up, which in turn  shuts down the recirc system.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Hashy these systems are more based around F&D systems some actually are F&D but keeping the res inside of the growing area minimizes the overall footprint of the growing equipment, some people don;t have the space to store a big tub plus there tents probably why these little systems were designed for people living in small one or two bedroom apartments in the big cities 

 

Not having a go at you Gaz, actually agree with what you're saying, just think it's a problematic system and that building a custom system would be a better option, and trying to explain why I think that. 

 

Going on the pic it's not flood and drain, but with a different pot and plumbing system could be used that way.  Not that it matters, as both are recirc systems.  I agree they are designed for simplicity and for people with restricted space, and believe me I can see the appeal, but I just don't like the idea of having the res in the grow room, or having a res like that which is highly problematic for draining/cleaning, not to mention the difficulty of avoiding root blockages which lead to tent flooding.  Still an option for space restricted people.

 

Biggest problem with recirc hydro is having less height available due to having to put plants higher to enable gravity fed return to the res, and that's what these systems seem to be aiming at.  But as someone who regularly grows recirc, I'm acutely aware of the issues that system could throw up, so there's potential for a lot of extra work.  If it's an option, I would suggest setting a tent up on a raised platform as the best way around the issue, with the res under the platform.  I don't have the available height to do that, so I raise my tubs a little, and dug a hole in the floor of my shed to sit the res in, which has the added bonus of helping keep res temps down when ambient temps start to rise.  Did take me 2 seasons to remember not to trip over the plumbing though

 

But even if you need to put the res in the room, a custom built system with a res that can be separated from the plants and removed for draining/cleaning etc still seems to be a better option than that system.  It's not rocket science, just takes a bit of thought and planning.  Also agree those pots are too small, and probably too close together for canna.

 

I run a custom flood and drain occassionally for auto's in my 120x60x160 tent, which also has fan, filter, silencer, and cooltube up top, and unfortunately have no choice but to put the res in the tent.  I make it work, but it's a lot of extra work, and the res gets removed regularly, which was thankfully planned for in the design stage.  2 tubs, a pump, some poly plumbing bits, and half a section of PVC pipe to allow for clearing roots from the inlet and outlet, all from Bunnings, probably total of about $70 and half an hrs work.  My big tent setup cost a little bit more, but mainly due to having 3 extra, and bigger, tubs and a higher flow pump, but I'd need 2 of those systems to replace it and they wouldn't hold as much medium or allow proper location of the plants in my space, not to mention the maintenance issues.

 

[micmac]

Yes hashy I agree when I tried to set up nft my biggest problem was where to place the res,at first I had it the tent but it was hard to remove and refill and clean also couldn't keep the temps down , so I put the tent on 2 pallets and moved it outside the tent the problem I had then was that I couldn't keep the temps constant again getting to hot or getting below 13 c in the night time even with 2 heaters in there ,during the day the temps would go up to 25c ,I looked at getting a chiller for water but I also needed 1 that would heat the water when required $800 plus ,I put my tail between my legs and went to coco ,these systems seem very cool and sound really easy , but my experience tells me it's not that easy ,another thing is all that lost space u use just setup cutting your grow space in 1/2,I am thinking maybe 2/3 seasons to get this dialled in and a lot of expensive equipment, just 1 more thing if you can't keep your water at a constant temp 18c all the time I don't think it's worth the hassle, u get pretty sick of putting frozen 2L bottles of water in there all summer

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Yep, that's pretty much why I only run recirc during the winter cycle, just chuck a water heater in set to 20 degrees and don't have to worry about it.  1 round with root rot from the res getting too hot was enough for me to use coco the rest of the time.  A bigger res helps with stable temps if you have big ambient temp swings between night and day, amongst other things.

 

I love coco/perlite, but find that I get stronger and faster growth in clayballs, though I have found a couple of strains seem to bud up better in coco for some reason, but only a couple.  Can't go past coco in the warmer weather though, or for simplicity.