I’ve never used the drip rings. I set my water level 1 1/2" below the net pot. I have 4 air stones in each container. The water is rolling, and the bubbles popping at the top give plenty of moisture to my medium. Once the roots hit the water, hold on.
4 plants to a five gallon bucket WON’T work IMHO. I run 1 plant in a 20gal bucket
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I’ve decided I would use the second bucket. The rdwc with 1 plant isn’t hard and I already have some of the parts. I’m going to lst. The only thing I’m waiting on is hlc lights. I should have enough from my 2 plant soil scrog to last while I wait on lights.
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It would be challenging, but could work in a 2.5x2.5 tent if they were switched to 12/12 shortly after their roots hit the water. You could knock maybe two or three weeks of veg time off the grow. However… 4 in the footprint of a 5 gallon bucket wouldn’t be optimal in my eyes… I’d rather find a 24" low profile tote so I could spread the plants out a little more in the space.
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20G? Trash can or tote or something?
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Trash cans. Next grow will be in 27gal totes
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@dbrn32 I know your going to e-choke me lol but I ordered a 1000w blurple and a par meter. It was only $28 together on wish so I’m not expecting much but I was just curious about the performance. I’m waiting on hlc to email me when they’ve restocked so I figured I’d waste some time and money lol on experiment.
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$28 is pretty cheap. Worst case scenario you could probably get your money worth repurposing some of the components.
I didn’t think of repurposing parts. That’s a good idea. So what is the target par for the different stages of growth? I am excited about the par meter.
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Ppfd average of about 400 umols per second for veg and 600-800 umols per second for flower.
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@PharmerBob @BigDaddyCain @DoobieNoobie you guys use rdwc correct? I built my own drip ring because I have a ton of irrigation parts. So my question is on water changes. Once I fire up my system next month when I go to water change if I move my drip ring to an empty bucket can I use it to pump out my old res water? I know once roots hit water it won’t matter but it won’t cause any drying to my medium (hydroton) or roots that will be bad for my plant?
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Yes you can I use my pump to drain my system all the time also get a little shop vac head that hooks to top of a 5 gal bucket the get rest of water out it’s like 25 bucks at home depot
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Yep that would work great. Especially since you can remove it as soon as it gets roots in water. The media itself should stay dry once the roots get going. They’ll provide all the plant needs. I added drain lines and valves to mine but a pump is still much faster.
If I remove it and there is no water coming out of res into top of bucket will it still have proper recirculation?
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Sorry I didn’t see the notification on this. As long as your air pump is churning the water it will be fine. If you really wanted to increase circulation you could add a small piece of PVC or some extra tubing and 2 90° elbows to pump the water up and make a waterfall like stream inside the bucket off to one edge. I’ll see if I can find a pic similar to what I’m describing.
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@dbrn32 ok I’ve decided to go with hlg products. My tent is (rounding down a bit) 2.5’x2.5’x5’. Which I believe would take 4 of the 120s which don’t require heat sinks, not sure, that’s why I’m deffering to you. Can you give me links to the parts I would need to build it to completion? Please.
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I can’t boards or driver.
You need at least 5 of these
https://www.amazon.com/Wago-222-412-Lever-Nuts-Conductor-Connectors/dp/B07CNKLZPQ/?tag=greenrel-20
https://www.amazon.com/Bergen-Industries-Inc-PS913163-Appliance/dp/B07BQB7FH5/?tag=greenrel-20
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Adhesive-Mounts-Secure-V-story/dp/B0785MY7CG/?tag=greenrel-20
You can substitute any of that stuff for other items. Otherwise the only other stuff you should need is hardware to assemble frame.
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Thank you. I thought HLG had stuff on amazon. So would the 4-120 QB work for that space? What driver would you recommend?
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More than adequate for the space. They may have boards on there, but they’re usually not available.
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HLG-240h-c2100a would be the driver?
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Horticulture Lighting Group 4X QB120 V2 Quantum Boards (3000K) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KQGLJWT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Vx8zDbQ6AZ38G
Meanwell HLG-240H-C2100A Power Supply - 249.9W 2100mA - IP65 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752LG67H/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tV8zDb1C11BF5
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