First Grow moving from soil to RDWC

Show Your Grow
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This is my first time growing in RDWC and so far its been a learning experience but also a blast! I truly enjoy the control hydroponics provide.

So far the biggest hurdle was getting it leak free, but overall it wasn’t too bad. It took the wife and I a couple days of testing.

I have done 6 soil grows in a 4x4 AC Infinity setup. They have all went pretty well.

After lots of digging and looking at pre-fabbed kits, I ended up going DIY.

Here are the specs of what I had before adding hydroponics
4x4 AC Infinity Tent
AC Infinity 400w light
AC Infinity 6 inch inline fan
AC Infinity Humidifier
AC Infinity controller
GE Dehumidifier
2x 2nd Gen AC Infinity Oscillating fans

  • Shoutout to AC infinity for replacing my 1st gen fans after 2 years!

Mars Hydro 4 inch inline fan for intake
Jacks 321 (Sticking with this for hydro as I love the price and results)

Here is my Hydro build so far
4x Sterilite 7.5 Gallon Plastic Stacker Totes

  • 1 reservoir
  • 3 plants
    6 inch netpots
    Hydrofarm AAPA15L Air pump
    Pawfly Aquarium 4 Inch Air Stone (res and plant totes)
    VIVOSUN 800GPH Submersible Pump in res tote
    2 inch feed PVC with 2 inch bulkheads
    1.5 inch drain (Located lower than the feed lines)
  • I went with 1.5 inch on the drain as Tractor supply was limited on 2inch bulkheads and I wasn’t patient.

Water transfer pump to drain/fill system

As it sits I have the vivoson pump on a smart switch, which I can control from anywhere via Home Assistant. I plan on adding some cheap Tuya water sensors, which I will further integrate into Home Assistant. If water is detected, the pump will get shutoff etc.

Tonight is my first week of the plants being in place, they were started in soil and then moved over last Wednesday (1/22/25) at roughly 6:30pm EST.

So far water temps, PH and PPM/EC have been rock solid.

  • 5.9 PH
  • 350ppm
  • ec .9
  • Water temps 67 in the morning, 71 by lights out

No chiller atm, the setup is in the basement and its the middle of winter here in CNY. I suspect I will run a standalone AC unit or a chiller come the summer months. Keep in mind I also have central air.

I have hydro guard ready to go, but left it out during the seedling stage for now. Looking to swap water every 10-12 days.

Here are some pics of the progress!

Hydro Setup

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First fire up

Plant pictures

Day 1 - 1/22/25

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Today Day 7 1/29/25

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Next steps

  • Tuya water sensor and Home Assistant integration
  • Tuya Temp/PH/PPM smart meters and HA integration
  • Install 5 gallon paint strainers onto net pots to contain roots
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What is your reservoir size?

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They are all 7.5 gallon tubs, including the res.

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Okay; that’s a check rez. If you were to add a standing reservoir RDWC, keep it outside the grow space on your basement floor, you will likely not need a chiller. Also by adding more capacity to your system, the PH and TDS drift far less. That can be added to your setup fairly easily. The biggest expense would be a container.

I applaud your use of larger totes over buckets. Likely aren’t going to need fabric protectors for roots: let 'em loose in the totes. You can bag any submersible pumps in the system if you’d like.

You want to maintain about 1 1/2 to 2" of space below net pot and liquid. Lots of air to each plant tote. You might also run an aquarium wavemaker in your check rez.

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I appreciate it, alot of your input on these forums influenced my choice to move to the 7.5 gallon totes. I feel like they make a lot of sense for my tents foot print of 4x4.

I did drop the water level (Compared to the video), its now a smidge below the netpot.

I may add waterfalls and overflow’s, but will see.

So far this has been a super fun project! The wife helped me with all of it, it was a team effort!

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Now that’s a solid start for a journal! This is gonna be good. :+1:t2:

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I feel like these bulkheads need their own post.

For that price, they are fantastic imo. Anyone looking to do their own RDWC with totes, I don’t think there is a better price on bulkheads than that.

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I think your gonna be pressed for room.

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Totally fair, it should be interesting if I cut back to 2 plants next grow. I figured, full send this 1st try and a “mess around and find out” mentality…

edit to remove profanity

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Or you now have an excuse for a bigger tent lol.

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That would require a bigger house. That specific room is also my VR/Man cave so I have to be reasonable. Next house we purchase, I want at least a 10x10 area for growing all sorts of plants.

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We’re all dreamers right? I’d love open space to grow as well lol.

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You’ll find that you will quickly run out of room in that too!!

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Isn’t that the truth. 1st world problems I guess.

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Also, holy shit I forgot a important aspect.

These are ILGM grand daddy purple seeds.

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I used them airstones before. My problem was occasionally they flipped over. But that is a nice setup. I had nice grows whith them air stones, before switching to 4 inch round.

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Just wanted to give a update on how things are going. Yesterday was officially week #3 from when they were moved from soil to RDWC.

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Pretty happy so far.

Here are the roots from the biggest plant. I think they look pretty good!

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Also added this smart water temp sensor which has been nice to keep water temps in check.

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Overall really enjoying RDWC!

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morning growmie…never saw the bag over the roots to stop them from growing into the pipes…nice addition …

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Thanks growme!.

I found that idea digging on these forums. 5 gallon paint strainer bags. Freaking genius!

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