@Jungle yea, i removed the carbon mechanical filter, and replaced with more mechanical media. So its 100% mechanical. Here is what i added.
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@Syndrix i used parachute cord and a truckers hitch knot to make “straps” to keep it square. On the bucket thing, i used 4 gal first, when i started adding Voodoo juice, Tarantula and Piranha the root mass over grew the buckets and i had brown clown down there. I had to get 13 gal buckets for more root volume, but i grow huge.
@Jarlax does it collect a lot often?
@Syndrix yeah it sucks! I’ll speak to them today and see if they have the 13 gallon ones. I was really psyched and no clue what to do now. Ive seen a lot of people have that issue with the totes as well and supporting it with string but would rather start with the bucket I want. It’s harder to pay 4x the price now though on Amazon when I had the good deal stuck in my mind. I would consider putting in the order anyway and just assuming it may get cancelled.
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@42 not huge amounts, i clean it out once a week. It does get moderate dirty in a week. I also have that pump bag filter on the return pipe as a prefilter and clean that once a week, but if it gets to clogged the water will push it off before disaster.
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@Syndrix that sucks man, i had to pay like $40 each for the 13 gal + lids, but i got them from my local hydro store.
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I bought the 8 gallon ones I have from a local grow shop, they were pricey there but no shipping
Not sure if you have local shops to check
I do have a few local shops nearby and I’ll check today. I’d rather pay higher locally anyway and support them. And since I think I’ll start with a 2 bucket grow I guess it won’t be so bad anyway. Every time I walk into a grow store I buy way more than I need though lol
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Just spoke to them and they do have the 13 gallon ones in stock. Not sure I want that though.
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Hey brother, just curious as to what kind of troubles you’ve seen with the totes?? 
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Just the sides bulging a bit. I guess my main issue with them is their size, but that works both ways bc the extra water is helpful, I just liked the idea of the square 8 gallon ones because it could allow me to choose 2 or 4 and I can’t fit 4 totes(I think). Otherwise they do seem like a good choice and something I will have to consider more. I guess I also liked that the black square ones are specifically “food grade” and in a YouTube video I watched someone said eventually non food grade ones get affected somehow by the nutes. No clue if there’s any truth to that. Obviously a lot of people use totes so it can’t be much of an issue?
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Some progress shots of the current grow. Since I have taken people’s advice and gained an understanding of what the plants need and increased my maintenance, they’ve done pretty well.
Pictured are 2 plants, a tall one in front and shorter behind it. Both Jack Herrer Autos.
The short one’s buds are nicer imo but both looking and smelling great.
-42-
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They look outstanding! Keep’em growin! 
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Looking amazing!
Maybe I’ll convince myself to go order 4 of those 13 gallon lol but then I need new bulkheads, it’s so expensive to redo buckets lol
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Thanks all. The buds are really filling in.
Do you think the big plant is too larp-y? There are SO many bud sites. In the past I have trimmed more heavily and this grow I held back. The one plant is so tall there isn’t much I could do anyway. I wish there was height consistency between seeds of the same strain without having to make clones.
Lol yeah the bulkheads kill it. And whatever I build, I’d love to have a lot of unions to be able to disassemble it easily and reconfigure it. That’s a small fortune there. Anyone use fernco couplings with good results?
Have a great morning!
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I use union joint but I only did one of them to the res wasn’t enough room between my buckets
All this was originally built and fit perfectly in my 2x5 and will probably end up back in it and turning into continually grow setup,
But I added an adapter pipe into my union to bring my res down the side of the tent to make this work until I redo my buckets for the new 5x5 tent.
So I’m really glad I used the union but I do kinda wish I would have used more and could reposition the buckets, but they never would have fit 
I didn’t keep up with trimming last grow either, ended up having to harvest in stages with larfy buds primarily the lower ones…
I’m hoping on my next grow to do better about removing the lower stuff so the upper stuff is just bigger and fatter,
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That’s 2" pipe right? I’m debating on 2" or 3" also for my next build. 2 looks sufficient and nice build there, looks great. Definitely see what you mean about having no room. I’m trying to find a used chiller. Do they use a lot of power?
I’ve never harvested in stages. That would be ideal to do for my tall plant but it’s an autoflower and I’ve heard they can be easily traumatized. Think it’s ok?
Beautiful looking plants there on your last grow!
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That last grow all of them are autos
I harvest the left one 3 or 4 stages the right on 8 harvested in 3 sections.
The little middle one all at once
I need 2 15 amp breakers for my grow, but all my bedrooms (3) are on the same breaker, one room is used as an office and has 2 computers running so it gets shared with my light and fans in the tent, I trim everything else off an outlet from my entry way so it’s a different breaker.
The chillers cycle on and off, when they first turn on there is a spike in power usage… I think I got 1/4 hp chiller which is over kill for me.
Yeah 2 inch pipe, bulkhead and unions get really expensive over 2 inch imo
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Hope I can find a cheap chiller. I’m not good at figuring out safe levels of electricity stuff so I’ll have to learn that or ask for some help. I can have my tent on 1 breaker, which includes fans, 2x 100w lights, air pump, and then I’ll have to factor in a stronger air pump, a circulator pump, and hopefully chiller. That cant be too bed right? Haha. I know most people go with more powerful lighting but I’ve found mine to be really great. I have a 200w that I’ve experimented with but prefer the 2x 100 for now.
You’re right, the 3" isnt going to happen - way too pricey. I got the idea from a YouTube build but not seeing the point.
Did another water change tonight for shits and giggles. Things are looking pretty! I’m happy to hear the layered harvest worked well on the autos! That should help me out a lot doing that.
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Welp…really kicking myself. For months I’ve been wondering why ppm charts don’t correspond with my ppm readings after mixing nutes - with the numbers being wildly off. Turns out this entire time I’ve had the TDS meter thingy, a HM com-80, on the wrong setting:person_facepalming:t2:
. I don’t know what the heck I was reading in the past but apparently I’ve got to read the manuals more often. Never really used the device with my previous soil grows.
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I did the same thing with my TDS meter.
It has EC scale, ppm 500 and ppm 700
So EC is the base measurement and ppm is just a calculation from the EC number basically EC x 500 gets you the 500 scale and EC x 700 gets you the ppm 700 scale.
Once I figured all that out I decided to just use EC, the base measurement
So once again you found a personal preference lol which scale will you use?
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