Hey Fellow Growbies, I was asked about making a journal when I finally set this system up as some ppl were interested in it’s set up so here it is. Hope I started it in the right place.
It’s a RDWC system with 10 gallon antimicrobial buckets by the bucket system and each one has its own manifold with 4 ports for different degree misting tips. I have a pump to feed the system in the reservoir and another that goes to the chiller. There’s a heater set to only cut on if the temperature of the nute solution drops below 68. There’s a Neptune Apex monitoring system with pH, temp, and ORP probes that I can access and see on my phone at any time along with an auto doser hooked up to some Phosphoric acid that will automatically dose a set amount if it senses the pH is out of the range I set it to. The first light is a Gavita 1700 LED and the one behind it is a Mammoth 10 bar 800w LED.
There’s a CO2 generator up top and I’ve got the PPM set to 650 for the time being.
There are also 2 8” can fans (fresh air and exhaust) that are set to run 15 mins every hour. I would like to set these to set up more efficiently in time so they run based of humidity or something else (recommendations welcome) and I can probably use a three way to plug them into the auto pilot so I don’t waste gas when the fans are on.
A few hurricane fans for air movement. Not sure if I missed anything but if I did let me know and I’ll be happy to answer.
I am running the full Emerald Harvest line up for nutes along with hydro guard and some mammoth P that I put in there. I switch between using their root builder and mykos or mycorrhiza + with RO water. Nutes are running about 400 ppm atm
Sadly I already have some issues Already:
I moved my girls into their buckets about 2 weeks ago after germinating and having them in a Humidity dome for a few weeks. .
They did fairly well the first week but I noticed them struggling a few days ago and I did a water change yesterday on them only to find them pretty bad this morning , not sure if it’s the nute solution or the fact that water is not retaining in their buckets or the fact that the misters are actually keeping some of the plants too moist bc I haven’t Fine tuned it yet. Some of my leaves are too wet I feel like bc initially I didn’t have enough media in the bag. Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. Let me know what you think. And thanks as always?
@Ebb hey brother, I finally did it and it’s a little more a struggle than I thought it would be to be honest. lol I had better results running just buckets last year lol feel free to give any input or tag anyone you think would be interested or could help
Awesome. Intersted in seeing how well these work out. Thats a shit ton of gravel lol.
Im about to fire up the Ultra-Pot Advanced Grow System and do another run with it. Ill be posting everything about it along the way. You may see some things about it that would help your setup.
@AfgVet The design of smart gravel as well as that type system is basically a continuous feed since the roots are always exposed to oxygen. Most likely running in 15min on and off intervals
I’ve had it continuously pumping since it drains so fast, but I like the 15 min on/off idea I might do that. I can program the outlet on the Apex for the pump this afternoon. It seems to run pretty well except for the fact that it seems too wet for sure and I’ve turned down the valves some on each bucket. The girls suddenly started getting those brown spots and I’m wondering what could be the cause?
You call it RDWC but looks more like an ebb and flow setup. So; if RDWC how far below net pot is the solution? Misters are top-feeding? How much air to solution?
So the brown spots are most likey from nutrient splashing on the leaves. I wish i was closer to you so i could cone see exactly whats going on and how we could tweek it.
Those type of sprinkler heads are janky and not for exact coverage. They will also clog if youre running any type of bios like wormcastings. So plugged heads might become an issue.
Pvc panel from home depot is my go to for modifications and repairs.
Personally i would build tops for each table with a single hole cut for a netpot and reroute the manifolds under the top spraying upwards like an aeroponic system and run a single dripper ring to top feed until roots establish enough underneath.
Thats a ton of work to do but gives more control over the environment and algae which may become an issue with the open top design
Try 15 on and 15 off with your feedings as well. It forces the roots to grow much faster
I will send @neofirebird this way. He was in hydro and I think he grew like this for a while before changing to autopots. There is one more that I know that still grows like this. I just have to remember who it is.
As for the leaves. I had that issue before. For me. It was as mentioned. Getting a little feed splashed on these combined with the lights to strong. You don’t need much at this point. I only use 35w for the first week on mine. hen go to 45w
I just set the outlet to Turn on and off every 15 minutes so we’ll see how that goes.
I was hoping the buckets would retain more water like regular deep water culture but it drains so fast that it barely retains more than a few inches at a time, I have ball valves on the main drains but don’t really want to mess with them as they’re really hard to find tune. Maybe I should have gone with gate valves instead. Like I said it’s a totally new system so it definitely still has a good bit of fine tuning to do. @Ebb I like the idea with the pvc panels to cover each bucket bc I’m already starting to have a little bit of algae coming up and I was wondering how to combat the issue . I was debating on making my own drippers out of irrigation line from lowes and setting them right on top of the smart gravel in hopes that would increase the flow rate of the water and reduce the algae. Wasn’t really set on it yet though.
Should I trim the burnt leaves or just them them be at this point?
I can ramp down the mammoth at little more ( it’s at 25 % now, was at 35 before) but the Gavita i unfortunately don’t have a controller for so height is the only thing I can change with that one.
And I appreciate everyone’s input and help, def trying to save my girls and give them the best chance to bounce back. Sorry it took forever to respond, sadly had a long day at work worrying about them. And any other things yal notice with the set up that yal think I should tweak or could work on to make it better? Thanks growbies
I think you are worried about roots drying out while hanging in the buckets, but I think due to the sealed environment they would actually benefit from more time out of the solution. The last time I ran ebb and flow they saw liquid 4 times per day for 30 minutes.
really impressive grow setup you put together…I would cover those stones because you are spraying on them and light is right there … so IMHO you are inviting algae into your system
@AfgVet thanks for the tag. Not sure that’s an RDWC but would recommend adjusting the cycle on the pump sprayer. At this growth stage I would only be cycling a few times a day, looks really wet. I would also check the net cup distance to solution, 2” should work great. Dampening off is very easy to do in a plant at this age. The roots will absorb a lot of moisture from the sealed buckets in between the fertigation cycles
If I remember right. I think others were covering the stones with perlite. A cheap option would be to grab a small sheet of panda film. Cut a square from cardboard to fit each pot as a cover. And cover the cardboard in the panda film. I am making a top like that for my 2’ saucers I grow 2 plants each in.
I have a similar system but using a single tote for the plant with the spray manifold inside spraying up towards the roots draining back to a reservoir and pump
feel free to give any input or tag anyone you think would be interested or could help
