K.I.S.S. my Buckets

[s1ingblade]

Re: K.I.S.S. myBuckets

well here goes nothing as soon as I can find a 3/4" bit I am going to link up the Eight, 4 gallon bucket pails. Thanks to bassman59 and smokzalot and all the other fine, selfless growers here at 420mag I am starting to see some nice results and am I think 3 weeks out from my first RDWC run
if you guys think it looks ok please let me know?

 

[Lurch Farmer]

I got a 3/4 bit ...............

 

[s1ingblade]

my biggest bit is1/2" and than the smallest paddle bit is 1" ahhh, lol. its always something
Hoping my tool shed out on my ranch has what I need. If not I will have to wait until I can get to town and spend more dosh. Sucks that this small town's hardware store went out of business. Anyone want to open a hardware store lol

 

[Lurch Farmer]

I'll be right over

 

[Lurch Farmer]

As soon as you buy new 1 the old 1 will show up.

 

[Tom Bombodil]

Harbor freight has the best value holesaw kit, hands down, for like $5 or something. Every size you can imagine up to 5", with arbors and all, in a little plastic kit. When the big box stores want $30 + special arbors for every hole larger than 2". Criminal!

 

[s1ingblade]

about an hour after my last post I remembered I had bought one of those cheapo kits with the multiple hole saws 3/4" to 5"s. Thanks guys. Of course the grommets I have must be different cause once I got the 3/4" hole cut I realized theres no way that grommet is going to go inside that sized hole. Tomorrow I will find a piece of scrap and figure out which size it needs to be. I will let yall know how it turned out.

 

[SmokzAlot]

There are different grommets out there, I would measure before drilling. Even with mine at 3/4" it looks like it wont go but with a little soap for lube and some force it slips in. You want a tight fit..

System here is running great, I just need to learn more about managing this RDWC. Res temps are the biggest issue.

 

[Lurch Farmer]

just resently I needed 75 1/2"grommet. The place I went with sent 3 different sizes, and the holes were in buckets all ready from previous sets.
The next time I need to freshen up lines and such, I will be going large bulk.500+

 

[s1ingblade]

Indeed, I ended up getting it done correctly with a 7/8" bit
Since I didn't have enough buckets to make a mistake I drilled a test hole in an outside planter that needed some drainage holes anyways and kept from making a mistake, too many in the past to do it again lol.
Hey Smokz can you put the controller into a tote/bath and add 20 ounce bottles of frozen water, until you find a smokin deal on a small chiller on craigslist like I did?

 

[SmokzAlot]

Currently I am managing temps and running a Bene Tea. See where this leads me.

 

[s1ingblade]

DUH!! as im scrubbing out the residuals from the brand new 4 gallon black bucket pails I finally realized with a epicenter aka control bucket one copuld just throw in the frozen bottles right into it. LOL WTF come on brain

 

[s1ingblade]

So far this is what I have accomplised today, still have to test for leaks but also need to take into consideration some form of overflow protection so when I setup a rain barrel with RO and a float I flood the room if the float fails which will happen eventually

 

[SmokzAlot]

AZ it looks nice. Be aware your drain/fill time is limited by the common return hose. My design being recirculating I wanted more return flow than a common single line allows. Top drip feed may be fine. Is your plan to DWC, RDWC, or ebb-n-flo? With my system I balance flow and control levels somewhat, with the feed supply valves at each bucket.

 

[Tom Bombodil]

AZ when you talked about testing the holes out on a planter before drilling your buckets, it reminded me of something aircraft mechanics say... "Trouble shoot on the ground!" Kudos for measuring twice to cut once.

Your forethought re: the overflow fittings also demonstrates your legal expertise in the Court of Murphy! In which I often find myself a defendant, pleading the 5th.

 

[Lurch Farmer]

 

[SmokzAlot]

Update: My overflow worked as needed. I had drained the system and shut valves when doing so. I then opened all valves full and powered on the pump. I started my balance at the end of the system working towards the closest bucket to the pump. I learned by the time I got there it had hit the overflow already. This is where a 3/4" return would work much better instead of slowing circulation to not overrun the single 1/2" return. I shutter to think how it would be if I had run 1/2" single feeds and tees, instead of the individual lines I have.

I will admit I am now thinking of adding in the future and internal loop with some spray heads... er Aero. I am thinking my pump and network are ready all I need is a tee and about a 30" piece of 1/2" black hose. Make a hoop off the tee and connect to the inner elbow. Pop in a few spray heads. Drop the controller or raise the buckets and fire it up... Hmmmmm

 

[s1ingblade]

I ended up having to rush the plants and the tent/equipment out of the house at a moments notice. The Old Bastard of a Landlord put the home up on the market even though we are under contract and have over two years left. To make things worse I had to fall back to my old faithful coco coir because growing out at my 40 acre parcel the cabin has power but its hit and miss and in coco it can take a hit. I can't imagine how the plants would fair this coming Summer if the "UC" style RDWC had to go a day or two with no power. I have patients that rely on me and my plants for the medicine and dont want them to have to go without because of something I could avoid, so coco was on the menu all by itself.