Waterfarm recirculating reservoir and scrog screen add on

Since heat is a problem in the hot months i usually grow 5-gal coco/perlite drain to waste..... When i was running WFs in the winter, i drew in the outside air and dropped the room temps to the low 50*f when the lights were off .. I was trying to develop the color.. I've been looking for a good purple that'll be the best of both worlds... I'm sure my WFs got into the low 70s on those winter grows.... I've managed to avoid those fungal problems...... There are additives for use by growers who run their reservoirs on the warm side...
I also filter the air from my air pump... those fungal spores come from somewhere and i figure most are airborne.. when you pump air through water it's cleansed of what i contains... I think of my filter as an air pimp condom...
 
Ok, now it's coming clear. The fish lives someplace where it doesn't see a winter freeze. There's all kinds of shit in the air in those places. Here in the north east we freeze in the winter and that kills off much of the air born stuff. We just get the occasional seasonal fungi screwing up things.
 
Props to you my man !!
Sorry if i sounded like a smart arse but, man, i tried and tried not to spend coin on a chiller and found it was the best thing i ever spent 400 on !! I have tried coolers as grow containers and they are awesome but those igloo coolers you are using are 70 bucks a piece down here !!
So it adds up quickly, and i'd still need a chiller in summer as well.
My reservoir is constructed with a 200 litre cooler so i guess my chiller doesn't have to work that hard.
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I'll only be running 3 coolers at a time and with everything being insulated I went with the smaller 1/10 hp chiller... My reservoir will be about 20-25gal... Also I can't run two reservoirs off one chiller and i'll want to start three replacement igloos a month before harvest..... That'll mean getting another chiller for the veg room... harvest 3 igloos every 2 months, at least that's the plan....
$70 for an igloo is for sure a screw job... Wonder where all that extra money goes, most likely taxes i imagine... Here they're $25 +7% sales tax at WalFart
Living 55 miles east of Death Valley temps don't drop below freezing at night until Nov. In Jan. dog water will start to freeze around 8-9pm.. in a really cold winter at sunset... we have great weather 7-8 months a year, and we pay the piper in the summer.... Google my location on the left.... That's a real place...
 
Was going to post a diy WF with 2 black plastic buckets, but decided to do it as a RDWC bubble bucket instead... With a scrog screen of course... Will still be using a WF pumping column, and the standing water column.. It's used w/o the drip ring... It stays inside the grow bucket and pumps the water from the reservoir into the grow bucket... that's all it does... it doesn't water the plant... You use your air stones and run it like any bubble bucket.... Raise the water when the plants young, lower it to the bottom of the basket as the roots grow out of the basket.
The WF pumping column circulates the reservoir at about 6 gal an hour, but without the heat an electric pump would add...
here's pics of every thing you need...same parts used and shown before.. Besides the buckets and lids, you'll need a wire tomato cage.... I have some that have 4 legs... After a trip to a nursery, i found out they only make three leg tomato cages now... i guess they would work also... It's pretty much self explanatory what to do... One thing you can't do is bend the top upright wires at the weld.. They'll break every time.... Make the bend about 3/8 inch above the weld...
The reservoir has a float valve for a plane water add back reservoir that sits on the lid of the reservoir...
Air stones in the grow bucket, and reservoir...

 
Re: Latest Waterloo update

At first, I was very happy to read this:

Klovneposen said:
:rofl::rofl::rofl: No im by no means businesswise/nor on a hobby basis, jerking off or by any other way ejaculating farm animals :)
Click to expand...

And, then I got to this part:

Klovneposen said:
not only do i have sticky fingers...
Click to expand...

So, I'm not sure exactly what you're saying but you'll excuse me if I still don't shake your hand! :)
 
Great DIY, Brother! +REPS

I love those WaterFarms. Not sure your mod's would work in my situation, but some great ideas! :welldone:
 
Dr Fish said:
I'll only be running 3 coolers at a time and with everything being insulated I went with the smaller 1/10 hp chiller... My reservoir will be about 20-25gal... Also I can't run two reservoirs off one chiller and i'll want to start three replacement igloos a month before harvest..... That'll mean getting another chiller for the veg room... harvest 3 igloos every 2 months, at least that's the plan....
$70 for an igloo is for sure a screw job... Wonder where all that extra money goes, most likely taxes i imagine... Here they're $25 +7% sales tax at WalFart
Living 55 miles east of Death Valley temps don't drop below freezing at night until Nov. In Jan. dog water will start to freeze around 8-9pm.. in a really cold winter at sunset... we have great weather 7-8 months a year, and we pay the piper in the summer.... Google my location on the left.... That's a real place...
Click to expand...
I know about the Az. truck weight station, that's just east of you !! Az. DOT are butt heads, when it comes to truckers !! Especially out of state truckers !! you are definately in the boonies !!
 
That's because Dr. Fish likes to tweak his equipment. The box stock water farm is extreme low maintenance and inexpensive to operate. Hydro is really simple if you can follow instructions.
 
I agree. I have a waterfarm and i love it! Mine is recirculating with the add on... I was wondering if i should hook it up tho, like he suggested, with each column pulling from the bucket before it to increase flow rate...
 
I showed this speaker port in the igloo grow, but didn't add it to the waterfarm thread after i later added it to my own WFs.. The biggest drawback with the mod that started this thread was that you couldn't lift your girls skirt to check out her roots, and keep your hydroton balls in place at the same time...
I found the solution here... Speaker Cabinet Port Tube 1-1/8" ID x 6-1/2" L Flared ... It needs to be shortened about 3/4-1".... The standing water column is a perfect fit inside this tapered cone..... Now the top bucket can be pulled out and the hydroton stays in the top bucket..
No glue or sealant is used to keep the cone in place... I Bought this drill at HD 7.00, to drill the exact hole size for ridges on the cone..It snaps in place like it was made for it....
I used the same hole location that GH put in the top bucket to drill the hole bigger... I contact glued a round abs patch over the hole on the inside of the bucket... It wouldn't take the pressure when drilling the centering hole from the outside and peeled off.. So i inverted the bucket over a 4"x 4" x12" pc of wood to support the patch while drilling from the outside....

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If you've only using one bucket, and use a pumping column in the reservoir to circulate the reservoir, that works just as well.... Using 3 or 4 WFs at a time i wanted more than 6 gal an hour...... All i'm doing with my modification is multitasking the grow buckets dripring to do two separate jobs, at same time... Grow a plant and circulate 6 gal an hour from the reservoir.... No need to buy a separate GH circulation kit

Coming attraction, will be adding a drip ring to the inside of an 8" basket lid for a 5 gal dripring waterfarm.... It's to be used with a standing water column... The basket will be removable during the grow..... This mod will use the old GH pumping column...
 
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