No but I keep my RO resevoir filled to the brim. Well as full as I possibly can while still using a float valve.
I initially filled the top-off 5 gallons at a time and marked the pipe that connects to the suction side of my pump. I got to 55 gallons and still had a couple inches to go. Marking the pipe helped me determine the actual capacity of the lower resevoirs and also gives me accurate numbers for mixing my solutions. I zip-tie the float valve in the control res and mix my nutes in the top-off. Then I use the pump for a quick and easy transfer.
thats still quite a bit of water. i don't like wasting water so i'm gonna haver to find something to do with it, or tey to not have so many changeouts like Smoke does it. but for this very first time i'm just gonna go by the book sort of speak, once i get comfortable i will experiment and see what works for me. but for now i want to just use the noob advice you have all been giving me and not try to get to fancy just yet.
i wasn't going to put a level tube on my rez but maybe i will now. had thoughts of maybe a digital one like an old atv fuel gauge set up, i have a couple new ones on the shelf i could put in there.. maybe hook it up to a esp32 and have it send alerts to my cell phone!! see.. no fancy shit yet!!! my mind goes faster than my plants do and it will get me in trouble!!! like you said KISS!!!
Last couple runs, I'd leave 20ish gallons in the top-off and when that was emptied it was time for a res change. That's a pretty decent rule of thumb for RDWC. Once you've added back the total volume of your system, time for a res change.
good info there, thanks!!! i'm excited to see the actual volume number and how close i get to my estimate!!
Fuggin' Amazon, man. It's like they don't even care about us.
they just lost it or somebody took it.. it got to the local hub that brings it to me and that was the last they saw it... been since saturday, i think it's gone. i really hope it is lost because i was going to return more than half of that order anyway!!
I'm watching this one closely. I had so much fun setting up my systems that I'm gonna mooch some excitement off of your project.
I think I'm fully kitted now and won't be doing much upgrading for awhile. We'll either buy a new house in the country soonish or have another kid. Whenever that decision is made, I'm moving out of the tent and building a veg room and flower room. I'll use the closet I'm in now as a water room and will finally be able to get that 55gal RO res out of my bathroom. Until then I'm stuck with a cramped bathroom and a cramped grow room
something else i need help and opinions on man... my plant sites are in a wooded cabinet, not a tent. i have a sub floor in my cabinet a couple inches taller than my floor. i really wanted to put my rez directly on the floor to take advantage of geothermal cooling. but if i put my rez on the floor it will be 2" or more lower in elevation causing the rez height to be pretty high to reach the bottoms of the netcups.
do you think i should just suck it up and use more water and leave as is? (and take rez flex out of the equation, i solved that) or should i raise my rez up and keep it all level? any ideas on something to raise it up with that will transfer heat the best? don't have glass,, maybe cement pad? wood would be the easiest.. maybe i'm overthinking the heat transfer and should just lift it with wood!! what do you think?
Wow man can't wait to see what you do with wet feet!!
Looks like you're well on your way and here's a few things from this old school hydronaught I don't think have been mentioned....
On this system...
thanks man, this has been pretty exciting for me so far, i was kinda nervous but once i started diving in and got all kinds of reassurance from everybody it got really fun. im not even thinking of the growing yet. building and laying this out is way more fun to me than growing is. not smoking but more fun than growing!!
i'm not going with that system anymore... i've blown budget so i'm just building a PA hydro fallponics two site setup but with 5 gal buckets for plant sites instead of 13gal pails.. if i had pails for a decent price i'd use them for sure but buckets is what i have for my first try.
You can put the R in this DWC by installing an air lift pump inside the controller on one of the inlets. It won't be as maniacal of a GPH as what UC does but with 1" tubing all around then going into a 1/2" air lift you'll get about 2-3GPH using just air power and it will circulate the system very well. You could probably get several complete rotations per day.
To increase controller capacity is very ez following the GH waterfarm controller set up.
Your control bucket would have a float valve inside set to your water height. On top of your controller would be another bucket or tote with a bottom drain tube that connects to the float valve in the controller.
Something like this
i plan to use a large tote for the rez, it holds 37 gallons max but i'm hoping i can keep the water level down a few inches inside and not fill it all the way up.
i even printed out some hinges and knob to make a lid like the fancy store bought ones...
i also built a wooden cradle that matches the shape of the tote to keep it from bowing at all, kinda like i did for my SV rib cooker!!
down side is every hole you want in the rez i also have to drill an even bigger hole through some hard ass walnut( ithink it's walnut anyhow)... up side is no flex..
i might put float valves in it and elevate a larger rez on a table above it for auto top offs but for now i'd like to see what's like without autpmation and learn how to grow with it first.
if you remember man, when we met i was kind of a noob in soil and quickly adapted to SIP from watching Mountain High ( miss that guy!) i put SIP in veg and flower and never really learned how to grow properly because of the automation it provides. now i'm just finally leaning how to grow properly in soil and just now leaning some of the basics i kinda skipped over leaning in the past. i don't want to do that with hydro, i'd like to learn how to top off, adjusting nutes, changeouts, all that stuff without the automation factor.
not sure if that makes sense but i'd like to get over any first time learning lessons in this test and not after i like it and keep doing it later down the road.
When using mag drive pumps you'll probably need a calmag supplement that has iron included in it. The bigger the pump the more this can be an issue but mag drive pumps can pull the iron from your nutes and it will stick to the impeller with the magnets inside. Good idea to check and clean that regularly.
i'm gonna use one of these fancy pumps..
and it will be outside the rez itself so no heat from the pump in the water.. downside, i could leak.
If you need a drain pump IDK if you remember my Oxygen Pot System but it was flood and drain and needed a complete drain on the cycles. Most pumps leave about an inch of water in the system but this one picks up in water as shallow as 1/16th of an inch.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NC9LF4F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i might need something man, i may have a couple here that u se for the pond stuff but i know it doen't get 1/16... maybe 1/4 with what ii have.
my drain will get me to less than an inch. but i'm not sure how much it's important to get every drop of solution out between change outs, i'm sure if there's something wrong it's very important but just because it's time maybe then not so important. that's the stuff i can't wait to learn!!!
If you ever want to go all in on UC I know of a UC graveyard at the local shop. Out back in the used stuff there were several systems and all sorts of parts for them there.
great to know, i'm always down to save a few bucks on used stuff!!
Im not so sure about that.
Someone with a DO meter shoud do a test.
i know with my pond there is a point where i just can't get anymore o2 in the water i'm sure it's the exact same way in hydro and man with those big air stones in each plant site might already be fully saturated with o2.
it would be a good test!