Hello fellow OG’s
I live on the 2nd floor of an older wooden structure apartment and am just finishing up my organic grow and am very interested in making the switch to some sort of hydro setup.
The main problem I see is that I can not by any means, have leaks.
I was thinking of trying hempys for the first attempt. See if that works for my routine and schedule.
Are there any other setups that are proven not to leak?
Or is it a fact that as soon as you add lines and a pump you’re going to get leaks?
Thanks fellow OG
Happy growing
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Plumbing makes me nervous to the point I won’t do it.
Best of luck.
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if you grow in a tent. or have some sort of liner to catch "some " water you should be fine, i have a water leak sensor in my tent and have only had it go off once. the drain lines were clogged with roots(the bigger the drain diameter the better!) i dont get any leaks from the res/pump/fittings.
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Water leak sensor?
Interesting, how does that work?
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YoLink Smart Home Starter Kit: Hub & Water Leak Sensor 4-Pack, SMS/Text, Email & Push Notifications, LoRa Up to 1/4 Mile Open-Air Range, w/Alexa, IFTTT, Home Assistant https://a.co/d/9jwDpXp
Wifi and will text and pop-up notifications on the app.
Edit. 60$ is a small price for piece of mind
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Depends on what type of hydro you’re doing… dwc, rdwc, ebb and flow etc
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All my pumps are on wifi switches so I can turn anything off I need remotely.
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Pretty new to the hobby… At least the growing part.
DWC is very interesting to me… Fast big yeilds.
Organic was fun. But I need something more mentally stimulating
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It’s all fun when it’s new, but frankly hydro is boring af. It’s set and forget. Add a little cal hypo or h2o2 here and there, adjust the light, and your good. If you can keep your res cold, you don’t even have to add stuff to maintain sterility.
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Well built setups don’t leak. In the case of rdwc and high water volume setups there is a slim chance roots will clog a return to the point of overflow. (Can be avoided by redundant returns/drains at water level)
In tents I used to make a catchpan with panda film, same size as the tent, same height as the containers used.
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You can always pick up a flood table to put on the floor of your tent.
My AutoPots just leaked for the first time, and I was lucky that the soft liner in the tent retained all the water until I noticed. I won’t rely on having that same luck again though, so I went to my local hydro shop and grabbed a flood table for each of my tents.
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This is my biggest fear going in.
obviously, just make sure the flood table is big enough to hold all water…
Thinking setup, everything would have to be inside the tent (4x4) on the table I guess.
Or am I over thinking it?
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I don’t have the flood table legs, myself. Just the tray. That is going to lay on the floor of the tent, everything else inside of that. I am mid-flower at the moment, and don’t want to screw up this run any more than I already have, so I am waiting until I reset the tent to place it in there.
If you decide to go that route, make sure you looking at the OD (outer dimensions) and not the inner dimensions of the tray, or it might not fit in your tent.
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Right on, thanks @other_barry and everyone.
I’ve got some decisions to make.
Oh and run everything past the HMFIC (Head Mo Fo In Charge… AKA the wife)
Im sure she will approve. Fingers crossed
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5 gallon dwc buckets no leaks
https://youtube.com/@thathydrocouple
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I would agree with DWC as long as you use isolated buckets, don’t set it up for recirculating and don’t cut and holes or anything like that for a fill gauge. Any seal wears out eventually, so I wouldn’t run any kind of line your chancing it. Even silicon seals and stuff like that break down. I work assessing water damage to homes for a living, even 1/2 gallon of water leaking in the same spot will cause a water stain below. Stay safe 
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I would also agree with this. I used DWC buckets for the longest time, without any leaking. The one issue I did have, was my downstairs neighbors complaining about the noise from the air and water pumps. That is what led me to exploring AutoPots.
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I’ll tell you from experience though, DWC in an apartment is a pain in the ass. You’ll have your box with a 5 gallon bucket in it or multiple each will hold 3.5 gallons of water so roughly 30lbs, then by week 3 of flower you’ll have this huge plant and you gotta do reservoir changes and fill the buckets from the top and you’re probably doing this in your bathroom/bathtub so for me was a pain that just wasn’t worth it. Something to definitely consider though before you take the plunge.
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I tried those battery powered hand pumps, along with 5 gallon water cooler jugs, but those pumps do not seem to last very long. Water management was definitely a PITA like @Naptown916 just mentioned.
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