Make sure u use botanicare bulkheads. I cannot stress this enough. My shop was out one day and I had to get a system done.
Had heard activeaqua was junk but threw caution to the wind. Every…single…bulkhead leaked. Switched them out for botanicare and not one leak. Talk about a waste of 4 hours. The gasket on the active aqua Isnt tacky rubber and is more like a hard plastic and doesnt seal well. Also the screw nut slips in the hand and is hard to get a grip on to tighten up well.
Trust me spend the $1.8 per on the botanicare. Unless u like chasing leaks and spilling water on your floor
I also like to use some screw clamps for extra precaution. My hydro store carried some harder and thinner wall poly tubing that went on way too easily and I would get leaks if I bumped them. The older thicker rubbery poly I needed petroleum jelly to get the hose on the barbs. Not one leak with that poly
Also its important to have the delivery manifold 1" and the branch to each totes waterfall 1/2"
Its all fluid dynamics. Water follows the path of least resistance which is the 1" pipe. So it floods the 1" and then equally, well close to equally, branches out to the 1/2" piping. Its like a self balancer.
If the pipe was all the same size it would go to the branches and the last branches would have a trickle
Yeah its not for everyone. Do what youre comfortable with. I do hydro for yield. Its also the only way I know how to grow. Cant pull 20oz plants in soil
Do whatever yall want its your money. Ive been running these systems for 4 years now and never an overflow and trust me when I say ive had them 27gal totes filles with roots.
1.5" bulkheads get spendy and I grow in a basement. If I had an overflow it wouldnt be the end od the world
Yeah thats it, it all depends on each situation. I had 1 inch pipes a while back and had a few troubles and it was in a bedroom so it wasnt worth the risk. You are correct that the bulkheads can get really expensive.
Yeah especially when you are running 4 per site. Well worth the investment if it means preventing water damage. And you may be able to get away with less outlets if they are bigger. I still would have 4 though. The chances of all 4 getting plugged up before you notice is next to zero. You will notice a huge drop in your control bucket before any spill over would occur from the individual sites. This would starve the pump and cause it to burn out and not pump anymore which would prevent a spill over. I imagine this wouldnt be the case if u say had 2 sites and a control. But with 8 sites if one was blocked the pump get starved.
Also the 27gal totes gives your roots plenty of space to grow and not risk going into the pipes. This is the main reason I only use 12gal totes in my veg setup or for smaller flowering plants. I have flowered in the 12gal setup with 2-3 footers. But the 5-6 footers I grow in my flower room I wouldnt trust the 12gal
If you don’t want to replace the tubing, you could cover the tubes with the black round pipe insulation and cover the tubing where it goes into your buckets with some black electrical tape. I have read that clear tubing where it enters the bucket can act like a flashlight shining into your bucket and would definitely cause algae problems.
I am running a 6-27 gal tote system and a separate res tote 60 some gal. I’m only putting 1 plant per tote. I’m thinking about building a smaller system for my autos after this run for my autos and ditching soil all together inside.
Never really been fond of rdwc as I see many potential problems. Like pumps dying or a drain getting clogged with roots and flooding the space, if one res gets root issues they will have it in short order. I see how it could make life so much easier as well. Can’t beat the simplicity of a bucket and am air pump. Even in the air pump dies you got a couple days before the plants suffer
