Setting up dtw coco 2.5x5 tent

medidedicated said:

I will start buying and setting up the flower tent dtw, 8 trays

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Sorry, not sure what you're currently building, but are you going to build a tent and use 8 Drainway trays? Love Drainaway, but you might look into a flood table to run that many plants DTW plants.

ec121 said:

Sorry, not sure what you're currently building, but are you going to build a tent and use 8 Drainway trays? Love Drainaway, but you might look into a flood table to run that many plants DTW plants.

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8 drain away trays for flower and 2 22” trays for veg tent that is 2x4’. Using 8 port manifold on a sprinkler riser on both that connect to the pump from reservoir through a vinyl hose.

Drain away trays connected to a pvc pipe that runs to a condensate bucket inside tent but the veg tent will need a bucket probably outside the tent, maybe inside if I use my stoner brain, use a flexible hose.

The veg tent could use flood tray as I plan to air layer clones in there but hoping these trays can cover that too. In mean time will have 8 plants on those trays, I can cut hosing to keep plants level. Bonsai mothers somewhere inside veg tent.

Might throw a 2x2x3’ on top of veg tent for cuttings and bonsai mothers until I find my strains and air layer them to work around plant count and rooting times.

Flower tent, each plant will have 1.5 square foot, half gallon or one gallon pot on a 12” drain away tray. I thought flood trays would be better for SOG like 24 plus plants. One 60 gal reservoir for all plants, maxibloom from begenning to end.

Flood trays are just a convenient way to catch the runoff of all the plants at once. They nicely fit in the square/rectangle tents. You get one drain point instead of 8. It doesn't really matter though since you wouldn't actually be flooding them, whatever you can make fit.

medidedicated said:

Now to figure out how to set this up. A bit bigger than I thought it would be, the drain ports dont have space to sit together. Maybe face the wall of tent and see if pvc can meet together, then go to condensate bucket. Raise trays on cinder blocks, cut a bucket half way so it can sit under the trays, or else it has to be outside the tent.

Any suggestions let me know. I reall don’t know how I am going to do it. Though the trays should hold 4 plants each and a few bonsai mothers. Heck idk what I am going to do grow wise in here either, waiting on clones to root and seeds to arrive or plant more seeds to stay on track.

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Just rotate the trays a little bit and use 45° fittings on them to tie into one drain line.



That, or just raise one up on like a 2 or 3" block of some sort so they are staggered just a little bit.

Active Aqua does have a tray specifically made for a 2x4 tent. It's like 22x46" od I believe. It can be had for $100 or less at your local grow shop.

Gonna have a 8 port manifold which wow, controls flow to each line so no need for valves, just connect to plants. All 1/4” tubing to diy holes in them, the 3 way piece is angled so the halo should be round.

Manifold on sprinkler riser that runs to floor with conduit clamp on a block for stability, 90 degree elbow coupler to a sprinkler riser that runs under the raised trays, going to need to couple two of them to make 24”. Connect to vinyl tubing to go through duct port to reservoir.

Thats the plan for the veg tent that need action now as I have perpetuating cuttings and seeds to make asap. Helps to type it out to double think and get feed back. I will probably do 45 angled pvc fitting suggestion. Cut a bucket a little more than half way to house condensate pump that will sit in between trays.

TCH said:

Active Aqua does have a tray specifically made for a 2x4 tent. It's like 22x46" od I believe. It can be had for $100 or less at your local grow shop.

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I wouldnt know how to make it drain and take more space and configurating of parts. I saw one shim down a side and add a drain port but I just want something that works and can be setup like asap.

Am I misunderstanding what flood trays are used for? I dont know all the grow methods but tried looking up what yall mean by flooding.

You know what though, for two 3 gallon plants, these would probably go the same in 1 gal pots or half gal pots. So is the 60 gal reservoir bound to last the same even with 8 plants? Filling this thing like every 4 days. Just thought of it as broken up 3 gallons into one gallons pots, four of them.

I dont get how people make solution last. This is about to supply double the demand now, a little more than double. It will supply 18 plants. Was thinking should do half gal pots.

Recirculating is one way people get longer out of reservoirs.

When my tray was full of 45 plants in full bloom they would drink 3-5 gallons of water a day. I used a 45 gallon reservoir and was able to leave it multiple times for over 7 days and once for 9 days. The plants grew just like I was there. NOrmally I topped it off every 2-3 days with about 5 gallons of fresh water or nutrients depending on the plants needs though.

medidedicated said:

I wouldnt know how to make it drain and take more space and configurating of parts. I saw one shim down a side and add a drain port but I just want something that works and can be setup like asap.

Am I misunderstanding what flood trays are used for? I dont know all the grow methods but tried looking up what yall mean by flooding.

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1. The flood tray works just the same as your drain away trays. Instead of having multiple things all hooked up to a drain, all the pots are in one big tray and there is one fitting that goes to your drain.

2. Flood trays can be used for a drain tray as mentioned above. They are called flood trays because they are made for ebb and flow systems. It's a recirculating system that will flood the tray from a reservoir and then drain it again.

Ok its called ebb and flow. I just never looked into it before, heres a video that will explain what it is if youre wondering. Like to make thread informal.


I head of it a few times but didnt know what it was but thats cool, very different. I see now you are supposed to drill holes in it. Not sure if yall are saying its worth making or not for 8 plants.

I think its barely fine and more versitile, less bulky storage. Literally getting asked weekly if this or that can get thrown out, I am loaded with junk, mostly usefull junk, but ya. I got no more space.

I see what yall mean now, so all these trays make sense now what their for. But I don’t know how I would set it up in tent, need something to house the tray to have reservoir underneath. I already have a functional idea and will probably keep the main layout of things for a while.

I think my latest plan is much more budget friendly so I can already start saving up for a generator to make the grow black out proof. Also hate having to leave home during those times. I do NOT want my plants sitting in 85RH with no airflow for whatever time being. I am a mold a phobe .

I lose all my food, just personal reasons too for the generator.

medidedicated said:

I head of it a few times but didnt know what it was but thats cool, very different. I see now you are supposed to drill holes in it. Not sure if yall are saying its worth making or not for 8 plants.

I think its barely fine and more versitile, less bulky storage. Literally getting asked weekly if this or that can get thrown out, I am loaded with junk, mostly usefull junk, but ya. I got no more space.

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It's definitely worth it for 8 plants. Or you can do 8 separate drain away trays and plum them all separately together.

And yes, you do have to drill a hole in it to plumb the drainage. The other option is to not drill a hole and you could put a condensate pump in it to pump out the waste.

It would be a whole new grow method almost and just don’t know all the things to worry about and tools and etc to manage it. Says shouldnt get algae or sludge but I could see that happening and just being some heavy work.

I just am going off what I know best and wow I am getting great growth so far just like before. Confidence is coming back, just need to keep it going. See if I can keep green all the way through and harvest several runs.

I could use a break financially from growing and like I said, just dont have space for more bulky items as ai would need a structure to house the dtray and just all this stuff when I feel like I am close to finishing setting up as well as financially.

I dont think I need a ph controller to do what I can do once or twice, the reservoir holds ph very well sterile. That pool shock is working wonders with heat being on this season.

Also hoping RH wont always behave this way, I am cranking up dehuey a lot to keep a stable 45rh which will show on electric bill real fast. Hoping my 8 midget clones flipped asap wont bush up the place out of control with rh.

I spent a good couple grand recently on everything, I am wore out.

Botanicare 2x4 rack trays are perfect size for a DTW setup in a 2.5 x 5 tent.

I need an upgrade on how I load my reservoir asap, this is a pita. I use bath tub to load bucket and toss into 20 gal trash bin on dolly with 800gph 1/2” pump and tube, move to reservoir and pump out, repeat.

It works but could use a better way but I have snowy winters so garden hose most likely cannot be used from outside.

Was thinking use an adapter on kitchen faucet to pump straight into trash bin or slow the pump down and fill bucket from somewhere and pump through half inch tube all the way to reservoir.

Problem is bathroom is best place to use but when people use it, I have to wait which takes time or if I setup like this, I have to turn off hose when I need to but maybe I can yell “Turn off water!” after having talk with them that Id possibly need do that.

Have to keep thinking of something, this takes an hour to do to get to point where I can time an hr before ph’ing to let solution and tap equalize.

Cleaned the area up.

TCH said:

Just rotate the trays a little bit and use 45° fittings on them to tie into one drain line.

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That, or just raise one up on like a 2 or 3" block of some sort so they are staggered just a little bit.

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About to setup and having trouble finding 45 angle fittings that are threaded, does it have to be threaded? What do you couple them with, a 3 way piece?

I have two hoses that I could set up similar to my flower tent and make use of $20 but the flower tent when I run 8 clones will need the typical drain away setup and the current drain system ditched.