Which would produce more DO in a DWC?

Budley Doright said:
I'm switching over to pails in the fall, just not sure how I'm going to set it up yet.
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Consider using square buckets or totes. You get a better seal with your bulkheads or Uniseals. Plus, square containers hold more liquid compared to round buckets given the same size.

You can use round buckets, but it's a lot more touchy. It takes a small nudge to move buckets out of position and start leaks. I was using buckets but didn't want to battle drips.
 
Been running since last night with no leaks! Didn't start off that way though.

First, I wrapped the threads with Teflon (for extra protection), and used a single washer on each bulkhead. I had a couple stubborn drips that I couldn't get to stop, no matter how tight I got it. So I drained the system for adjustments.

Next, After removing all the Teflon tape, I decided to use two washers/bulkhead to thicken up the wall a little. Both the washers for each bulkhead were on the male side (using a washer on the female side does absolutely nothing). I had better luck this time, but still had a couple slow drips I couldn't stop. I noticed that the drips were coming from in between the washers. So I drained it again.

Lastly, I used a single washer and no Teflon. Worked perfectly! Well, almost perfectly. One of them has a very slow leak that just seems to leave the washer a little moist. It really doesn't even drip. So I don't know if I'm just going to live with it, or if I'm going to go the next step, which would be using some epoxy or sealant on each. I may even do that just for assurance. who knows what may pop up later.

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Lots of bubbles!
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Manifolds
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Controller reservoir fits perfectly here! Didn't even have to modify the pump manifold going from the bucket to the tote! Luckily they were about the same height.
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All my valves are still very easy to get to.
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Got pretty good pressure for my waterfall now. I might go up to a larger pump at some point. I've got a lot more water to circulate now. With the buckets I was around 25 gallons. Now I'm at about 75 gallons, which is way better, but I'm probably going to want to account for that. I've got my formula around somewhere, but it's pretty easy to figure out. I've tripled my water, so I triple the gph. 1200 gph sounds right.
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rkymtnman said:
i actually used shower drains so same as bulkheads but i used sealant too.
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I sealed everything last night with aquarium-safe silicone. Pretty confident this will be the end to the leaks. I'll test it later after cure time.
 
rkymtnman said:
i actually used shower drains so same as bulkheads but i used sealant too.
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I was wondering, how many gallons your system holds, and what size pump you use. I go by 12 full cycles an hour. So, 75 gallons 12 times would be a 900 gph pump. It's probably not critical right now because I've got a ton of bubbles/tote. But I do want to at some point. What's the point of building a UC if the pump is only powerful enough for an RDWC.
 
it was 3 27 gal totes same as yours. with a 5inch netpot, the water level is substantially lower. i don't remember the exact volume but i want to say 45 gals total. so 45x12=540 and my pump was 400. close enough.

UC and RDWC are virtually identical IMO. move lots of water with lots of DO in it and watch it grow.
 
rkymtnman said:
UC and RDWC are virtually identical IMO. move lots of water with lots of DO in it and watch it grow.
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I was under the assumption that UC had much higher flow that brought DO to the roots, where RDWC is lower flow that just circulates nutes/pH through the system. With the amount of bubbles I'm creating with airstones, it's probably a moot point. But one thing I like about UC over RDWC is that if either the water pump or the air pump goes out, the remaining pump would keep everything alive until a replacement pump arrives. Redundency.
 
get a small 12v battery and a 12 v air pump if you really need a shit hits the fan solution. you could run it for days in a power outage and keep them alive. could even run a small 12v led so the light cycle stays the same.
 
rkymtnman said:
get a small 12v battery and a 12 v air pump if you really need a shit hits the fan solution. you could run it for days in a power outage and keep them alive. could even run a small 12v led so the light cycle stays the same.
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Sweet! I was thinking about getting a genny at some point. Just enough power for the room and my flat screen. :)
 
rkymtnman said:
oh shit, i better patent this one then! retirement, here i come.
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I was just thinking that there's a lot of room available on the lids. I could probably grow herbs in trays. Not sure how well that'd work once the canopy gets thick, especially with a 600w. I'm planning on getting a 1k ballast/bulbs and running it at 750 to get a little more penetration while still keeping the temps down.
 
rkymtnman said:
oh shit, i better patent this one then! retirement, here i come.
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It'd be kinda cool to cut circles for netpots in all the remaining unused squares on the lid. Then grow some kind of ground covering vines to make a cool base, rather than the yellow lid. Hmmm...wonder if that'd work.

Has anyone tried this?
 
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