Durban Poison RDWC Grow

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by AnonymousTharco, Dec 10, 2020.

  1. Background

    I have 7 grows that I have completed, with 4 being extremely successful, 2 annihilated by spider mites weeks into flowering, and one that was half destroyed by mold/fungus. All of these, save for the last, were Deep Water Culture (DWC) grows. I have used the Lucas formula (loved it) as well as Fox Farms nutrients. All of my grows were of Blue Dream which was incredibly resilient, easy to clone, and for the most part, aggressive in growth.

    My last grow was a Recirculating DWC (RDWC) using ¾ inch tubing for the pump AND return lines. As you would expect, while it worked pretty well for the first few weeks (amazing, in fact!), eventually roots and debris clogged the lines and leaks began to form due to the cheap parts I used and little knowledge of how to build water tight containers/seals. The humidity went through the roof, some strange mold/fungus appeared on half the plants, and I had to trash more than half the crop. That was 6 years ago, almost 7.

    I live in a medical/recreational legal state, and the spider mite grows and the fungus grow-ad the lost time, money, and energy spent on the process-made me retire my growing equipment.


    First Attempt at RDWC for New Grow

    Stuck in quarantine and bored out of my mind, I decided I need to revive my old hobby. With more funds at my disposal for better parts, more access to online videos and build instructions, and recent statewide legislation that has resulted in an explosion of hydroponic and marijuana based business in my area, I decided to start a new grow. I had a few criteria:

    1. I wanted a RDWC system with an external res built to withstand roots and debris, and built sturdy.

    2. I would keep a mother cab for clones, having bubble cloned all of the plants for my previous grows based off of my very first plant.

    3. I wanted to use lights I was used to and have experience wit (MH and HPS), but I also wanted to test these-to me anyway-new and affordable LED systems.

    I started off with searching for a grow tent. Now, I know this might seem sacrilege to some, but I cut my tents up to fit the systems I build (which are often defined by the space I have to build it in). I have had to cut into my past tents I buy or build to accommodate piping. So for me, getting some crazy expensive tent like a Gorilla does not make much sense. So I ordered a well rated “imported/knockoff” brand from Amazon, measuring 96 X 48 X 80, that had metal joints and poles (no plastic).

    I’ll admit, even with a tape measure and measuring out the space in my room….I had no idea it would be this massive! The tents I had grown in before were about 1/3 the size of what arrived and I realized this tent would take up over ¾ of the room it was being setup inside. I nearly had a mental break down trying to put the thing together by myself (QUARNETINE!) because you basically have to construct this giant frame, then slip the tent over and under the frame. Very difficult to do with a tent this size, but somehow, I managed. I did wind up ripping a corner at the zipper, but I am unphased seeing as I cut the tent for my pipes. I just taped up the rip, added light protection/barriers, and it’s not a problem.


    After I get the tent setup, I installed my lights/fans, filter/etc.

    The light is a 600W HPS/MH fixture. I’ve used this fixture in the past, but of course bought new MH and HPS bulbs for this grow. I have a VIVOSUN 6 Inch Air Carbon Filter hooked up to a TerraBloom 6" 395 CFM Inline Fan. The air is expelled outside via a 6 inch air duct connected to an AC window connection. All of my windows are blocked with cardboard and the tent is inside a completely dark room.


    The (FAILED) System

    Next, it was on to build the hydro system. I am BY NO MEANS a handy man. I have zero experience with crafting, woodworking, pipe fitting, any of that. I am a complete novice when it comes to constructing ANYTHING. But with the internet and YouTube…..anyone can accomplish anything!

    I had several designs that involved three buckets…..until I setup the tent and realized the size of my work space, so I decided to go ahead and add a 4th. In my state, I can grow up to 6 plants legally, but 4 is more than enough to manage, especially when they turn into jungles.

    I finally settled on the “U” shaped system where you have a central reservoir with pipes on either side, leading into the tent and connecting to buckets in a U shape. I also decided that I would use 1 ½ inch pipe for the gravity return lines, and 1 inch pipe for the feed line. This was a huge leap for me incoming from my last attempt using ¾ of an inch hydroponic tubing! While most of the “pros” that use RDWC systems recommended a MINIMUM of 1 1/2 , with the ideal being 3 inches, I decided to start “small” and go with the 1 ½ inch pipe. I am glad I did as that required pipe cutters and tools/techniques I had never used before, and I think it would have been harder (and more expensive! The large the gasket, the more $$$ and harder to find they are) if I had gone up to 3 or even 2 inches.

    After cutting the pipes, I ordered what turned out to be a huge mistake and the ultimate downfall of the system uniseals. Not only did I injure myself wrestling the pipes into the seals (even using dish soap), but the system leaked like crazy. It also made it incredibly difficult if not impossible to remove buckets from the system for cleaning in between grows as the uniseals really latched on to the pipe.


    My second mistake was getting too creative in the design before making sure the BASIC design would work. I added off flow pipes and valves so I could more easily drain the system without removing the main pump that weighed down the piping in general, which added pressure onto the seals and ultimately contributed to the failure of the uniseal.

    The entire system was unusable, and I just about gave up at that point and decided to do another straight DWC grow because hell, it works and I know how to use those systems.

    <img src="https://i.ibb.co/HDHJzk9/Failed-Design-01.jpg" alt="Failed-Design-01" border="0">
    <img src="https://i.ibb.co/8Pr22xT/Failed-Design-02.jpg" alt="Failed-Design-02" border="0">
    <img src="https://i.ibb.co/d59wJxh/Failed-Design-03.jpg" alt="Failed-Design-03" border="0">

    The NEWER, FINAL Version

    After sleeping on it, I decided I was looking at this failure ALL WRONG. Look how much time and energy it took me to research possible systems, research types of pipes and cutting techniques, water pumps, different types of seals and how they work, cutting pipe, putting everything together, etc…..I realized that I actually appreciated the distraction this failure was providing me, which is exactly why I began this project in the first place! So I decided to go back to the drawing board and redesigned the system.

    My first redesign involved abandoning the U shape design, and instead going with a “chassis” design, almost like building a car. Each bucket would be connected to the bucket across from it, and those would be connected by a main line back to the res.
    <img src="https://i.ibb.co/P6LZgc2/Chassis-Foundation.jpg" alt="Chassis-Foundation" border="0">

    I also decided to use bulkheads with slip PVC to slip PVC ends, which was perfect for the “chassis” design. While I did have to cement/glue the gasket onto the chassis, it actually lent more adjustability and customization than the previous system design. I could remove/add buckets to the system in between grows because the gasket nut was all that held the bucket to the system, just like tores attached to a car. In my old/original system, once a pipe was in that uniseal, it took a lot of muscle and a HUGE disruption to the system to remove.

    I did discover that the bulkheads were not as easy to tighten with my wrench because the curve of the bucket, but because the buckets were spaced out enough and because they were mounted on the chassis, I was able to manipulate the buckets and twist them each tight so they did not leak. But DAMN did I need to apply a LOT of force to get those buckets tight enough to not leak. The system is hooked up to a Uniclife 550GPH in line pump.

    A few more tweaks here and there, and I had myself a RDWC.
    <img src="https://i.ibb.co/9ZDHyyz/Final-System-Hooked-Up.jpg" alt="Final-System-Hooked-Up" border="0">

    After the system was built, I realized I needed upgrades for the NEXT chassis build.
    I want to use square buckets (which I did buy….after the system was built) for my next grow as I think it will be easier to tighten the nut on those (and as a matter of fact, I already tested it and it is much easier).

    I also want to replace the T PVC connector I have at the end of the gravity return line and swap that out with a cross connector, so I can add a valve at the end for easy draining.

    Since the buckets were snug and not leaking, and I had injured my biceps muscling the uniseals AND the gaskets….I decided to leave well enough alone and kept the buckets for this grow.


    Finally…..


    DAY 1

    Finally! I had the tent set up, the equipment was installed, and my system was running. I use city tap water for my hydro grows and I let the system run all night as I slept both to test the system and to let any city water chemicals evaporate out. You better believe I was nervous that I was going to wake up to a 30 gallon lake in the next room over. So far though, so good!

    In my state, getting specific genetics/clones is as easy as walking a few blocks down the street to a local cannabis store. I drove, but I was able to buy 6 Durban Poison clones at 10 dollars each. I asked for Blue Dream, but out of the 25 or so strains (most of them I was unfamiliar with and all but 4 were Indica…I wanted Sativa). I had done some research before plant shopping, and Durban Poison was on my list of desired strains. It is of African origination (good because it gets HOT in my area during the summer) and a strong Sativa. It is also supposed to be lenient for newer growers which I still consider myself to be. If Durban Poison was not available, they had the strain Euphoria which I have heard great things about.

    I have 4 plants in my system, while of the remaining 2, one is waiting for a small mother cab and LED system (going to test it out on my mother first) and the other is an “insurance policy” I keep around for a few weeks until the grow is going strong. I keep it sitting near a well-lit plant loving window just in case I need to take clones, toss it in for flower, whatever I want. I’ll keep both in their own DWC systems with one serving as my mother plant.

    As always, you can never wash that nasty hydroton ENOUGH, and as you can see in my video I have a bit of clay debris in my res because of it (that’s the rest colored stuff at the bottom). When I switch from veg to flower, I’ll drain the entire system and vacuum that crap out.

    I am using the General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro Combo Fertilizer hydroponics nutrients for this grow. I LOVE the Lucas formula, especially when a 12 dollar bag of powdered FloraMax will last me an entire grow and then some….but I thought, to give myself the BEST chance for this “redemption grow”, I will go with the more robust GH nutrients. That said, I am pretty liberal in interpreting the GH recommended nutrients, and add my own strength/mix for the most part, especially early on.

    For this first week, I keep the PPM’s to around 400…..once those roots dunk down into the water the plants will let me know when they want more nutrients and that’s when I will start to slowly increase depending on what they do. For today, I added my nutrients, PH’d to 5.8, and the PPM came out to……420! This is a good sign!

    If these Durban Poison plants are anything like my Blue Dream strains, it will have dangling roots popping out of the net pots in a week, and then growth will explode. I plan to top all 4 plants and LST (have done this in several of my past grows with great success).

    I plan to update this grow regularly as, again, this hobby is sprung out of quarantine boredom and a real need to do something.

    See the glug glug glug of the gravity return line and res: Reservoir

    Inside the tent:
    Rear Door 02
    .
    Rear Door 01
    .
    Main Door
     
    • Like Like x 2
  2. #2 AnonymousTharco, Dec 11, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2020
    Day 2

    Not much of anything exciting happens during this first week, so I spent today continuing to adjust the wiring, adding and moving plants, and adding/moving equipment. No leaks so far!

    I started with hooking up my Simple Deluxe LGPUMPAIR38 602 GPH 18W 38L/min 6 Outlets air pump which replaced3 pumps I had in storage that I had used during my past grows over 6 years ago. I had intended to use the beefy simple deluxe from the get go but I needed a larger diameter tbing to connect the pump to the 6 outlet port. It’s a much nicer improvement over the wimpy fish tank pumps, and much quieter compared to 3 pumps going all at once.

    The next adjustment I had as to “plant” my remaining 2 clones. I have net pot bucket lids on the way through online order, but hey won’t arrive until next week. So I decided to don my mask and drive down to my local hydroponics store. They were AWESOME! They had some of the bucket lid bet pots in the back and when he brought out the two I wanted, he just handed them to me and told me I could have them. Yet another auspicious and positive vibe going into this grow. I left them a great review on YELP and I will be going there for my nutrient and ph balance solution purchases in a few weeks.

    I set up two bubble buckets: one in an 8-gallon square/rectangular type container that sits in front on a kitchen window, and another “regular”, 5-gallon bubble bucket that I have sitting in my main cab. It is a simple DWC bucket and not connected to y main 4 plant chassis system.

    The main tent DWC bucket is sitting under a 600W BLOOMSPECT LED Grow Light. My original intention was to put this bubble bucket and LED light into a mother tent, but I am now considering just leaving it with the rest and running it on the same light cycle just to compare the results side by side of an LED plant vs. my MH/HPS setup.

    As for the kitchen top bubble bucket, I have it sitting in a spot where flowers and plants always thrive, and I have a CFL fixture hanging above it for when it gets dark to keep it on an 18/6 cycle. If it lives, I will use that for my clones. If it dies, I’ll remove the tent bubble bucket and install it inside its own tent to be a mother.

    Due to this new light and new buckets, I had to move the electrical around a bit. While I don’t expect any major gushing type leaks, if one does occur, I have arranged all of my cabling so that any plug or electrical component that can actually electrocute me is very high up and elevated. I do have 30 gallons of water sloshing around an active system so if there is a bit of a flood, I have plugs, power strips, and pumps all elevated above any level of flooding that might occur.

    I added a power strip to my main timer power cable that I had the MH light plugged into, and I plugged the main MH light and the LED light into the power strip so they will turn off/on at the same time. I also went around and added foil tape to cover the air tubing holes so no light enters the buckets.

    I lost about a gallon over the past 24 hours between the 4 plants in my main system. I added a few gallons of PH’s water back to keep my res well stocked. In doing so I got to play around a bit with adjusting the gravity flow to get it just right. I’m loving the precision this setup allows and I already am planning improvements and upgrades for a future chassis build.

    I am keeping the PPM’s very low, in the 150 – 250 range with the top off and I’ll keep it that way until I see roots pop out and begin dangling inside the water. Once that happens I will slowly raise the nutrients closer to 500 and see what they tell me. I’ll continue to incrementally add nutrients so long as they gobble them up. But that won’t begin until the roots pop out.

    My RH is averaging at just about 30% and my temps are averaging at about 81. I have a humidifier on the way so hopefully I can bump it up a bit for this veg stage.
     

    Attached Files:

    • Like Like x 1

Share This Page