DWCocha
The real COOKIEMONSTER
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sup dudes ?
few people are liking the idea of trying hydro for the 1st time ....I need some small buckets to sex regular auto's & then transfer to full size DWC buckets once the best girl has been selected .So I made a simple 3 bucket system for a 66% chance of a girl. There up & running now (almost complete :stylez rasta smoke
& seem to be working great so far ,so thought id show you how to make them pretty cheap & easily 
: . Don't have to use 3 ...1 ,2 ,4 or however many you want will work... I just like the #3 
(1st time DWC grow id recommend just trying the 1 first !).
All the stuff is easy & cheap to find & buy at local shops or online
you will need ....
3 x 5L black buckets with lids . £10.00
3 x 5" net pots .These are the standard size for the 20L buckets I will transfer too...(you can use any size) £4.50
3 x airstones . (some attach to a 4mm line ,others to 4mm & 8mm ) £3
1 x 8mm black braided hose line . £5.00 for 5M
1 x airpump with 8mm attachment (im using an old hailea V-30 -=30lpm into all 3 buckets) . £35
2 x 8mm inline taps .( 3 may be better for perfect bubble distribution im now finding £7.50
2 x 8mm T-piece connectors (& probably 1x 8mm straight connector for the pump connection ?) £2
some mylar & silver tape ,£5 (optional but good to keep res temps steady)
some clay pebbles / hydrotron .( 3L should do 3 buckets) £5
3 x 1" rockwool or root riot cubes (root riots are better imo) £1
TOTAL COST = £77 (but you don't have to get a pump as powerful & maybe save £15 ) this is a rough estimate & you may be able to do this a lot cheaper ?
ASSEMBLY ...you will need a pocket knife & something to cut a neat (ish) round hole: I used old leaf trimmers !
Put the net pot upside down on the lid & score around it ...cut out a hole smaller by a few MM in the lid so the net pot sits nicely & can be removed easily.
make a 8mm hole in the side of the bucket high up for the airline to fit through (4MM if you have a smaller pump with 4mm line ect ,but for this demo im using 8mm )
now sit your bucket(s) where you intend to keep them growing ( as close or far apart as you like ) ... sit your pump where you want to have that (a cool spot outside the grow room is a good idea if temps are an issue on a regular basis) .
Now take you air line & measure from the pump to the 1st bucket & cut the 1st piece to the length you need .
If using more than 1 bucket you put a T-piece on the end of that ... then cut the other pieces of airline to size ,fit the rest of the connectors & taps where you want them.(this will be different for every grow room but will take a bit of space so if using small cabs ect make sure it all fits ok & resize if needed)
Now take it all apart & clad with the mylar & tape if like ?
Thas about it ...your almost good to grow !... germinate how you like into the 1" cubes... get the 1" cubes into the buckets once they sprout & if you follow a few basic DWC seedling guidelines with PH ,ec , temps . your good to go (i'll go into getting babys started later in the thread)
Heres pics of how I made them ... really easy
Ok thats them pretty much ready to rock & the last pic shows the pebbles soaking in PH 5.5 water after a good soak & rinse in boiling & lots of cold water to get all the dust & stuff off ...now this water will stay nice & clear ...24hrs the pebbles should be good to drain & dry out & wont be sending your PH (& you ) crazy :dance2:
notice I have no tap on the last bucket in the line ??? thought i could control the air flow with just two but will be getting a third one soon & can just tweak all the taps until the bubbles look even in all buckets . (slight design error
Its good to run the system with some plain water 1st .... throw the lid & net pot (still empty ) on & measure how much water you need (I like to be around an inch above the base of the pot) .That takes around 3L which is great ...I mix 9L or nutes for all 3 buckets ... after this test & setting the taps right ect you've given your air stones a blast out & there cleaner for the proper run now !
more pics of them up and running ...
To get the levels right I had an empty net pot in 1 bucket ...put in water to the level I wanted (1" above base) & then put about 2" of pebbles in the net pot . Gently place cube on that & fill with more pebbles ... once the stem gets a bit stronger & shes stretched an inch or two you can fill the net pots to the max trying to block all the light you can (I still cover the edges with something to be sure ) .
48 hrs later there where roots showing out the base of the net pots
So im happy they work !.. up to this point I only had PH5.5 water in the buckets but once I saw a root, that got changed for the 1st res of nutes & I call that day 1 ....
heres how they look 3 days later on day 4 (today ) Im happy its working & after the 16oz comp can say you could grow a nice auto in just 1 of these ...but the option to move any one of these reg babys on sex to a full size DWC with no stress is also great for me .... Id have to run 3 x 30lpm pumps & use 45L of nutes to do this in normal size buckets so they will pay for themselves after a few sexed girls get transferred in big buckets :thumbs:
View attachment 297423
:Cool:
thank for reading & any Q's ,comments ,ideas , alternative methods ,criticism , flaws or anything else ...feel free to post
will update how these get on from time to time
:tiphat: Stay stoned my AFN brothers & sisters
& seem to be working great so far ,so thought id show you how to make them pretty cheap & easily : . Don't have to use 3 ...1 ,2 ,4 or however many you want will work... I just like the #3 (1st time DWC grow id recommend just trying the 1 first !).All the stuff is easy & cheap to find & buy at local shops or online
you will need ....
3 x 5L black buckets with lids . £10.00
3 x 5" net pots .These are the standard size for the 20L buckets I will transfer too...(you can use any size) £4.50
3 x airstones . (some attach to a 4mm line ,others to 4mm & 8mm ) £3
1 x 8mm black braided hose line . £5.00 for 5M
1 x airpump with 8mm attachment (im using an old hailea V-30 -=30lpm into all 3 buckets) . £35
2 x 8mm inline taps .( 3 may be better for perfect bubble distribution im now finding
£7.502 x 8mm T-piece connectors (& probably 1x 8mm straight connector for the pump connection ?) £2
some mylar & silver tape ,£5 (optional but good to keep res temps steady)
some clay pebbles / hydrotron .( 3L should do 3 buckets) £5
3 x 1" rockwool or root riot cubes (root riots are better imo) £1
TOTAL COST = £77 (but you don't have to get a pump as powerful & maybe save £15 ) this is a rough estimate & you may be able to do this a lot cheaper ?
ASSEMBLY ...you will need a pocket knife & something to cut a neat (ish) round hole
: I used old leaf trimmers !Put the net pot upside down on the lid & score around it ...cut out a hole smaller by a few MM in the lid so the net pot sits nicely & can be removed easily.
make a 8mm hole in the side of the bucket high up for the airline to fit through (4MM if you have a smaller pump with 4mm line ect ,but for this demo im using 8mm )
now sit your bucket(s) where you intend to keep them growing ( as close or far apart as you like ) ... sit your pump where you want to have that (a cool spot outside the grow room is a good idea if temps are an issue on a regular basis) .
Now take you air line & measure from the pump to the 1st bucket & cut the 1st piece to the length you need .
If using more than 1 bucket you put a T-piece on the end of that ... then cut the other pieces of airline to size ,fit the rest of the connectors & taps where you want them.(this will be different for every grow room but will take a bit of space so if using small cabs ect make sure it all fits ok & resize if needed)
Now take it all apart & clad with the mylar & tape if like ?
Thas about it ...your almost good to grow !... germinate how you like into the 1" cubes... get the 1" cubes into the buckets once they sprout & if you follow a few basic DWC seedling guidelines with PH ,ec , temps . your good to go (i'll go into getting babys started later in the thread)
Heres pics of how I made them ... really easy
Ok thats them pretty much ready to rock & the last pic shows the pebbles soaking in PH 5.5 water after a good soak & rinse in boiling & lots of cold water to get all the dust & stuff off ...now this water will stay nice & clear ...24hrs the pebbles should be good to drain & dry out & wont be sending your PH (& you ) crazy :dance2:
notice I have no tap on the last bucket in the line ??? thought i could control the air flow with just two but will be getting a third one soon & can just tweak all the taps until the bubbles look even in all buckets . (slight design error
Its good to run the system with some plain water 1st .... throw the lid & net pot (still empty ) on & measure how much water you need (I like to be around an inch above the base of the pot) .That takes around 3L which is great ...I mix 9L or nutes for all 3 buckets ... after this test & setting the taps right ect you've given your air stones a blast out & there cleaner for the proper run now !
more pics of them up and running ...
To get the levels right I had an empty net pot in 1 bucket ...put in water to the level I wanted (1" above base) & then put about 2" of pebbles in the net pot . Gently place cube on that & fill with more pebbles ... once the stem gets a bit stronger & shes stretched an inch or two you can fill the net pots to the max trying to block all the light you can (I still cover the edges with something to be sure ) .
48 hrs later there where roots showing out the base of the net pots
So im happy they work !.. up to this point I only had PH5.5 water in the buckets but once I saw a root, that got changed for the 1st res of nutes & I call that day 1 ....
heres how they look 3 days later on day 4 (today ) Im happy its working & after the 16oz comp can say you could grow a nice auto in just 1 of these ...but the option to move any one of these reg babys on sex to a full size DWC with no stress is also great for me .... Id have to run 3 x 30lpm pumps & use 45L of nutes to do this in normal size buckets so they will pay for themselves after a few sexed girls get transferred in big buckets :thumbs:
View attachment 297423:Cool:thank for reading & any Q's ,comments ,ideas , alternative methods ,criticism , flaws or anything else ...feel free to post will update how these get on from time to time
:tiphat: Stay stoned my AFN brothers & sisters
Last edited:
:tiphat:
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