Grow Mediums New Hydro Set Up?

[Grey Bear]

For hydro the absolute simplest with the least moving parts or stuff to deal with is an airstone in a five gallon bucket.
I don't think it gets much more basic than that

You have a bucket with a lid
a netpot to put into the lid of the bucket
hydroton to put in the net pot
Airstone in the bucket
Air pump to drive air stone
Airhose to connect airstone and air pump.
Nutrients.

It is very manageable.

One difference between rdwc and dwc that is often overlooked is scale.
The nutrients behave differently in larger volumes and when you begin to factor in flow rates thinks can really get wild.
This is why you see a move in rdwc towards larger bulkhead connectors.
I think serious hydroponic growers that need the scale of rdwc will eventually do away with separate rez and opt for a common trough style rez approx. 18"- 24" wide x 18" x 24" tall x ??' long, using a combination of airstones and waterpumps to keep the nutrient solution mixed and oxygenated. This would be with or without a separate rez for mixing/chilling/etc.

Many nutrients do fine in 25l -100l applications but not so well in larger applications. Or not in larger applications with irregular flow rates in the system.

Don't get me wrong, I think RDWC is a great system, but like any of the systems there pro's & cons to each.
One of the biggest factors believe it or not, will be do you like the system?
If you don't, I don't care how much you paid for it, it will never pay for itself.
But, if you love that little bucket with its little air pump beating itself up for you, you would be amazed at the results.
Point is you got a like the system, understand it, and use it correctly for it to work.
Good luck in the decision!
GB

 

[Dazed]

In aero systems the nozzles still spray when the plants are young and don't have a lot of roots. That keeps the humidity at or near 100% so the plant is sitting in that environment and receiving nutrients from the spray mist. When I first started researching my hydro system I thought aero was the way to go until an experienced grower tipped me off to issues with the nozzles clogging and requiring a lot of maintenance. I guess it's not too bad on a small system but apparently can be an issue in larger ones. In the end I got a Current Culture RDWC system. I'm only on my third grow and still learning, but so far am loving it, especially only having to change the system every 3 weeks as opposed to weekly in DWC.

I plan on trying this out, just as a little project not to replace my soil grows, but looks really cool, pretty simple, not super expensive and most of all fun! Worth a watch.

[video=youtube;8eMt3kCUYnw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eMt3kCUYnw&list=UUdZ1ZfmkOh9_QLX03wjezMA[/video]

Dazed..

 

[jackmc]

Thanks everyone! Generous as usual. Gray Bear's bucket approach is along the lines of what I was envisioning. I could not watch the video Dazed but I saw a still image of a 5 gal bucket with 7 net pots in the lid. Is that a system that mists? Muddy is there somewhere I can see that diagram in a larger size for my old eyes? My current system has 2 air stones and a submersible pump that top feeds the net pots. The top feed does not seem necessary once the plants become established. What I don't get is how do you start the plants in a bubble bucket?

Dazed was able to view video. Thanks

 

[Muddy]

Here you go, page 6. http://cch2o.com/product-catalog/. Or right click on the image I posted, then Save Image As. Save it to your desktop then blow it up as much as you need to. LOL, I have the same problem. As they say, the eyes are the second thing to go!

 

[jackmc]

Thank you Muddy!