pumpkin2006

Sup guys, I figured after about 6 months I ought to actually do a journal of sorts. So I was doing a feed to waste system using Advanced nutrients (the nutrients aren't changing) in coco coir in square pots. I wasn't happy with the salt retention of coco so I said, if I'm gonna go hydro, I'm gonna really go hydro. So I looked around at what I thought would 1) Be affordable 2) easy to build & 3) work well. I found it; thanks to a few of you out there!!

Enough with the chit chat, heres the stuff. As the title says, NFT/DWC. I honestly don't know what else to call it. I'll have 16 "gullies" that hold 6 plants each and every plant will be in a 1 sq ft area; true sog.

Heres a pic of one of the gullies (4' vinyl fence post purchased at lowes for $20 each) with 6 3" net pots.

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Heres a pic of the 3" hole saw and one of the pots. They're GH and cost 20 cents each:


There will be overflow valves that will attached into the large 4" pvc pipe you saw in the first image. Heres a picture of one of the valves:


The water will enter threw 1/4" lines that are ran inside each gully that feed on the opposite side of the gully. Heres a picture of the line of 3/4" to 1/4" that attaches to the pump. Each one of these lines is designed for the Aeroflo 60 from GH. I had 4 sets of these so I attached 3 together to make a 12' string; each set has 6 3/4" female threads that you can cap off or as seen, attach the 3/4" to 1/4" lines.


The pump is also a GH pump for an Aeroflo 60. It handles 20 gallons a minute and has been tested. The first couple 1/4" lines shoot a little quicker then the end ones, but works fine.


After the water falls out of the overflow valve it runs down a 15 & 1/2' 4" diameter pvc pipe with 2 90 degree elbows to bring it back down to the res. The res will have to be modified to put the GH pump through the side of it. I have a rubber grommet that went to the original panda res from GH. Basically, easy to modify. Basically, theres gonna be a lot of DO (dissolved oxygen). O I need to clean that res bad


Ok, what makes this sorta DWC is that my NFT has about 1 1/2" of water in the gullies, instead of the normal 3 mm. I am going to run a 4' air diffuser, shown below, which are each attached to one of my two 8 channel air pumps.


Heres a kinda long shot of the room which is 16' long by 8' wide. I'm going to lose the 4 individual vented hoods and replace them with two more 48" long, 2 light, cool tubes, like the one shown in the middle. I'm gonna partially supplement my 10" exhaust fan with a 12000 btu portable A/C to make the exhausting less and conversely keeping my Co2 PPM at about 1500 most of the time. I'm getting rid of the burner and using my tanks again. To keep my humidity down and keep the heat down.


Ah, heres my last harvest all in bags . I'm looking at about 6 lbs. Hopefully with the new room setup it'll be more like 12 lbs.


Long enough for ya???

*Edit: I forgot: The parts, aside from the pump and 3/4 12' string, the parts cost me around $600. /Edit*

Duner

Sweet set-up! Looks like you thought of everything.
What kinda lights will it be under?
What strain are you gonna grow (hopefully 12lbs of) ????

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pumpkin2006

Those are Agromax 1000w hps bulbs attached to Nutrilife 1000w digital hps/mh ballasts that are extremely power efficient. It takes them about 3 minutes to actually power up to the bulbs to max, which doesn't cause power spikes and keeps energy under control. My whole room raised my power bill by only $200 a month, including the 6" that is constantly on, 10" vent fan, computer, dehumidifier, portable A/C (wasn't on very much last time, but its 8.4 amps at 120v so should only add about $20), pumps (air and water).

I'm going to be growing purple urkel again. Its the bomb stuff, not because its purple. It hits hard and will make you hallucinate if you don't have a big tolerance. It's a good yielder and a medium feeder. Low maintenance , but seems to be easily susceptible to spider mites. Its best to use in a SOG style because they don't get super huge.

Ripcord

6K + SOG = w00t!!!

Sign me up. Best of luck with your grow.

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Serenity

good luck man hope you get your 12 lbs.

xjo

I would say this belongs in the hydro journals, whaddya think pumpkin...

Xjo

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Slo Rated Friend

Damn . . sign me up!!

pumpkin2006

I would agree with you, but this is my construction journal, so people can see how the system/room is setup. I will start a hydro journal when I plant.

xjo

Nice one pumpkin, I'll look forward to your journal....

Xjo

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vernonsupreme

looking good mahn...

sure those fenceposts will give you adequate water flow with rootspace accounted for? I ran a test batch with a small set (4 2 ft sections) of fence posts and once the roots grew in there was not very much room for nutrient flow.

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