DIY rDWC system

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rkymtnman
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

just got back from the basement stockroom

zone

GA:
total N .06%
.06% nitrate nitrogen
soluble potash .15%
sulfur .06%
.06% combined sulfur
copper .1%
.1% water soluble copper

derived from: potassium nitrate
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by GrowTutor »

OK, so not the same approach as the GH subculture line either but you can still try it and see if you have issues or not. Or you can brew your own beneficial tea for your res. Remember, there is no one, single, right way to grow. ;)
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

yeah, my bad. the zone is the sterile route.

what does it cost to make the homebrew tea that you posted a recipe for ? have you figured out what a bucket costs to make?

and physan20 is pretty cheap too. a bottle should last a whole grow i would think.
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by GrowTutor »

I never bothered estimating it, I can't tell you what my water dept. charges me per gallon either so I pulled some numbers out of my ass to kind of guesstimate.

If I get as much per 15 lb. bag of castings and 1 lb. bag of mykos, as I *think* I would; it'd cost about 2.25-2.50 per 300 gallon reservoir and it'd take about 10 gallons of tea. Even if I'm wildly wrong and it's 5.00 per 300 gal res that's still cheap enough at 5 cents/gal added cost, not including electricity, supplies, pump, bucket, time or water. Even that depends on many factors, like the cost of YOUR castings and benes and how you plan to apply. A 15lb bag of castings is about 20 bucks and I think I could make 20 - 10 gallon "batches" of tea per bag. The benes that I've been liking lately run about the same and I estimate about the same number of batches per bag. Now, I'm medicated, ;) maybe I'm off on one or both so see if you can check my math but I come up with enough tea (200 gallons) to treat a 6000 gallon res for less than 50 (not including parts, water and time) of worm poop, molasses and mykos.

10 gallon tea batch:
5 cups castings
1.5 tblsp Mykos
3 tblsp Molasses or good brown sugar

You can make your own castings by enslaving worms to do it for you, if you have the room and you're willing to do the work. I've seen a gallon of fresh worm tea sell for over 10.00 at local nurseries so do the math. ;)

I haven't done much recent homework on the beneficials scene, perhaps that subculture line (or something else) will treat more gallons per 50 bucks... but I doubt it. :D
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

hmm. sounds like i need to look into selling fresh tea. $10/gal is pretty good coin for worm shit broth!

so waiting on some pvc fittings, bulkhead and uniseals to arrive. as i was checking out my handiwork on the first 2 totes, i had a brain fart. how the hell was i gonna drain about 30 to 40 gallons? luckily, just behind my grow room is where our h2o heater is located. and there is a floor drain. so i have run 1/2 pvc to the drain from where the 2 inch line comes out of the grow room. gonna put a reducing tee in and a valve and i'll be able to drain the whole setup lickity split.

as soon as i get the parts, i can start to assemble the drain setup and also begin to plumb my control reservoir.

more pix to come.
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by GrowTutor »

If you didn't have the floor drain you could have used a garden hose to drain outside, feeding the vegetable garden/flowers/weeds...I mean lawn, etc... ;)
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

ok folks. so finally made some progress. got the drain setup complete that runs to a floor drain nearby and tied into the main pipes of the rdwc. just need to tie in my control res to the 2" pvc and then i'm going to put some water in to see if it leaks. it better not. i used pvc for the whole setup and bulkheads or shower drains for just that reason. and silicone around every place in the tubs that could leak.

more pix to come soon.

RKY
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by SisterMaryElephant »

Are you going to edit the first post to make it more of a "step by step," how-to/tutorial DIY topic or is this just more of a "checkout the rdwc that I built" type topic? I'm easily confused while medicated. ;)
I also run a medical grow consulting business in SoCal.
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

me too. i was thinking it was going to be a "how to". i've been changing the design on the fly. might just be "check this out". i just hope it works as i think its going to. it might turn into "dont' build it this way" tutorial.

if it works, i'll probably do a little editing and make it a bit easier to follow.
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Re: DIY Aeroponics or rDWC system

Post by rkymtnman »

drain setup
drain setup
IMG_6742.jpg (270.36 KiB) Viewed 20172 times
control tub not hooked up just yet
control tub not hooked up just yet
IMG_6743.jpg (240.1 KiB) Viewed 20172 times
grow room tubs
grow room tubs
IMG_6744.jpg (137.13 KiB) Viewed 20172 times
everybody should have one of these. automatic fire extinguisher.
everybody should have one of these. automatic fire extinguisher.
IMG_6745.jpg (201.21 KiB) Viewed 20172 times
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