Heisenbubbles Do it yourself RDWC build

[spyralout]

Don't they just hang over the side?

I had one that hung over the side and it had trouble staying primed if the tote went past half full. The stem reached all the way to the bottom too. I think he might have screwed it into the wall. I've thought of some really strong adhesive or heavy duty Velcro. Maybe even a big suction cup, the kind that has a lever to create that vacuum suction effect (like a shower soap dish). I ditched it for a pump attached to the side bottom with a hose extending long enough to fill the epi bucket and plug into the tote lid on the opposite side of the tote to create a recirculating waterfall effect.

 

[MediGrow]

@Heisenbeans ,

Did you tried the green planet nutrients yet or?? Would be nice to know if the nuts are great vs gh

 

[Heisen]

@Heisenbeans ,

Did you tried the green planet nutrients yet or?? Would be nice to know if the nuts are great vs gh

Naw

 

[Nick]

Leak test using cch2O 2” bucket bulkhead fittings on the HB 4 gallon
Bucket Rdwc with 10 buckets 1300gph ecopump
(2) 320 ecoplus2 L/h air pumps dual ports
Eco plus 1/4 hp chiller
Blue lab guardian monitor
All mounted on lumber 10’ L x 32” w
x 6” deck dolly.
All bulkhead fittings were hand tightened allowed to rest then retighten by hand again.
Going for first run of system
first time rdwc experience
.........
Ecoplus 2 air pumps suck.
1 leak at 1 bulkhead fitting working on it now running for 1 hr then shut down.
I still here batches of air bubbles in the water system purging 15 min after starting.
I added 150 ml of UC Roots to the epi to recirc and keep system sterilization integrity in check.
3ml per gallon. I have no clones or seedlings to drop yet into the rdwc
I will upgrade to commercial air pump

Nice system looks just like mine but I have leaks, oh god do I have unexpected leaks. My 2" bulkhead fittings are leaking and I have no idea why. Assume your gaskets are on the outside and how tight are you making yours? Could you please comment on the gasket your using ? Mine is more of a hard rubber. Thank you.

 

[Heisen]

Nice system looks just like mine but I have leaks, oh god do I have unexpected leaks. My 2" bulkhead fittings are leaking and I have no idea why. Assume your gaskets are on the outside and how tight are you making yours? Could you please comment on the gasket your using ? Mine is more of a hard rubber. Thank you.

Threads and nut on inside gasket on outside. Tighten it down with pliers. It wont leak

 

[Nick]

Threads and nut on inside gasket on outside. Tighten it down with pliers. It wont leak

Thank you! I hear you but mine do leak...its a mess. I have gasket on bulkhead and nut on inside. Only thing I can think of is they may be too tight. It's an ugly situation.

 

[Heisen]

Thank you! I hear you but mine do leak...its a mess. I have gasket on bulkhead and nut on inside. Only thing I can think of is they may be too tight. It's an ugly situation.

Leaking from bulkhead or pipe?

 

[Nick]

Leaking from bulkhead or pipe?

Thank you, sorry I was out of town. leaking from bulkheads. I'm pretty sure it's the gaskets. They fit onto the threads very tight. Tighter than the hole I cut for them. I believe the gasket it getting hung up on the threads. I'm thinking the gasket it not quite flush and a small section of gasket gets pinched in between the bucket opening and threads thus stopping the rest of the flange from getting tight. Tomorrow I will either trim each gasket or heat/stretch them out quickly while tightening. But I assure you they leak and you must be as surprised as I was. (I"m a electrical/mechanical engineer. I was shocked like WTF!
Thank you for your help.

 

[Foxhunter444]

I have two plants that seem to be reaching for the sky for some reason. They are healthy and nice buds forming but they are getting taller and less bushy than the other plants. All are the same seeds. How do you handle this problem or is it ok to let them be tall? I have room etc.
Thanks,
Foxhunter

 

[Bc_ca]

Nice system looks just like mine but I have leaks, oh god do I have unexpected leaks. My 2" bulkhead fittings are leaking and I have no idea why. Assume your gaskets are on the outside and how tight are you making yours? Could you please comment on the gasket your using ? Mine is more of a hard rubber. Thank you.

I had 2 buckets leak with the current culture 2” bulkhead fittings. I had to slightly loosen nut & retighten by hand. Then I used a new oil filter band wrench to tighten evenly until no leak.
Since the buckets are on the wooden dolly deck leaks show up instantly.
Get the band wrench
Also if your going to upgrade to like a 1200gph or greater pump (I did) when you thread fittings into the pump body intake don’t use Teflon tape. Instead use the liquid Teflon plumber paste. It’s a true thread sealant and threads would leak if I had the system shut off just at the inlet of the pump.

 

[Bc_ca]

I have two plants that seem to be reaching for the sky for some reason. They are healthy and nice buds forming but they are getting taller and less bushy than the other plants. All are the same seeds. How do you handle this problem or is it ok to let them be tall? I have room etc.
Thanks,
Foxhunter

Expect 2-3 ft of stretch from veg height after flip with HB strains.
If your not gonna hit ceiling or too close to lighting I’d say let em express.
But if they are gonna burn scrog time

 

[Nick]

Thank you, sorry I was out of town. leaking from bulkheads. I'm pretty sure it's the gaskets. They fit onto the threads very tight. Tighter than the hole I cut for them. I believe the gasket it getting hung up on the threads. I'm thinking the gasket it not quite flush and a small section of gasket gets pinched in between the bucket opening and threads thus stopping the rest of the flange from getting tight. Tomorrow I will either trim each gasket or heat/stretch them out quickly while tightening. But I assure you they leak and you must be as surprised as I was. (I"m a electrical/mechanical engineer. I was shocked like WTF!
Thank you for your help.

My 2" bulk head fittings were nearly all leaking... what a bunch of crap! Bought a sheet of 1/4" neoprene and cut my own gaskets, now no leaks and only hand tight. Another suggestion, don't cut your bulkhead holes too close to the bottom not because of the nut fitting but because the bottom won't flex like the sides and top... so if your pipes move or you don't have your buckets exactly lined straight, then your gasket may not be able to compensate.

 

[cobe43]

I had one that hung over the side and it had trouble staying primed if the tote went past half full. The stem reached all the way to the bottom too. I think he might have screwed it into the wall. I've thought of some really strong adhesive or heavy duty Velcro. Maybe even a big suction cup, the kind that has a lever to create that vacuum suction effect (like a shower soap dish). I ditched it for a pump attached to the side bottom with a hose extending long enough to fill the epi bucket and plug into the tote lid on the opposite side of the tote to create a recirculating waterfall effect.

good idea.

 

[Indiva710]

Edited this shit show by a moderator

 

[ZooH2O]

Hello,

I'm new here and watched your whole series on youtube. Thanks for posting it here with the parts list. I made my own parts list a couple days ago and bought half the parts at Harbor Freight and Home Depot. I made a spreadsheet as a checklist. It's also somewhat of a calculator based on the number of buckets entered in the top cell. Not all of the cells have been populated yet because I'm not sure of either the part/source/price. The parts list posted above will help with this, but I may have some questions along the way. I might add some images, if people find this useful.

 

[Nick]

Funny lesson, I built this DWC system pretty much exactly like shown here. I upgraded to 7gal buckets and 2" pipe. For weeks I could not figure out why my Control bucket water level was several inches higher than my most distant buckets. I was baffled and thought maybe I should have checked again before filling with water for the first time. Yesterday I added several gallons to the CB and the water level stayed at the top. WTH? The most distant bucket was at 5" while the control bucket was at 12". Even with 2" pipes I found roots 3' long or more. Now the water levels are all equal.. Gotta watch those roots!

 

[Heisen]

My version of the build...

I like that

 

[Heisen]

Nice system looks just like mine but I have leaks, oh god do I have unexpected leaks. My 2" bulkhead fittings are leaking and I have no idea why. Assume your gaskets are on the outside and how tight are you making yours? Could you please comment on the gasket your using ? Mine is more of a hard rubber. Thank you.

Gaskets are on the outside. Make sure threads on the insides and you have to tighten with a wrench. You also have to glue the pipes into the bulkheads

 

[Heisen]

I use cch2o bulkheads and never had a single issue with them...now other cheap abs bulkheads I can't say the same for as they have leaked on me due to them cracking...But the cch20 is where it's at just wish they made other sizes other than 2 and 3in and their bulkhead filters do wonders u only need them on the bucket or buckets for the return that is it..So if it's a 4 site or 8 site and just dual row u need 2 at the very end that's it... Also they make orbit pvc fittings from 1/2,3/4,1in and do wonders for return lines or whatever u need them for I use them for my system and do wonders..What's great is they are removable with a tool so no gluing and they don't leak plus the PVC spins inside of the fittings so perfect for your return pump since it's threaded makes it very easy to remove if you use pvc instead hoses...
I also do not use elbows on my systems will do 3way tees only and then they have oatey test plugs I use instead of rubber end caps and they are like 50 cents more and no tools needed..I also will use unions if there's a long run of pvc pipe so u can break it down easier for cleaning and scrubbing which you HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCRUB EVERY INCH OF THE SYSTEM PIPING PERIOD!!!!!.. As h2o2 or some cleaner is not going to work with out scrubbing ..Lowe's has a nice 2in brush in the auto brush section that it can bend 90 which is really nice.....
The orbit fittings home depot carries them for local places if not order online make sure you get the white ones as the black and blue ones are for pex piping and will not work.....The fittings since they spin you can turn the fitting out of the way or have it on a slight angle which is really nice too for when u remove it....
Make sure you have a ball valve before and after your return pump so you can have easy access like if it clogs w roots or media etc as it does happen and u need to be Able to take it apart and have the valves as close as possible to the pump and like I said they have orbit couplers or elbows and tees that you can use so it will spin back on without a problem and using a union if it's a long run won't hurt either cheap and well worth it.....
Also please do not buy danner mag drive pumps they are junk garbage unless u want leaks....I have had a lot better luck with the ecoplus mag drive pumps they are made soooo much better I mean danner their model 2-7 uses the same housing and everything and ecoplus mag drive actually changes them w a bigger case for a bigger pump they also designed a better outside housing not to mention they used male threads on both intake and exhaust and is how all inline pumps should be period as female threads are a terrible idea and only causes problems even w PTFE tape doesn't matter ...So don't waste ur time and get the eco plus mag drive and it has to be the mag drive series as their entry level eco plus will not cut it in the long run I use them for draining my systems but they don't run much and perfect for them... And they are cheap so well worth it for a drain pump as my custom drain system I made drains everything but 200ml in my bloom setup so well worth it as when u go off of the return pump it will stop about 1/2 below the top of the bulkhead when it looses head pressure...
If you have a large dual diaphragm air pump and have heat problems w your water it's best to have a air manifold and then tee off that..I use 1in fpvc from my alita60 and then I go to 3/8lldpe line that goes to the buckets and then inside it goes to 1/4 for 2 large popcan size airstones and my water temp is 70 for veg.....
Also I was able to get rid of my power whore of a water chiller a 1/4hp ecoplus that does 440w and 4.6amps it's complete bs and I was able to replace it with 6-12watts only lmfao and its for a 90gal system too even absolutely incredible!!!!!

You took a system that was already super easy to build and setup and turned it into a clusterfuk. What the fuck is all that? Serious question

 

[Heisen]

Thank you! I hear you but mine do leak...its a mess. I have gasket on bulkhead and nut on inside. Only thing I can think of is they may be too tight. It's an ugly situation.

They should not leak unless you drilled the holes to low. Than the gasket will not fit right. If you watch my videos ive put a ton of these together and had no leaks. Some would leak a little but you have to tighten them . Make sure the leaks are not on the inserted pipe. The gasket should be outside of the bucket and make sure your nut is screwing on right and not binding. When the bulkhead is on correct you should not be able to turn the pipes period.