Marijuana Magyver Club

[lkline300]

you know i am ALWAYS here to help!!

 

when i get done with ya, you will be a bubblehead forever.

 

lol..............I don't know, I do love my dirt............................

 

But I am curious............ You guys are definitely growing bigger & faster......................

[BDR]

I like it!!!! Great post!! Kudos!! May be I need a couple bubbles in the room!! I think it's worth a shot!!

[Grow Thread]

lol..............I don't know, I do love my dirt............................

 

But I am curious............ You guys are definitely growing bigger & faster......................

 

i am almost not joking when i say you can mark the plant height on the wall, sit down, burn one, and then re-check the height and see change

 

I like it!!!! Great post!! Kudos!! May be I need a couple bubbles in the room!! I think it's worth a shot!!

 

if you ever need help, click on the link in my signature and i will walk you through if you need.

[grandmasgreenman]

i am almost not joking when i say you can mark the plant height on the wall, sit down, burn one, and then re-check the height and see change

 

 

 

if you ever need help, click on the link in my signature and i will walk you through if you need.

i was wandering if anyone uses 1/4" soaker hose instead of airstones.

[CannabisPatient#1]

I like it!!!! Great post!! Kudos!! May be I need a couple bubbles in the room!! I think it's worth a shot!!

 

Right! My caregiver is quite handy and I wish that he would build a bubble bucket and an aero-cloner.

[Grow Thread]

another deposit in the club account

 

 

watering seedlings in dirt has always been a PIA for me. i usually have a flat of seedlings thrown in a veg room somewhere along a footprint border or something for a few days, instead of designating a special area and cfl bulbs.

 

anyways, it can get difficult to get around other things/plants to water those delicate little seedlings sometimes so i rigged this up and have used it for years.

 

all ya need is an empty dish soap bottle, a steak knife, and a few inches of aquarium air line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

obviously, make sure your soap bottle is washed and rinsed very well. unscrew the lid, and break off the little flip cap part. take the steak knife and hollow the hole in the cap out just a little more. just stick the tip in the hole and twist the knife around a few times.

 

soon, you will have the hole just big enough that you can push your piece of air line through the cap. dont make the hole too big, you want to have to force the air line through, not just slide it through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and because of the pressure inside, when you fill the bottle and flip it over, the water just lazily trickles out, at a very slow pace, allowing you to move your little hose around whatever you want and deliver a very gentle watering

 

[TajMahal]

Good one BG!

 

Sure beats trying to regulate the flow of water out of a gallon jug

[Grow Thread]

Good one BG!

 

Sure beats trying to regulate the flow of water out of a gallon jug

 

you got that right

 

the first time i reached over a plant in full veg to water a seedling, tripped, busted the main stem on the veg plant, and dropped the gallon on the tray of seedlings i knew there had to be a better way

 

so i sat.......... medicated......... and this is what i came up with :lol:

[Bisharoo]

Do you recommend maybe 1 plant per tote as this picture looks like the 1 plant is big enough for the whole thing. I am trying to consider how much of what I do now will I have to change if I decide to do a 12 plant or more grow. My room is about 10 x 10 so I am thinking of a couple of tents that have all the vents, etc. I guess 1 room for vegging and 1 for flowering?

[Grow Thread]

it's back

 

back by popular demand rumpleforeskin's bubblebucket:

THE BUBBLE BUCKET BUILD

 

I have had a few requests for the plans to my home made bubble-bucket.

So lets do the shopping first:

 

Shopping list for local hardware store (Homedepot/Lowes)

One five gallon bucket with lid.

One roll aluminum tape (not duct tape).

One 1/2" PVC Ball Valve (inside threaded on both ends).

Two 1/2" PVC Male Adaptor **Thread x Socket**

Two 1/2" PVC Elbow for Flexible Pipe.

One 1/2" Threaded PVC Plug.

One 1/2" Threaded Coupling.

Two 1/2" Threaded PVC Adapter to Flexible Pipe (some times called funny fittings).

Two 1/2" Grommets.

Four "O" Rings that fit the threads of the Male Adaptor.

One piece of 1/2" PVC Pipe (you need less then a foot per bucket).

Two 1/2" PVC Tees

2' Clear Flexible Tubing with 1/2" inside diameter

 

Shopping list for the local pet store:

8' of Silicone Airline Tubing

2 Airstones

2 Plastic check valves

1 Air Pump

 

Shopping list for a hydro store:

1 6" Net Pot

1 Bag of Hydroton Pebbles

 

 

Lets Start Building

 

We don't want light to pass through the bucket, so I use aluminum tape. Duct tape won't work. Light will pass through duct tape. Also its better to tape before drilling holes.

Start by taping outside of lid.

 

 

Completely tape the outside of the bucket. Do the outside bottom as well.

 

 

We now need to cut a hole in the lid to fit your mesh basket. The hole has to be about 1/4" smaller then the top outside diameter of your basket. If you dont have any good hole cutting tools, you can use a razor (don't cut your fingers off). Drill/Cut your hole in the center of the lid.

 

 

Its important to know the height of your mesh basket so you can position the fill hole below the bottom of your basket. After measuring your basket height, place your lid on your bucket. Mark your fill hole location about an inch more then your basket height from the hole in your lid.

 

 

The 1/2" PVC Male Adaptor has an outside diameter of about an inch. This will be your drain, so it needs to be as close to the bottom of the bucket as possible. I measure up and mark it about 3/4" from the bottom of the bucket. If you drill to close to the bottom it will not install correct.

 

 

I like to have my drain and fill, inline with each other. You can put them anyplace that works with your grow. Use a small drill to make pilot holes through your bucket.

 

 

Now flip your bucket over. You should be able to see the locations of your pilot holes. Switch to a 3/4" drill bit. Anything that will make a 3/4" hole will work.

 

 

Drill out your drain and fill holes.

 

 

To make your fluid level Indicator. We have to drill two more 3/4" holes. Place the bottom hole at the same level as the drain. Drill the top hole 1.5" from the top. You can make the top hole higher if you want.

 

 

Lets drill two holes (#7 drill bit or one slightly smaller then your air line) below the top lip on opposite sides of the bucket for the air lines.

 

 

Now the fun part. Time to install all our fittings.

 

 

Place O-rings on all both 1/2" PVC Male Adaptors

 

 

Insert the male adaptors through the drain and fill holes from the inside of the bucket. It will be a tight fit.

 

 

Add O-rings to the threads that stick out of the bucket. Then screw on your vlave to the drain and 1/2" threaded coupling + plug to your fill.

 

 

Install your rubber gromits to the 3/4" holes you made for your level indicator.

[Grow Thread]

I like to cut half the barbs off one side of my tubing elbows. The cut side will go into the clear tubing. This gives me another inch or so of indicator.

 

 

Install your two tubing elbows into your gromits. Careful not to push your gromits out of the holes you drilled. I spit on the barbs before installing them. Measure the distance between the two elbows.

 

 

Cut your clear tubing to the same distance between the two elbows.

 

 

Now install the tube to your elbows.

 

 

Cut a 7.5" piece of 1/2" PVC pipe

 

 

Attach the a PVC Tee to each end (no glue). Using a number 7 drill bit or a bit that is just slightly smaller then your silicone airline tubing, drill two holes in your pipe. Drill close to the base of the Tee.

 

 

Cut about 4' of silicone airline tubing. Run your silicone airline tubing through your Tee and into your pipe then out the hole you drilled. It helps to cut a point into the end of your silicone airline to thread through the small holes.

 

 

Attach your air stone and do the same thing to the other side.

 

 

This will hold your air stones in place without adding any metal parts.

 

 

Feed the airline through the bucket.

 

 

If you want your air line to be neet, your can drill small holes in the top rings of your bucket and attach zip-ties.

 

 

If you plan to have an air pump below your nutrient level, then you need to have check valves. You don't want to ruin your new pump by having water back-up into it.

 

 

Now test out our new Bubble-Bucket. Look for leaks. Don't over tighten against your O-rings. If your rings smash, back up a turn or two.

 

 

A few folks said they fear the sight indicators (light causing algae). I have used them the last four cycles, without any scum growth. They work so good, I don't know how I ever lived without them.

 

 

Only clean roots and water here. Not even a hint of pond scum.

 

They seem to help get the best end result.

Well thats it. Go grow some pakalolo

[puffaway]

Wow....thanks for some great ideas. My last grow got pretty messy with dirt everywhere. Might be time to switch over. I did'nt know hydro could be that easy.

The site glass is a great addition too.

[Grow Thread]

Wow....thanks for some great ideas. My last grow got pretty messy with dirt everywhere. Might be time to switch over. I did'nt know hydro could be that easy.

The site glass is a great addition too.

 

to make it even easier you can link a bunch of them together and have a gravity fed system. this way you do not have to put the sight glass or the fill inlet in all the buckets........... just one, and then that one fills the next and the next

 

 

you can pull the basic idea out of here:

 

12 SITE BUBBLEBUCKET HYDRO SYSTEM

 

i have had a couple questions about linking a bunch of bubblebuckets together and then to a central reservoir. this makes your grow as easy as can be as all of your checking/filling is done through the rez instead of each bucket individually. also, when operating like this, the initial build is much less complicated than building a single bucket. i am a little short on pics at the moment, but i will add more as i build my new system soon.

 

PARTS LIST:

reservoir...... anything from a 10 gallon storage tote to a 55 gallon drum is fine, it just needs to be taller than a 5 gallon bucket.

13 five gallon buckets

160gph water pump

100' black vinyl tubing

14 air stones. i like the 6" dark blue kind.

100' aquarium air line

20-60 gallon aquarium air pump. dual outlet.

26 barbed coupler/connectors

26 rubber grommets

enough hydroton clay pebbles to fill (12) 5" net pots.

12 net pots. 5" is fine.

2 commercial 6 outlet air pumps. this is overkill on the air/bubbles, but i like bubbles you could just get the larger model pump and an extra splitter and feed all 12 buckets. i like having 2 separate air pumps because it makes moving things around much easier.

 

 

here is your basic design:

 

 

 

ok, looks complicated but don't freak out. it's really not.

 

lets start with the 12 buckets you will be growing in. (green circles above). each bucket will have 4 holes in it total. 2 in the lid, and 2 on the sides. for the lid, one hole should be centered and be 4 3/4" in diameter. this is for your net pot to sit in. the other hole in the lid is just a little 1/8" hole and i try to keep it close to the edge of the lid. a hole just big enough to pull the air line through. the 2 holes on the sides of the buckets should be 13/16". i put those 2 holes on opposite sides of the bucket and about an inch from the bottom. this is where your rubber grommets/couplers will be pushed through each bucket, and then we will be linking them all together using the 1/2" black vinyl tubing. (black lines above).

then we will drill that same 13/16" hole an inch from the bottom of the reservoir and connect them all together. the dual outlet (cheapie) air pump is for the reservoir. hook up 2 lines to the pump, with 2 air stones on the other end, and drop them in the rez. keeping the rez bubbling is a good thing. the "rez" in this application really isn't "reserving" anything, i am simply calling it a rez, and it is just really a bucket with no plants/roots and you can access the water easily to check levels/add nutes. you could also just use another 5 gallon bucket for the rez.

 

the grommets are pretty cool, just drill your hole, and push it through, you will know when it is seated properly. then take one of the 1/2" connectors and shove that through the grommet. as i said, i am a little short on pics right now, so lets just pretend this red coffee container is a 5 gallon bucket:

 

this is how you make the "entry set-up". here we have our 5 gallon bucket, rubber grommet, and barbed coupler.

 

 

after you have your 13/16" hole as seen above, push your rubber grommet through. you will know when it is seated properly.

 

 

then push the barbed connector through as well.

 

 

and finally, attach your black vinyl tubing. i usually use a zip-tie here also, just for safety.

 

 

ok, get all 12 buckets built, get the first bucket in the chain connected to the rez, and the last bucket in the daisy chain to your 13th bucket.... the "control bucket" (smaller blue circle above). really this bucket isn't controlling a dang thing, we will just call it that. this bucket does absolutely nothing but hold a pump to pump water into the top of the rez. this keeps a constant flow of water, and kills 2 birds with one stone. moving water = more oxygen, and this also keeps everything stirred up constantly.

 

get your 2 commercial air pumps set up and run a 1/8" aquarium air line from the air pump through the lid of each grow bucket, all the way to the bottom, and attach a 6" air stone.

 

 

 

 

 

ok......... looks like we have everything set up. lmao... yeah right. anyways, this system is gravity fed. once everything is connected and tightened up, its time to fill the system. as you can see, filling the rez will allow water to flow through all 12 grow buckets and then into the control bucket. from the control bucket, it gets pumped into the rez and the cycle continues. so anyways, keep filling with water until you reach a level about 1/4 inch below the net pots. then make a mark inside your rez. this is your optimal water level and should be maintained daily. so everyday it is as simple as opening the rez, checking your ph/ec/ppm.... whatever you check, and then backfilling with water/nutes anything that evaporated or the plants drank. this is SO MUCH EASIER than checking all 12 grow buckets individually. and much easier to maintain proper ph/nute levels in one central rez as opposed to each bucket individually.

 

i am sure there will be hundreds of questions and i am sorry. i dont have my system set up so i cant take pics for a real step-by-step DIY tutorial, but the basics are here for now, i will be updating this in a couple weeks when i build my system so check back then. until then......... ask away and i will do my best to explain the cloudy points of it.

 

 

 

EDIT:

ADDED 8-9-2010

you can also eliminate the rez altoghter and use the control bucket for all checking/filling.

 

[TajMahal]

Some mighty fine info there BG...Thank you.

 

puffaway...BG's threads are the real deal, you have struck gold!

 

Just recently added some light to the veg area, could not stand the price of T5 fixtures, so since can get sunleaves 4ft single fixtures for around 25 each, got four of em and mounted them to a piece of plywood, chained them together with the included cord sets.

 

The girls are much happier now and that is good!

[Grow Thread]

happy girls = a happy guy around here

 

im sure its no different around your hacienda

[TajMahal]

happy girls = a happy guy around here

 

im sure its no different around your hacienda

 

 

You are so right

[lkline300]

Hey BG do you see a problem with using one 6 " air stone like you have in the tote in place of the 2 small ones for the bucket.

I just have one of those is why I ask.

 

dirt farmer growing in liquid, don't know how it's gonna turn out but I'm almost ready to give it a whirl.

[Grow Thread]

one 6" stone is fine.

 

if you are using a wal-mart pump, just tee the 2 ports together and send the single line to the stone

 

[lkline300]

I'm on it, Thanks

[careone]

Ok I stole this idea,but it a good one. Hate the cleaning of totes/tanks every harvest. Use a heavy duty trash bag as a tank liner. Water holds it in place and easy clean up.

i love the idea, it sure would be easeir. thanks for sharing.

[Big J]

This is a new cool tube I am starting

 

 

It is a glass candle holder from ikea if you live on the east side of the state get one of these if not more. They are closing them out right now for $9.99 it fits pretty much any bulb my 400 watt mh fits in there and that is huge but I am going to use it for an hps. I will post more pics as it takes shape and I have time.

[Timmahh]

where can that globe be had? Lowes, Homey Depot? meijers/wallyworld ect...?

looks interesting.

[engineered_excellence]

I've been wanting to upgrade to some T5 lighting for veg, and, like any DIY'er I had to investigate on building one myself. I found that for around $100(or less depending on what you have laying around), one can build their very own 4-foot 4-bulb High Output T5 fixture.

 

Items needed:

 

ONLINE

Ballast - $56

Sockets - $6.50

4 High output T5 bulbs, prices range on these, but I have found them for as low as $4 a piece - $16

Shipping if ordering online - $10

 

HOME DEPOT OR SIMILAR

10 feet of 2x4 (two 4-foot and two 2-foot peices) - possibly free or around $5

2-foot by 4-foot piece of plywood or similar. - also possibly free or around $3

Can of cheap white high gloss spray paint from Home depot - $1

4 screw in eye hooks - $2

14-18 gauge wire - 30 feet or so - $2

Male plug with some cord - $2

 

Materials total so far - $103.50

 

Starting out, you need to chose a ballast. I would recommend checking out the site 1000bulbs.com. Here's a link to the ballasts.

 

http://www.1000bulbs...scent-ballasts/

 

This link takes you to a whole list of ballasts, you would select one based on the number of bulbs (up to 4 per ballast), and make sure it is the programmed start kind.

 

Here's the one I choose for around $56.00.

 

http://www.1000bulbs...5/GE-73192.html

 

Next you need the sockets. They are $0.81 cents a piece, and you need 2 for each bulb, so I will need 8 totaling $6.50.

 

The 2x4 is to build a frame for the lights, roughly 2-feet by 4-feet and the plywood is the top. Spray paint the entire frame white(or just the inside if you want) Screw the eye hooks into the 4 corners.

 

Mount the sockets where you want them inside the frame. (Will require some measuring)

 

Mount the ballast on top. Here's where a small understanding in lights and wiring will help. Most ballast come with a wiring diagram, some are easier to read than others. Wire up those sockets and plug, screw in your bulbs and you are ready to veg!

 

Please reply if you have done a similar project, or have any suggestions or questions.

 

You can also do the same with HPS and MH lights... build your own!

[Country Boy]

BUBBLEGROWERS 2 PLANT "ON A BUDGET?" BUBBLETOTE FOR UNDER $30 COMPLETE

 

ok follks, here we go. simple to build, simple to operate, and VERY cheap to set-up. let's start with the parts. everything is from either meijer or wal-mart. if you click on each part, there will be a link to the EXACT same item i am using in this application. the only things not avaliable at meijer/wal-mart are a couple 5" net pots and some hydroton clay pebbles. you can pick those up at your local hydro store or online.

 

PARTS:

10-gallon Sterilte storage tote. the link is for a bulk purchase, but they are $3.49/each in the store. wal-mart.

20-60 gallon aquarium air pump. $8.99 in store. wal-mart.

meijer seems to have a janky online spread, and i can't find these items online, but they have these 2 items in the pet/fish dept. the air stones are $2.29 and 25ft of air line was $2.89 i believe.

 

and then as was stated, you will need to pick up two 5" net pots ($2.00) and a small bag of hydroton clay pebbles ($5) at the local hydro store.

 

 

so here is what our mess is looking like so far:

 

 

 

let's start with the hardest part first. the holes in the lid of the tote. and folks, it aint hard at all. ok, when using a 5" net pot, you want your hole to be about 4 3/4". we don't need the net pot falling through into the water/nutes below. i would recommend practicing real quick on a piece of cardboard before you actually cut the lid. just to be sure everything fits before you mess up a brand new tote. ok, 4 3/4" hole. you know what you have laying around the house that is perfectly 4 3/4" in diamater?

 

 

yup, a compact disc. ready-made template for your holes. now this isnt rocket science, just eyeball out a couple holes on the lid and trace the cd with a marker.

 

 

don't have a 4 3/4" hole saw? neither do i, a razor knife works fine. take your time, "score" the plastic a few times around..... you probably won't get it to just cut right out. but remember, this is by far the hardest part of the whole process, so concentrate on not slicing your fingers off, and when you get done, you have this:

 

 

 

hard part is over. i swear. ok, next step. we do need 2 more holes in our bubbletote, but they are kinda already there for us. in the model of sterilite brand tote i used here, there are pre-drilled drain holes in the handles:

 

 

but these holes aren't quite big enough to slip our aquarium air line through so we need to make them just a touch larger. sneak into the kitchen (hopefully the wife is on the couch and mesmorized by the new episode of Gray's Anatomy) and snag a steak knife. just kinda stick the tip in the hole and twist it around a few times.

 

 

ok, do both sides:

 

 

 

awesome. now we are getting somewhere. next cut off a section of air line..... 5 feet or so is good. i like to have enough excess air line that i can move my air pump well out of the way. run the air line through the hole you just widened:

 

 

and then attach one of your 6" air stones from meijer. i like these particular stones because they are fairly heavy and will stay on the bottom without help.

 

 

 

and then connect the other end of the air line to your new air pump.

 

 

and repeat the same process using the other hole/air stone and plug it into the other outlet on your air pump.

 

 

holy smokes folks........ i think we are on to something now let's fill this bad boy machine with some water now.

 

 

ok, this is kind of critical for down the road. i fill one gallon containers and dump them in. measuring how much water i add to get to "my point". that point is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch below the net pot. if you keep the water level about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch below the bottom of the net pot, you have reached the sweet spot. the air stone in the bottom of the bubbletote will shoot air bubbles upwards through the water. when these bubbles reach the surface they pop. the goal is to find the perfect level to where the net pot is not sitting in the water, but actually the bubbles are popping on the surface and just getting the bottom of the net pot wet. once the bottom of the net pot gets wet, it will transfer that moisture to the bottom layer of hydroton pebbles. the pebbles then transfer the perfect amount of water/air between themselves and eventually to the rockwool cube. the cube will stay damp, but not "soaked".

 

once the roots form and grow through the rockwool cube, they will continue growing through the clay pebbles, and then through the sides of the net pot, and ultimately down to thrive in the nute/air filled goodness of the solution.

 

this is a good time to take one of your net pots out of the lid so you can peek inside and get the water level just right.

 

 

once you hit your spot, i draw a line on the side of the tote. on the inside. with a magic marker. you could also use a piece of tape or something. since i kept track of how much i added, i know it took me EXACTLY 6 gallons of water to hit the spot. that will help down the road after doing flushes. after flushing you can just re-fill to your line and add nutes accordingly for 6 gallons of water. here's our line:

 

 

well hell....... let's plug this puppy in and see some bubbles.

 

 

 

bubblegrower likes:

 

ok. let's grow something. got your clones rooted? me either, so let's pretend for a minute:

 

 

ok, i start with a thin layer of clay pebbles on the bottom of the net pot:

 

 

then set the clone/rockwool in the net pot and cover the rest of the way with the hydroton pebbles:

 

 

and then repeat of course, and folks, you have a built yourself a bubbletote:

 

 

and soon, you will have this:

 

 

 

 

 

congrats!!

 

this system will maintain 2 plants all the way to harvest. occasionally, depending on strain/veg time, a plant may "outgrow" the tote. well, not really outgrow it, but with larger strains, after sometime you may want to move them to one plant/ tote. it is very simple to move plants if you have to. just pull out the net pot and all the roots, and put into another tote. if you grow mostly indica strains, you will have no problem with 2 plants in one tote all the way to the end. some sativas that get long and lanky may want the whole space to themselves...........

 

peace, love, and BIG happy grows:

 

 

I kind of grow like that but without the roots directly in the solution.

What I have done is take a 2 gal white bucket(got mine from a glass glazier) cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket then put a pvc fitting thru it so it protudes out the bottom so that when you set it on my stand it fits into a hole that has a bigger fitting coming up thru my plywood stand. Under my stand is pvc pipe connecting all of the fittings and draining at one end The Solutuion goes thru emitters to each plant and then drips thru to the tank to be reused. I have filled the buckets with rockwool in the past, but am going to use another medium next time as i do not like the unhealthy dust you can get from rockwool. My solution tank uses air stones as well to keep my solution heavy in oxygen to help with healthy root growth. I check the solution every 7-10 days and then adjust or replace my solution. I use the old solution to feed some of my outdoor plants as soil is more forgiving.

I think some of the benefits to my system is that you can remove any plant anytime for any reason. I have taken a plant out of the room because of mites and a solution problem and all I

did was flush them for the solution problem and treated the mites then put them back in the room. Soil is messy to flush and Bubblegrows make it hard for individual treatment.

It makes it easy for individual harvest as well as individual plant treatment.

Another benefit I have found with My system is that I can rotate the plants in a circle to get more even light just move it a quarter turn each day for more light coverage.

I m not trying to bash anyone else's method, but just trying to show what I have developed over time and how it has worked for me. I hope I didn't offend anyone and was of some help to another Canabis Cultivator.

P.S. I will be building a new system sometime in the next few months and I will do a Complete Tutorial along with Pics then.

[Big J]

where can that globe be had? Lowes, Homey Depot? meijers/wallyworld ect...?

looks interesting.

Shoot timmmahh I missed your question bad on me hopefully they still have some I got it at ikea. For $10 works great I am going to redo it again whe. I have to change things.