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Bubblegrower's Perpetual "Budget Grow" Journal

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:thumbsu: :thumbsu:

 

if you plan on putting more than one or 2 totes together, be sure to check out the air pump in 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 :P 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:

 

med_gallery_13801_60_23594.jpg

 

 

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.

 

med_gallery_13801_60_345557.jpg

 

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

 

med_gallery_13801_60_222604.jpg

 

then push the barbed connector through as well.

 

med_gallery_13801_60_162293.jpg

 

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

 

med_gallery_13801_60_38451.jpg

 

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.

 

med_gallery_13801_60_158783.jpg

 

 

 

 

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.

 

med_gallery_13801_60_247138.jpg

 

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