# 5 Gallon DWC/DiY



## IRISH

this is a diy on how to build a dwc(deep water culture) system. you can do this with any 5 gallon bucket, as long as you have a lid with it. the preferred bucket will be dark in color, ( though some will argue that it will gather heat in your rez, therefor causing problems). you decide...

i've used black , white, blue, green, red, gray, etc.. with the same result.

here i'll use white, cause thats what i got, in a square 5 gallon bucket, taped at the top with black duck tape, and painted grey...

pic 1 is my bucket getting taped at the top. you don't want light entering your rez. it will cause mould, and slime, and stuff you dont want...

2/ take your net pot, turn it upside down on your bucket lid, and trace around it with a marker. then cut out circle staying one eigth inch inside your circle line. this will ensure a proper fit of your net pot. then drill a quarter inch hole in top of lid, near the side. ( this makes rez changes easier by removing the whole plant/w airstone, and sitting on another bucket of fresh water...

3/ tape off top of bucket from light entering rez. if using dark bucket, skip this...

4/ more taping...

5/ painted, and taped...


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## 4u2sm0ke

very  nice....thanks  for  shareing  with  us..I  see  ya  taped  up  the  top   why  not  to  bucket?   we  dont  want  roots  to  get light  right?  I  only  do  one  DWC  bucket  a  year...so  im  new  to  it..i  do  like  it  But  read  that  res  should be  in  dark..just  my  thaughts...cant  wait  to  see  these  babbies  produceing...take  care  and  be safe


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## Locked

Cool beans Bro... I just built one of these myself from a home depot 5 gallon bucket...Orange bucket painted black then covered in foil tape...I like the square bucket look of yours...


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## IRISH

now, we fine tune it...

1/ get your quarter inch tubing, airstone, and net pot, and pump...

2/ cut tubing so it goes to bottom of rez, and to floor on outside of bucket. attach airstone. ( some folks glue it down to bottom of rez, we let it free float. it stays down.)...

3/ pic of stone in rez w/ net pot, and tubing...

4/ quarter inch Tee from walmart, or hardware store...

5/ were using a dual outlet, 30-60 pump, from walmart. thier pretty cheap. under $10. cut two 4 inch pieces tubing, and attach to pump...

6/ attach Tee like this to tubing, and airpump...

7/ then attach pump to airstone feed line like this...

8/ and here she is. add your clone, or rooted seedling w/ hydroten, and water, and nutes, and your good to grow DWC Style...

...Irish...


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## IRISH

i painted the bucket grey 4u2. no light will enter...


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## IRISH

this bucket was built last month, and is in action as we speak. you can see it in my dwc/KULT grow in my sig...


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## Locked

Gotta love getting your parts at walmart...  I Picked up my airstone from Petsmart...got the biggest one and it cost under 5 bucks and is huge...Nice thread Irish...I bought my first dwc from an online hydro store...waste of money compared to the ones you can build yourself for a lot less...


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## 4u2sm0ke

I  agree  *hampster*...i seen  them  at  Hydro  and  I  made  one  for  1/4  the  cost...I  found  the  round  air stone  looks  like a  plate  fits  perfect  in  bucket..I  like the  square  ones  better  tho..IMO..they  fit  space  better...I  use  Cat litter  containers  for  my  soil  grow  and  coco bucket...Thanks  for  share  *IRISH*...I


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## IRISH

no problem bros'. ...

a few others pm'ed , and wanted me to show them how to build a dwc for under $20. the pump is around $8-$10. that is the largest cost. most buy a bigger pump that will handle 8-12 buckets at once. i have only ran a few at once, so this is all i need...

also , with hydro, you'll need a ppm/ec meter, and a digi ph meter. i bought both of mine off ebay for under $60, a year ago, or more without a hitch yet...

this is an easy alternative introduction into hydroponics for any beginner...

any questions?  ...Irish...


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## ArtVandolay

Real nice, Irish.  How and how often do you change the res?


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## IRISH

myself art, i change every other week as long as my numbers stay where i want them too. i hear alot of folks say to change it out weekly. then i hear others say they never change it out, they just add to it. i say good luck to them...

you can basically set it, and forget it, once you get the swing of it...

to change the rez is where it gets easier still. you simply get an empty bucket, fill with water, and your nutes, and pick up entire plant, lid and all, and sit it on the refreshed bucket, and hook it up to the pump, and let her go...


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## ArtVandolay

IRISH said:
			
		

> ...
> 
> to change the rez is where it gets easier still. you simply get an empty bucket, fill with water, and your nutes, and pick up entire plant, lid and all, and sit it on the refreshed bucket, and hook it up to the pump, and let her go...



I get it!  Very cool.  I could do something like that in my grow box!  I need to figure out how small the buckets could be to grow autos :hubba: and then find little buckets with lids.


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## docfishwrinkle

ppl who dont regularly change res are probably using the lucas formula, IMO.


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## The Hemp Goddess

docfishwrinkle said:
			
		

> ppl who dont regularly change res are probably using the lucas formula, IMO.



I used the Lucas formula and still did regular change outs.  Plants use nutes at different rates, so the residual that you have left could be very high in some nutes and completely depleted of others.  I like changing the res out and starting with a clean slate every time I change the res out--every 7-10 days or so.


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## IRISH

thats what i do alsoTHG. around 7-14 days. usually weekly in flower...

everyone using this system will be able to come up with thier own feel for the system. it is by far the easiest way to grow i've ever done. i still do soil also, but eventually may do all hydro. prolly stick with a few of both. depending how i feel that day, you know?...


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## chris1974

Awesome, thank you for sharing *Irish    *


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## IRISH

no problem friend. hope this helps out with some of the questions folks been asking me over, and over about building a bucket set up...


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## TexasMonster

Thats pretty cool. I like it. For those of you who live by Shipleys donuts, those guys throw out square buckets on a daily basis. I use them all the time in my wine making. I think they are only 3 gallon though. Those might work well for autos? ¿Que no? 

I also like that knife in the photo.


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## IRISH

hello TM. . yes, those would work great with autos, along with a 3-4 inch net pot...

thats my deer knife. my 'lil woman found it in the post office parking lot about 8 years ago. Frost Cutlery made this one with japanese surgical steel. very sharp little girl. she does the job well. just me, this knife, and a 170lb deer, and it's cut up , and packaged in around 1.5 hours ttl. not bad , eh?...


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## DonJones

Irish,

Please clarify something for me.  By 30-60 gallon air [email protected], do you mean the size of tank they are recommended for with fish or are you talking about gallons of air per hour that they pump?

I found a 200 gallon tank size at PETCO for just under $25US and was wondering how many buckets I could run off of that pump.  I can't find any air flow or pressure specs on it.

Thanks.


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## IRISH

mine don't have specs either DJ. so yeah. this will accomodate 1 , 5 gallon bucket...


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## DonJones

IRISH,

Thanks.  By "this will accommodate 1, 5 gallon bucket" are you referring to the 30-60 gallon tank size from WalMart or the 200 gallon pump I found at PETCO?  I think you are talking about the WalMart one but want to be sure before I buy the PETCO one thinking it will run several buckets


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## IRISH

i'm talking about the walmart 30-60 Aqua Culture, or the Whisper that walmart stocks. sounds like i need to visit Petco DJ.  ...

tip #25 , some walmart stores carry worm castings in 10lb. bags. if yours does'nt, i can dig up an order # you can present to thier mgr., and ask nicely if they will stock this organic product in thier gardening section.  ...Irish...


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## DonJones

Irish,

Here is the url for petco's online listing for everything they carry that deals with air systems.  www.petco.com/Shop/SearchResults.aspx?Nav=1&N=0&Ntt=air+pumps 

I was talking to one of the fish specialists and he said that he would be glad to sell me the name brand pumps, but they use the house brand in all of their tanks and they have a lot of money in fish in some of those tanks, especially the salt water tanks, so they must be reliable pumps.

The house brand pumps are at the right end of the top row.  The big one that I'm looking at is Model #9904, uses 5 watts of power, is for use in tanks 26-212 gallons, includes four air outputs, four air stones, four check valves and (4) 78" of plastic tubing.  About the only question I have is how loud it is, but that won't make much difference because my grow rooms are shut off from the rest of the house and I have at least 3 fans that run 24/7 anyway.

Also none of the brand name pumps list coming with the accessories like the PETCO house brand does.

I might have missed it, but what medium do you recommend for the waterfarm combination drip/DWC buckets?  I'm considering either the recycled glass grow stones, coco chips, hydroton or the higromite silica stones.  Oh, our water here has NO silica in it so I'm kind of leaning towards the higromite silica stones.  I'm not sure if the glass grow stones release silica into the solution or not.

My 5 gallon bucket system should be ready soon.  I'll post pictures of it as I put it together and then try to keep a grow journal, but I'm not real good at keeping records so that may be a problem.

Good Smoking --


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## DonJones

I noticed there were a couple of questions about getting square buckets.  You can buy cat litter in square buckets, so if you know someone who buys their litter that way, just ask them for their empties.  I think I think they are a little under 5 gallons, probably closer to 3.5 gallons US.  I have seen pet and horse feed in square buckets too.

I have read elsewhere of people growing 6' plus plants in 3 gallon round buckets, so that should be big enough to autos.

Another source of 5 gallon round buckets is paint contractors -- they are always throwing them away and if you ask nice they will usually give you the lids too, BUT BE CAREFUL TO ONLY GET THE WATER-BASED PAINTS BECAUSE THE OIL BASED PAINTS*MAY LEAVE HARMFUL RESIDUE*SOAKED INTO THE PLASTIC.  If you get them while the paint is fresh it is pretty easy to clean out the water-based paints.  Just dispose of the paint you clean out responsibly.

Good smoking--


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## meds4me

IRISH said:
			
		

> i'm talking about the walmart 30-60 Aqua Culture, or the Whisper that walmart stocks. sounds like i need to visit Petco DJ.  ...
> 
> tip #25 , some walmart stores carry worm castings in 10lb. bags. if yours does'nt, i can dig up an order # you can present to thier mgr., and ask nicely if they will stock this organic product in thier gardening section.  ...Irish...


Okay I'll ask....Please get me a stock #  prettty please ?


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## IRISH

DonJones said:
			
		

> Irish,
> 
> Here is the url for petco's online listing for everything they carry that deals with air systems. www.petco.com/Shop/SearchResults.aspx?Nav=1&N=0&Ntt=air+pumps
> 
> I was talking to one of the fish specialists and he said that he would be glad to sell me the name brand pumps, but they use the house brand in all of their tanks and they have a lot of money in fish in some of those tanks, especially the salt water tanks, so they must be reliable pumps.
> 
> The house brand pumps are at the right end of the top row. The big one that I'm looking at is Model #9904, uses 5 watts of power, is for use in tanks 26-212 gallons, includes four air outputs, four air stones, four check valves and (4) 78" of plastic tubing. About the only question I have is how loud it is, but that won't make much difference because my grow rooms are shut off from the rest of the house and I have at least 3 fans that run 24/7 anyway.
> 
> Also none of the brand name pumps list coming with the accessories like the PETCO house brand does.
> 
> I might have missed it, but what medium do you recommend for the waterfarm combination drip/DWC buckets? I'm considering either the recycled glass grow stones, coco chips, hydroton or the higromite silica stones. Oh, our water here has NO silica in it so I'm kind of leaning towards the higromite silica stones. I'm not sure if the glass grow stones release silica into the solution or not.
> 
> My 5 gallon bucket system should be ready soon. I'll post pictures of it as I put it together and then try to keep a grow journal, but I'm not real good at keeping records so that may be a problem.
> 
> Good Smoking --


 
sorry Don. got lost. lol... yeah that 4-way is the one you want. i tried that tetra and dont like it as well as the aqua culture from walmart. (by any means, i'm not pitching for wallmart). lol...

i've only ever used the hydroten, with not one issue, so i can vouch for that...

let me know on the pet co 4 way? u like?...


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## IRISH

DonJones said:
			
		

> I noticed there were a couple of questions about getting square buckets. You can buy cat litter in square buckets, so if you know someone who buys their litter that way, just ask them for their empties. I think I think they are a little under 5 gallons, probably closer to 3.5 gallons US. I have seen pet and horse feed in square buckets too.
> 
> I have read elsewhere of people growing 6' plus plants in 3 gallon round buckets, so that should be big enough to autos.
> 
> Another source of 5 gallon round buckets is paint contractors -- they are always throwing them away and if you ask nice they will usually give you the lids too, BUT BE CAREFUL TO ONLY GET THE WATER-BASED PAINTS BECAUSE THE OIL BASED PAINTS*MAY LEAVE HARMFUL RESIDUE*SOAKED INTO THE PLASTIC. If you get them while the paint is fresh it is pretty easy to clean out the water-based paints. Just dispose of the paint you clean out responsibly.
> 
> Good smoking--


 
> so far, i now know i prefer the round 5 gallon buckets... the smaller ones are inadequate for what were doing here...


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## DonJones

IRISH,

I have 3 clones that have lots of new growth on them and they are about 6" tall still in perlite.  Are they small enough to switch over to all three of them in one 4 gallon square bucket DWC for a while , until I get my main Waterfarms setups going?

If I put them in small net pots, then what do I do to move them into to bigger pots, can I just put the whole little net pot in to the medium in the bigger net pot of should I just leave them alone in the perlite until they show signs of getting root bound?

Also, with your style of DWC how near the lid do I start it until the roots get longer and hanging into the solution?

By the way when people talk about bubblers are they talking about your style DWC/Cloner or something else?

Thank you! * Good growing.*
By the way, I'm in the middle of my first real harvest with start to finish grow of non-hermie crap.  It is what I was told was real MTF.  It is listed under MTF Lives on the GJ section if your interested.


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