GH WATERFARM USERS: SIMPLE RECIRCULATING SYSTEM

I think you're right. Going with the attitude of setting up just what i wanted at the time has kinda put me in this mess. If I have a bigger res. I can always add if needed although I'm fairly limited in my overall space. 40 buckets OMG, if only I had that much room. 6 to 8 is going to be tough probably! I was just thinking their kit is a 13 gallon and an 8 gallon so that's only 21 gallons total. But if I get one 30 gallon or so, I can do without the other. The good thing is it's right in my laundry room so I have a tub for draining filling, so thanks for that idea, I can rig a hose to have right beside it or something. OK, I'm going for it dude! You convinced me. Check out Ropakcorp.com buckets look the same huh, I'm thinking of doing a square 5 gallon and 3 gallon insert and I bet having deeper buckets, more root space etc. could be helpful! All of this stuff is really pretty easy to duplicate if you get creative huh! Thanks alot man. Good friends are hard to come by!

OK, NowI went and gone and done it! I did a mock run by drilling holes in wf modules and set up a couple of air pumps I had because I can't really do in the room, for obvious reasons. I also only did three because right now that's all I have that aren't being used and wouldn't affect things. Here's some questions for you and hopefully I've done it right but there's some things I'm noticing. My first bucket has too much water in it. The others are fine. The tube that gets the air pump connected (circulating) the wider one makes girgle noises is that normal?If I dump some out of my res will that help?

here's the pics that didn't load

Just out of curiosity have you or anyone you know made a third hole to put the blue air tube with the fill line back on the WF modules? I was thinking about trying but just wanted to put out some feelers? I put a hold on my res for one, it's the third hole on the pic. I might use it to feed a 1/4" air pump tube to air stone or something inside of the res. Have a good one!

where's the airpump that goes to the drip inside? Do all your individual w/fs have both and inlet and outlet holes; (ie: front and back) because all four of them should be the exact same water level. They are all sitting at same level on the ground correct? And is your first waterfarm hooked up outside with the drip inside on the other side of the same connector as your first water farm. I can't tell from your photo; can you take a pic of all the tubing connections: especially to and from the res and what exactly is your tubing connected to.

OK, some of my tubing is clear so it's prob. hard to see. My hydro store didn't have the multi port so i'm using a bunch of to ports until it's in. I have the tube going to drip in the res. and then each wf module has an air tube as well, two of them are green. Once I dumped some water out it seemed to maintain. I'm going to add the other buckets just want to make sure it's working. I also put one of the blue tubes w/fill line on the back side of the res. Don't know if I need to but I might feed an air pump tube to an air stone inside. Here's some more pics. Let me know if this helps. Thanks hound for all the help and time you're taking.

Hey, no worries; glad to help. It DOES look like you've got it there........yes all buckets should remain atthe same level at all times. (including the res) and looks to me like you are set to go and you did a good job building it as well. Mine lacks the loop yours has to keep it in place so sometimes it becomes detached and just floats around the res spitting out water.......:D

Thanks for checking everything out. I'm going to move everything in and add the other buckets. Just wanted to do the mock run and check it out first. Hae you ever tried drilling a third hole to add the blue air tube back onto the waterfarm modules? I wonder if it would help? They have them when they run independantly? Thanks again man!

OK, so I finally went ahead and did the whole thing with six waterfarms, moved everything in and just relocated the res to where I needed it and drilled some holes so I could feed the 1/2" tubing into my space and I'm not real sure it it's truely circulating. I set my ph 5.8 and about 400 ppm and then by the next morning every waterfarm module was waaaaaaay high and way different than the res. It's only been two days but if this isn't really recirculating I'm going to freak! I reset the ph and everything again but man! Weedhound do you ever test your individual waterfarm modules as well just to see? I'm thinking about taking everything out and run some clear water with food coloring in it to see if it pulls through each module. Alright dude, later. Hope everything is good with you.

You may need a stronger pump. I have hooked up no more than three together but they were actually a res and several five gallon buckets........larger but exact same idea. And yes, I've checked (my last batch ran into two livestock tubs holding about 7 gals apiece plus the res and things worked) .......all ph's were within .2 of each other. You might need more power for a larger setup air pump wise.

good luck.

Do you think the one with two ports are stronger or it's split with two ports? I have one of them already. Or just get one with the one port that you can add up to six or eight? Something like this one maybe? Or maybe you can give me a make/model that worked for you? Thanks again man.

Active Aqua Commercial - 6?

Thu check out posts #96, 97 and #101. I think that may work for you (don't forget the stop valve to control air pump power flow.)

Hey hound. OK, I checked out the posts. The pump I was talking about is pretty similar. Just a little less wats and lpm but not much. How did you know how much to regulate the valve? What did you look for or what told you you had it with the right amount of air? My res is only about 3 1/2 ft away from my first module and I only have six modules altogether. The one you have is 35 watts 60 lpm and the one I was looking at is 20 watts 45 lpm. Thanks again hound, have a good one.

I saw your air pump thu......you have one with 4 different lines right? the difference between the pumps (beside power) is the fact that all power goes through one tube and then to seperate air lines later.....something you can use with one air tube for maximum air pressure.

Hey hound. The pump I have for the res. is just one of the one port little pumps, I think somebody called it a "weeney" pump. Then on the waterfarm modules I have three "two port" eco air pumps. I just didn't want all of the modules on one pump in case the pump goes out. Then none of them would be dripping instead of just the one that goes out. I don't know if that will affect it or not. Each module seems to be doing fine as far as dripping. I think my issue is recirculation right now because of such varying numbers. Would having one of the other pumps like yours for the modules affect circulation also or is it just to pump from the bucket up through the drip ring? Hope this info helps hound. thanks again.

No, the eco three would be used strictly for recirculation. The food coloring thing sounds good and worked well for a friend of mine to check how well his system worked. Don't put the monster pump on your drip rings......it'll blow them away.

Is a 350gpm pump too much?

Ok, that's what I thought. So if I get the other pump I'll just try it on the res/recirc. What did you look for as far as adjusting the flow? How did you know when you had it regulated right? It's hard for me to do coloring right now because well...I can't. Like I said my res. is about 3 1/2ft from first module and only have a total of six? So I should be able to get the one right below your model, just a little less watts and lpm's? What do you think?

Hi GB....Love your blue dobie. Isn't 356 gpm a water pump or am I mistaken?

Thu, post 18, second photo, lower right below drill bits next to grommets. 1/2 inch stop valve. :)

[quote=Weedhound]Hi GB....Love your blue dobie. Isn't 356 gpm a water pump or am I mistaken?

Thu, post 18, second photo, lower right below drill bits next to grommets. 1/2 inch stop valve.


Um, I'm confused. I'm familiar with the valves. Those valves are 1/2" lines usually regulating water flow? How do you use them on the air pump nozzle which is tubing like for air stones, etc.? How do I know the flow is enough on the air pump when numbers stabilize?

by putting it on the insde of your res and putting it between the pump line and the first water line and opening and closing it to fit your water flow needs.

Yes, when all w/f modules come in at around the same ph. Not perfect.....but pretty close.

OK, I get it, so you're using the bigger air pump on the column tubing at full force but then you're regulating/controlling the flow of the water using the 1/2" stop valve on the res. so that's how you're controlling the flow of water through each wf module? right? I need to buy you a beer...or 20!

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

Hi GB....Love your blue dobie. Isn't 356 gpm a water pump or am I mistaken?

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I am looking at creating a "contraption" that would use 1 air pump to circulate from one recepticle to another, effectivly flooding it to its drain height (which is close to the top).

Then, you develop a time frame (how long to fill) in order to achieve your feeding needs in regards to pump settings. Isn't too much exposure to nutes/water a bad thing:confused:

Well, no not really. You just want to make sure that there is enough aeration.....When you use a DWC system the lower parts of the roots sit in the waterr 24/7. /without airstones and air pump the roots would drown. The more aeration the better. I'm not a huge fan of ebb and flow......I like the constant drip action. The recirculating part is to keep all the ph's in the buckets more stable.

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Originally Posted by Thuwadpumper

OK, I get it, so you're using the bigger air pump on the column tubing at full force but then you're regulating/controlling the flow of the water using the 1/2" stop valve on the res. so that's how you're controlling the flow of water through each wf module? right? I need to buy you a beer...or 20!

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Sounds like you got it to me......yes to control/regulate the water flow. Love to say I thought of it myself; but it was really my hydro guy.

Happy growing! :D

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Originally Posted by GoldenBoy812

I am looking at creating a "contraption" that would use 1 air pump to circulate from one recepticle to another, effectivly flooding it to its drain height (which is close to the top).

Then, you develop a time frame (how long to fill) in order to achieve your feeding needs in regards to pump settings. Isn't too much exposure to nutes/water a bad thing:confused:

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So are you saying you have no central rez......just different buckets? Are they attached to each other or stand alone? Or are we still in the planning phase? If so I have thoughts that you may like better yet not be as much work (dwc for example)

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

So are you saying you have no central rez......just different buckets? Are they attached to each other or stand alone? Or are we still in the planning phase? If so I have thoughts that you may like better yet not be as much work (dwc for example)

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"In my design", there is a central res, with two receptacles with 6 small net pots each (designed for ruderalis hybrids). The goal in a dwc would be to keep roots saturated, but with 12 individual sets of roots dependent on the same pool, would it need a greater instance of recirculation?

Like... should you have a pump recirculate once an hour for 5 min or so, depending on pump size (which is why i asked if 350 was a bit much:D)?

You can put them all in the same res but it had better be a large one and all females. Trying to seperate males down the road from the same res is NOT a good plan. . Reciruculatng is fine; but you will still need seprate air pumps and airstones and/or a drip feed. (also run by air pump.)

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

You can put them all in the same res but it had better be a large one and all females. Trying to seperate males down the road from the same res is NOT a good plan. . Reciruculatng is fine; but you will still need seprate air pumps and airstones and/or a drip feed. (also run by air pump.)

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Obtaining "autoflowering" genetics is a pain in the ass, so "my design" is made to breed your own:D

I still do not understand how an air pump runs the drip feeder. Do you poke tiny holes in the lines to induce inertia? I am confused as to how it lifts the water unless the water level at drip end is even steven with that of the res?

To be honest I'm not sure how it works either.....All I really know is that you hook up your air pump to the pumping column and it works. Maybe someone else can expain better.....the mechanical aspect is not what i am best at (and i'm being kind to myself) :D

Breeding your own is fine......but realize that when you put them all in the same place, even if you plant all the same thing at all the same time you will still vary in your harvest times. You could cut them I suppose and leave the roots; I'm not sure if this would cause a problem or not. Anyone?

hey hound.I changed pumps and it's still not holding numbers, things are so out of wack. I took weenie pump out and changed it for a big one, put in the valve before the first water line in my res. set all of the nutrients in res and each module to 5.8 for ph and 300 ppm for babies and the next day my res was 700 and ph of 6.58 and each module was different from not only the res but every other module. I've searched all of the forums and you seem to be the only one having it work. Most others are converting to ebb&flo/Drip combo or putting inline pumps in their line somewhere to kick on periodically to recirculate. General Hydroponics should address this.

Thu, let me say I'm sorry this isn't working for you. I havent looked around but I must say it honestly works great for me. Both ppms and ph stay within close range of each other. I just put another two MK's in buckets and hooked them together. I don't have to pull the damn plants out every day..... I really do work through the res and don't touch the plants at all unless there is problem which I love......they're just too big.

I wish I could see your systrm in action, something is telling me we are missing something basic but I can't think of what that would be.

The only thing I can think of is taking some pictures but right now isn't the time to do that, I'll need to wait until later. I'll take a picture of res. area with pump and and lines and then lines going into room. My first bucket actually gets really filled up too. This happened when I did my little mock setup but after I took the water out it maintained? I'm to the point where I'll prob. have to un-do to keep from losing babies. I'm only running six modules but either way it's the same work, possibly less because I won't have the res. to adjust daily as well. I guess I'd have to add a blue drain level tube in the other hole. Weed where would you say your valve is in your res. I kknow you're running more buckets but we have the same pump and if I did a little less than you maybe it would adjust? Thanks again!

Just a quick basics.....Your air pump is hooked up inside your res to pumping column.........where is it pulling water from? It should be attached to the first waterfarm in the series. The air pump is pulling in water from w/f one and putting it into the res. Where's your outlet? The rest of the set up should run on gravity.....they are all at the same level correct?

OK, I finally got a chance to take some pics. My air pump which is Active Aqua Commercial 12 112 watts 110 lpm is hooked to column in res. Also located above water to avoid any water making it back to the pump. The valve is installed in the very first line from the air column and blue tubing (prob. 1/4 turn closed to restrict some flow. Then it connects to fitting in grommet and goes into room to first waterfarm, then all of them connect and last waterfarm is routed back to other line in res. One blue and one black. All waterfarms have an air tube with drip ring and there are two small round air stones in the res.

Thu it all looks good to me but can you get a pic of the res and modules together? Mr Hound juet shut down the plants for the night but I set up a system today. I think I can get the whole thing in one pic.....I'll give it a try tomorrow.

I can't get everything in one pic. That's why I took the pic of the res and then the one of the tubes coming through the wall. They're in different rooms and there's a br wall in between and because the other room is narrow and long it wouldn't show up. I can take a pic of modules if that would help? I'm going to go check numbers this morning and if they're all out of whack I'm going to drain everything and start fresh again and see if adjusting the stop valve a little will help. I know the pump is strong enough to move it all.

OK, so I drained, cleaned everything, res. modules, rings, EVERYTHING. and reset nutes and p.h. I have pump on and valve is completely open. just thinking since my res. is a few ft. away, 1/2" tubing from res. to modules and in between each maybe it's not pushing it? Doubtful. The blue tube goes out from res. to first mod. on the right in the room. Then all mod's connect and then the black goes back to res. I'm on week two and usually by now i'm able to turn back lights. I'll be lucky if I don't lose anything. Stay tuned I might have some pumps and stuff for sale! Anyway here's the pics hound, thanks for taking a look and helping out.