How to build and maintain your own custom bubbler DWC grow

INTRODUCTION

Hi all, I've been a member of the forums for a while now and I'm ready to contribute something hopefully many new growers can benefit from. This is technically my 3rd grow. The first was soil and failed miserably and the next was an ebb and flow hydro system. After much research, myself and my grow partner have decided to abandon the ebb and flow and go for higher yields while staying with hydroponics. The ebb and flow managed to yield 6 oz from three plants (strain ICE 2000) grown organically off 400W. We are shooting for somewhere around 7 oz from three plants in hydroponic bubbler / bucket systems. We are estimating conservatively given the fact that the last grow was grown from seed therefore producing higher yield than clones. It is never a good idea to estimate yield before the harvest but we feel confident. Here I will chronicle the grow from start to finish hopefully with as little setbacks as possible. All the materials were primarily obtained at a local hydro store but a few select materials came from the internet due to availability and selection. Remember folks, you don't have to go expensive if you have a good general understanding of how to grow marijuana and how hydroponics work to achieve successful yields. Donâ??t be afraid to be creative! That being said, our mission was to keep costs down without cutting corners. This is certainly not a DIY bargain basement grow. We primarily tried to save money wherever there was any way possible but it was not our primary concern. We wanted to help give new growers ideas for their own setups and also to show that growing is not as hard as many think. Obviously lighting and conditions are of critical importance in any grow setup and can vary greatly, so that will also be documented here also, but will differ depending on your individual needs.

We decided to construct our grow room in the garage portion of our house. This gives us maximum space for a custom build and also easy access to air inlets / outlets - not to mention it will enable us to work on our garden at all hours of the night!

The space we chose was a pre-existing work bench table that was already secured to the wall and since our bucket systems will be self contained, all we needed was a flat surface. The black square you see against a wall is plastic covering a window. Below the table there was already a hole in the drywall to the outside making it perfect for a new grow setup. Remember, where you decide to grow is just as important as how you decide to grow. The table measured 3.25 ft in width and 4.33 ft in length making the total square footage: 14.07 sq ft. This will be important for us to remember when we add a carbon scrubber and exhaust venting in the near future. Because the table was so close to the wall we knew we would need to extend the width a little to accommodate the spread of the light. We also seized this opportunity to create an air inlet hole that will vent directly into the grow tent since the hole was already located under the table. Once this was done, we constructed the grow tent based on the footprint of the table. Using heavy duty duct tape and a staple gun we affixed black landscaping plastic first to the ceiling then the table. Once stapled up, the duct tape was used to seal all light and air leakage. The distance to the ceiling from the table is 6 ft and provides more than enough space for tree sized plants and also provides easy access to the plants from the ground for trimming, etc. The top of the table was also lined with the same black plastic to prevent spills from penetrating the wood underneath. Inside the tent mylar was taped up also using duct tape. - Duct tape can save your life! Our 400W HPS light generates too much heat to be left un-vented for such a small space and so, 4â?� ducting from the light out of the top of the plastic was installed to extract heat all the way out of the grow chamber to the garage.

These pictures shows the construction of the grow tent and the mylar inside.

These pictures show the top and bottom of the table extension with the 4" air inlet cut also.

The setup will consist of three separate 5 gal. buckets for a combination of bubbler / drip system. This is because we wanted the benefits of a bubbler system with its large root capacity and also drip system so that the roots are constantly getting supplied with nutrients. The bubbler feature ensures roots will always be able to intake oxygen rich nutrients throughout the crucial stages of later growth when the roots are developed enough to drop down into the bucket. Of utmost importance to us was being able to keep each individual system (and plant) separate so that the plants would not compete for nutrients or space (something indicative of ebb & flow). This will enable us to monitor each plant individually and make adjustments accordingly to pH, PPM, nutrients etc even space issues are resolved by having movable buckets. As the plants get bigger, move them further apart, its that simple.

- 3x Black 5 gallon buckets (five for $26 from Boxes, Shipping Boxes, Shipping Supplies, Packaging Materials, Cardboard Boxes - ULINE) Black will ensure no light gets through from the outside - which is not the case with many other bucket colors commonly found (ie: white, blue).
- 3x mesh pots which nestle to the tops of the buckets can be found at a hydro shop or online ($4 each)
- 3x Parts kit which contained the halo, tubing, refrigerator hose (for air), reservoir level tubing (not necessary) $15 total. all of these parts can be obtained at a hydro shop or an appliance store for around the same price or less.
- Silicon sealant (plastic flexible bonding type) $5 at Home Depot. This will be used for sealing the hole where the bottom bubbling air line will connect. (This is optional as you can route the bubble line through the top, but through the bottom of the bucket ultimately cleans things up and makes maintenance and nutrient changes easier.
- 3x 4.5" air stone bubble disc, $2.99 apiece at Bubble Disc 3 inch - Aquar Airstones at Arcata Pet Supplies
- 3x Dual outlet air pumps $10 at walmart. (Each pump needs to be able to deliver enough pressure to supply air to both the drip system and the bubbler line.)

Total Price per Bucket unit: $42.19

Here are some more pics from the bucket construction showing the installation of the air bubbler to the bottom and also the air tubing through the bottom of the bucket and the sealing of the hose.

Here are some final shots of the complete setup with everything in place.

NECESSARY TOOLS & SUPPLIES
Here is a list of the necessary tools and supplies for this grow in its entirety with prices and where to obtain them.

- Temperature humidity gauge ($8 Wal-Mart)
- pH / EC / TDS pen tester (obtained from Ebay for around $100)
- extra containers or reservoirs (for nutrient changes, fresh mixed nutrient supply, etc.
-magnifying glass (10x or more preferably with built in light $10 at radio shack)
-mixing cup with fluid oz. and cup measurements ($4 Wal-Mart)
-mixing tool
- plenty of rags or towels for spills ($10)
- pH UP / DOWN (liquid solution or crystal based $10)
- good pair of garden clippers ($15)
- lots of Hydroton expanded clay pebbles. ($20)
- PLENTY of black duct tape ($15)
*nutrients are not included in pricing due to a large # of variables.
Total: $182

LIGHTING
For lighting we are using a Sunlight Supply 400W MH mini plant grow light from Buy 400W Econogro Mini Plant Grow Light System Here!
We also purchased a 400W conversion bulb to emulate the blue light spectrum required for vegetative growth. There is a 4" outlet hookup for active extraction of heat using a squirrel cage style fan. This enables us (and the plants) to literally touch the glass underneath if we were so inclined. The fan was $100 and is rated at 256cfm - more than enough for adequate light venting.

Total: $293 shipped.

GRAND TOTAL FOR ALL PARTS AND SUPPLIES: $604.57 - Sounds pricey, but split right down the middle between two people and construction spread out over the span of three months made it possible.

Keeping potency and yield in mind we decided to go with three clones of the strain Grandaddy Purple from our local cannabis collective. We have our cannabis license here in CA so this was just a trip to our local store. Given the design of the bucket systems, we will be able to use different types of nutrients on different plants. We will be using a brand called sugar peak which is all organic since we are familiar with these nutrients from the last grow and also the General Hydro Flora line. Two plants will receive the GH nutrients while the third will receive Sugar Peak. We will be following the nutrient chart on the label of the General Hydro nutrients which is:

1 ml per gal Micro
1 ml per gal Grow
1 ml per gal Bloom
The total reservoir size is 2.4 gallons

5-22-07 Day #1 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80f
RH: 40%
Nutrient Temp: 75f
PPM: 250
pH: 5.8

I will be posting once a week with new pictures and updates but keeping track of the daily events on my computer to share with you guys at the end of the week. Here are the clones planted in the buckets and inside the chamber.

Looks nice Deft ,
Cpl. q's for ya , cpl. comments too .
Where did you find the cool airstones at ?

Be careful w/o running a res and interconnecting them , Im in 2nd week of 12/12 same set up but w/ res -n- recurculating and 2 girls are currently going through almost 5 gal. of water / nutes every 36 hrs . Pigs I say !!!!
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

Bubble Disc 3 inch - Aquar Airstones at Arcata Pet Supplies is where I got them, for cheap too. Looked all over the internet. Thanks for the tips BTW. We have 2 of us on this daily though so hopefully we can keep it under control.

5-23-07 Day #2 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 81
RH: 58%
Nutrient Temp: 75
PPM: 256
pH: 5.6

the plants are looking fine for this stage. Topped off the reservoirs and brought the pH down from 8. We are using very mild GH nutrients for the time being until we can get the other 2 parts which will probably be today or tomorrow. Anyways, at this stage it doesn't hurt to have very mild nutrients until the roots get deeper into the rocks.

best of luck! will be checkin in again soon.. :jointsmile:

looks like a cool setup dude

thanks guys for the kind words. The rest of the nutrient line was purchased today and we have all 3 parts now and everything looks good. I'll keep everyone updated every few days.

5-25-07 Day #4 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 79F
RH: 58%
Nutrient Temp: 70F
PPM: 300
pH: 5.4

We ran into a little issue yesterday when one of the buckets started leaking out of the bottom where the air line goes into the bucket. Apparently while mixing the mixing tool bumped the silicon and broke the seal. So, we woke up yesterday morning with a big puddle of water in the grow chamber in addition to all the pH readings rising to 8. This is way too high for MJ so it was quickly brought back down to 5.4. The PPM is pretty low at the point in growth but we haven't seen too much positive growth yet so it can't hurt to have the PPM a little lower still. We plan on doing a full nutrient change once a week so in just a few days all the buckets will be re sealed and we shouldn't have any more issues. A reminder to anyone new to growing: pH must be read and adjusted at the very minimum of twice a day. Another tip: if you plan on building any type of halo drip system I strongly recommend burying the halo under the rocks by about 1/2 inch. This will ensure that there is not a lot of splash from the holes out onto EVERYTHING ie: walls, hoses etc. Apparently these things like to spit water! Here are some more pics for yall even though nothing has really changed very much. Never mind, apparently the photo upload is temporarily disabled.

5-30-07 Day #9 of Veg.
Cab Temp:
RH: 60%
Nutrient Temp: 80F
PPM: 425
pH: 5.7

Ok, sorry its been a few days but we have run into some issues. Since this grow will follow everything that happens I will let you guys know what to avoid with these systems.

FIRST: if you are using a halo system be sure to bury to the halo itself somewhat under the clay rocks. This will ensure that there will be no splash up from the halos onto nearby electrical outlets and / or mylar which will cause spotting. Not too big a deal but just a tip

SECOND: With these particular systems continuous watering is not a good idea. Combined with the splashing of nutrients onto the tiny clones, continuous watering is something to be avoided in the beginning stages of growth. The high intensity from the light caused some leaf burn and wilting, while also causing stunted growth from day 1. Now it is day 9 and growth should be a little further along but there's nothing we can do about it now!

The important thing is that we changed the watering cycle to 15 minutes on every two hours. The plants showed almost immediate signs of improvement by perking up. In addition, solid green growth has appeared at the tops. Once the roots have expanded a little into the clay and can handle more nutrients at a higher rate we will switch to 24 hour watering. I will keep you posted in the following days to track growth

Hey deftdrummer ,
If you bury the dripring in the hydroton you wont know when holes in dripring are plugged by salts , residue etc... Every grow I've done so far w/ the dripring setup = the roots in the res. grow up the 1/2" dia. pump col. and into the bottom of the lil 1/8" air feed line that actually pressurises the col. so it cant drip . A cpl. of us on here use raincoats on smaller plants to subdue the spitting and splashing too - heres a pic .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

hey crispi, thanks for your input. I think you might be the only person following this thread! Anyways, we never did get around to burying the halos under the rocks but while we were thinking about it we made another adjustment that has the same effect. Instead of cutting the column down and burying it under the rocks we just added more rocks (the most we could possibly fit) and now the halo doesn't so much drip but dribble right onto the rocks with very minimal splash.

I do appreciate the input though on keeping the halos clean as it was something I was already thinking about anyways. About how often usually do you have to clean out the halos of salts and buildup? It probably depends on nutrients and how hard your water is more than anything but maybe you have some knowledge about this subject that would help. Also, what do you use to clean them with once its time? I would think maybe just hot water and a scrub brush or something but theres probably a solution that breaks it down or maybe just plain old flushing solution would work.

Whats up D.D
As far as the plugged driprings I flush my system w/ G/H Florakleen at the 12/12 lightcycle switch and haven't had anymore buildup probs. since . Just the damn roots up the lil 1/8 in. tube at about the 2nd week of flower every grow . I grow huge crazy plants in them though - you may not have the problem ?
Doco , and Weedhound are prob. lurkin and watchin too .

Thanx for the airstone link , had them in 3 days cali to mich. :thumbsup:
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

thanks crispi, I'll have to check that out although if you look at the pre made packages they came with a plastic column that protects the air hose and everything inside it all the way down. I don't really think there will be a problem with roots growing into anything. Glad you like the air stones! they looked perfect for us when we were browsing around so we got them. I see they are sold out now too haha. :jointsmile: check back with you later man.

06-01-07 Day #11 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 54%
Nutrient Temp: 76F
PPM: 426
pH: 5.7 (checked twice daily)

Here are some more pics to show the progress. Woke up this morning and couldn't wait to see the difference. I give it about 3 or 4 weeks before we need to start flowering maybe even less depending on how well they do. I took some high quality pictures of the nodes as well even though they are clones.

Thats a cool setup. They look heathy... I'm starting to flower my first DWC plants. Very cool... Can't wait

06-02-07 Day #12 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 55%
Nutrient Temp: 77.8F
PPM: 456
pH: 5.2

The plants look great with the exception of the plant that is still in the different nutrients. The nutrients are called sugar peak and we have found their application is best suited for soil based plants and not hydroponics. The nutrients are looking kind of murky in all buckets. There are some fine granules that washed out of the hydroton so it is about time for a nutrient change. All the nutrients will be GH 3 part and I will do a full nutrient change tomorrow. Here are some more pictures. Thanks for the comment Earthy Danky, do you have a link to your grow so I can see what it looks like? I will follow your grow too even though we are in different stages.

I don't have a grow log just yet. I am waiting to get a camera. Right now I have 7 clones growing organically in soil and two growing in a 10 gallon DWC system. I use the 2-part GH FloraNova nutrients with liquid karma, Pure blend metabolic compost, hygrozyme and superthrive. I have a 600w Hortilux HPS. And I grow a unknown canadian sativa that a friend brought back from some kind in vancouver.

thats pretty cool, sounds like you have a good operation going there too. I'd be interested to see your DWC pics when you get them. Also, how do you like the floranova? we were going to go with those nutes but they ended up being a little too expensive for our budget. Then again you only really have to invest once a grow since the nutes are more than enough to last for bubbler systems such as ours.

FloraNova is great... has molasses in it, makes the buds real sweet. I was thinking about trying the bonticare pure blend but I'm not sure their are so many good options. And if this DWC grow does exceptionally well then I am gonna make 3 more and have a 40gal w/ 8 plants. And i'll harvest 4 plants every 4 weeks.

06-03-07 Day #12 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 58%
Nutrient Temp: 73.5
PPM: 1350
pH: 5.6

Did a nutrient change today on all three plants. We upped the nutrient formula to the 3-2-1 regiment as per the label on the GH bottles. I also went to GH's web site also and found a handy conversion guide and it says we are right in the target range in terms of PPM. We are going off the "growth" guidelines.

how big did u say that space is ? ive got 2 in a space 1.8m by .9 by 2.2 h , hopen 4 a pound there a bout 6 foot with a week 2 go many thanx

Isn't it day #13? and I would becareful with the ppm. You jumped 1000 ppm in one change.

..gas..: "The table measures 3.25 ft in width and 4.33 ft in length making the total square footage: 14.07 sq ft."

Earthy, yes I guess technically it was day 13. I did the nute change late last night and was stoned out of my mind so I didn't remember what day it was! Anyways, thanks for the advice about the nutrients. I was a bit worried myself but I did some reading on here and found that most people think beyond 1200ppm for vegging is overkill and is a waste of nutrients. Ours was a bit high at 1350 but I should also make it clear to everyone that our tap water is 130ppm by itself. So factored in, thats 1220PPM of nutrients which I'm not too worried about. After all, its slightly less than the recommended dose for the age of the plants per the label. So far they seem to be responding really well! Stay tuned.

06-04-07 Day #14 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 54%
Nutrient Temp: 73.8F
PPM: 1300
pH: 5.2

The plants seem to be doing fine. I took some pictures to show the first signs of the roots dropping down into the nutrient solution and also coming out the sides. They are thick and white, just the way they ought to be! You can see the taproot in one of the pictures going down as far as it can. Since the roots have started to drop into the nutrients we will transition to full 24hr drip so that the bubbler can be on to oxygenate the roots and nutrients. We are hesitant to do this too early however, for fear of over-watering again a little too early before the roots are ready to fully absorb the nutrients 24 hours a day. We will probably do one plant at a time to see if it has any adverse affect or not.

06-05-07 Day #15 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 55%
Nutrient Temp: 76.9F
PPM: 1143
pH: 5.3

Some more pictures from this morning. The biggest plant has the most roots down in the nutrient solution now so the bubbler is on 24 hours. We will switch the other two once the roots develop a little more. The weather has cooled down here a little bit so the grow chamber is a little cooler. We are going to hit flowering at the hottest point in summer so we are going to have to get that extraction fan next before anything else.

I will be watching your grow!The set up is sweet great job.good luck,Peace

hey, neat thread. How does the pump get water to the dripper? I don't really get it.

lol yeah how does that work? Drip and bubbler?

Hey guys, I drew up a little diagram that might help you get an idea of how the system works. Its a rough sketch in fact if I weren't stoned I probably wouldn't have put even that much detail into it, but hopefully it helps. Very simple design actually. And yes, bubbler and drip system.

06-6-07 Day #16 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 76F
RH: 48%
Nutrient Temp: 70.2F
PPM: 1237
pH: 5.2