DWC

[Felixthecat]

i am building a 40 bucket dwc system my question is do i put a air stone in each bucket or just a air line(no stone), cause a buddy of mine told me that the air stone will kill all the bacteria(and you will want some bacteria) and recommended me to just put a 8in round air stone disc in the 55gal reservoir and it will be fine

Felixthecat Reviewed by Felixthecat on 11-09-2010. DWC i am building a 40 bucket dwc system my question is do i put a air stone in each bucket or just a air line(no stone), cause a buddy of mine told me that the air stone will kill all the bacteria(and you will want some bacteria) and recommended me to just put a 8in round air stone disc in the 55gal reservoir and it will be fine Rating: 5

[tinytoon]

I take it from description that you will have 40 buckets and a central rez to keep water levels where they need to be and also simplify water changes. I dont know for sure if air supply to the rez will be enough from keeping plants from drowning. I would feel better with air at each plant but hopefully someone else has done this type of setup and can comment from exp.

[keylime]

I have done it both ways. 40 buckets is a lot of air, and a lot of stones that get clogged up. I have run over twice that many using just a lot of air at the reservoir(s), however you will need more movement of the nutes in each bucket. I am assuming you are using some kind of a drip system or some feeding system similar to waterfarm. In order to facilitate the movement of water you will want to CONSTANTLY run nutes from the res to the back bucket(s). Want you will want to accomplish that the water circulates from all the buckets CONSTANTLY. So, put a water pump into the res, and run a 1/2" line to the back bucket(s) forcing the nutes to move from the farthest travel distance back to the reservoir. You will have to play around with it, because you don't want to have the pump supply more water to the back buckets than they can return back through all the other buckets in the system or they will overflow. A lot depends on the size of the pump used, size of buckets and size of the lines interconnecting the system.
I don't think your buddy is correct in his theory because others including myself have lived with a bunch of stones in each bucket for years without doing any harm, but rather benefiting the room. The only reason I used the circulating system was because I was tired of cleaning and or replacing all the air stones.

keylime

[Ocotillo]

To answer your question, One air stone per bucket is what most folks seem to do.

If and when I make the step up to hydro I plan to do it right. If I home build this type of under current DWC system I'd save about $750! All those individual buckets seems like allot of heavy lifting, IMHO.

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[khyberkitsune]

I started trying to simply run the line into the bucket, plugged at the end, with pinholes poked in the last 3-4 inches of the hose. Works fine in my krusty bucket system and 12 - 5 gallon buckets, each one its own reservoir. I did poke a ton of tiny holes in there though so there would be good diffusion.

[Felixthecat]

thanks for the advice everyone, i finally understand how this system works.
my second question is since air stones clogs up i was going to use Deep Water Innovations Double Micro-Pore air diffusers i guess its glass fired air diffusers, would that be better or even prevent clogs cause i was going to put one in each bucket and not worry about cleaning them

[StoneMeadow]

I've never had an airstone get clogged up even after running them 24/7 for several years in a cheap-ass aquarium. I can see where they might if they aren't run 24/7, but not if they're run all the time.

[avon211]

Felix~ my 1st setup was Deep Water Innovations. Never had a problem with the airstones getting clogged just the pump that comes with it doesn't give enough air for two tray system. Very easy to use maintains ph really well . I do a reservoir change on a weekly basis just top off with plain ph water as needed. I had great results with Bubblegum. Hope that helps. Have a backup air pump because if yours fails to operate water will flood out of the try from the bottom.

[khyberkitsune]

I've never had an airstone get clogged up even after running them 24/7 for several years in a cheap-ass aquarium. I can see where they might if they aren't run 24/7, but not if they're run all the time.

But that's for an aquarium, not a hydroponics system. You're not adding heavy amounts of calcium, magnesium, and in many cases silica to an aquarium.

Silica + magnesium + calcium + oxygen will eventually = clogged air stones.

[avon211]

I clean my airstones after each grow. I have no problems with them not functioning.