Advice on bucket choose for DWC

Hi everyone,

As the title says I need some advice on what bucket to use for my DWC grow. I've done some research by visiting my local hydro store and found 5 gallon black buckets but they are double the price of a blue 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's. Another hydro store had yellow buckets but feel the light will go through the yellow and blue buckets.

If anyone has used the blue 5 gallon buckets from Lowe's and could provide a review that would be great! I've seen a few tutorials using the blue buckets but I'd like to know if anyone has experienced any issues or had great success.

Thank you in advance!

Blue or grey lowes has worked fine for me for the past 4 years.

Like you said. Half price.

Great thanks for the advice! I wish they had grey buckets but I guess blue will due. Also I've checked out your DIY Scrog Screen and can't wait to try it out. Thanks for being a great attribution to the community!

Use black. roots need DARKNESS.

subielove454 said:

Great thanks for the advice! I wish they had grey buckets but I guess blue will due. Also I've checked out your DIY Scrog Screen and can't wait to try it out. Thanks for being a great attribution to the community!

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No problem. And thank you. It was the best option I could come up with and looks better than all the ones,ive seen.

I disagree. I use exclusively blue with a couple grey in the mix and my roots are never affected.

Nice and white, firm and sterile feeling

Airwalker16 said:

Use black. roots need DARKNESS.

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I'd like to get black buckets but they are double the price. Any ideas on where to purchase black buckets other than a hydro store?

Online prices are crazy due to shipping. Go with the cheapest you can find, get a spray can of krylon fusion black paint or a roll of aluminum tape to make it lightproof.

If your willing to risk trying to clean them you could probably get 5 gallon buckets free if you ask a couple local garages if they have any they're discarding. Any buckets that housed oil, hydraulic fluid or the like will be lightproof. A quick spray oven degreaser followed by some light dish soap should do the trick. That's how I got buckets 20 yrs ago for hempys. lol Not really recommended though unless your seriously strapped for cash.

Edit: Voted blue, cause paint.

Creature1969 said:

Online prices are crazy due to shipping. Go with the cheapest you can find, get a spray can of krylon fusion black paint or a roll of aluminum tape to make it lightproof.

If your willing to risk trying to clean them you could probably get 5 gallon buckets free if you ask a couple local garages if they have any they're discarding. Any buckets that housed oil, hydraulic fluid or the like will be lightproof. A quick spray oven degreaser followed by some light dish soap should do the trick. That's how I got buckets 20 yrs ago for hempys. lol Not really recommended though unless your seriously strapped for cash.

Edit: Voted blue, cause paint.

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Thanks for the advice. It's a shame shipping is so expensive for the buckets. I'm just going to get a blue one from my local Lowe's and might look into a reflective duck tape.

subielove454 said:

Thanks for the advice. It's a shame shipping is so expensive for the buckets. I'm just going to get a blue one from my local Lowe's and might look into a reflective duck tape.

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The idea is to grow huge plants that keep the res in the shade anyways. But at less than $2 per bucket you cant go wrong with blue lowes. Hydro stores want up to $7 for their black 5 gals.

An even better idea if you want to spend $7 so badly is 12gal hdx totes. With a 6" netpot lid you can fit 6 gal compared to 3 gal with the buckets. Trust me you will want the extra res space.

I'm personally going with this idea with black buckets...

http://hightimes.com/grow/how-to-build-a-two-bucket-dwc-system/

Black and lightproof is a must, many people use any and every color but if the buckets aren't 100% light proof your plants will be battling algae for nutes and if you don't see it; you should look harder because it's not easy to see sometimes as your plants won't necessarily show any signs of problems, but your resis' will have algae in them if they aren't light proof...

Home Depot; believe it or not has the cheapest price I could find on black 5 gallon buckets as I recently been stocking up on them....but online or otherwise... any and all other colors aside from the orange Home Depot buckets were the same price or more I believe... but black is the way to go don't believe otherwise, the blue lowes buckets are close but if you press a flashlight up to the outside of a bucket and you can see it on the inside; vaguely or otherwise; it's not light proof... anything that's not light proof is going to breed algae... and that is a fact... if as I said u put a flashlight up to it and u see anything; it either needs to be covered with light proof insulation or painted... more work than necessary, the black ones are more expensive in most places because they know why we buy them (because we're growing weed in them and you should be using black/light proof buckets to do so) but time is also worth $... if u wanna save a few $'s on a cheaper bucket, you're gonna spend it on paint or something to make it lightproof, save the time n buy black ones..

Edit:

in that link to HT; they list a 1-3/8" hole saw for the 1.5" uniseals; (that's the id of the pipe not od) but a 2.5" is required for that size uniseal/pipe and the pipe is not called black pvc when you buy it, it's called abs, which coincidentally needs to be used because pvc isn't 100% lightproof if you need more of a reason to use black buckets, however a short piece of pvc pipe is easily covered with the aluminum foil type tape...

whitey78 said:

I'm personally going with this idea with black buckets...

http://hightimes.com/grow/how-to-build-a-two-bucket-dwc-system/

Black and lightproof is a must, many people use any and every color but if the buckets aren't 100% light proof your plants will be battling algae for nutes and if you don't see it; you should look harder because it's not easy to see sometimes as your plants won't necessarily show any signs of problems, but your resis' will have algae in them if they aren't light proof...

Home Depot; believe it or not has the cheapest price I could find on black 5 gallon buckets as I recently been stocking up on them....but online or otherwise... any and all other colors aside from the orange Home Depot buckets were the same price or more I believe... but black is the way to go don't believe otherwise, the blue lowes buckets are close but if you put a flashlight up to a bucket and you can see it; vaguely or otherwise; it's not light proof... anything that's not light proof is going to breed algae... and that is a fact... if as I said u put a flashlight up to it and u see anything; it either needs to be covered with light proof insulation or painted... more work than necessary, the black ones are more expensive usually but time is also worth $... if u wanna save a few $'s but you're gonna spend it on paint or something to make it lightproof, save the time n buy black ones..

Edit:

in that link to HT; they list a 1-3/8" hole saw for the 1.5" uniseals; (that's the id of the pipe not od) but a 2.5" is required for that size uniseal/pipe (the pipe is not called black pvc when you buy it, it's called abs, which coincidentally needs to be used because pvc isn't lightproof if you need more of a reason to use black buckets...)...

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Yes only black works. Me and loads of others we just grow algae in our blue buckets.

Stop spreading misinformation.

firsttimeARE said:

Yes only black works. Me and loads of others we just grow algae in our blue buckets.

Stop spreading misinformation.

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Bruh, what causes algae while growing hydroponically? Light leaks...correct? So that would be a FACT...right? if you put a flashlight to the side of the bucket and you can see it....at all... your buckets are NOT light proof... aka a light leak.....FACT... as I said; algae isn't a really killer issue like root rot or the other root diseases we have to worry about because your plants will grow pretty normal with it; but it's not 100% ideal...FACT... algae thrives in the exact same conditions our plants do; highly oxygenated; nutrient rich water with the most minute amount of light giving it the last thing it needs to come to life... FACT.... which will compete with your plant for the nutrients you provide... that is not misinformation...

Example of how easy algae will breed... I also use flood tables aside from dwc... the first table i bought was white; thinking white would reflect the light up to the bottoms of the plants, mo' light, mo' better right? rather than black which will absorb it creating heat... which is what I thought anyhow... anyhow I kept finding algae in my res at each res change but could not figure out why... my res was light proof, supply and return lines were light proof... the only thing left was the little bit of water/nutes left in the channels of the table after a flood/drain... which in the end was the cause... now every time I clean my table which is usually after a grow cycle; I put down a new layer of weed block to cover the bottom of the table...and obviously no longer buy white tables.... and I had no reason to go looking for it but it was obvious... yet my plants showed no signs of any problems at all...

I never said they wouldn't work, but for $1 +\- do you wanna chance it? Any problem is a problem, why leave yourself open to it... as I said it's a very simple test, put a flashlight up to the side and that will tell you if a bucket is light proof or not...

And correction from my first post; black is not a necessity... but being lightproof is...

Who has their light sources pointed directly at the sides of the buckets?

My,plants have a big canopy and barely any light reaches the tops,of the buckets which have a black lid.

i dont have algae issues.

My water looks as clear at res change as it does res fill up.

Ive felt slimey airstone hoses on blue, grey and black,buckets.

You had algae in your flood and,drain,because,water was sitting,in direct light. Same reason tops of,peoples rockwool have green on them.

I know light causes algae to grow. What im,saying is this isnt the case with,blue buckets.

I use the blue ones with no tape or paint and don't have problems. I used to have red buckets with tape and they still let light in when the tape came off. The foil tape tears up after a few washes. Black duct tape works better.

I would rather have black buckets but couldnt find any. Blue will work but if you only need a few buckets it might be worth a little extra money to get the black ones.

firsttimeARE said:

Who has their light sources pointed directly at the sides of the buckets?

My,plants have a big canopy and barely any light reaches the tops,of the buckets which have a black lid.

i dont have algae issues.

My water looks as clear at res change as it does res fill up.

Ive felt slimey airstone hoses on blue, grey and black,buckets.

You had algae in your flood and,drain,because,water was sitting,in direct light. Same reason tops of,peoples rockwool have green on them.

I know light causes algae to grow. What im,saying is this isnt the case with,blue buckets.

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I understand and definitely agree but if your going to buy new buckets; why not skip the ?'s and buy black ones for $4.68 at Home Depot... they're exactly $1 more than the orange ones... I bought the lowes blue ones before myself, and I do agree they're probably as close to light proof as your gonna get vs black as your gonna get... but obviously you know how to grow a proper canopy, but some folks ain't so bright... when I pass info along I try to pass it as if I was giving a person with a single digit IQ... so if someone buys bullshit buckets and goes and puts secondary lighting under the canopy or around the buckets; they'll be mad at me because I led them in the wrong direction... don't take me the wrong way; I do come off like an asshole but as I said; u really gotta give advice like your giving it to someone who's without a doubt gonna do everything wrong; so I try to make advice as foolproof as possible.. if it means suggesting black buckets so they can't fuck it up; so be it... but that's how I try to think anyhow so I didn't mean to be a dick but not everyone has experience; or even knows algae exists... I know cuz I made every mistake I could so far with more to come... and for some reason the newest people that wanna learn to grow; always wanna start with hydro because "bigger yields" (mainly), "explosive growth rates"... the mj community including all the magazines do all but say learning to grow with soil before jumping into the water game can make or break you as a grower... i almost gave up ? years ago because I thought and found that exact info before I found my way into the forums where you can get genuine advice rather than halfway sales pitches from authors and magazines... which correctly led me into a bag of soil...but I truly believe I would have given up had I not been talked into soil... you know what your doing, but a good portion of people who ask questions like what color buckets should I buy; most likely don't have much experience...

farmasensist said:

I use the blue ones with no tape or paint and don't have problems. I used to have red buckets with tape and they still let light in when the tape came off. The foil tape tears up after a few washes. Black duct tape works better.

I would rather have black buckets but couldnt find any. Blue will work but if you only need a few buckets it might be worth a little extra money to get the black ones.

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If and when, as I mentioned 15 times like rain man already... you need new ones the Depot has black buckets now (finally) and coincidentally they sell out constantly... But they cost literally $1 more than the other colors... worth it imo, and actually cheaper than anywhere I could find online... I was actually looking for 7 gallon black ones but that was like trying to find curly's gold or some shit and the ones I could find, which were very few, were stupid expensive for a bucket...

firsttimeARE said:

The idea is to grow huge plants that keep the res in the shade anyways. But at less than $2 per bucket you cant go wrong with blue lowes. Hydro stores want up to $7 for their black 5 gals.

An even better idea if you want to spend $7 so badly is 12gal hdx totes. With a 6" netpot lid you can fit 6 gal compared to 3 gal with the buckets. Trust me you will want the extra res space.

Click to expand...

T

whitey78 said:

I'm personally going with this idea with black buckets...

http://hightimes.com/grow/how-to-build-a-two-bucket-dwc-system/

Black and lightproof is a must, many people use any and every color but if the buckets aren't 100% light proof your plants will be battling algae for nutes and if you don't see it; you should look harder because it's not easy to see sometimes as your plants won't necessarily show any signs of problems, but your resis' will have algae in them if they aren't light proof...

Home Depot; believe it or not has the cheapest price I could find on black 5 gallon buckets as I recently been stocking up on them....but online or otherwise... any and all other colors aside from the orange Home Depot buckets were the same price or more I believe... but black is the way to go don't believe otherwise, the blue lowes buckets are close but if you press a flashlight up to the outside of a bucket and you can see it on the inside; vaguely or otherwise; it's not light proof... anything that's not light proof is going to breed algae... and that is a fact... if as I said u put a flashlight up to it and u see anything; it either needs to be covered with light proof insulation or painted... more work than necessary, the black ones are more expensive in most places because they know why we buy them (because we're growing weed in them and you should be using black/light proof buckets to do so) but time is also worth $... if u wanna save a few $'s on a cheaper bucket, you're gonna spend it on paint or something to make it lightproof, save the time n buy black ones..

Edit:

in that link to HT; they list a 1-3/8" hole saw for the 1.5" uniseals; (that's the id of the pipe not od) but a 2.5" is required for that size uniseal/pipe and the pipe is not called black pvc when you buy it, it's called abs, which coincidentally needs to be used because pvc isn't 100% lightproof if you need more of a reason to use black buckets, however a short piece of pvc pipe is easily covered with the aluminum foil type tape...

Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice and providing a link with additional information. I'll go take another look at Home Depot and see if they have black buckets. When I went the other day they only had the orange ones. It seems that the blue buckets from Lowe's are safe but there is risk. At the time it was difficult to buy black buckets from a Hydro store that was double the price of a blue bucket at Lowe's. I found some that were a decent price online but shipping cost more than the buckets. I've seen a lot of people growing with them on YouTube but thought I'd get some advice from this community. Hopefully I can find some black ones at Home Depot.

farmasensist said:

I use the blue ones with no tape or paint and don't have problems. I used to have red buckets with tape and they still let light in when the tape came off. The foil tape tears up after a few washes. Black duct tape works better.

I would rather have black buckets but couldnt find any. Blue will work but if you only need a few buckets it might be worth a little extra money to get the black ones.

Click to expand...

Thank you for posting! I'll take this into consideration.

firsttimeARE said:

Who has their light sources pointed directly at the sides of the buckets?

My,plants have a big canopy and barely any light reaches the tops,of the buckets which have a black lid.

i dont have algae issues.

My water looks as clear at res change as it does res fill up.

Ive felt slimey airstone hoses on blue, grey and black,buckets.

You had algae in your flood and,drain,because,water was sitting,in direct light. Same reason tops of,peoples rockwool have green on them.

I know light causes algae to grow. What im,saying is this isnt the case with,blue buckets.

Click to expand...

I am hoping that I can grow a nice canopy but it's going to be my first time trying DWC and scrogging. I am confident in myself but I always leave room for error. I went to the hardware store yesterday to start getting supplies for the net setup using the thread you created.