DWC system suggestions

Hey rollitup,

I'm building a small two plant DWC grow tent that I'll be automating with an arduino and raspberry pi. I'm looking for suggestions on what DWC setups you ppl have had success with. My space is 2.5x2x5.5, so I'm thinking two 5 gal dwc buckets or one large 10 gal. They have to share their water since automating two separate buckets would be annoying. So my questions are:

Am I on the right track with two plants in this space, or should I do one larger plant?

Should I go 2x5gal, or two plants in one large reservoir?

Since I'm automating I'll need to place water temp, ph, and ppm sensors in the water somewhere. Any tips on that? Would using a separate res to mix nutes/ph in be advantageous over just having the arduino mix nutes right into the buckets?

What systems do you suggest for my circumstances? What are some good companies to be looking at?

A really quiet/silent airstone would be great too, anyone know of some?

thanks, any advice would be appreciated

If you've already decided they need to share water, then it doesn't matter which container type you use. If you use 2 five gallon buckets, I guess you'd have them plumbed together. why go through the trouble when you could just use a single container?

that's a small space. you could easily fill that space with a single plant in a 5 gal bucket in dwc. What kind of light are you going to use? HID will get hot in that small of a space and cfl or led, imo are not going to make you happy come harvest time. A sturdy 18+ gal plastic bin and 400w hid minimum imo. You can get close to 1gram/watt, if not more in a setup like this.

blackforest said:

that's a small space. you could easily fill that space with a single plant in a 5 gal bucket in dwc. What kind of light are you going to use? HID will get hot in that small of a space and cfl or led, imo are not going to make you happy come harvest time. A sturdy 18+ gal plastic bin and 400w hid minimum imo. You can get close to 1gram/watt, if not more in a setup like this.

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Yup it's definitely small, I got my medical license so I'm just doing it as a hobby in a closet space. I was thinking a 200-240W LED to keep temps down in a small enclosed area. What would be the temp difference between HID and LED? I've been thinking and I may go with your advice and just do one 5gal and aim for a nice bushy plant, any idea of the difference in yield between one and two plants with said space and lighting?

djfrodo said:

Yup it's definitely small, I got my medical license so I'm just doing it as a hobby in a closet space. I was thinking a 200-240W LED to keep temps down in a small enclosed area. What would be the temp difference between HID and LED? I've been thinking and I may go with your advice and just do one 5gal and aim for a nice bushy plant, any idea of the difference in yield between one and two plants with said space and lighting?

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I don't know if there would be a difference at all in regards to the yield if it were 1 plant or 2, as long as the 1 plant filled out which it will very quickly in dwc, strain depending! The canopy should fill out the entire space since it's so small. I've grown 12 plants, 8 plants, and 6 plants in a 4x8 tent and always got the same yield of 24 oz regardless of how many plants were in there because each time I filled out the canopy completely. I don't really know much at all about LED's so I don't know the heat difference, but a HID in that space would require a decent exhaust/intake system to keep the hot air out. Good luck!

if i was you i would try and use some igloo boxes... they keep the heat out brilliant and the temps do get high you can add ice and it doesnt just melt like a normal system due to the insulation otherwise you will face problems with high water temps