RDWC with air lift pump for circulation?

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
How would an air lift pump work in a RDWC system? I can't seem to find any examples. Maybe I'm not searching the right keywords? Should keep O2 up and provide a slow recirculation. Planning on building multiple systems with 2- 5 gal buckets and 10 gal res's. Want to do an air lift from res to each bucket, passive returns.
 

mytwhyt

Well-Known Member
There's a simple solution, i'm looking for some pics i posted quite a while back....
I'll try building a word picture instead.... You have 2-5gal. buckets... each bucket has 2 holes in the sides at the bottom on opposite sides... All the holes are drilled 13/16 to fit a 1/2 grommet and barb fitting.. only three holes get a grommet and 1/2" barb... Now comes the fourth hole.... Here's where i need the picture [i know it's somewhere on this site]
Now we go to home depot, plumbing section, lawn fittings..... There is a 1/2" threaded cutoff riser, with 2 cutoff points.... cut off 2 sets of threads, set aside... In the white pvc section, find a 90* fitting with 1/2" female threads, to 3/4" slip....
You take the cut off riser, put a hose washer on it, put the threads left after cutting through the last hole and screw it into the 90* elbow with the 3/4" facing up.......... We're almost done.... Look around in the lawn plumbing..... you'll find a 1/2" barb with 1/2" male threads, that will screw into the 1/2" cut off riser....
We're left with one more part..... 3/4" thin wall pvc pipe used in low lawn irrigation systems.... We cut however long of a piece of the 3/4" pvc you need, then press it into the slip fitting.... This pipe will be higher than the water level in the grow bucket and the reservoir, which are the same....
The gh pumping column, w or wo the dripring, goes in the standing water column that is now filled with water from the reservoir... After the water is pumped out of the standing water column, gravity returns it to the reservoir.... Simple huh? I'll keep looking for the pics... This this was this was also done on a Waterfarm. The GH pumping column will move 6 gal an hour...
IMG_2864.JPG IMG_254214.JPG IMG_253212.JPG
IMG_2857.JPG
 
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Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
So conplicated. just run a submersible from your res up and out to the top of the buckets and fill them from there. use gravity to return water back to res through 1" holes at bottom of buckets.20160526_105535.jpg
 

mytwhyt

Well-Known Member
The whole idea is not to run a submersible and add heat to the reservoir.... I can dumb it down a bit more.... I was trying to address the OPs original question, how to use an air lift pumping column to circulate a reservoir.....What've you got on that question?...i'm not impressed with what you've got there........
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Well if you're using RDWC you need to utilize a chiller to have good results. Heat shouldn't be an issue. And my pic was for demonstration purposes. I could care less what you think about it. It grows like a muthafucka.
 

mytwhyt

Well-Known Member
You really want to show how well it works, lets see some pics with plants in those buckets...... To me they look like they've never been used.....
The reason you didn't answer the question is that you had no clue to how it would work.....
You can't dodge the question by saying the obvious, "you need a chiller" ..
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
You really want to show how well it works, lets see some pics with plants in those buckets...... To me they look like they've never been used.....
The reason you didn't answer the question is that you had no clue to how it would work.....
You can't dodge the question by saying the obvious, "you need a chiller" ..
Rofl....... I did an entire thread...
Good nuff?

http://rollitup.org/t/ecosunlite-8-3590-run.916405/

Page 16 if you just wanna see the good shit. 1st page has my MINI setup if you wanna bag on that too?
 
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WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
So conplicated. just run a submersible from your res up and out to the top of the buckets and fill them from there. use gravity to return water back to res through 1" holes at bottom of buckets.View attachment 3854302
I don't get how you think it's so complicated? I'll be using my existing, well oversized, air pump for the airlift vs adding water pumps and chillers. Setup similar to what you described, I'll have the air lifts feed dripper rings at each bucket, then 1"returns to the res. It's not the high flow RDWC most people run, just a slow continuous circulation.

I'm already running multiple single bucket dwcs, just trying to tie a few together for increased nute volume to help keep it more stable.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
I don't get how you think it's so complicated? I'll be using my existing, well oversized, air pump for the airlift vs adding water pumps and chillers. Setup similar to what you described, I'll have the air lifts feed dripper rings at each bucket, then 1"returns to the res. It's not the high flow RDWC most people run, just a slow continuous circulation.

I'm already running multiple single bucket dwcs, just trying to tie a few together for increased nute volume to help keep it more stable.
I guess I still just don't understand.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
You really want to show how well it works, lets see some pics with plants in those buckets...... To me they look like they've never been used.....
The reason you didn't answer the question is that you had no clue to how it would work.....
You can't dodge the question by saying the obvious, "you need a chiller" ..
Ya that's what I thought. Don't call people out on shit when you don't know anything of their background, moron.
 

Beautiful Fumes

New Member
Built this same design to run a single bucket with additional reservoir capacity. Just wrapping up my first grow with this config (maybe my 15th dwc grow overall) and here are my personal findings:

Pros:
  • Safe, water flow is relative to water level so overflow/draining is not a worry
  • Simple, barely added to my previous setup
  • Flexible, I can move my 2 buckets around relative to each other more than some rdwc designs
Cons:
  • Low flow, recirculates reservoir volume once every hour, fine for one plant but ...
  • Not super scalable, you could chain more buckets together but I think you need more flow and/or a large return line/channel
  • Water changes still suck
 
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