DIY BRUTE 10gallon RDWC SYSTEM

Whats up everybody, Thinking of doing a journal here building a 5 site rdwc system with brute 10 gallon trash cans. Currently running (5) 12 gallon totes but running into roots clogging up the 2" pvc returns and minimum height at only 12". These Brute cans are 17 inches tall and I plan on running 3" pvc hooked together using uniseals.
Im about 2 weeks out from building this between flower cycles, just seeing if there's interest out there first.

Grow room stats:
5'x10' room, 2'x10' flower area using Scrog, 3 240 true watt quantum boards with 301h samsung diodes, 2 active air carbon filters attached to 2 AC Infinity inline fans ran with one controller. 1 inkbird temp controller and 1 ink bird hygrometer controller, bluelab guardian monitor, dc driven inline aquarium pump, water chiller,

Do you know where I could find a good setup/build guide for setting up a 4 site RDWC system..been searching but can't really find nothing thats in depth.. TIA

That sounds like a good build. I prefer the square type totes. The roots clogging issue is one reason I stayed away from the low hdx style totes many are fond of using. Curious, are you upping to 3" pipe to reduce the instance of root clog issues? Also, is your system going to be an actual 5 sites or 4 sites, with the 5th being the reservoir?

I'm curious to know how you will plumb it as I'm wanting to build a 3 site system. Only difference is I'm using 32 gallon totes. My area is just big enough for 3 but too small for 4 and it's much harder to equalize pressure in a recirculating system with an odd number of sites.

Mathimus said:

That sounds like a good build. I prefer the square type totes. The roots clogging issue is one reason I stayed away from the low hdx style totes many are fond of using. Curious, are you upping to 3" pipe to reduce the instance of root clog issues? Also, is your system going to be an actual 5 sites or 4 sites, with the 5th being the reservoir?

I'm curious to know how you will plumb it as I'm wanting to build a 3 site system. Only difference is I'm using 32 gallon totes. My area is just big enough for 3 but too small for 4 and it's much harder to equalize pressure in a recirculating system with an odd number of sites.

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Yes will be using 3" pvc, uniseals did not work out well. I ordered Current Culture H2O's 3" bulkhead fittings so Ill never have to worry about leaks from the bulkheads. They seem to be the leader in that aspect. My sites are 5 sites ran in series (in a row) and will return back to the reservoir (or 6 site I suppose) as of now Im running a "waterfall" style where each site has nutrient solution being pumped into each site from the top and recirculates through the drains and back to the reservoir. Ran into 3 instances where the roots are so big they've clogged the return and overflowed a few gallons on me. Not fun!! haha

As of now I just flipped two monsters in there and will not be installing this new set up until These are harvested. Probably around mid July. I will however post some pic when I mock it up soon. This will pretty much be a Current Culture type set up with out the price tag. Easily obtained if you have some sort of trade background and basic understanding of plumbing and use of proper tools In my opinion anyway.

there was a local dude on craigslist selling a 8 site rdwc with 55 gallon brutes. i wasn't really interested in buying it but i contacted him and he was growing in a warehouse and said the plants got to be about 10 to 15 ft tall. lol.

do this!

1WeirdAl said:

Yes will be using 3" pvc, uniseals did not work out well. I ordered Current Culture H2O's 3" bulkhead fittings so Ill never have to worry about leaks from the bulkheads. They seem to be the leader in that aspect. My sites are 5 sites ran in series (in a row) and will return back to the reservoir (or 6 site I suppose) as of now Im running a "waterfall" style where each site has nutrient solution being pumped into each site from the top and recirculates through the drains and back to the reservoir. Ran into 3 instances where the roots are so big they've clogged the return and overflowed a few gallons on me. Not fun!! haha

Click to expand...

Ah yes. I forgot about the waterfall type. Those can be ran without so much negative pressure. My system is built for 2 large sites where it tees from the 2" to half in between the sites, through the pump, and back into reservoir. It's 60 gal at capacity so recirculates right at 10 times an hr with 550 gph pump. Adding a third site would put the 2" to half inch pipe coming inline directly out of the middle site. So my concern is having too much pressure on the middle site, being the negative pressure manifold would be coming directly from it.

I feel your pain on uniseals. They're a bastard but bulkheads are too expensive for me. I've never had a problem with them leaking. But I will usually sand the edges of the pvc down to a 45 at the cut and then go back over that with a fine foam sanding blocks like they use for sheetrock. Followed by lots of water based lube for insertion. It makes starting the pipe in the uniseals much easier and you eliminate the risk of snagging the uniseal on a sharp edge.