Water leaks from lid of dwc bin

Hey fella's... I'm using 2 18g storage bins as DWC buckets for a couple plants. I'm having a problem with bubble splash accumulating on the inside of the lid and then eventually running towards the sides and dripping out of the bucket all together.

Anyone know of a reliable way to resolve this w/o going through the cost and time of swapping containers out?

Thanks

maybe you could try to apply a thick lining of caulk/epoxy/sealant around the bottom of the lid to act as a drip guard.. water would splash.. drip towards the sides.. hit the lining.. and right back into the water.. voila!

bluntologist said:

maybe you could try to apply a thick lining of caulk/epoxy/sealant around the bottom of the lid to act as a drip guard.. water would splash.. drip towards the sides.. hit the lining.. and right back into the water.. voila!

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Good thought

Dont use any of those caulks or silicons that have to dry, it will leach into res. In door and window insulation section at lowes is a product called rope caulk or cord weatherstripping, this stuff works great and is easy to replace and cheap.

superstoner1 said:

Dont use any of those caulks or silicons that have to dry, it will leach into res. In door and window insulation section at lowes is a product called rope caulk or cord weatherstripping, this stuff works great and is easy to replace and cheap.

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Word. I'm ditching the DWC now anyway and sticking the plants in to soil. Will pick the hydro back up in a few short months when I move out of this place and in to a more permanent situation.

Poor plants.

Do a hempy bucket.

Every DWC attempt this year has failed because of these damn totes I'm using and my overall setup. Was wondering why this recent batch weren't growing worth a shit, come to find out that I had an assload of light leakage all around the net pots and the tote itself.

I'm going to be much more careful with my selection of parts on my next hydro attempt, which will probably be a "high" pressure aero system like I've done before. I'm totally annoyed with DWC and how much water, nutes and time it takes to keep a larger circulating system working properly.

As for the "poor plants"... I've had a problem with every DWC attempt this year... Looking forward to moving elsewhere soon and I'll have a lot more flexibility to work with in terms of space and equipment. BUT every time they weren't going right in DWC I stuck them in a pot of dirt, used fish & seaweed fert and Great White Myco and they take off growing fast within 36hrs of transplant. All my soil grows have been wonderful and they've all been failed DWC attempt transplants. I picked just over just over 50gr (wet) off of a seriously stunted and growth delayed autoflower ak-47, which was already flowering when I transplanted it and flowered out for 6wks before harvesting.

But now that I sit here and think about it (stoned) I'm kinda feeling like maybe I should try to seal the lid with superstoner's suggestion.... Seems that since I fixed all the light leaks the other night there has been some new additional root development on the clones and then I could turn my ultrasonic misters back on, too... I shouldn't have anymore pathogen problems anymore with the light leaks fixed. I was using calcium hypocholorite (bleach), Zone and SM-90 all at the same time at one point and 18w of UV sterilization over 24" of water exposure... Came to find out that I had crazy light leaks because of this cheap duct tape I used and light seeping in around the foam collar on the net pots, blah blah.

Maybe I should just try to fix up the water leaks and give this another day or two?


*Ok, I went up to wally-mart and got 2 heavy duty storage bins that are like the roughneck ones with the way the lid seals around. I also took the time to give them a nice coating of spray paint all around to help keep light out.

I think all the zone and bleach and shit is a waist of money. Obviously it is not successful for you. It sounds like your setup is a little complicated with misters and uv sterilizers and 3 sterilizing products. All you really need is a lightproof bucket, bennies of some kind, an air pump, and cool water. Dwc is supposed to be cheap amd simple.

That said, light leaks will def fuck shit up. If you still have root problems make sure the water temp is below 70* and get some bennnies.

Malevolence said:

I think all the zone and bleach and shit is a waist of money. Obviously it is not successful for you. It sounds like your setup is a little complicated with misters and uv sterilizers and 3 sterilizing products. All you really need is a lightproof bucket, bennies of some kind, an air pump, and cool water. Dwc is supposed to be cheap amd simple.

That said, light leaks will def fuck shit up. If you still have root problems make sure the water temp is below 70* and get some bennnies.

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I'll pass on the bennies. After fixing up my light leaks the other night I've had a revival of new root growth. The misters work really well, so I think I'll keep those. My entire problem stemmed from light leaks which I was unaware of; thought I had that taken care of a long time ago. I'm running a chiller, too... So ya, lots of sterilizing agents and a chiller and UV and still problems? Probably because of the crazy light leaks going on methinks.

sounds like you have it handled then.

Malevolence said:

sounds like you have it handled then.

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With the new totes, I should have it all taken care of.

So good advice to anyone that reads this, don't get the totes with the rolled lip, get the ones with the square lip, like the roughneck design.

After trying many different totes over the years i can say that the black and yellow bins from lowes and now walmart are by far the best. 15 and 27 gal sizes, very sturdy and cheap.

superstoner1 said:

After trying many different totes over the years i can say that the black and yellow bins from lowes and now walmart are by far the best. 15 and 27 gal sizes, very sturdy and cheap.

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Oh ya, I know the ones you are talking about, I looked at them but they were too small to fit properly in the cut out on my table. Plus, I didn't like the checkered lids.
I saw another tote that was really sturdy and actually had a hinged lid, very cool.