I have been pondering over the idea of bubblers for some time and i may give it a go next time round. The problem is that my area is long and thin with access from one end so when the plants get big i cant get to the other end. Is there any way of keeping a constant level from maybe a header tank? I'd like to be able to flow/recirculate the nurients back to the header constantly so i can just set the header ph and EC and know the buckets will all be the same. I'd be using 4-6 buckets.. I'd have a heater in the header and just air stones in the buckets...

any idea?

My system recirculates, it has changed slighty since these pics, i no longer use a large pume and the 5 way pods, i now use a small 18w pump and a header tank which gravety drip feeds the plants before falling into the lower pot, which has a 4" resivoir, with airstone.
A few more pics to follow, hope it helps.

Some more pics

Nice work there Jaysee. I was planning float switches and all sorts but this is spot on. Head room may be a problem for me with some strains having to raise the pots but it will work for others. Ta

Headroom is just about ok for me this time and i do mean just about! next time i will be using smaller lower buckets and a larger wider res to compensate, i origanlly wanted to use the lower buckets as the res, by plumbing them all together and just having one bucket outside the room for mixing etc, but decided againest due to the risk of leaks, the more conections, the more chance. not a good idea when its above the living room!

Here you go mate - http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=142757. Also google blazeonups rdwc.

Get some pics up if you go ahead, you can put the main res outside the room for space, also keeps nute temps down.

takeiteazy- thanks for that, i think due to only having the one room i don't have space for the controller and res. And with jaysees design i'd have to put drains at the bottom of all buckets to change the mix so maybe i could do a cross between the 2 having the controller and res in one. I hadn't thought about temps in the res and buckets, whats the highest it should be allowed to get?

When i need to completly empty the buckets, i take the airline pipe of the pump end, where they all meet in a 10 x manifold, and start a sypon into another bucket, drains them in 2-3 mins.

Hi m8ty,
You dont ned to go to the trouble of doing auto filling bubblers, unless you want to leave them alone for quite a long length of time. You can always build a RDWC but with the nutrients going into the bubbler at the top on a dippipe to the bottom of the tank. The return line to your main res is then taken from the top of your bubbler buckets (at the correct height) and gravity fed back via a larger drain line to the res. The pump then recirculates the nutrients from the main res round the system again. This way you only need to keep checking and topping up the main res and all the buckets keep a constant level. If you have a large enough res and you know what he plants are using you can gt away with not having to top up every day. Hope this makes sence.

Regards cain1.