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11 bottle system


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Old 07-28-2009, 07:25 AM
tfrost2002 tfrost2002 is offline
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Question 11 bottle system

I decided to give this a try starting with tomatoes and have attempted to build the 11 bottle system of Ron's. I haven't started actually growing yet I'm trying to work out the kinks first. The bottle caps leak. I have tried several types of glue, silicone and such but no matter what I have used with the soda bottle caps some leak.

In the pictures(of Ron's system) the bottles are white and seem to be constructed in a way that would seal better than with the bottle caps. I would like to know how those bottles where made, are they painted, if so with what type of paint? Is it possible to buy those bottles somewhere?

I will likely be asking many questions and appreciate your patience and help.

Thank you.

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Old 07-28-2009, 07:33 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Originally Posted by tfrost2002 View Post
I decided to give this a try starting with tomatoes and have attempted to build the 11 bottle system of Ron's. I haven't started actually growing yet I'm trying to work out the kinks first. The bottle caps leak. I have tried several types of glue, silicone and such but no matter what I have used with the soda bottle caps some leak.

In the pictures(of Ron's system) the bottles are white and seem to be constructed in a way that would seal better than with the bottle caps. I would like to know how those bottles where made, are they painted, if so with what type of paint? Is it possible to buy those bottles somewhere?

I will likely be asking many questions and appreciate your patience and help.

Thank you.
I am not sure about Ron's designs but I think that the white bottles are supposed bleach bottles and are made of white plastic. I have built my own system and used empty 2 liter bottles. I suppose that you could find colored 2 litter bottles if you tried. I just waited for trash day and went around and looked in a few recycle bins that people put out for the trash to get all that I needed. Although you can use any type of bottle that you want as long as you can get it to fit in the PVC and you clean and sterilize them first. I then first painted them black to make them light proof to keep algae growth down then painted them white to reflect light to keep heat buildup down. I would just use any spray paint that is good for plastic. I wouldn't use anything too expensive though.

If I am not mistaken Ron's system calls for using PVC glue to set the caps in the PVC. As I understand it is suppose to soften the plastic of the caps enough to create the tight fit. I personalty have not tried this myself so I cant say if it works. I used a 2 part epoxy glue with my system. I have provided a link to the one I used so you can tell what I mean. They come in all types and with different setting times and can be found at any home improvement store from around $1-$5. I also didn't glue the caps in. I used a PVC fitting (coupler, used to connect a 1/2 inch pipe to another 1/2 inch pipe). But because the 2 litter bottle would not quite fit, I used a bench grinder to grind down the threads enough to fit, then glued the bottles to the connectors. It makes it easy to pop off if I need to even while the plant is still growing (I don't need to spin the plant around to unscrew it). The glue never leaked but at the point where connector fits on the PVC, it did drip a little at first but sealed itself in a day or two.

Power Poxy :: Science that Sticks

P.S.
Also when I cut the bottoms off the 2 liter bottles I just drilled a bunch of holes in it then flipped it around and inserted it back inside the bottle to keep the growing medium from growing down the neck of the bottles and into the PVC pipes. It fit nice and snug without any glue and that makes it easy to take out for cleaning when the plants are done. And if you paint the bottles I am sure you know but only paint the outsides so you don't contaminate the nutrient solution.

Hope this helps some.........

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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 07-28-2009 at 07:42 PM.
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