I think you`ll struggle with dwc, you must run air and the air will carry heat into the water. A simple manual fill, flood and drain bucket would be better. Install a john guest tank connector about 2" above the bottom of the bucket. Fit a short length (a few inches) of rigid tube into the tank connector. an elbow and a piece of pipe as long as the height of the bucket. This assemply is rotated through 90 degrees to flood and drain the water ;) Something like this:

Its important to put a short length of 1/4" tubing (reverse osmosis tubing i s ideal) inside the tube between the tank connector and the elbow fitting, it will prevent small pebbles getting into the pipe and blocking it ;). It can stick out of the tank connector into the bucket an inch or so.

Cover the back of the tank connector with a small netpot and hold it in place while you pour in the hydroton pebbles, The pebbles will hold it in place once its covered.

Place the bucket on something so the tube can be swivelled down enough to drain the bucket. (note: there will be 2" of reserve left in the bucket after draining)

To use, ensure the tube is vertical, fill the bucket with nutrient, it will take perhaps 3 gallons to begin with but less as the roots take up the space. Put the fill bucket on the ground and place you thumb over the end of swivel tube as you rotate it down..you`ll get wet if you forget ;). When the tube is in the right position remove your thumb and the bucket will drain right back into the fill bucket ;)

It sounds harder than it is, here`s some hot peppers grown in the same type of flood and drain buckets, they were only 10L if i remember correctly but still very productive and easier to move around ;)

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I am still unclear how this works. It is still passive Kratyk?

Are you manually rotating the elbow for flood and drain?

I am unclear how this method works. How often do you drain flood manually?

How hot does it get where you are at? The photo of the your great looking setup.

Thank you :-)

Its just a bucket of hydroton pebbles, manual fill, manual rotation of the tube. You fill the bucket with nutrients from a container and then empty it right back into the container by rotating the tube downwards. For a single 10L bucket, the container could be as simple as a watering can filled with nutrients.

The water drives out old air as it fills the bucket and draws in fresh air as it empties. Its very simple but effective ;) I flood/drain twice a day but you may need to do a little handwatering until they get their roots down. Once the taproots reach the bottom of the bucket they can access the 2" water reserve, it will take longer with a 5gal bucket as its deeper The system handles full sun and air temperatures upto 100F with no problem. If the bucket is black its best to paint it white or you can wrap them in foil bubble insulation.