Considering giving hydro another go

[kushedy]

I ran a small dwc set up a few years ago but due to space constraints, heat & lack of experience I gave up on it. Mainly, repeated cases of root rot.



I now have more space to grow in & a bit more of a budget. What ever I go for needs to be fairly quiet. The room that the set up will go in has a window which is about 2 meters away from & a meter above a public foot path so I need to keep the noise levels down. I presently run drip to waste using coco where I manually drain the plant trays every couple of days. I have a very quiet extraction system already set up. If I did use stadard dwc with air stones, the pump & the air stones would be the noisiest things in the room. Ideally, I want to move away from using coco if possible & have something that does not require me to manually pump out waste.



I’m considering something like an IWS recirculating flood & drain system using clay balls as the medium. The alternative is rdwc but with some sort of fluming if it can be set up to run quietly.



So, my questions are:

1: Does anyone have any experience with iws style flood & drain? If so, do you run it as you would a dwc by taking daily ec readings of the resevoir & adjusting the nutrient strength accordingly?



2: Can a RDWC be made to run as quietly as a flood & drain system? Does fluming make considerably less noise than using an air pump with air stones? Does the recirculation of nutrients make much noise?



Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[friedguy]

1. Yes. And the pH
2. No. Yes. No.

I'm running recirculating drip w/ clay balls. Almost silent. Runs for 1 min every 2 hours now.

 

[kushedy]

1. Yes. And the pH
2. No. Yes. No.

I'm running recirculating drip w/ clay balls. Almost silent. Runs for 1 min every 2 hours now.[/QUOTE

Thanks for the reply. How are the yields in comparison to coco or dwc?

 

[friedguy]

Dunno yet. 1st run with this system. I would suspect a little lower than DWC and a little higher than coco.

I stopped using DWC as it required too much electricity to run the chillers... running sterile without the chillers worked, but it's just another thing to do. Growth rates in DWC are fantastic. I stopped using coco (always 100% organic) cuz I got bugs every time and I wanted to recirculate, though quality was top notch.

Growth rates are pretty good. Image is from day 9 of 12/12. That's a 4x2 screen almost completely filled by 1 plant.

 

[Herb & Suds]

Dunno yet. 1st run with this system. I would suspect a little lower than DWC and a little higher than coco.

I stopped using DWC as it required too much electricity to run the chillers... running sterile without the chillers worked, but it's just another thing to do. Growth rates in DWC are fantastic. I stopped using coco (always 100% organic) cuz I got bugs every time and I wanted to recirculate, though quality was top notch.

Growth rates are pretty good. Image is from day 9 of 12/12. That's a 4x2 screen almost completely filled by 1 plant.

Now that is how to SCROG Well done on the fill

 

[kushedy]

Dunno yet. 1st run with this system. I would suspect a little lower than DWC and a little higher than coco.

I stopped using DWC as it required too much electricity to run the chillers... running sterile without the chillers worked, but it's just another thing to do. Growth rates in DWC are fantastic. I stopped using coco (always 100% organic) cuz I got bugs every time and I wanted to recirculate, though quality was top notch.

Growth rates are pretty good. Image is from day 9 of 12/12. That's a 4x2 screen almost completely filled by 1 plant.

• Looks nice & healthy. Do you use a drip ring or standard drippers? I'm a little concerned that only certain parts of the pot will get covered each watering. I.e. directly under the drippers with the rest staying dry.

 

[friedguy]

I made a 1/2" pvc rectangle around my plant with around 25x 1/16" holes evenly spaced around. I use a 264 gal/hour el-cheapo water pump. I don't ever see dry spots within the "spray zone" when I check.

 

[kushedy]

I made a 1/2" pvc rectangle around my plant with around 25x 1/16" holes evenly spaced around. I use a 264 gal/hour el-cheapo water pump. I don't ever see dry spots within the "spray zone" when I check.

Nice work, very good idea. How frequently did you water when your plant was a seedling & then into full veg?

 

[Logan Burke]

If noise from airpumps is a worry for you, you could always look into doing waterfalls for DO instead of air pumps? I know that for my first DWC grow, I caught root rot almost immediately...even with water temps being under 70F and routinely adding H202. The only way that it would stop for me is when I began adding Hydroguard. Never had root rot since, even in high temps. I've since moved from Hydroguard to Great White, wider array of bennies including the ones in hydroguard. Just my 2 cents, I hope that you find the perfect hydro setup for you, it can be a pain but once you find your sweetspot you'll be so thrilled that you stuck with it

 

[kushedy]

If noise from airpumps is a worry for you, you could always look into doing waterfalls for DO instead of air pumps? I know that for my first DWC grow, I caught root rot almost immediately...even with water temps being under 70F and routinely adding H202. The only way that it would stop for me is when I began adding Hydroguard. Never had root rot since, even in high temps. I've since moved from Hydroguard to Great White, wider array of bennies including the ones in hydroguard. Just my 2 cents, I hope that you find the perfect hydro setup for you, it can be a pain but once you find your sweetspot you'll be so thrilled that you stuck with it

Dwc would be ideal as I would like to get away from using media of any kind. I've read a fair bit about waterfalls & that maybe do'able but my concern is if water can be heard constantly running at distance. I guess there is no way to tell without biting the bullet & buying or building a system.

 

[rkymtnman]

Dwc would be ideal as I would like to get away from using media of any kind. I've read a fair bit about waterfalls & that maybe do'able but my concern is if water can be heard constantly running at distance. I guess there is no way to tell without biting the bullet & buying or building a system.

i have a waterfall in my res and it does make noise. obviously the more force of the pump the louder it gets.
they do make silent airpumps for aquariums. look for a linear model. pricey but you could sleep next to one.

 

[kushedy]

First of all, thanks for all the help.

I think I am going to go with a drip style flood & drain system initially. It’s what I have been using with coco for some time. I’ll just add automatic drain system.

The only difference is I’ll try using 100% clay balls as the medium. I normally veg out my next run of plants while the previous is flowering so I am not sure how I will go about keeping the veg plants moist when in 100% clay balls. Normally when they are in coco I just hand water them daily. I don’t really want to have to set up a whole 2nd flood & drain system for the veg plants as well. That’s getting to pricey what with the other kit I need.

I may a little bit further down the line build a small rdwc system with waterfall to test out along side of the flood & drain system.



Does anyone here using flood & drain use a separate more manual method of feeding their plants through the veg cycle?

 

[SMT69]

I ran a small dwc set up a few years ago but due to space constraints, heat & lack of experience I gave up on it. Mainly, repeated cases of root rot.



I now have more space to grow in & a bit more of a budget. What ever I go for needs to be fairly quiet. The room that the set up will go in has a window which is about 2 meters away from & a meter above a public foot path so I need to keep the noise levels down. I presently run drip to waste using coco where I manually drain the plant trays every couple of days. I have a very quiet extraction system already set up. If I did use stadard dwc with air stones, the pump & the air stones would be the noisiest things in the room. Ideally, I want to move away from using coco if possible & have something that does not require me to manually pump out waste.



I’m considering something like an IWS recirculating flood & drain system using clay balls as the medium. The alternative is rdwc but with some sort of fluming if it can be set up to run quietly.



So, my questions are:

1: Does anyone have any experience with iws style flood & drain? If so, do you run it as you would a dwc by taking daily ec readings of the resevoir & adjusting the nutrient strength accordingly?



2: Can a RDWC be made to run as quietly as a flood & drain system? Does fluming make considerably less noise than using an air pump with air stones? Does the recirculation of nutrients make much noise?



Thanks in advance for any input.

how about a GH waterfarm

(im running 2 and cannot hear them outside the tent!), there are super quiet air pumps now available, and not much air is needed to run each one. Its got waterfall effect, dwc kindof results, and super quiet.

I bought one, and was soo impressed I built a homemade version on the 2nd one. add a small airstone in bottom resevoir

 

[kushedy]

how about a GH waterfarm

(im running 2 and cannot hear them outside the tent!), there are super quiet air pumps now available, and not much air is needed to run each one. Its got waterfall effect, dwc kindof results, and super quiet.

I bought one, and was soo impressed I built a homemade version on the 2nd one. add a small airstone in bottom resevoir

I grow under scog nets so I need something that has an external res. Once the net is full its near on impossible to get to the pots to do any sort of res change. Otherwise this would have been a good compromise.

 

[SMT69]

I grow under scog nets so I need something that has an external res. Once the net is full its near on impossible to get to the pots to do any sort of res change. Otherwise this would have been a good compromise.

i use a scrog net on mine....the tube is how i drain mine (or run a line out where the tube is), and refill thru the top hydroton....no probs. These are very simple and easy to maintain, i dont need a res.

Anyways jus a suggestion, they do work great n are quiet. Best of luck to ya! cheers

 

[kushedy]

i use a scrog net on mine....the tube is how i drain mine (or run a line out where the tube is), and refill thru the top hydroton....no probs. These are very simple and easy to maintain, i dont need a res.

Anyways jus a suggestion, they do work great n are quiet. Best of luck to ya! cheers

Didn't think of that. I guess it would be possible to extend the drain pipe so it reaches the edge of the tent. I'll have to have a think about that. Possibility. Cheers

 

[DaFreak]

I've done hydro in most of it forms for about 25 years now (doc, rdwc, aero, ebb&flow, hempy buckets and water fall type high volume recirc) and I just made the switch to pro-mix and I will never go back. If you live in a place where you can't dump the used pro-mix then staying with water as your substrate makes sense but other wise give pro-mix a thought. It's really still hydro with just a different substrate. Use the nutes you know and everything else you are used to. But less expensive, easier and no losses or stress due to mechanical failure (pumps, etc).

 

[rkymtnman]

i use a scrog net on mine....the tube is how i drain mine (or run a line out where the tube is), and refill thru the top hydroton....no probs. These are very simple and easy to maintain, i dont need a res.

Anyways jus a suggestion, they do work great n are quiet. Best of luck to ya! cheers

i do drain to waste, auto feed waterfarms. they kicks ass!

i cut the blue tube 1" above the white line, added a 90 deg elbow and some tubing to a floor drain

and the auto feed they get fed once/day until i get some runoff so my pH and EC are always constant and never an issue.

i've been away 14 days without problems.

 

[kushedy]

I've done hydro in most of it forms for about 25 years now (doc, rdwc, aero, ebb&flow, hempy buckets and water fall type high volume recirc) and I just made the switch to pro-mix and I will never go back. If you live in a place where you can't dump the used pro-mix then staying with water as your substrate makes sense but other wise give pro-mix a thought. It's really still hydro with just a different substrate. Use the nutes you know and everything else you are used to. But less expensive, easier and no losses or stress due to mechanical failure (pumps, etc).

I’ve been running a 50/50 mix of coco/perlite for a few years now using a drip system. Bar manually having to suck up the run off with a pump it is s very simple & effective system.

My issue is I am just about to upsize my grow & disposing of media has become a real drag. Disposing of more growing media is not something I am looking forward to. Plus, for the amount I spend on coco/perlite each year I could buy a pre-made decent hydro system or build one myself & save the extra cash.

That all said I get what you are saying. Coco/perlite mix is very easy & effective to grow in.

 

[kushedy]

i do drain to waste, auto feed waterfarms. they kicks ass!

i cut the blue tube 1" above the white line, added a 90 deg elbow and some tubing to a floor drain

and the auto feed they get fed once/day until i get some runoff so my pH and EC are always constant and never an issue.

i've been away 14 days without problems.

i do drain to waste, auto feed waterfarms. they kicks ass!

i cut the blue tube 1" above the white line, added a 90 deg elbow and some tubing to a floor drain

and the auto feed they get fed once/day until i get some runoff so my pH and EC are always constant and never an issue.

i've been away 14 days without problems.

Interesting. So, are you saying you have a system on a timer which feeds through the top basket until the excess runs up the blue tube, through the extension you’ve added to a drain?

How do you measure the EC from the pots? If the run off is a mix off old nutrients & what’s just been added the reading you get from the run off would not be accurate. Or do you manually measure the ec in the pots before each daily top up?