Considering giving hydro another go

kushedy said:

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?

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exactly. i have a 30 gal external res that feeds up to 4 of the waterfarms.

a submersible pump, this manifold:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DIG-6-Outlet-Adjustable-Drip-Manifold-AD6/100148153

and some silicone aquarium tubing out to each waterfarm.

kushedy said:

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?

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i only measure the EC of what's in my external res. i feed very lightly: usually 1 to 1.2 EC at maximum growth. 0.6 to 0.8 for veg and then 0.6 for end of bloom. 0.3 for seedlings.

the only thing i had to dial in was my nute recipe. i 've tried some brands that aren't pH stable for that long of a time and some additives will throw off pH too. if you wanted to spend a bit more money, a pH doser up/down would make it almost fool proof.

I ran an air stone in a bucket in the room in question yesterday & went outside to see how noisy it actually was. I couldn’t hear it at all, even when I stood right next to the window so I may have been worrying a tad too much. That said I still want to minimise the noise produced.

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading on various forms of hydro. Where I am heading at the moment is in the short term carrying on DTW in coco. In the long term I’m considering constructing a under URDWC with some sort of waterfall shenanigans going on in each pot. I figure it will be cheaper & more effective to build too my requirements rather than buying an off the shelf kit.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out with this.

I would use pro-mix instead of coco. Coco dries out quicker and you'll be spending a lot more time feeding them compared to pro-mix. Everything else is the same though. I have 4 plants under 1000 watts in 5 gallon pots with pro-mix and I only have to feed/water every 4 to 5 days. People who grow in coco like that have to feed twice a day sometimes. Again it depends on your set-up. I do use coco for my mothers and love it, but they are only under cfls so I only have to feed them about once a week.

DaFreak said:

I would use pro-mix instead of coco. Coco dries out quicker and you'll be spending a lot more time feeding them compared to pro-mix. Everything else is the same though. I have 4 plants under 1000 watts in 5 gallon pots with pro-mix and I only have to feed/water every 4 to 5 days. People who grow in coco like that have to feed twice a day sometimes. Again it depends on your set-up. I do use coco for my mothers and love it, but they are only under cfls so I only have to feed them about once a week.

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I’m in the UK & Pro-Mix is not so widely available inn thiss country. I was under the impression Pro-Mix is just a 50/50 blend of Coco & Perlite with some bennies thrown in?

No it's peat moss. If all you got is coco then go for it. Just be prepared to feed and water a lot.

I just use a pump & drippers. Works well enough bar the manual clean-up of waste. I’ve already sized up some totes for a dwc type system. I am just leaning about uniseals & bulk heads at the moment.

You know, and don't anyone take this the wrong way, but I have tried every type of hydro system Dwc Rdwc combo nft drip only nft and flood and drain. When it comes to the easiest system to run its a good DWC system. Nothing compares in maintenance and cleanup at the end. Many say they get root rot with dwc. I solved that problem completely. No hydrogaurd or H2O2. Maintain your PH, keep your res cold and use an air pump 3 to 4 times the size needed. Colder water holds more O2. Highly oxygenated water will not root rot set in. There is no better system than this especially if you dont live in the deep south where you have high temps for more than 3 months. This is my white widow plant at week 5 of flower. She was vegged for 4 weeks. I have always wanted to grow this strain. She will be a banger she actually started to stink at week 2 of veg. I was blown away because I have never had a plant smell so strong in there 2nd week of life. I remember back in the early 2000s this was supposed to be the strongest bud in the world. I cant waittil she finishes!!!!

herballuvmonkey said:

When it comes to the easiest system to run its a good DWC system. Nothing compares in maintenance and cleanup at the end.

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Drain to waste beats it hands down.
DWC
1) Drain system
2) Clean system
3) dispose of roots
4) Clean hydro-balls (usually boiling them)
Drain to waste
1) Pull out medium and throw away

Drain to waste you're ready to go again as quick as you can fill a pot with medium. That's just how it is.

herballuvmonkey said:

I solved that problem completely. No hydrogaurd or H2O2. Maintain your PH, keep your res cold and use an air pump 3 to 4 times the size needed. Colder water holds more O2. Highly oxygenated water will not root rot set in.

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It took me a lot of growing to realize I was being a complete idiot when it came to hydro. I started 99 with aero, nft, dwc, hempy, RDWC, waterfall RDWC etc. I am happy with my results from all. Discovered they are all equal once they are dialed in. Each has their place under the right circumstances. But I am telling you this and if you listen it will save you money. DWC should only be done if you don't have to chill your water or add stuff to prevent root rot. If you are chilling your water with electricity that is insane. All those watts that could have been growing weed being wasted on chilling water.

Best Hydro style for hot gardens in best to worst order (open for debate)
1)Drain to waste
2) Hempy
3) Aero
4) Water fall RDWC
5) dwc

(leaving out lots cause obviously)

by the way, anybody in DWC has continuously has root rot problems try giving the plants an air-gap to the water line. If your net pots are in the water they are more susceptible to root rot. Create a 2 to 3 inch air gap and it protects against root rot up to a point.

Guys, have you ever tried "pythium oligandrum" as the bennies?

Ive never done drain to waste or even researched it mostly because the name drain to waste. Seems like a waste of water, but I dont know so I cant really speak on it. There is no reason to chill water with electricity. I use 3 liter bottles and a freezer. Swap a bottle each day water will stay cool up to a point until your plants develop a canopy after that the water will stay cold the whole day. My plant in flower reservoir never gets above 72 since the plant created a canopy. its normally in the 60s most of its day time.

If you can keep your water cold enough with iced water bottles than you don't really have a problem to be honest. But yes, you are still using electricity to make that ice.

kushedy said:

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.

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rkymtnman said:

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.

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I have my water pump suspended in air by my manifold pipes. This helps keep vibrations from resonating through the walls and floor. Then, I removed the rubber feet, and screwed the pump to a 4"x4" block of wood, that acts like a damper for the pump. The block of wood doesn't touch the floor, and It's virtually silent.

It's a little hard to see the pump, but you can see the block of wood it's attached to.

DaFreak said:

If you can keep your water cold enough with iced water bottles than you don't really have a problem to be honest. But yes, you are still using electricity to make that ice.

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I use the air in my house to blow across the surface of the water in the reservoir. My house is always around 70, and doing this keeps my water constant, at 69 degrees.

My roots are always white, I never add anything to prevent root rot, and I go the entire grow without flushing. A lot of it has to do with the water temps, as well as not overfeeding. With constant air blowing on the water, the water temps do not fluctuate.