New to hdro

I just put together my first home made hydro and right now and finishing up my soil grows. I had a few questions.............Is there a way to transfer soil to hydro, do I need to put a timer on the water pump and if so what is the on off ratio, I am using dyna-grow is that an ok nuts and what should i go to, and I have 2 gph drippers on each hose would that be enough water?........+rep for help

AlwaysFUBAR said:

I just put together my first home made hydro and right now and finishing up my soil grows. I had a few questions.............Is there a way to transfer soil to hydro, do I need to put a timer on the water pump and if so what is the on off ratio, I am using dyna-grow is that an ok nuts and what should i go to, and I have 2 gph drippers on each hose would that be enough water?........+rep for help

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I strongly suggest not moving your soil plants to a hydro system... it's pretty much impossible to clean the root system of a mature plant without hurting some of the root system. Cloning the soil plants for new hydro plants is usually the preferred method.

You don't HAVE to put a timer on the water pump, but you'll get much better results if you do. The off-period allows the roots oxygen & makes them create new hairs & roots to seek out moisture. 30-60 seconds ON & 3-5 minutes OFF is the most common ratio.

I don't know much about the Dyna-Grow... no comment.

The drippers should work just fine. Do you also have sprayers/misters inside the bin?

C2C

My answer to the pump on/off times was for a spraying system... not 100% sure if you're just doing the drip.

Cuttings2Colas said:

Do you also have sprayers/misters inside the bin?

C2C

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I dont have sprayers in the bin but i could add one if it is necessary.

It you are using only Hydrton then you can wayer ever 3 hours or so. The rocks hold suck little water that it is hard to over water.

I have never used drip, but with Ebb and Flow every 3 to 4 hours for 15 minutes during light on.

If you plants look more wilted before water cycle water more often.

If you plants look more wilted after water cycle then water less often.

Godd Luck

AlwaysFUBAR said:

I dont have sprayers in the bin but i could add one if it is necessary.

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If you add 4 misters or full circle sprayers inside the res, the roots hanging below the hydroton and above the water level will be very happy with you. The drippers and misters can be hooked up to the same water pump timer. You're running air pumps & diffusers in the res, right?

For an ebb & flow system, 3 hours would work well... but you don't have an ebb & flow system. The mass amounts of hydroton in an ebb & flow bucket will hold more water & nutrients than the net cups. You'll need to water more often than that.

C2C

One in the center would work really well, but four would cost you about $8 more in parts, and it'd be rockin'. One sprayer in between each root structure...

Cuttings2Colas said:

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You don't HAVE to put a timer on the water pump, but you'll get much better results if you do. The off-period allows the roots oxygen & makes them create new hairs & roots to seek out moisture. 30-60 seconds ON & 3-5 minutes OFF is the most common ratio.


C2C

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What kind of timer do you use for this?

Barron said:

What kind of timer do you use for this?

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This type: http://cheaphydroponics.com/store/timers/cap-art-dne-adjustable-recycle-timer/prod_12.html

It's a little spendy at $85, but you won't find any timer that's better for water pumps in aero/hydro systems... 1 second to 40 minutes adjustable ON time, 1 minute to 8 hours OFF time. All of the cheap $20 timers only go down to 15 minute increments.

There's another badass system that I want to try, but I don't want to recommend it until I've given it a whirl.

C2C