WaterFarm - Afgan Kush Ryder (1 month old)

hi ppl of riu.org
I got 2 waterfarms connected to a controller & rez..
2 AKR sprouted same day..
now they're 1 month old.. flowers already showing
Using GH flora nutes.. t5 lights in a tent..
temps always 26-29 C
Ph sometimes gets too high but i try to keep up in lowering it to 5.5..

I already posted a similar thread to get help for the problems with the plant..

But on this thread i just want to show my babies..
this is good for 1 month old right?
what do u think??

by the way, this is an auto flowering strain..

Sick! I will subbing this.. Collecting waterfarm threads nowadays

I'm not sure if you've seen this yet: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/119479-waterfarm-mods-tips.html

There's a TON of good information on tricks to mod your waterfarm. I would definitely recommend recirculating it if you
can as that caused a lot of problems when I ran mine stock with res.

Looks good so far!

thanks for the replies guys.. yes disposition84 i've gone through that thread alot really helpful..
i just ordered a circulating kit.. but even if i get it now, wouldnt it be difficult to upgrade my waterfarms with my plants in them? because i think i have to drill a few holes and change a few things..

I've never seen a recirculation kit for them as I gave up on them and went with other systems.

Do you have a link to the kit, the girls don't look that big and I guarantee it'd be work the effort
down the road.

here's the link to the instruction manual if thats what u mean http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/instructions/WF_Upgrade_instructions.pdf
they sell it online in many sites even amazon..

That really doesn't look like it'd move much water and nothing significant you can't pick up at home depot.

If I were you I'd simply use that concept but instead of having a return line into the bucket with a pump
column, maybe just put an inline pump just outside the res pulling water through the buckets and pumping
it up and back into the reservoir. You'd need to empty it all out and drill holes but doesn't seem like too
much work to save yourself a world of hassle towards the end. You could even add a T on the return
hose after the pump with two ball valves and use one of those splits to pump out nutes during change out
and flush.

thanks man nice idea and good advice.. i think i'll give it a try

i've tried to fix the problem and it looks like its getting better.. just still a few pale leaves..
i added a little bit of epsom salt to the rez and cranked up the nutes a bit.. but maybe i should add even more nutes because syptoms of Def still exist.. im just a bit scared that the root of the problem is with the pH even though i check it daily..

i start at 5.2 and watch it rise to 6.5..
i change the rez every 3 days.. is that unnecessary?
or should i just keep it for a week and just go by topping with water?

this is an update
yeah i forgot to mention.. preflowers started to appear 8 days ago.. and now .. i can see the trichomes forming and buds growing nicely u might have to zoom in to see the trichomes in the pics

Just curious but are you setting up your nutes where you want them
and letting them sit for a day? I find that I get less fluxuation in my
nutes when I do this instead of mixing them and putting them right in,
just make sure to keep it in a dark place or light sealed container.

Have you had the chance to create a recirculating system yet? Good
circulation is definitely key to helping keeping balanced nutes, and I
don't believe a drip ring has enough to really mix things up.

yes ur right about the water my friend.. i used to poor the water right in the rez and mix the nutes.. even though i was adviced not to..
but since i started having problems i started keeping the water in a big container for atleast a day then mix the nutes and adjust pH and keep it for a while just to make sure.. then put it in the rez..

i still didnt get the chance to change my system to recirculate.. i really want to but i was really busy these past 2 weeks.. i hope i can do it soon..

what do u mean about the drip ring not having enough to really mix things up ?

Every time I opened up my waterfarm while it wasn't recirculated
there would always be various buildups of nutes/dust/etc in the
bottom. The airstone and the drip ring circulation weren't enough
to really stir things up and I think that stagnancy and buildup can
be what leads to lockout.

My first run with the waterfarms not recirculating, after 6 weeks
veg and 6 weeks flower I started having serious problems that
basically wiped out my 8 plants due to various lockouts. Made
me put the buckets away and go aero. I've run them since in
recirculation for mothers and even after 8/10 weeks of vegging
moms things were still going very well.

This is just my opinion though, I have no research to back up what
I'm saying only my experiences of non recirculating waterfarm vs.
recirculating waterfarm. I've seen plenty of people on here manage
to use individual waterfarms with great success as well so maybe
my OG Skywalker was just a shitty pheno.

no i think ur right, this is only my 3rd grow but my 1st and 2nd i was just using a single waterfarm..
i think it was a bit less complicated because i used to empty the bottom bucket out and clean it occasionally.. to prevent algae and buildup..

this is my first time using a controller and a 7 gallon rez with TWO waterfarms.. i knew i would face problems with an uncirculated system.. ur not the first guy who advised me about this my friend.. now im paying the price for not listening.. but hopefully all goes well.. ill try to modify it as soon as i can..

I cant thank u enough for ur advice and concern.. ur encouraging me to do whats best for the plants

these were my 1st and 2nd successful attempts : using a single unit

Looks really good... I like these waterfarms alot...

i think i found out what the problem was.. stupid mistake.. now it makes so much sense..
i dont know why but i assumed that magnesium in my nutes was from the micro bottle.. but then i found out that its in the 'bloom'..

since my plants are flowering, i started to add more and more bloom.. and noticed the plants getting better.. so i looked at the booklet that came with the nutes and found out about the mag.. so i added more bloom and things got better fast.. now i know that it really was a MAG def and i wasnt adding the right nutes.. and the epsom salt just helped a little but was not enough to fix the problem

problem sooolved

this is an update..
the plant is getting taller than i expected, considering thats its an auto..this one is double the height of the other one but both are flowering..
i can't wait till harvest

That recirculation kit will not do shit .. If you want more circulation just add a bigger air pump.. Ive acidently knocked my drip ring to the side by accident and came back to almost the whole 2 gallons on the floor within 20 mins from one hole of the drip ring.. the drip ring can provide plenty of circulation just add a bigger pump.

When you let your nutes sit and adjust, would it be better to have a pump in the adjusting reservoir for better mixing, airation?

If you're gonna let them sit for extended periods of time I'd go ahead and throw
and airstone and a circ pump in there just for good measure, although it's not
necessary.