4 Plant DWC Grow (Skywalker OG/Fire OG)

wickedsv

wickedsv

Member
I'm going to be running 4 clones in a DWC system. I plan on cleaning/draining once every 10 days. Using advanced nutrients a friend gave me. Going to run 18/6 for veg and 12/12 for flower.

The Setup

600W HPS / Ballast
(4) 5 Gallon Buckets
(1) 25 Gallon Reservoir
(5) 4" Airstones (One per bucket/res)
(1) 317GPH Water Pump
AN Grow/Micro/Bloom

Some Questions/Suggestions

I'm a bit confused with the science of using a reservoir and mixing in the nutrients. Do I mix in my nutes/water/ph in the res and then fill up the buckets with that water? Or do I fill up the buckets/res and then mix the nutes/ph into the reservoir. Do I have to ph/ppm test individual buckets or just the res, etc etc. I just can't really grasp the concept.

Also should I get additives, or just stick with the basic nutes that I have. I've researched and lurked a lot, and I'm trying to do it right the first time through. Any and all help/suggestions would be appreciated. Saving this spot, for now. Updates to follow.
 
V

vhampyre

Member
Fill res partway, then fill a bucket, add nutes, add to reservoir. Never mix the concentrates straight- always add to water. Always do it in a seperate bucket, and add the nutes to water. They'll react and lock out nutes.

Dumping into reservoir straight can burn roots and kill them.

Best way:
IE a reservoir change:Lucas formula (8ml Micro/16ml Bloom) into a 10 gallon reservoir: Fill res to about 7 gallons. Fill a bucket with about 2 gallons water. The bucket will require 80ml micro and 160ml bloom. So, add 3/4 cups of micro (120 ML/cup, so 80 is 3/4), and 1 1/2 cups of Bloom. Stir, and add the mixed nutes to the reservoir. Top off to 10 gallons, and adjust pH in the reservoir itself. (Pull a big cup or so of water, add the pH down and dump it back in).

If you're topping the reservoir, you can add the water mixed with nutes; 8ml/gallon of Micro and 16ml/gallon of bloom to ballpark it.
 
V

vhampyre

Member
Two schools of thought on pH. One is to adjust pH in the water, then add nutes, then check pH again, and the other is the opposite. Add nutes, then adjust pH. The first way is easier in practice (monkey it up and go the wrong way, it isn't in the res yet. Just dump it and start over) and generally the nutes will keep you in the same range afterwards, requiring much less adjustment with live plants in the mix.
 
wickedsv

wickedsv

Member
Thanks man! +rep. Now I have a definite way to go about it. When first starting off do I want to put water in the individual buckets and the res? Or would filling out the res do the work itself? Room's almost done, should have it started soon and might put some pics up of the construction of that.
 
Sensibowl

Sensibowl

Active Member
vhampyre said:
Fill res partway, then fill a bucket, add nutes, add to reservoir. Never mix the concentrates straight- always add to water. Always do it in a seperate bucket, and add the nutes to water. They'll react and lock out nutes.

Dumping into reservoir straight can burn roots and kill them.

Best way:
IE a reservoir change:Lucas formula (8ml Micro/16ml Bloom) into a 10 gallon reservoir: Fill res to about 7 gallons. Fill a bucket with about 2 gallons water. The bucket will require 80ml micro and 160ml bloom. So, add 3/4 cups of micro (120 ML/cup, so 80 is 3/4), and 1 1/2 cups of Bloom. Stir, and add the mixed nutes to the reservoir. Top off to 10 gallons, and adjust pH in the reservoir itself. (Pull a big cup or so of water, add the pH down and dump it back in).

If you're topping the reservoir, you can add the water mixed with nutes; 8ml/gallon of Micro and 16ml/gallon of bloom to ballpark it.
Click to expand...
Lots of good info from the others, so I'm not sure what else I can add.

I've been using AN's Sensi nutes, so I'm not sure what to tell you about Grow-Micro-Bloom in this setup. Looks like you're on the right track though.

Well done here.
 
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