DWC bubbles question

Say in a 10 gallon rez doing DWC, does the whole rez need to have bubbles or just around the roots from an air stone(s)?

Meast21 said:

Say in a 10 gallon rez doing DWC, does the whole rez need to have bubbles or just around the roots from an air stone(s)?

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Just a decent amount of bubbles in the whole bucket. Temps need to be right and add hydroguard

Water needs to be saturated. The amount of aeration needed to saturate the water with dissolves oxygen is lower than people might assume.

More bubbles doesn't equals higher growth rates from my experience in DWC. Quite the opposite especially new growers getting the advice that more air and bigger pumps is better.

Overwatering in DWC is very common and I see transplant shock all over the internet because people try to run with to much aeration creating high turbulence and water splashing. The result is it never lets the seedling or clone seek out water naturally because the medium is oversaturated (rockwool cube, jiffy pucks etc).

Plants transplanted in DWC should be treated like soil plants for many days before roots are being established IMO. I would say just enough aeration to saturate the solution with DO is optimal. Temperature is way more important. I use a shitty leaking air pump to my two plants in DWC and they're filling the buckets like normal.

At this stage I haven't even introduced aeration, just daily manual top feed watering around the center letting water run through the netpot.
I slowly increase aeration, a simple valve make this pretty easy restricting flow or simply by intentionally making the pump leak to certain degree.

Wastei said:

Water needs to be saturated. The amount of aeration needed to saturate the water with dissolves oxygen is lower than people might assume.

More bubbles doesn't equals higher growth rates from my experience in DWC. Quite the opposite especially new growers getting the advice that more air and bigger pumps is better.

Overwatering in DWC is very common and I see transplant shock all over the internet because people try to run with to much aeration creating high turbulence and water splashing. The result is it never lets the seedling or clone seek out water naturally because the medium is oversaturated (rockwool cube, jiffy pucks etc).

Plants transplanted in DWC should be treated like soil plants for many days before roots are being established IMO. I would say just enough aeration to saturate the solution with DO is optimal. Temperature is way more important. I use a shitty leaking air pump to my two plants in DWC and they're filling the buckets like normal.
View attachment 4803600
At this stage I haven't even introduced aeration, just daily manual top feed watering around the center letting water run through the netpot.
I slowly increase aeration, a simple valve make this pretty easy restricting flow or simply by intentionally making the pump leak to certain degree.
View attachment 4803601

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its very hard to OVER oygenate the water.
overwatering is only common when lack of oxygen is present, i,e crap little air pumps too small for the bucket size etc.

i personally started growing dwc from day 1 of growing, i have never ever ever had any issues with over/underwatering.
its as simple as putting your clone into the clay pebbles and handwatering until you see the roots coming out of netpot OR you place the clone low enough into the net pot to allow the mist from the bubbles popping at the waters surface to create an areoponic environment which then makes the roots come searching for the water/res/nutes.

ideally keeping temp range between 18-20c with enough oxygen and keeping ph range 5.8-6.2 depending on strain as other strains prefer different ranges (do some research on what you are growin before buying)

dwc is the CHEAPEST & EASIEST to grow and you get massive yields if done correct.

Meast21 said:

Say in a 10 gallon rez doing DWC, does the whole rez need to have bubbles or just around the roots from an air stone(s)?

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buy a quality air pump, not 1 of these cheap £40 chinese ones.
i personally run a charles austin et pump, more then enough bubbles from this badboy
also i would advise you to go for a more expensive air stone, such as the disc or coke can as they produce smaller/finer bubbles which is better and easier for the plant

Bushbaby11 said:

its very hard to OVER oygenate the water.
overwatering is only common when lack of oxygen is present, i,e crap little air pumps too small for the bucket size etc.

i personally started growing dwc from day 1 of growing, i have never ever ever had any issues with over/underwatering.
its as simple as putting your clone into the clay pebbles and handwatering until you see the roots coming out of netpot OR you place the clone low enough into the net pot to allow the mist from the bubbles popping at the waters surface to create an areoponic environment which then makes the roots come searching for the water/res/nutes.

ideally keeping temp range between 18-20c with enough oxygen and keeping ph range 5.8-6.2 depending on strain as other strains prefer different ranges (do some research on what you are growin before buying)

dwc is the CHEAPEST & EASIEST to grow and you get massive yields if done correct.

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I think it depends on the system. You don't need much aeration to saturate water with DO. I would say do whatever works for you but there's to many variables and system designs to give a straight answer tbh.

I've tried both and see no difference in growth rates. Droplet size is still to big for big pumps to make any difference in DWC IMO. The nutrient solution is SATURATED with DO either way. Cheers!

I've been doing DWC for 8 years now and never have issues and get big plants quick.. I was just wondering about the bubbles bc sometimes my airstones get caught up in the roots and I don't see many bubbles.

Meast21 said:

I've been doing DWC for 8 years now and never have issues and get big plants quick.. I was just wondering about the bubbles bc sometimes my airstones get caught up in the roots and I don't see many bubbles.

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same here
my roots always smother my air stones but they are getting the oxygen so dont see a problem there, i usuall put 2 air stones in as a minimum anyway

You can definitely give small plants too much, ive seen the bubbles make it hard for root systems to establish themselves because its so violent.
Also, too many bubbles, especially in a co2 enriched environment, can cause excessive carbonic acid formation leading to a "acid rain effect".

Does it matter if the air stones are concentrated under the net pot or widely disbeesed in a big container? I have totes with one 12 inch net pot. I keep my air stones under the net pot, and the root mass typically consumes the air stones, and the root look like they go "searching" towards the calm outer areas of my large tote. The outer roots typically look healthy, bright white and fuzzy. I'll see if I can get a good pic.

Bushbaby11 said:

its very hard to OVER oygenate the water.
overwatering is only common when lack of oxygen is present, i,e crap little air pumps too small for the bucket size etc.

i personally started growing dwc from day 1 of growing, i have never ever ever had any issues with over/underwatering.
its as simple as putting your clone into the clay pebbles and handwatering until you see the roots coming out of netpot OR you place the clone low enough into the net pot to allow the mist from the bubbles popping at the waters surface to create an areoponic environment which then makes the roots come searching for the water/res/nutes

dwc is the CHEAPEST & EASIEST to grow and you get massive yields if done correct.

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No doubt! I use a commercial 70lpm air pump with just four stones (one under each site). There's so much air that the roots spread out allowing a great amount of dissolved oxygen to get to the centers of the root masses. This really helps to prevent root rot.



Pump hung by nylon cord to reduce noise.

Here's a short clip showing the amount of bubbles I have. My yields have always been impressive, so don't be concerned about "too much", work on solving "too little".

JSB99 said:

No doubt! I use a commercial 70lpm air pump with just four stones (one under each site). There's so much air that the roots spread out allowing a great amount of dissolved oxygen to get to the centers of the root masses. This really helps to prevent root rot.

View attachment 4810556

Pump hung by nylon cord to reduce noise.
View attachment 4810558

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I've got the 88 lpm version of that pump for my 4 bucket rdwc system and its too much haha
It was damaging to my roots before they were established, and once I turned it all the way up in veg, my PH began to rise from my co2 enrichment and bubbles. So much co2 was going into my water that it was dissolving into carbonic acid. I guess this is called the acid rain effect

123drp said:

I have totes with one 12 inch net pot.

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Why such large netpots? You really only need 3" to 4" for dwc.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I've got the 88 lpm version of that pump for my 4 bucket rdwc system and its too much haha
It was damaging to my roots before they were established, and once I turned it all the way up in veg, my PH began to rise from my co2 enrichment and bubbles. So much co2 was going into my water that it was dissolving into carbonic acid. I guess this is called the acid rain effect

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I'm wondering if its because you're growing in buckets, whereas I'm growing in 27 gallon totes. It might be because your roots didn't have the room to move out of the way. Mine are always sprawled out around the bubble plume.

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I've got the 88 lpm version of that pump for my 4 bucket rdwc system and its too much haha
It was damaging to my roots before they were established, and once I turned it all the way up in veg, my PH began to rise from my co2 enrichment and bubbles. So much co2 was going into my water that it was dissolving into carbonic acid. I guess this is called the acid rain effect

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BTW, have you thought about adding a tube to the intake, where you could supply fresh air from another room?

123drp said:

the root look like they go "searching" towards the calm outer areas of my large tote

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Nah, the roots are just being pushed out of the way by the bubbles. Roots don't really go looking for calmer seas

If you look at the pics of the inside of my tote, you'll see the roots spreading out from the plume of bubbles from directly under the net pots

JSB99 said:

BTW, have you thought about adding a tube to the intake, where you could supply fresh air from another room?

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I saw that little barb on the back and have considered it, but I have a sealed room and I wouldn't want to add postive pressure to the room and expell co2/ smell

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

I saw that little barb on the back and have considered it, but I have a sealed room and I wouldn't want to add postive pressure to the room and expell co2/ smell

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Guess thats the catch-22 LOL!

I use to run a very large air pump,now I have a small 4 port running in 5 gal pails.Bud growth is noticeably better.Cant prove that its the reason but for sure less air does no harm.