Dwc not up to par

I wonder if it is the temperature of your water? Your water is a bit warm compared to how I run mine, my water usually stays around 60-65 F. How often are you topping off your buckets? Are you topping them off? ( Not draining the reservoir, just bringing the water level up) If you are doing this, I do not recommend it. I let my reservoirs get about half empty, Drain it all, re-fill, re-nute and PH it again.

However i also have never used anything from Advanced Nutrients. I use Technaflora's BC line; BC Boost, BC Grow, and BC Bloom, ( works great from what i have experienced ) and then General Hydroponics Maxi bloom and Kool Bloom are also some nutes that I like. ( I prefer the powered versions because they are cheaper and dissolve fine in slightly warm water with some good shaking and letting it sit for about 20 minutes or so) One thing i have noticed is General Hydroponics line is strong, but man have I seen a huge difference in trichome production compared to just using the BC line alone. The BC line seems to work a lot better for overall growth.

This past time I used the BC line throughout my whole veg, and then I alternated every other week after week 2 into flowering between the two ( After completely draining the Reservoir's obviously ) I have definitely seen overall improvements between alternating the two in the flowering stage. I hope some of my rambling helps.

Edit : I use fairly large net pots, however what i like to do is cut the main stalk of the plant, take the whole Net pot, and just let it sit and dry out somewhere nice and hot. After the Roots are all dried out i take a Hand Saw and i CAREFULLY cut the roots right where they meet the netpot, using the bottom of the pot as my guide. After this, just grab onto the top of the stalk and diligently pull it out. You might have to work at it for a minute or two, but i have barely thrown away any netpots; the last time i bought netpots actually, was just for the fact that I wanted bigger ones.

Hey another Technoflora user...I'm with you there! My reservoir temps run higher than I would like...have to use the frozen water bottle trick..last week (northeast) it was freaking CRAzy HoT..and I was using them things like crazy. I see people use coolers...don't know why i didn't think of that myself...How can you let your reservoir down that low? I would stress like crazy. Usually empty it out every 7 to 10 days but it is a pain. (18 gallon rubbermaid totes). I will try your method of cleaning my netpots. I have a Dremel so maybe i can put that thing to use. I have the 4 dead males (all quite tall) still sittig in the pots..i was too depressed to do anything with them. You aren't rambling at all! Keep on typing! Be eZe

As long as the majority of my roots are in the water, I do not stress, those roots will draw water up to the plant. It probably isn't the norm in the DWC community to do this, I could even catch flak for it as someone might know something I don't; but I have never had any issues that I could attribute to that. For draining my 24 gallon res, I just bought a water pump that hooks up to a hose that i run to a sink. when i need to fill up, I screw the hose onto a faucet adapter for my sink, run the hose to the res, and let it rip. If your lucky enough to have a floor drain; A Cheaper method I used to use for draining and refilling was Drilling a hole in the bottom corner of my res and I Siliconed a fitting for a rubber hose in it, attached the hose, Siliconed the outside of that for good measure, than a simple turn valve at the end to open the flow. Unfortunately for this you need to have gravity on your side, which is not possible for everyone. I will grab the Brand model and price for ya once everything is all lit up for the electric water pump if you would like.

YOu got nerve...I too paranoid to put a hole in the bottom-even with sealant. My electrical stuff sits up off the basement floor but not that far up! I have a shopvac but the damn roots get drawn in so I squashed that idea. I use a damn bucket..4 trips to the basement door....then I carry the reservoir to the door and dump it out. Tedious no doubt. I have several sump pumps I could use but the damn basement room is too far from the outside door to run a hose. OH..and NOPE..no floor drain..it's a pain when I run the dehumidifier too..believe me...it's up off the ground so it drains into a tub that's a pain to empty. Thanks for the input. Be eZe