first DWC grow

Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
hey guys so ive just ordered myself a 30L DWC system.
only a cheap one but i thought i would give it a go after 9 years or so of growing in soil
ive ordered myself
-ph pen
-ppm and ec reader
-bucket. airstone. pump for airstone.

i already have nutrients that are suitable for hydroponics and i need to get some ph down

anything else im missing?

i know i need to keep the ph between 5.5 and 6.1, change my reservoir once per week and keep an eye on ec, ppm and ph daily
i plan to run at around 1200 ppm

my room sits at 24-25c in the winter under 1200 watts of hps
you think my reservoir will be cool enough or am i gonna need a cooler?
 
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Big Green Thumb

Big Green Thumb

Well-Known Member
Ok... so you want to keep your reservoir between 65-73 F. Use a chiller or heat mat to maintain temp. Best to get some Hydrogaurd or the equivalent to keep roots healthy. 1200 ppm is on the high side - I personally don't go much over 900 ppm.

What nutes are you going to be running?

I
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Big Green Thumb said:
Ok... so you want to keep your reservoir between 65-73 F. Use a chiller or heat mat to maintain temp. Best to get some Hydrogaurd or the equivalent to keep roots healthy. 1200 ppm is on the high side - I personally don't go much over 900 ppm.

What nutes are you going to be running?

I
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I may get a cheap fish tank heater to maintain the 20c (sorry I’m from uk were Celsius dominant over here lol)

the chiller though do you think I will defo need one?

And I have atami a and b and some booster I’ll let you know what the booster is when I get home, and 900 ppm it is :)
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
20 is probably OK, 25 is going to be pushing it unless you either run beneficial microbes or a sterile system.
I ran my RDWC system for 3 seasons with rez temps always around 25degC by using hydroguard or GFF to outcompete pythium.
Since it seems that you're in the UK, the availability of these may make running a sterile system easier.
 
Sdh777

Sdh777

Well-Known Member
Your plants can grow lightning fast in DWC, but they can crash & burn just as quick. Just keep a close eye on your solution & do water exchanges at least every 10-14 days. If it looks cloudy or starts to smell funky, you need to jump all over that shit! Like GBAUTO said, treat it with GFF, hydrogaurd or H202 routinely.

Make sure you have a good pump & air stones with lots of bubbles & good surface action! Those little crappy air stones won’t last an entire grow, so you’re better of getting the good ones & check them regularly. If your stone craps out, you’ve only got a matter of hours before catastrophic failure. Nothing sucks worse than losing your crop to drowning or root rot 2 or 3 weeks from harvest!

Get a good pH pen. I don’t trust those little crappy ones. Even with regular calibrations they can fail quickly & you won’t even know because it will give you a reading...it just won’t be correct.

You’ve been growing a long time & you’re starting out with just one DWC bucket to manage, so you should be fine! If it turns out you like DWC, you can always add buckets, chillers & upgrades later.

Good luck & stay frosty my friend
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Sdh777 said:
Your plants can grow lightning fast in DWC, but they can crash & burn just as quick. Just keep a close eye on your solution & do water exchanges at least every 10-14 days. If it looks cloudy or starts to smell funky, you need to jump all over that shit! Like GBAUTO said, treat it with GFF, hydrogaurd or H202 routinely.

Make sure you have a good pump & air stones with lots of bubbles & good surface action! Those little crappy air stones won’t last an entire grow, so you’re better of getting the good ones & check them regularly. If your stone craps out, you’ve only got a matter of hours before catastrophic failure. Nothing sucks worse than losing your crop to drowning or root rot 2 or 3 weeks from harvest!

Get a good pH pen. I don’t trust those little crappy ones. Even with regular calibrations they can fail quickly & you won’t even know because it will give you a reading...it just won’t be correct.

You’ve been growing a long time & you’re starting out with just one DWC bucket to manage, so you should be fine! If it turns out you like DWC, you can always add buckets, chillers & upgrades later.

Good luck & stay frosty my friend
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this was the plan, if i like her im gonna change the whole flower room to DWC

i got some cheap bits to start but i will definately upgrade over the new year, a couple of backup airstones sounds like a good idea too lol
thanks for the info, ill get some pics and stuff up when the system arrives, i have a double stuffed sorbet clone ready to go in her :)
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
GBAUTO said:
20 is probably OK, 25 is going to be pushing it unless you either run beneficial microbes or a sterile system.
I ran my RDWC system for 3 seasons with rez temps always around 25degC by using hydroguard or GFF to outcompete pythium.
Since it seems that you're in the UK, the availability of these may make running a sterile system easier.
Click to expand...
i have some mammoth p lying around you think its a good idea to add this to my nute solution when i start?
 
Sdh777

Sdh777

Well-Known Member
I’ve built a bunch of RDWC’s & know my fair share about design, but nutes are honestly not one of my strengths, so I’d ask someone else. I use Emerald Harvest; mainly Grow, Micro, Bloom & then Cal-Mag, Sturdy Stalk & King Kola as needed. I keep my PPM’s from 600-800 & my plants are healthy & growing faster than I ever thought possible.

I have 3 grow tents in perpetual cycle. This grow I decided to start 2 tents at the same time to compare growth between my RDWC & my Ebb & Flow. I was blown away by the difference in growth rates...

2C188EF7-F4EE-4CB9-B167-6957122C3758.jpeg45B3BA5B-8D61-4A2A-850B-3FF17013AED5.jpeg

A9C06782-DCB7-436E-B1A4-9533BDA46BB6.jpeg

I just put the RDWC under SCROG yesterday & the plants in the Ebb & Flow have fallen several weeks behind now...
3DB41418-EC15-4929-B2AB-7AFAF83212C6.jpeg

54034221-80D9-4DC6-86A1-ADE943DE9090.jpeg

Growing in hydro is awesome because you can keep improving your system for optimal performance!
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Sdh777 said:
I’ve built a bunch of RDWC’s & know my fair share about design, but nutes are honestly not one of my strengths, so I’d ask someone else. I use Emerald Harvest; mainly Grow, Micro, Bloom & then Cal-Mag, Sturdy Stalk & King Kola as needed. I keep my PPM’s from 600-800 & my plants are healthy & growing faster than I ever thought possible.

I have 3 grow tents in perpetual cycle. This grow I decided to start 2 tents at the same time to compare growth between my RDWC & my Ebb & Flow. I was blown away by the difference in growth rates...

View attachment 4445891View attachment 4445892

View attachment 4445899

I just put the RDWC under SCROG yesterday & the plants in the Ebb & Flow have fallen several weeks behind now...
View attachment 4445895

View attachment 4445897

Growing in hydro is awesome because you can keep improving your system for optimal performance!
Click to expand...
thats a pretty space age looking set up right there lol. and what is ebb and flow? ive never come across that before

and yeah im getting sick of all the dirt everywhere, and i like the idea of quicker growth, also knowing exactly what goes in, i love soil but hydro does seem to be the way forward

(edit oh ebb and flow is flood and drain, my bad bro, stoned lol)

that difference is crazy
 
Sdh777

Sdh777

Well-Known Member
I just came across a movie called Grow House playing on Starz or HBO about a couple of stoners that get into the medical marijuana business, so I guess I’m gonna watch it. Lol

Ebb & Flow is probably the most commonly used Hydroponics system on the market. It automatic waters or feeds the plants several times a day by pumping water out of the reservoir below into the upper system holding the plants. I made some modifications to mine as soon as I realized how much slower the plants were growing in that system.
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Sdh777 said:
I just came across a movie called Grow House playing on Starz or HBO about a couple of stoners that get into the medical marijuana business, so I guess I’m gonna watch it. Lol

Ebb & Flow is probably the most commonly used Hydroponics system on the market. It automatic waters or feeds the plants several times a day by pumping water out of the reservoir below into the upper system holding the plants. I made some modifications to mine as soon as I realized how much slower the plants were growing in that system.
Click to expand...
seen it. its pretty funny lol.
and yeah i did a quick google and soon realised lol, i used to grow like that, with my older cousins when i was just starting out

then i met soil and never looked back lol
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Sdh777 said:
I just came across a movie called Grow House playing on Starz or HBO about a couple of stoners that get into the medical marijuana business, so I guess I’m gonna watch it. Lol

Ebb & Flow is probably the most commonly used Hydroponics system on the market. It automatic waters or feeds the plants several times a day by pumping water out of the reservoir below into the upper system holding the plants. I made some modifications to mine as soon as I realized how much slower the plants were growing in that system.
Click to expand...
always getting blockages i remember and salt build up,
 
Sdh777

Sdh777

Well-Known Member
The one I have is so easy to use & works great! It just can’t keep up with my RDWC growth, but it is less work.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I've done about 50 DWC grows in RubberMaid tubs since '01 and going to get back into again. Been playing in the dirt the last while and it's a major PITA with crappy results. Just not a dirt farmer but can kill it with DWC.

Used mainly AN 3-part from the beginning and with RO water can go the whole grow without changing nutes once with great results. I may do a change after the stretch then switch to Lucas formula style feeding. Just Big Bud and Rhino Skin for AN additives. Any old CalMag will do and of course some Epsom salts. With the pH perfect nutes I never, ever bother checking pH. Just ppm and then add nutes in small amounts to raise or maintain my target ppm.

Start clones around 300 ppm then go up gradually to no more than 1000 tho that can be too high if your RH is low. 500 can be too high here in the winter with grow room RH around 20% a lot of the time. The plants go thru way more water and take up more nutes than they should which leads to toxic salts buildup that really starts to show around mid-flower.

I always ran sterile tubs using food grade H2O2 but 10 years ago or so built a chiller out of a water cooler and fountain pump so could keep the nute temps down to 65F easy. Stopped the peroxide and never got root rot.

I've had 3"/day growth in later veg. Never seen that in soil or soilless.

Good luck!

:peace:
 
Cwrighty9420

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
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