how does nutrients work with hydro

RTFK

Member
im interested in going hydro next grow but i really don't understand how does nutrients work with hydro. do you really have to change the water every week? i just seems like a lot of work and a lot of stress on your plants. i have posted this a few times and i have not really gotten a clear answer... can someone please break it down for me on maintenance step by step. i was gonna do bubbleponics but changing out three 5 gal buckets sounds exhausting especially in an indoor grow. some one please break it down for me!
 

bigbillyrocka

Well-Known Member
It is a pain but the end result makes it all worth it. Check my grow out. I also changed the water either 2 times a week or once every 2 weeks. Just depwnded on how it was doing (the plant).
 

virulient

Active Member
I change them out every week. I have never put much thought into it being a pain in the ass or what not. I haven't really grown in soil, though, so maybe it's because I don't know any better. I have loved hydro because of the amount of oxygen you get to your roots, how easily you can adjust and maintain the ph and ppm levels, and you know what's going on with your roots all the time. Obviously there are more benefits/drawbacks to hydro, I'm just stating what I do, why I like it, and why it has worked out so well for me. Hope this helps with a little perspective. :joint:

edit - keep in mind, bubbleponics is just DWC with a drip feed system. Once the roots are submerged the drip is no longer necessary. One of the main things to consider is you CAN'T go overboard with your air pump/air stones. The more oxygen in each 5 gal bucket the better.

And about the stress, my plants never show symptoms or anything. I pick them up out of the 5 gallon bucket, put them in a bucket with tap water and a little h2o2. Clean their old bucket out thoroughly with h2o2 and hot water, fill with nutes/water, adjust ppm/ph, move plant back to that bucket and move on to the next plant.
 

forgetfulpenguin

Active Member
I just accidentally killed a plant because I got busy and forgot about changing the nutrient solution (life outside the growroom is sucking up my time and energy). :cry: Like bigbillyrocka said it's important.

Changing the buckets is easy in my dwc. I just mix up the solution in an empty bucket. Once I've got the nutrients thoroughly mixed in and the PPM right I worry about the PH. Once everything is dialed in I like to just leave the bucket in the room and occasionally stir it. I just want to make sure the stuff I've used to adjust PH gets mixed thoroughly. After that I just remove the lid and put it on the other bucket. I also have some spigots that I can add to the buckets so I can just drain the water out when the plants get bigger.

I've done ebb&flow and bucket dwc and I've never really seen my plants get stressed because of changing the nutrient solution and belive me if there is one thing I know it's what a plant I fucked up with looks like. They usually perk up when they get the fresh solution. With the ebb&flow I had to change the solution less often but each tray had it's own 30 gallon reservoir and was only growing autos.
 
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