Quick dwc question..........

im growing 12 plants in a dwc, and im useing the flora nova series w/a couple other additives.this is my first dwc grow and flora nova is really thick, especialy the grow.i change my res every 7-10 days, and scrub out my res w/soap n water as well as the 12 buckets my plants are in. With the flora nova bloom not being so thick instead of doing the buckets w/every res change ive been doing it every other res change. My question is.........do i really need to scrub out my buckets as much as i have been??? In a couple weeks i will be doing 24 buckets, and im dreading scrubing all 24 buckets out that often.

Are you in a classic DWC or a recirculating system? Why do you scrub your buckets so often now? Do you have gunk buildup?

Are you using any sort of beneficial microbes? I used to do a lot of scrubbing when I was trying to maintain a sterile res; I had lots of buildup and/or smelly water. That is all just a distant memory now that I use beneficials, and I only scrub between grows.

Yeah I only ever scrub between grows too, and there's nothing even really to scrub.. I actually do more of a rinse and swirl around.

I've been lucky enough to never need to add beneficial microbes, though I'm sure they must be in there on their own, cause everything is clean as a whistle, my res smells really fresh all the time. Don't skimp on the air pump, and get that water recirculating with a pump and a nice sized res. I really think having lots of water volume is key to having a thriving ecosphere in your root zone. If you imagine a tiny fish tank with too many fish in it, you can also imagine it would get dirty and gross quite quickly, put all those fish into a much bigger tank though, and you almost end up with a self sustaining system that doesn't need too much of your attention.

Keep your water 62-68 with oxygen and movement, and you'll probably never need to do anything.. I don't. I know heisenberg would recommend against, but I even add sugar to my res in the form of sugardaddy by technaflora. At the end of a crop I really dose it in.. never had a problem at all. I think if you get the environment just right for your root zone, everything will thrive all on it's own in a self sustaining system that just needs more nutrients and water to keep going.

WHAT ARE BENIFICIAL MICROBES?(FIRST GROW ON MY OWN.STILL LEARNING.)I HAVE A 55 GALLON RES THAT IS USUALLY AROUND 70-72 DEGREES RUNNING TO A 12 SITE DWC AND IT JUST LOOKS WELL NOT SLIMEY IN MY BUCKETS BUT YOU CAN DEFINEATLEY SEE A LIGHT BROWN FILM IN ALL MY BUCKETS AS WELL AS MY RES.AS I SAID IAM USEING THE G.H. FLORA NOVA SERIES WITH A COUPLE EXTRAS,(MAXICROP LIQUID SEAWEED~veg only~ , HYGROZYME which im changeing a.s.a.p., AND FLORA NECTAR.ALL OF THESE NUTES ARE BROWN AND SOME ARE REALLY THICK SO I JUST FIGURED IT WAS NORMAL. SO, I REALLY SHOULDNT BE NEEDING TO CLEAN/SCRUB NO WHERE NEAR AS MUCH AS I AM? WELL, ANY GOOD SUGGESTIONS OUT THERE? I HAVE NO PROBLEM CLEANING IF THE PLANTS NEED IT, BUT I JUST DONT WANT TO SCRUB OUT 24 BUCKETS AND A WHOLE SYSTEM IF I DONT HAVE TO. KNOW WHAT I MEAN?????

I just dont want to scrub out 24 buckets once a week if i dont have to. (forgot the one a week part)

Outdoors in nature, some microbes (bacteria and fungi) are present in the soil which help a plant eat and grow roots. You can use these microbes in a DWC to help keep roots protected and help minimize gunky build up. Once I finish a grow I give my bucket a quick two minute scrub and rinse and it goes right back into another cycle, so it gets scrubbed once every 8 weeks.

Detroitgrower313 said:

im growing 12 plants in a dwc, and im useing the flora nova series w/a couple other additives.this is my first dwc grow and flora nova is really thick, especialy the grow.i change my res every 7-10 days, and scrub out my res w/soap n water as well as the 12 buckets my plants are in. With the flora nova bloom not being so thick instead of doing the buckets w/every res change ive been doing it every other res change. My question is.........do i really need to scrub out my buckets as much as i have been??? In a couple weeks i will be doing 24 buckets, and im dreading scrubing all 24 buckets out that often.

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usually going along with your hand with a small coat of soap in your hand, usually does the trick.

ok, well with these "benificial microbes" how do i g about actually useing em??? is there somehting i can buy?how do i safely use it so i dont hurt any of my plants?is this a complex issue useing these microbes???basicaly

sorry i got cut off??????idk???

where can i get some general info on useing benificial microbes???

You can purchase them in a bottle or in powder form. I recommend the soluble mycogrow powder from fungi.com. It's only $6 and lasts for many months. You need to activate the microbes in a 'tea', which is as simple as adding water and an airstone to a bucket with some molasses and the microbe powder. You then use this tea to inoculate your buckets. This will protect you from disease, stimulate your roots to grow, let you tolerate res temps in the mid 70's, keep away gunky buildup, and allow you not have to worry about light proofing.

If you just want the instruction to make the tea, follow the link in my sig. The recipe is the first post. You don't need to know why they work to use them, but if you want to learn you can continue reading the thread.