Just curious on when yall drop the res water level once roots start showing outta the net pot(my 1st dwc grow). Transplanted my seedling I aquired to my bucket last Thursday 8/19. Ive had the water level right at the bottom of the net pot just barely touching the clay pebbles. The last 2 days Ive finally started noticing slight drops in my EC and PPM each day. Pulled up the net pot and found 1 root almost to the bottom and 1 root out the bottom and along the net pot about 1". How much of a root mass do yall let get down in the water before lowering it to add the air gap?
when to drop water level
- Thread starter Lorha1159
- Start date
Auggie1228
Member
I've also always have done the same. But on this run I am getting some kind of brown algae on the section of root within the air gap...anyone see this before?
10-4. Res change is Thursday after dinner so ill adjust it accordingly at refill.
This is my 1st grow period....i already know the general sentiment on going dwc right off the bat. But man is the plant growth in such a short time frame awesome to watch.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
My first was dwc also. Once you get the basics, it's pretty easy, just stressful. The growth rate makes it so worth it though.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Got pics?
myke
Well-Known Member
From your nutes,what have you added?
Did a bunch of searching and reading on this site and its paid off tons already. Tried eliminating as many surprises as possible like getting my tent, light, fans, water bucket, ect all together and running before putting the plant in. So far things are working in real life as all my reading suggests. Just me in the drivers seat now. Now that roots are popping outta the net pot and seeing a small drop starting in the ec/ppm, cant wait to see it really take off from what ive seen already.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Kinda like this?
MustGro
Well-Known Member
So it depends for me. I run the gen hydro water farms and I don’t try to run them at a lower level since the plants use up the fluid pretty quick in them and there’s a lot of hydro clay where the roots can get air. In my aeroflo it’s only 3” pots in 5 inch tubes and I try to get the fluid levels down in 3 weeks. First week is transplant and I run it high. Second week roots are growing and I can drop the level down halfway. After 3 weeks I can drop all the way to about 1 inch under the bottom of the 3 inch pots and that just leaves about 1/2 inch of solution always flowing back to the res.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
I use a 4 gal bucket, and I use 2 gal of nutrient solution. Right now it's drinking a lil under a gal a day. Pretty soon she'll be drinking 2 gal a day. I'm constantly having to add water and nutrient solution.
myke
Well-Known Member
Now you know why people run rdwc, with a rez that holds 3 times the water.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
Yea and that's great but you run the risk of disease and pathogen spread. I actually was going to try to recirculate with just the grow bucket and a control bucket with a float valve to a top of res, but I was like fuck it. I don't mind changing out the water that much. I'm just doing 1 plant so it's really not that bad. Even for my lazy ass. Lol
MustGro
Well-Known Member
That’s the same as the waterfarms. They’re a 4.5 gallon bucket, holding about 2 gallons of solution, with that 2 gallon red bucket holding the plant. I’ve got 2 of them going now and they keep me busier than my aeroflo. I have a reservoir I can hook up to them, but I just top with plain water 2 or 3 times a day. I mix in 5 gallon buckets, so 1 bucket of nutes will fill both units on changeout day. It’s mostly a pain doing all the extra PH and PPM checks associated with more reservoirs. Every time I check a water farm I can’t help but think I could be running multiple plants instead of just one off this reservoir. But the water farms will grow a monster plant in 3 to 4 months. Gotta like them for that…
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MustGro
Well-Known Member
The other great thing with rdwc Is you only have to check the PH and PPMs once and it does all the units. They all get the same solution so they should all be at similar levels. You fuck up the PH in a water farm and the plants really slow down their fluid uptake. That’s the reason I don’t use my extra reservoir to do top-ups (gravity fed). I still have to check each unit for ppm and ph, which involves me draining solution out into a container and then adding it back to the res after I check it. Not much more work to add a bit of water to top up the res while I‘m at it.
MustGro
Well-Known Member
Yeah I really like the aeroflo’s better. The Panda reservoir is 40 I think, but I leave it low for the waterfall effect. It’s pretty stable for ppm and ph. The two in water farms were about a week ahead of my biggest clones and were too big for the aeroflo. Couldn’t bring myself to chuck them though so I dug out a couple of water farms. I only check them once a day and top up 2 - 3 times but they’re more work already.
Same here. Never grown anything else but got tired of the prices at the local weed store. Spent the money on a 2' x 4' RDWC setup with a 35 gallon res (28 usable), and can't imagine doing it any other way. Only critter problem I've had was getting aphids in late flower - that sucked. Other than that, the grow I just finished (my second grow) was "Maytag repairman" boring.
Stltoed
Well-Known Member
I started in DWC too, I've branched out a bit since then, but im a hydro guy. I've had my water level above the netpot and inches below by mistake and sometimes on purpose and haven't seen any real difference.
If you are seeing algae or other pathogens that isn't nessisarily due to water level. Your water no mater where it is still has nutrients, dissolved O2, and hopefully an additive to keep pathogens away. I've personally never had a problem of any kind with the level.
If you really want to see plant growth try gas.