Hydroponics

[Earl]

Here are some definitions and abbreviations.

Nitrogen (N)
Phosphorous (P)
Sulfur (S)
Potassium (K)
Calcium (Ca)
Magnesium (Mg)
Hydrogen (H)
Oxygen (O)
Carbon (C)

DO: Dissolved Oxygen, A measure of the amount of oxygen in suspension in a nutrient solution.

RO: Reverse Osmosis, Water that has been forced through a very solid membrane to remove suspended particles.

HID: High Intensity Discharge, lights fixtures that include MH and HPS

HPS: High Pressure Sodium light

MH: Metal Halide light

Conversion bulb: A bulb designed to convert a mh to hps or visa/versa

tub/bucket/tank: rez

rez: Reservoir

Rez level: the top of the nutrient solution in your rez, usually maintained at a specific volume marked in your rez or with a sight tube. It is very important to make sure your rez is it at the full level before you measure ph or ppm.

nutes: Chemicals designed for hydroponic growth.

solution: a mixture of hydroponic nutes.

ph: a measure of the hydrogen ions available in your nute solution.

Buffer: A chemical suspended in your water that acts like a sponge to absorb acids, usually Calcium-carbonate.

tds: Total Dissolved Solids, a measure of the suspended chemicals in your nutrient solution.

ppm: Parts Per Million, a number representing the tds in your nute solution.

EC: Electro conductivity, a measure of the salts in your nutrient solution. tds, ppm and ec are all the same measurement just expressed in different values.

AN: Advanced Nutrients, a company that mfg nutes.

DM: Dutch Master, another nute mfg

GH: General Hydroponics another nute mfg

CM+: cal mag plus is an additive made by Botanicare.

MET: Mother Earth Tea, grow and bloom.

Conni: Connoisseur, a bloom nute by AN

Grow medium: A method to establish the sprout and then to hold the plant in the water. Ususally Coco Coir plugs and Hydroton Clay pellets, Neopreme plugs, or Rockwool.

ml: metric measurement Milliliter.

L: Metric measurement of Liters

g/gl: US measurement, Gallons

g/gr: Metric measurement, grams

VPD: vapor pressure deficit

Power head: A pump used in aquariums to increase DO

Air pump: Another tool used for increasing DO


1. You must purchase an accurate ph meter before you plant your first seed. A ppm meter is nice to have but not mandatory like having a ph meter. You must have a very accurate ph meter.

2. Read the hydro threads, especially Arcin's DWC and Earl's Aero Bucket, Home made Aero threads .

3. Your rez should have a drain system with a pump, to make nute changes fast and easy. This will save a lot of time and spills and pay off greatly.

4. Do your first hydro grow in DWC, because you can do it yourself, and have great success very cheaply, unless you have a long term commitment to growing, then go aero.

5. Use RO water, unless you have very low ppm tap water. You can mix RO and tap water to get a starting ppm of 50 or less.

6. Use these two rules to determine when to change your rez.

A. The add back rule. B. The ph rule.

7. Low ppm nute solutions are easy to correct, but even slightly high nute solutions can cause irrepairable damage. Nute Mfg test their chemicals using commercial RO machines(0ppm), and very controlled temperature and humidity. Always use less nutes(chemicals) unless you are able to copy the nute mfg environment exactly.

8. 3.5-5gl/plant, is a good rule of thumb for estimating efficient rez volumes.

9. Start your seed in the medium you are going to grow in. All seed companies recommend this practice. Use the best genetics you can find.

10. Seeds can live on the stored energy they are sprouted with for 21 days. Don't feed new sprouts for at least 7 days, and then you should only use 1/4 strength nute solutions for the first week.

11. Always completely change out the solution with fresh water and then add new nutes.

12. Never ph the water before you add it to the solution. Pre adjusted ph'ed water will not be stable. Add clean water to top off your rez and then measure ph and then adjust ph.

13. Don't burn the flavor out of your plants with HID lights. Sure more light equals faster growing, but why would you want to quickly grow hay? Use lights close during veg and move them further away in flower.

14. Buy a 60 to 100 power pocket microscope. You can see bugs, their eggs and, near harvest time, you can check trichomes.

15. Use Bed lice spray from the drug store to aggressively attack spider mites. Permethrins will cause the eggs to destruct. Spray under the leaves to kill the eggs. There will be no residue from this product because it breaks down with uv light.

16. If you use RO water, AN Barricade is an excellent limited buffer with a very small dose. Do not exceed Barricade's recommended application rate. Use an eye dropper to deliver Barricade, and check the ph between each drop.

17. Use metric calibrated eye droppers, syringes, and baby medicine spoons, for very accurate dosing of nutes, and for ph adjustment.

18. Higher humidity at night is good to prevent VPD.

19. Insulate, shade, or isolate your rez from light, and heat.

20. A fan to move air over the plant is required.

21. Have a power head in the bottom of your rez to keep the solution moving all the time, along with your air pump.

22. Control is what gives hydro the growing edge. Control results in better flavor, faster production, and higher yields. You can control the water, the air, the temperatures(rez & air), the humidity, the nutes, the ph, and the light.

Here is the add back & ph rule.

Follow these two rules.

1. The Add Back Rule : Once you have replenished the original rez volume with fresh water, then it is time to change out the rez with fresh water and new nutes.

Never add nutes between nute changes.

Add fresh water once or twice a day to maintain the rez volume.

Do not adjust the ph before adding water to the rez.

Most of the time you will find that adding fresh water to top off the rez, will bring the ph back to normal range.

Check the ph and adjust if necessary, after adding water to top off the rez.

If you have a 5 gl rez, and you have added 5 gl over the last few days to maintain the rez level at the full mark, then it is time for a complete change out.

Keep and re-fill your plastic jugs to help maintain your add back count.

2. The PH Rule : When you add nutes to RO water, the nutes alone will probably lower the ph to around 5.6 If the ph drops below 5.6 after you have added new nutes to RO water, use .1ml/gl Barricade to buffer the ph back up to 5.6.

In a few hoursas the plant absorbs the chemicals ionic echange will cause the ph move up, back to near the original ph of the RO water. So, you will need to add ph down to re-establish the ph back at 5.6

After doing this for a few days, the ph will become stabile for a few hours, maybe even for a day or so, and then the ph will fall below 5.6 without adding ph down. This is when it is time to change the nutes, even if you have not met the Add Back Rule

It is best if you always let the ph move from low to high.

Never lower than 5.2 or higher than 6.2, ideally you will maintain 5.6, but in reality you will probably drift between 5.2 and 6.2

I use an eye dropper to maintain ph in a 20gl rez.

The time that this sequence takes will vary with the plant size, the amount of water the plant is consuming/transpiring, and the concentrtation of the nute solution (ppm).

After I start blooming, this is the only method I use to determine when to change the nutes. It can be as long as 10 days and as short as 4 days.

If your ph is too low from over adjusting it, you can use calmag+, or AN Barricade to buffer the nute solution. Be sure you do not use more Barricade than is reccomended for your rez size. Barricade works best.

I check and adjust, if necessary, the ph 3 times a day. Lights on, mid-day, and just before lights out.

I use Advanced Nutrients ph down. $25/gl.

5 or 6 drops can change the ph of 20 gl of RO water from 6.0 to 5.5.

Your rez volume, the phase of your grow, and the type of nutes you have will determine how often you need to adjust the ph. If you get the nutes and the buffer just right, it can go for a day or two between need for adjustment.

Your job is to maintain the ph and change out the nutes at the appropriate time.

[jckash]

Originally Posted by blueman288

is it possible to grow hydro just by putting a seed in a bowl of water. would it grow normally or would i need some special stuff.

No its not! It might Germinate but thats about it. The seed/plant needs O2,Co2, Nutrients, Light, to be able to grow from the water

[veethree3]

guys I just got 6 northern lights girls (clones 4 days old) and Im looking to take them out of the soil they are in-BX professional, and put them in my aerogarden to veg the girls into ladies....maybe 12-16 days before putting them under my 400 w hps.....so what can I use with purified water? I have MG quickstart and the granulated fert by MG and MG bloom....doubt Id need that much pottas though....(MG bloom)-help!

[myles117]

i have been looking into the aeroflo2 systems. Are these worth the money and is this system easy to maintain?

[sweatshop]

Hello all...just wondering if anyone knows a good system for achieving reverse osmosis water. I have a 35 gallon reservoir, so it's not like I can use bottled water. Is there some sort of filtration device I can just drop into my reservoir? Any help is much
appreciated

[Earl]

The best deals on an RO unit is on ebay.



It is a very good investment.
Yields will increase and you can use less nutes.

Here is a nute load chart.
Take the mfg recommended max amount and cut in half.

...............NUTRIENT LOAD CHART AS A % OF MAX ALLOWED DOSE.

[sweatshop]

Thanks for the help Earl

[gstman06]

Where Do You Buy Hydroponic Set Ups?

[classicalguru]

aye, it's my understanding that good plant growth increases the acidity of your medium. Lime reduces acid.

[purplenuggz]

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[purplenuggz]

bombbbb shit

[purplenuggz]

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[classicalguru]

has anyone in here ever tried a static solution culture for cannabis? I'm trying it now and it seems to be working. Plants are only a week old though. It works great for tomatoes.
First time trying it with grass so just wondering if anyone else in here has been successful with it.

[Hardhat0038]

I'm into my second week, and I bought a bottle of Foxfarm GrowBig,...can anyone who has experience with this give me a little more info on how to use this product? the bottle is very vague..

[auntiesocial]

In about four weeks I'll be taking my first clones, they will be the mothers of my future hydro grow. Ebay has helped get most of my supplies. Just got a 100GPH R/O system in, a super strong piston driven air pump, and earth juice nutes.

I'm torn between set-ups. I want to do 2 or 3 bubble buckets with a res./control. But my space is better suited for a single tub holding several plants in the same bin.

Look :


You can't see it clearly but I have room to the left of the hot water heater for 6 five gallon buckets to fit snugly(that's why I said only 2-3 bubble buckets), or it could hold one of those 25 gallon rubbermaid bins perfectly with a res. underneath.

Considering the space it will used; what do you guys recommend? BBs or single bin with multi plants?
If single bin, should it be ebb-n-flow or the oxi-potin system like the BB?

My major concern is water temperature. I will have to buy or make some system to keep the water cool. Anyone ever use a water chiller? When I go to fill the res. tank of any system could I use R/O ice instead of water to top the tank daily?