Lets start with the setup it's a 4 bucket w/ res bubble bucket system all 5 buckets have an air stone in them the 4 plants are in 6" net pots with hydroton the 4 buckets are connected together and a pump circulates the nutrient solution 15 min out of every hour from the 4 buckets into the res and gravity flow back through the buckets. the air pump is on 24/7 to ensure aeration of the solution its on 18/6 lighting with a 600 MH/HPS conversion bulb in an air cooled hood the room averages 75 F with 40% RH the res temp is 72 F and PH is below 6 I don't have a PPM or PH meter I just use the PH test dye from GH and have a pic included I am using Botanicare Pro Grow nutes at 1/4 of the seedling strength (8ml in 5gal of water) I'm not sure if it is a big deal but these nutes are from an old grow they are about 2 years old and have been subjected to cold temps during the winter as they were in a basement. Last grow worked out fine however it was a single plant in a bubble bucket. this grow I've had to re-learn everything and it's been a steep learning curve for some damn reason. I thought that I might be having a root rot problem (sorry no pics of this) the roots were tinted brown but they were not slimy at all and the color didn't come off by wiping the roots. To correct what might have been a root rot issue I flushed the whole system, cleaned it with H2O2 and flushed each plant with 2 gal of PH'd water with 2oz of 3% H2O2. The roots cleaned up to a nice white color. I put the whole system back together and added 5 gal water 8ml of Botanicare Pro Grow and 12oz of H2O2 and then PH'd the water. It has been three days since I did this and the plants look like this. The first plant seems to have gotten worse after doing this but the last plant seems to have gotten a little less yellow on the new leaves. the other two plants I'm not sure about. The first and last plants are bagseed the second plant is Northern Lights and the third is White Widow. How long should it take for plants to recover from a problem? Will the leaves repair themselves or will they just grow new leaves and drop the old? Has anyone used Botanicare's Pro Grow nutrients before? if so how much did you use? Even though I'm using 1/4 the seedling strength I'm still a bit concerned that I may be burning the plants. I also had concern of mag deficiency, about a week before I flushed this last time I added some epsom salt, there was no change in the growth. Any advice is welcome.
I havent switched over to a DWC set up yet, probably next month will be doing so but I know from soil grows that damaged leaves dont repair themselves, you just try to keep it from getting worse and spreading to other leaves. Dont know if nutes have a shelf life, maybe email the manufacturer and ask them.
Spend 20 bucks on ebay and buy you a PH meter. The strips dont work. Looks like PH problems to me. HD
Yeah Hard Drive is right. Get on eBay an get you a ppm and ph meter. Things will go so much smoother when you can check and regulate those 2 things. I got my 2 pens separate for $37. The cheapest combo pen that I could find was close to $150. Just a thought if you are on a budget.
Ur pH is definitely fucked up....check this one out for only $17 on eBay....shit works wonders...those strips are worthless.
I agree with the others on getting a pH meter. However, you may bee looking at a bit of root rot issue. When you upgraded from one to five buckets, did you add additional air pumps or did daisy chain your air stones back to the single pump? Unless you have a massive pump, it will be difficult to oxygenate your solution enough in all five buckets. I have found that putting a high amount of O2 into the solution is one of the keys to success with DWC...and increases yield bug time! Good luck with your grow! I am sure you will work it out.
Thanks for all the replies I will get a ph and ppm meter soon... I was holding out to buy a nice combo meter but I didn't realize the separate meters are so inexpensive. Can anyone recommend a good and inexpensive ppm/ec meter? As for the air pump I have a huge one designed for twelve ports working on 5 so I don't think not enough air is the problem
eBay, blue Hanna ppm tester, Not sure the model. It's $20 not the cheapest but probably best/ cheapest. I have seen many people use Hanna so it's got to be a good brand.
Ive expirenced crop failure using the h2o2 a little goes a long way. I use about half what the bottle sugguests. Got some serious nitrogen issues and possible lockout. Once you get your ph dialed in and are using unclorinated water things should go a lot smoother. If you decide to use RO water dont forget the Cal.Mag, or youll get the yellow tips and reverse clawing. Paid about 130.00 For a hanna.
Ok, PH and TDS meters are on the way... In the mean time I managed to borrow a nice combo meter, I calibrated it for both PH and PPM. My res tested out at 6.3ph and 500ppm and 74F. My plants are looking terrible the the oldest leaves are almost completely burned, i'll post pics later today. I looked at the roots of one of them and they had a patch of old roots that were slightly tinted brown which I cut off and a whole lot of new white roots. I spent quite a while searching the forums and the web tonight looking for the optimal readings... near as I can tell ph can be anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5 with very little difference in growth. The TDS can be between 200 and 1200ppm. And the temp between 67 and 74. Can anyone confirm what they should be in a DWC? Does strain make a difference?
Here is what I would do, if it aint to late. I'd change the water, set the PPM's to 350, and set the PH to 5.9. It looks to me like either nute burn or a nute lockout due to incorrect PH levels. The reason I say to lower the PPM's, you cut some roots and that will stunt em', so treat em' as very young seedlings. I run 2 stones per bucket.... If the water dont look like it's boiling, you aint got enough air. You can get root rot and it will look like what you have too. Air bubbles will stop that as long as NO LIGHT ENTERS res. Cover the top of the net pots too.
I had similar issues with my plants, and it was ph issues for sure. Check out my grow, some of the pictures look identical to mine.
Done. I flushed and cleaned the entire system. Also while it was empty I added an external water level gauge in the form of a clear tube with markings on it (this is covered by panda plastic to prevent light entry)... I also added a tube on the inside of the res to make the nutrients only flow one way through the system... While I was cleaning I noticed some gunk (probably root rot) in two of the buckets (pic 1&2) and I accidentally broke an air stone and noticed some gunk inside it, looks like it's time to invest in some micro-porous air stones. But for now I cleaned the ones I have by forcing bleach water through them followed by a ton of fresh water. I flushed each of the plants with 3 gallons of 5.9ph water and trimmed any brown roots. Sorry no pics of the roots as it was really hard to hold the net pots and use the camera... In the end I have 8 gal of 350ppm 5.9ph 71F water in the system. I will of course check it in the morning to see what changed. Now that I can tell how much water is in the system I can see how much I need to add back and how often. Also I raised the light to ~4' above the plants to reduce stress. For those who are curious I took some pics of my room, including the air pump. I'm using Botanicare's pro blend grow nutrients and it takes 2.5ml/gal to raise my tap water from 190 to 350ppm. And it takes 2ml/gal of General Hydroponics PH-Down to lower my tap water(with nutes) from 7.6 to 5.9ph I think I will probably need to keep a frozen water bottle in the res to help prevent root rot. How cold can the soup be before it affects nutrient uptake?
If you don't have a water chiller you might think about adding some beneficial bacteria to your res. Aquashield is pretty inexpensive. These bene's help keep root rot away and allow greater temperature tolerance in your water (I think about 80 degrees). You can't use H2O2 with these critters, because it kills them as well. Reflective material on the buckets (especially the tops) helps keep them a little cooler. Hygrozyme, or another enzyme product, will eat the dead roots up once you have your root rot gone, and can be used with the bene's. (The bacteria produce enzymes themselves). Your nutes should really be replaced after so long, especially if the seal was broken on them all that time. At the very least, I hope you shook the heck out of the bottles lol. Also, the bene's help if you don't or can't fully light-seal your buckets.
I like your setup, looks real good. On the small chiller I have, it only pulls down my water temps to 72 on the real hot days. I had to switch to a night time schedule. Lights come at after dark and off around 10:00am before it gets hot. As long as you have no light hitting the water and plenty of air bubbles you will be alright. Also, could tell by the pic's, but if the rez and air pump is outside the tent, and the room they are in is not very hot, that will help with water temps. The main thing I have noticed in DWC is PH, it must be maintained between 5.7 -- 6.1. HD
Thanks HardDrive, for all your help and advice. Checked everything this morning after most of the light cycle The ph was a little high at 6.05 I added a half ml of ph down and it settled down to 5.94 The ppms creeped up to 364 The temp was 70.8 It didn't look like any water was missing Pic 10 shows that all the buckets are covered with panda plastic with just a small hole for the plants The air pump and res are in the tent because it's cooler in there... My tent is in my garage and the a/c hangs out the garage window One day i'll add some insulation so the temps are easier to maintain
I'll check in to getting aquashield and hygrozyme. Is the hygrozyme a different enzyme then the aquashield creates? I read the product info on the hygrozyme and it says it destroys proteins, wouldn't this hinder the bacteria in aquashield? I don't really know a whole lot about that kind of thing. Does aquashield need light in the buckets/res? And yes I did shake the crap out of the bottles... lol
The enzymes just break down dead matter. Dont add light to your res on purpose, the benes help with that but I wouldnt push it. They dont need light, just plenty of bubbles.