So I started a hydro grow recently (yay for Canadian legalization! ), but i'm thinking of changing out my DWC container. I picked up a fairly large one, 15 gallon, filled with about 12 gallons of solution. It'll be a pain for lifting or moving. I spend a bit of time on the road with work, so in order to have it be a bit automatic, i'm going to have it attached to a larger reservoir and utilize an aquarium auto top off system to keep the solution at a steady level. I'm thinking if I'm doing it like this that I could go a little smaller with the container that the plants will actually be in. I started four Joey Weed C99 seeds, but they're not feminized, so it's going to be a toss up how many females will actually be in there. Could be none, could be four, so I want it to be big enough to hold up to four (i'm hoping for two females... but time will tell... if I get none, I guess I'll source some clones and go from there). So what would be an appropriate size DWC container for what i've described here? Thanks!
12 usable gallons for 4 plants means an average of 3 gallons per plant. I have no evidence to back it up, but it seems like that would over-crowd the roots, make them unhappy, and reduce yield. Plus, the reservoir ppm and pH will vary a lot in a small tank with 4 plants competing. My preference is for a single, large tank, something like 30 gallons for 4 plants. Then there's just one thing to adjust, and pH/ppm are much more stable. If you want to greatly simplify your life, order some autofem seeds from a breeder that ships from the same country you live in. Mephisto and Growers Choice ship from US for US customers. I use a General Hydroponics, 12 usable gallon top Ecogrower for 2 plants in a 2 ft x 4 ft tent, and really like the ecogrower. And a Current Culture 35 usable gallon single res DWC pro system, which is more awkward, but is bigger, for 4 plants.
I can assure you depending on how long you are going to veg understand you are doing DWC your going to need to lift those plants out to change the res. One PLANT with say 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket(I have BIGG netpots) if big enough can drink about a gallon or more per 24hrs (I need now top off every single day almost a gallon) They can drink allot. I don't think i would consider multiples in one res unless you are doing RDWC or something else
Ok, well I wont go down in size. Maybe should go up a little if anything. It's pretty unlikely that I'll end up with four females, and i guess I could cull or setup a second dwc if I'm lucky enough to get four. Just Google that ecogrower unit, it does look nice. Might consider picking one up eventually, but I'll probably try to finish up this grow in the dwc. Thanks for the tips!
Me personally i have normal size about 4 gallon pots and they work perfectly for me. Thats one week progress. First week of 12/12. Wild! But its 100% up to you. Go check out HygroHybrid on Youtube. Cheers! *New Clones DWC Journal* https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/new-clones-in-dwc
Just get a small submersible pump to empty out your reservoir. It won't totally empty it, but it's easier to wrestle around a container with a couple gallons vs 15 (or whatever) gallons. I went with RDWC just so I don't have to worry about weekly or every other week reservoir changes. I agree that these plants get thirsty and hungry, so much so that you think you have a leak somewhere. I'd go with 5 gallon buckets, one for each plant, as a minimum. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
That was very well said sir, i agree with that. my technique is not ideal especially with plants that big. Thats for sure loll! But omg do they ever drink it down! They drink more than i do. Its crazy!