Old timer, new to DWC/Hydro, got some questions

I've had my first grow/dwc going for about 1.5 months now I think, so I have limited amounts of first hand experience-but I've educated myself pretty extensively on this to try to avoid problems.  Depending on your source water, you may or may not be better off using RO water.  If its around 100-150 ppm(mines at 100ppm)you can get away with just evaporating the chlorine and using tap water.  In fact, this may work out better than using RO water as tap water will have trace minerals like calcium, molybdenum, etc which RO water will not(you would have to supplement with copious amounts of CalMag).  I wouldn't bother using different size mesh pots-just get the larger ones, fill it up to the brim with hydroton(or medium of choice)and TAPE the top edge of it so NO LIGHT gets through.  ANY light is a recipe for algae growth-which will kill your roots.  I use a 25 gallon tub for 4 plants, what I did was drop in a UV water filter which gets turned on every week for 2 days and supplement with very little hydrogen peroxide to keep the water sterile. There are others who will say its better to use myccorhizae and other beneficial microorganisms to stabilize the root zone-but for an indoor grow it makes no sense-its easy to keep sterile.  On top of this, there is a large volume of evidence which suggests that myccorhizae and other structure building root fungi will limit the amount of nutrients available to the plant depending on their OWN needs.  The root zone is super-oxygenated and nutrient rich-any supplemental volume you get is offset by the fungi taking up resources.
I would avoid switching tents or anything like that-when working with small spaces and growing plants-the less movement, the better.  I haven't done a water change on mine yet-its 18 gallons being topped up every couple of days, but I purposely keep my nutrient solution low 500-900 ppm, as opposed to the suggested 1200 ppm so that I don't run into nutrient lockout and I can just keep supplementing de-chlorinated tap water and nutrients(I use CANNA-only dwc hydroponic mj specific nutrient substance on the market, cleanest too-meaning smaller chance of nute lockout).  Advanced Hydro has self-published tests "proving" its the best, but they didn't compare themselves to Canna-on purpose I assume.  You will probably also run into heat problems-a single 4" inline duct fan did not cut it for 2x3x6 with 540 watt led-needed a second fan on inlet to get more airflow.  Keep some CalMag on hand, chances are your water will run out of trace minerals before NPK and always try to keep your ppm LOWER than recommended-especially as a 1st timer.  Investing in a quality ppm tester and ph meter is a must.  Take a look at my setup and let me know if you have more questions. 

 

Hey I have an idea to that pre fill question. Take a 1gal pale add your normal nutes then monitor the ppm over a few days....if the ppm goes down then you'll know your nutes are disappearing and if ppm stays on target then they are not going anywhere and things are staying the same...IDK IM NOT A CHEMIST BUT THE IDEA SOUNDS RIGHT..


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Im pretty sure when hour cleaning the res you don't have to keep the roots in water they enjoy the oxygen

 

Yeah I've read the roots love that 10 min of air dangling while cleaning the buckets, I would. Any stimulation as long as it's not abuse I imagine would be good for plants.


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How about putting a lid on the bucket so the water doesn't evaporate?


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1. The following is working for me I currently have only 1 plant in DWC. I have 4, 1 gallon jugs of drinking water that I recycled and fill at those RO water dispenser things for $.25 each. I pre-mix 2 of them with my nutes, and leave two untouched. I tighten the lid on it good and keep them under my sink, dark and cool. Plant is currently drinking about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon daily, and I top off as needed from the appropriate container of water depending on how ppm are fluctuating. (More often than not I'm replacing with the nute water and keep the ro water to dilute full strength to 1/2 strength for my other plants) 
2. I agree with others about starting in what you finish. My current grow was also in rapid rooter plugs in hydroton, but in a 4" net pot. I thought about transplanting to something bigger but once those roots grew through the net pot, their staying put lol.
3. I haven't done a rez change since I started (I probably should though) but I will once I switch to flower. I had the same question as you but read about leaving them out in the open to breathe a few minutes is beneficial so I'm going with that =]

 

Sounds good! Are the buckets your using black? I started with orange home depot ones but they're not light proof so I taped it up with aluminum tape. 
I used about a cap full per gallon of 3% H2O2 that I already had. I stopped though when I started adding bennies though, since it will kill them all haha.

 

im new to this too man! good luck! heres my grow, I been doing it for 8months now, some smoke was out of this world, and others not to bomb, but decent! I actually have one question to the experience grower, how cold can my water get in bucket before it becomes a problem?
 

 
 my ballast burnt out, so I have my plants by window. I order one 4 days ago,  I am picking up ballast(ups) as we speak..

 

   
 
 

 
 
 
 I use this containers. it works for me. just putting pictures up, for ideas..

 

I change my water every 5 days, sometimes even earlier because I notice plant is sucking up the container dry. I just put the lid with plants into another empty container, I clean up container, put tap water, my general hydro nutes, ph it down(I never use ph up,never had to). and ready to go..