Switching to DWC Hydro?

Oh yeah on paper lol but that's the jist of it

I don't know about better bud but faster growth for sure
Sent from iPhone 5

 

I know the feeling of not having it learned it yet and being unsure
(been thinking about DWC myself)

Here are my 2 searches:

GC

Grasscity.com Forums - Search Results

YouTube

how to DWC - YouTube

 

PH meter
PPM/TDS meter
Calibration solutions for said meters
A good source of RO water

 

buckets, netpots, air pump, air stone, grow medium(hydroton or w.e.) nutrients, ph down and up, and GOOD WATER.

very simple and awesome results.

another big big thing with dwc is the water temps.. if your air temps run around 80f or higher..you will have problems more than likely. the water temps have to stay about 60-70F. you dont have to change the res every week. ive let them go for a month at a time, a few times, with no bad results. the reason people switch them often is to make 100% sure the plants get everything they can from fresh nutes, and make sure there is no algae or scum build up from old water, which is usually only a problem with high temps. on average people change the res every 2 weeks.

adjusting the ph can be a little tricky but you start to get a feel for it, pretty quick. the ph always will climb back up on you after about 24hrs. the ideal ph to be at is around 5.8. every time you change the res if you set the ph around 5.5 it will usually level out around 5.9-6.0 but if you adjust to 5.8, more than likely within 24hrs you will be over 6.3 which is where you start having problems.

if running several plants it can be quite time consuming and lots of work to mix up each bucket.. adjust them, check them, then continue to check them all the time. the big plus to dwc is you dont have to fuck around with remembering to water lol. your res can run just about completely dry and your plant will still live for a little while in dwc. dont under estimate how much a big plant drinks once they get big they can drink about 4-5 gallons a week, and as your water drops the ppm increases, never top them off with more nutes(unless your ppm is low). once they get that big its much safer, and easier to mix up a new batch of nutes every week as the buckets get low.

 

i adjust to about 5.5, then add nutes, measure the ppm, check and adjust ph again to 5.5(if it changed) wait 24hrs then check and adjust it again if needed. then check every other day or so once you get a feel for what it does.

for 2 net pots id say about a 10gal tote. thats what i use anyway. 2 6"nets in a 10 gallon tote, then add 5 gallons of water and the nets are right above the water level. the plants will intertwine their roots and make a massive root ball, so dont plan on taking them out of the lids once they get bigger.

ph meter measures acidity or alkalinity of the water/nutrients for best nutrient uptake per species of plant.. which with mj around 5.8 for hydroponics is ideal, and 6.8 for soil is ideal. ppm/ec/tds meter measures the concentration of the nutrients so 400ppm would be a weak solution, 800ppm would be medium and about 1200ppm is a heavy feeding.

 

I wouldn't say hydro gives you better qualify bud than soil, if anything it would be the other way round. but hydro will give you faster growth due to the roots getting so much oxygen, and the fact you are so in control of the nutrient strength is so much better

 

yes dwc plants always seem to be wayyy bigger than my plants in soil...the leaves are much much bigger, the buds end up way fatter and longer... my yields about doubled or more when switching to dwc...but i suck at soil.

yes you start seeds or clones in rockwool cubes and put them in the net pots with hydroton or w/e medium. you can put the water level right at the bottom of the net pot until the roots drop. the humidity is really high in the buckets with that much water and lots of bubbles so the roots will stay damp until they hit water anyway. no water needs to be on the hydroton at all or anything...its just simply bubbles in a tub of water...the roots love it. once the roots hit water they go crazy with growth.

algae forms from high water temps or letting light hit the water. dont use clear buckets and keep water temps below 70F to stay clear of those risks. it will usually form in the water and make your buckets slimey..then start rotting your roots, and eventually kill the plants. keep the temps low, change the res and clean the bucket every 2 weeks and you should never see algae.

i use 10gallon totes with 2 6" nets in them each 4" nets would also work well, if not better. the only reason i do this is to keep it simple/less reservoirs, to save space and get as many plants as i can under the lights. only for a sog style setup. the plants are very close to each other and have to be flowered right away. if you want bigger plants id suggest individual 5gallon buckets, or much larger totes to get the plants further apart. i personally use 5 gallons also, if i want large plants.

and no transplanting is possible really...once the roots grow through the nets they are there until they finish. also keep in mind if you have more than 1 plant per tote the roots will be completely tied together which means you can never seperate them. this is perfectly fine for the plants health, but can be sort of an inconvenience for you.

 

start up is a bit more expensive than soil, but you re use all the stuff except the nutes so it pays off. faster, bigger harvest, and dont have to buy anything but nutes and ph down to keep it going.

i spent 60$ i think for a 8 outlet adjustable air pump, few bucks per airstone, about 20$ for all the air lines. and i manually dump the buckets.

i spent about 100 for a digital ph meter with replaceable probe. but you could use the manual testers, such as ph strips, or the crap where you take a sample of your water and put a few drips of this chemical in it to see the color indication of the ph. those are pretty handy to have even with a digital meter... sometimes things go wacky and good to have a back up tester. a ppm meter/ec/tds meter isnt really needed, but very nice to have. i ran mine for about a year before buying one. i found a mixture that worked for me every time so i stuck with it..once i got a meter i realized i could push the plant a little harder, and could keep an eye on it better. i think i spend about 30-35 for the tds/ec meter

 

my PH meter and EC meter were £10 each and work perfectly. they say they last for a year but in reality they last a few years. I had to replace my PH meter quite recently as it wouldn't calibrate, it was around 8 years old. I think that one was £15 when new

an EC meter in my opinion is a necessity. I hear people can get away without one but in my opinion your just guessing the strength that you need. if you have a proper meter you can get the solution exactly how you plants prefer at any stage of their life

an EC meter does the same as a CF, PPM, and a TDS meters, they just express the result in different figures

 

You're gonna really enjoy DWC. It can be very simple. Or not. Super advice so far. My one suggestion. Don't scrimp on air stones and pumps. If you generate enough bubbles to roil the surface of the res. Roots will go nukin futz trying to get at that water. And once they hit water. Look out! Houston, We have lift off! Those roots will grow as long as your forearm in no time. Lots of oxygen, will help them absorb the nutes. Small high velocity bubbles are what you want.

Good luck and have a good grow

R2T

 

I helped my friend get set up on a single dwc. 65 total on bucket, netpot, airstone and tubing and airpump plus the technafloras recipe to success. Then just 10 for the hydroton, about 45bucks on a decent lighting setup (4x42 watt 2700k cfls hooked up together hung by a coat hanger. Plus a timer. About 130 bucks for the whole setup it was a real deal.

 

need help. transplanted to rockwool, and tip of root broke . will it survive?

 

it depends how much broke off, and how much it has left. you will know in an hour or two. if wilting occures its not a good sign. if no wilting has occurred in a couple of hours it should be fine

 

I find it best to have another reservoir just like the one your using and when renewing the nutrient solution lift the lid with net pots off one res straight on to the other

 

For nutrients, there's usually a veg feed and a bloom feed, at least.