I tried searching the forum but didn't really come up with exact answers. I have been watching youtube videos to try and educate myself before I begin a dwc system. Ok, I am well aware you need to check ph daily, change water/solution weekly. But how does dwc system not create root rot if the roots are sitting in the water? I know it should get MINIMUM 5 liters per min of oxygen. Along with root rot question, do I change the level of water weekly to wear the roots are barely in it? or same level every week? Is tap water ok to use if it sits out open for 24 hours? Besides ph up/down Would fox farm product line with tiger bloom/ grow big hydro/ and micro nutes ff be enough to run it? Or do I need more advance stuff? How big of a net pot diameter in a 5 gallon bucket should I use? Is it ok to have 2-3 plants in a big tote? Whats the best for grow medium? Thanks, LetGo
Hey man, I was using tap water from germ to start of flowering before i got an RO system, so i still use RO tap water. I fill it up every day or every second day, depending on how much they drink. My net pot is 4" at most, and seems fine. As for the water. I have 2 pumps that are shithouse running at 1.3L/min or so, much less than your 5L/min. and they are holding up ok, though i do have root rot due to temps. PH is usually fine. I don't know, but the PH down i got always sets it perfectly at 5.8 every time. I usually overshoot the PH down and it will correct itself in no time. I was using vinegar up till end of veg and it was really bad, so get proper ph down. I use to put my tap water directly into the systems ~ no sitting around. PH out of the tap was around 7.8 back then. It's 6.5 after adding all the nutes and then 1drop per Liter of water of ph down. When starting, you can put the rockwool / net in a tiny bucket (like 800ml) and put an airstone in there and use that. Infact when i did that it grew great. I put the water up to the a little over the net and the water was carried up through the hydroton and into the rockwool. As of now in flowering, i usually fill up to just under / at the net pot once a day (as they usually drink about 1.5L a day of water). I'm also using basic dutch master gold nutes, with some root stims to help with the root rot. It's basically pointless for me to check ph now, its always spot on when you use the right stuff (at least in my case). Root rot shouldn't happen if the res is light-proof AND (very important) is maintained at the right temps (68f is good). Though im usually averaging 74f (which is causing rot) and they are still pulling through, just struggling.
How the heck would you lower water temps? And I didn't even factor the plant drinking the water lol, so every day if you fill up the bucket to its level do you add more nutes in ratio to the water added? or only that once a week change/cleaning the bucket?
have you read any of the sticky's on hydro ? have a dig around the city dude you will find all the info and alot more other inportant things on hydro while serching, middy
bro you make sure no light gets into your rez and your res stays cool and youll have no problem. what I do in MY 5gal bubble bucket is: i fill with 4 gallons - thats plenty for my roots to swim and drink up the juice my plants are fairly young so im not really topping off yet. i use Advanced jungle juice 3 part at about 1/2 strength (kind of a custom schedule) its all about your plants and how they react to anything you do. just keep a close eye correct your errors before they get out of hand and youll be golden as far as temps. i have 4 water bottles in my freezer (i run 2 buckets) i put 1 bottle in when i leave the house for work in the am and one when i get home about 5pm my roots are huge and growing like CRAZY dwc is A LOT simpler than people make it out to be, yes its hard and a little confusing. but once you get balls deep in it and start to make your own method itll hit you like a ton of bricks. good luck with your grow and hope this helps
Say I change the dwc water every week. Adding daily to make up for what it drank, do I add water or nute solution water EVERYTIME? or just do the nutes at the week change, then water for top offs from what it drank.
[quote name='"LetGo"']Say I change the dwc water every week. Adding daily to make up for what it drank, do I add water or nute solution water EVERYTIME? or just do the nutes at the week change, then water for top offs from what it drank.[/quote] Personal choice some day add water some say add nutes. I personally just add water, unless my plants show a def then ill compensate with nutes. Make sense?
have you started a grow? if so, can we see? if not, are we gonna be able to see when it does start cranking?
when topping off res's you should add 1/4 strength nute of wat you usually use.... So if ur running full strength, top off res with 1/4 strength nutes.
Are you convinced on dwc. Have you looked at ebb n flow/ flood tables... C.A.P and Titan Controls both make 12 site 3 or 4 gallon pots? That are ebb n flow.
Or if you want larger plants, they make a " Monster " version of the same system. 6 site...5 or 7 gallon pots... All come with controller and 100 gal res..