Going from drip sys. to DWC.

[burntone]

as stated im switching from a waterfarm. not happy with it.

 

I made up some 5gal. buckets, 5" net pots, 2 airstones per, these are stand alone and light proof.. i have 6 total for growing and few for backup as i plan to just pop the top and put the plant in the backup when its time to change the water/nuets... makes it much faster and easier i hope. want to add im in the country, and my well water PH is 5.8

 

will this work ok?

what water temps are ideal? im using 400 watt mh/hps lighting

anything i should change or add?

 

 

thanks for the help guys and gals.

burntone

Edited February 13, 2007 by burntone

[bufo marinus]

Your well water is pH 5.8? hmmm so are you expecting it to drop further as it is bubbled? Not sure if you'd be better off using rain water??

As for the dwc, I have not done it but have been sussing Chato out on a few things. One thing he said the other night was that he is finding it hard to run an EC of any more than 1.0(using reverse osmosis water EC 0) which I found surprising

I'm sure your aware of root temps staying around 20' Celcius if you've got this far. Very important, anything above that will be prone to pythium/root rot, any lower and plant growth will start to slow down.

The addition of Hydrogen Peroxide/something like Oxyplus or HySan will keep the root zone highly oxygenated and sanitised and again is very important. Good luck

[pipeman]

burntone,

 

it sounds to me like you'll be lifting the plants out of the buckets to do water topups/changes. This is not ideal.

 

The reason is you could cause damage to your roots lifting them out all the time, espcially in the later stages of the grow when they are a solid mass and have wrapped around the airstone.

 

The best way to do it is a control bucket. If you research DWC then you must know what a control bucket is. If not let me know via PM in case I miss this thread again and I'll explain it. (if someone else doesn't first)

 

I assume you have access to mj specific hydroponic nutes?

[burntone]

sorry for late response... been out of town. Yes i use GH series "micro,grow,bloom"... thanks for the info i didnt think about the roots aroung the airstone... and thanks for the info on Hydrogen Peroxide and the others.. Edited February 22, 2007 by burntone

[Chato]

pipe is right bout the damage to roots from lifting lids constantly but imo and exp it's minimal although i run re-circ and only lift lids outta curiousity or for root pics.

 

if you you want to avoid it then glue or weight your airstone to the bottom of the bucket and clasp or glue the airline also to the side of the bucket. this will avoid tangles but also lifting airstone out carefully does little damage to roots.

 

re-circ dwc with any more than 3 or buckets is a must imo, it becomes too hard to regulate and keep up with stand alone buckets. very simple to add extra bucket and water pump with lines to the buckets to make it re-circulate, i've got a tute about it in the FAQ section.

 

water temp is most crucial thing about dwc, ideal temp is between 18-24, 22 best to aim for but at least the range i stated. too high will causes root probs etc too low will slow growth.

 

best of luck!

 

peace

c

[Chato]

pipe is right bout the damage to roots from lifting lids constantly but imo and exp it's minimal although i run re-circ and only lift lids outta curiousity or for root pics.

 

if you you want to avoid it then glue or weight your airstone to the bottom of the bucket and clasp or glue the airline also to the side of the bucket. this will avoid tangles but also lifting airstone out carefully does little damage to roots.

 

re-circ dwc with any more than 3 or buckets is a must imo, it becomes too hard to regulate and keep up with stand alone buckets. very simple to add extra bucket and water pump with lines to the buckets to make it re-circulate, i've got a tute about it in the FAQ section.

 

water temp is most crucial thing about dwc, ideal temp is between 18-24, 22 best to aim for but at least the range i stated. too high will causes root probs etc too low will slow growth.

 

best of luck!

 

peace

c