Need some Rockwool info

[Hushpuppy]

Hello my peeps; so I got this buddy that I do a little commerce with and he told me that he had bought a commercial flood-n-drain setup as he was looking to grow in hydro when he first started growing, but then he found that he liked growing in soil and didn't use the system. So he traded me a 2'x4' "ebb-n-flo" unit(unused) complete with everything needed including 15-20 5" or 6" grodan RW cubes, 2 full packs of the little cubes that go into the big cubes once they are rooted, the pump and piping, and 1gal each of PH up n dn, and 1 gal each of Technaflora BCgro, bloom, boost. Basically everything but the cuttings, all for 2oz of decent smoke. yehah

So I think I am going to try it out in my next grow but I am remembering that Rockwool has to be conditioned or something before using it. I would appreciate any suggestions from anyone who has used the RW.

 

[pcduck]

Need to presoak in 5.5pH water before use.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Thanks how long would you presoak it? I know that using coco you have to add more cal/mag as coco tends to hold on to magnesium until it ballances out. Is there anything like that for rockwool? Any tips for how wet to keep it. I am thinking that I will use it not as a flood and drain but as a top feed that drains off into the rez and have it water for 5-10minutes every 4hours or so. That is how I am running my coco system now.

 

[pcduck]

I presoak it until it balances out at 5.8 about a day of soaking.

Rockwool is nothing like coco it is inert.

I am not sure on the run time as I do not grow that way, but from what I have learned is that most run their e-f at one hour on two hours off.

The waterfarm system is about the same I think and they run theirs 24/7.

 

[Budders Keeper]

I ran a RW 2x4 table for a few years. As pc said, it is inert and it will not affect nute balance. RW holds onto water much more than coco or clay. I did one run with 1 flood a day and it wasn't close to drying out. In the end I was flooding once every 8 hours, or 3x a day...for 30 minutes each.

Top feeding every 4 hours would be too much IMO unless you're at the middle of flowering time. PC was right on about the conditioning.

I ran one 400hps upto the last year I had it, when I added a 400Mh for 800w total. Best run on 2x4 for me was right around 20oz.

 

[Budders Keeper]

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47080&page=2

There's the last run I did in table. Got little out of control with the jungle.

 

[akhockey]

Personally I never bother pre soaking my cubes in pH water any longer. Ive done both and haven't noticed any difference at all. RW definitely holds water alot better than other hydro mediums so you need to adjust your watering times accordingly.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Very cool guys Thanks a lot. It will be a while before I use this as I have only just put my latest girls into flower a week ago. But I want to make sure I have my stuff in gear before getting started on the next run.