Questions About DWC

[xRedkiller03x]

lol

 

[Lemon Jack]

Hey guys i really want to try hydro for my next grow since soil is abit expensive. i wanna do the drip system with 4 5 gallon buckets, a 5 gallon resevoir with a air pump and ait stone's N Hydroton in 3 inch air nets. With advanced Nutients jungle juice.

Ok my first question is about the water timer or timers. not sure what to buy and how they work, how long do i keep it on and of? They sell multi setting timers that you plugh your pump into. With my drip system in veg it drips for 30 min 4 times a day.

How many times do i water my plants?
I dont think the dripper will do much after the roots hit the nutrient sol, but till then you could water 3 times a day only when the lights are on.
I can stick the germinated seed right in the hydroton, maybe with rockwool?Yes rockwool will work great.

How many times do i change the water?Every 2 weeks for me.

:48:

 

[pcduck]

Ok my first question is about the water timer or timers. not sure what to buy and how they work, how long do i keep it on and of?

24/7

How many times do i water my plants?

continuously

I can stick the germinated seed right in the hydroton, maybe with rockwool?

I like using rockwool or rapid rooters

How many times do i change the water?

I change my nute solution every 7-10 days

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm confused.....are you doing drip or are you doing DWC?

 

[pcduck]

I'm confused.....are you doing drip or are you doing DWC?

So am I THG, now that I reread the OP's original post.

My original post is for DWC in single buckets

 

[akhockey]

Skip the drip. Spend the money that you would have otherwise spend on that stuff on a good pH and ppm meter. Germ seeds in rockwool cubes and after they pop let them grow a day or 2 and put them in your netpots and into the buckets. Fill the bucket with PLAIN pHed water (seedlings dont need nutes at first) just up to the bottom of the RW cube so that it stays wet until you get a few roots trailing then keep it withing an inch or so throughout the grow. Put a decent sized 6" or so airstone in each bucket with adequect air supply (water apperaing to boil) and you are now growing hydro. When what and how much nutes are another topic to be duscussed later.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Skip the drip. Spend the money that you would have otherwise spend on that stuff on a good pH and ppm meter. Germ seeds in rockwool cubes and after they pop let them grow a day or 2 and put them in your netpots and into the buckets. Fill the bucket with PLAIN pHed water (seedlings dont need nutes at first) just up to the bottom of the RW cube so that it stays wet until you get a few roots trailing then keep it withing an inch or so throughout the grow. Put a decent sized 6" or so airstone in each bucket with adequect air supply (water apperaing to boil) and you are now growing hydro. When what and how much nutes are another topic to be duscussed later.

:yeahthat:

 

[Hushpuppy]

First, I wouldn't use 3"net pots as they just seem to be unstable. I used the buckets for awhile with the 5" net pots that were made into a lid that locks onto the bucket and still had stability issues. The bigger the net pot you can get the more stable they will be. Right now I actually use 2liter nursery planters that I drill lots of 1/4" holes all in the bottom of them and set them in holes cut in 10gal rubbermaid tote lids.

If you want to use the 5gal buckets (and the bigger 2liter nursery planters)that you can get from Homedepot or lowes, just get the lids with them and you can cut them to fit the bigger pots. The plants do great in them and are very stable.

You have a choice on the DWC versus top feed. You said you want to use DWC but that doesn't involve top feeding the plants. With DWC you would get some of the giant, round air stones and glue them into the bottom of the buckets(with "Marine Goop") and connect a strong air pump to that and let the boiling water do the action of watering the plants from the bottom, and let them run constantly.(for that process you would have to go with the net pots as they allow bottom watering better than the nursery pots).

If you want to top feed (as I do) then you would either get several little submersable aquarium pumps and a decent air stone (I use a 6" round stone in mine) and put both of those into the bottom of the buckets. The air stone would be connected to an air pump to keep the water aerated, and the water pump would connect to a small (1/4-5/16") hose that would go through the lid to hang into the pot so that the pump would top feed the plants. I run that on a timer where it runs on for 15 minutes for each hour. But I also run into coco.

The choice is yours but I don't think you will come out much cheaper with hydro than with soil, IDK

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

If you are running DWC--an air pump and air stones--the top drip is not necessary at all. I cannot see it really being of benefit.

 

[xRedkiller03x]

lol

 

[Hushpuppy]

If you are running DWC--an air pump and air stones--the top drip is not necessary at all. I cannot see it really being of benefit.

I started out with a top feed system and have stayed with it as it has worked well with what I do. In the DWC does it have to be done in the netpots to be effective or will it work using the nursery planters with lots of holes drilled in them? I can see the advantage of not having a submerged pump always risking clogging or failing to run.

What is the downsides if any to running DWC?

 

[pcduck]

Once the roots hit the rez, the top drip does nothing.

As long as you have enough holes and enough roots hitting rez, does not matter.

I see no downside.

 

[xRedkiller03x]

lol

 

[pcduck]

Can be make for a whole lot cheaper by doing it diy.

Black buckets can be found for free.

Can make your own lids just by buying netpots and cutting holes in lids.

Then it is just air stones and a pump.

I like separate buckets as they are easier to move around and different strains different feeding habits

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I also see no downside. The duck and I have very similar growing methods.

 

[stevetberry]

I looked at the link and I do not see that this is a top feeding system. I have a Waterfarm from Gen Hydro and it is basically a DWC with a top drip ring. The ring may be of no use after the roots hit the resevoir but by the end of my grow I have almost an inch of roots in the bottom of the inner bucket in addition to the roots in the resevoir. My system does not use net pots, it uses buckets with holes drilled in the bottom. As stated you cannot give one plant this and one plant another thing if you use a controller but I have found that the biggest down fall was that the system does not recirculate. Because it does not recirculate you end up with the ph and ppm in the controller where you check being different from the buckets because of nutrient and water uptake. This can be cured by making the system recirculate as I have done with mine. Every system has some down falls. My latest struggle has been with algae. The DWC that THG and Duck mentioned sure seem to be simpler than my system but I can let my system run for several days now that I have it dialed in, however I do check it a few times a day as things can go wrong.

 

[xRedkiller03x]

lol

 

[pcduck]

I was thinking about DIY but then i stumbled on Stealth Hydro, i really like theyre set up and its cheaper. Also gonna get i more pump with a 10 inch airstone.
hXXp://www.stealthhydroponics.com/product.php?xProd=16&xSec=53

All that is, is a $7.00 tote with 6 $1.45 netpots a $12 air pump and a $2.00 airstone. I would save my money on more important items like a pH meter and ppm meter, but there again that is just me.

 

[getnasty]

I'm with duck. Just seems like you're trying to avoid the extra effort is all. I personally think creating my own something out of nothing is a lot more rewarding than buying it, unpacking it, and setting it up. Also, I hope you're growing all the same strain in that stealth hydro setup. One strain's going to hate you if the other doesn't, in most cases, if you don't.


-nasty

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm not crazy about systems like this with water pumps--it simply complicates things and is not needed. The submersible pump sitting in the res raises the water temps, things clog up. If you have an air pump and air stones--the water pump part of this is unnecessary. That system would also only be good for a short while--you could not bring 6 plants to harvest in something that small.