Chronic Haze Home Made Rdwc First Time

[heisen]

Ive done a few hydro grows before wanted to try a recirculating DWC for first time..No way im spending almost 2 grand on a few buckets and pipes so wanted to build a set up for 2 plants in a small closet area with a 600W HPS and see if i can break a gram a watt.I have over 30 years of growing everything from asparagus to palm trees and growing green now for over a year.I dont smoke but my wife needs it for anxiety.If she dont have it shes not fun to be around.after a few soil grows im completely over it.
Originally thought these were autos but i screwed up so there photos.Im using General Hydro Flora Nova brand.
started the seeds straight into rockwool and than sprouted.moved em straight to the buckets and bubbled em right away.mixed 1/4 nutes at 200 PPM .5 conversion here using straight RO water.Had no chiller or pumps just 2 buckets and air.ran them for 3 days and than added a recirculating system with just 2 buckets.this was what i set up first and the plants seemed to like it.water was a little on the warm side so i decided to get a chiller and hook into the system.brought the temp of water down to 65 right away.

with the chiller lines hooked up on other side of wall.

here they are at 12 days.I brought the PPM up to around 500 at this point and was noticing some weird spots on leaves.I realized My PH has been to high at 6.3 i was locking out calcium and dropped it down to 5.8.
The calcium issue went away right away and that was that.

the one on the right was doing some super weird growth and self topped itself,spit out a double top on one side and than 3 branches per node.was very weird.i let it eat and dealt with it.

Keeping the water temp at 65 and PH at 5.8.added Armor Si,rapid roots,florolicious plus, into the mix.
I started to use tap cause the RO was taking forevor and it was only 100 PPM but a week goes by and tap shoots up to 350.its never consistent so i gave up and now i use tap mixed with RO to 100 PPM and calimagic to 300 PPM.about 3ML per gallon and all seems good.than i add in all the rest and use the FloraNova till i hit 700 - 750 PPM to get my Ph down a little.5.8 is my magic number but if it goes down to 5.4 i dont sweat it cause it will creep back up in a couple days.
Here they are at 14 days

you can see the calcium issues i had but after i dropped the PH down to 5.8 No more spots on the leaves at all.here they are at 17 days

at this point im planning on a net about 13 to 14 inches from the top of buckets.The trellis is better for me cause i just dont have time to finger bang plants bending and poking and prodding.I just fit em under the net and fill it in the way i want.I had done it in soil and got a retarded good yeild but watering was a pain in the ass under the net so DWC was my solution.
At some point i have to add a control bucket here so there will be no way ill be able to guage buckets with a plant growing in it.
Heres 19 days

Time to put a control bucket in here meaning i have to set the plants out of water for a few hrs.oh well.
first was to put all the under current pipes in so the water would pull from the control bucket.

after that i had to put a drain in so its easy to drain the whole system and flush with clean water.
I also added a 45L air pump and 2 disc stones.These plants are getting some serious air.
Now to hook the pump to the chiller and the return line back to the control bucket.

thats that.I went ahead and put up the net.Filled the system and checked everything.plants were a little stressed but bounced back the next day.
24 days in the buckets

Here they are at 27 days

how long do you guys think before these things can go to flower?

 

[Mmjcaveman]

I would say a week then flip depending on what strain it is but if you wanted to i think you could do the flip right about now and still fill the canopy

 

[BombBP]

Man! Those are some monsters. You could flip right now if you wanted to. As a rule plants usually get 3x the height they were at the beginning of flower by the end. There are definitely exceptions like pure Sativas, which stretch more, or pure indicas, which stretch less.

 

[heisen]

I had heard DWC had the potential to veg super fast.I really didnt know they would grow this quick and they already starting to smell.there less than 30 days old.I will veg for 1 more week and flip them next week.I already brought the light down to 18 hrs from 20.ill go to 16 in 3 days than 14 than 12 by next week.
Thanks for the help.This forum was the one i came to alot during searches for help i just decided to join finally.

 

[heisen]

I just finished up an auto grow growing Humboldt green crack,dinafem sour diesel and Blackberry kush.I ended up reversing my best green crack out of 5 and my best blackberry with homemade CS and polinated a really nice Northern Express,the sour diesel and the blackberry mostly with green crack pollen.ended up with too many seeds to count.I could not find any male strains in autos i wanted so decided to just reverse the females so i would at least get all female seeds and autos cant be cloned.This was my best option.
I took the seeds for shits n giggz and dropped em in rockwool straight from the sour diesel pods and ended up with this.figured ill see how far i can take em and see how they turn out for homemade auto seeds.these are about a week old

Might have to run a few of these outside and get em by june.Have em back home in time for corn flakes.

 

[heisen]

28 days and going strong.Drinking a gallon a day between the two so i added in a 10 gallon reservoir and tapped it to the control bucket with a float switch.Now i wont have to refill every day.I filled up the reservoir and added in all my stuff.Looks like veg is getting close to an end.limbs are laying over now and tucking sideways.
im thinking one more week and go to flower cause it usually takes a week before they start flowering anyway.

put a nikel against the stalk for size comparison.left plant

Right

added in the float valve.res is on other side of wall.

 

[Mmjcaveman]

I really like your setup!!! I've been taught to flip when canopy is 75% achieved. You are going through transition in that week before the flip in which I personally feed my plant a neutral mix of nutrients for 1 week, then flip to 12/12 at the end of that week and swap to flower day 1 Nutes. Seems to ready the plant for the nutrient difference in in flower regiment. I think you are doing very well with your plants. How do you keep your water clean in that system? I've never really understood how maintenance is with one of these

 

[Mmjcaveman]

Did some research, that is one maintenance free system buddy!
I'm going to make one of these for my extra bedroom and get some plants started right away this is so cool

 

[heisen]

thats what i like about this hobby.Its forevor changing and evolving in the grow room.I did not start out with this system in mind.I copied the current culture system and kind of added my own thing to it.constantly improving things and upgrading.started without a chiller than added one,added a control bucket than a reservoir.
I kept adding things in to make the setup better.Im pretty good with the way its setup now..Only thing i would change is instead of 2 plants next time ill do 4.i would have already switched to flower and could make the scrog about 4 inches wider and prob went to flower after 20 days.
Only thing im worried about is the buckets being to small for plants that vegged for 5 weeks in DWC

 

[Mmjcaveman]

Bro I loved this setup so much I got determined to build one from house scrap today and got all the way to here. Just need the 2" PVC and fittings man. Where did you get the fittings and about how much did it cost?

 

[heisen]

I got everything from lowes.
I can go out in a few and take pics of the stuff i used.I know the bottom PVC is 1 1/4 " .The bulkheads that go into the buckets are 9 dollars a piece so i went a different route that worked just as well not nearly as expensive.Im going to put one together next week.a 6 bucket setup.I can write up a real nice HOW To when i put it together.this is the part that was the hardest to figure in.I found a 1 1/2 rubber washer to go over the threads of thi adapter.Used a hole saw that was the size of the threads.than put the adapter thru the hole of the bucket and screwed the nut over the threads.Take some silicone and go around the rubber washer on the outside of the bucket.It prob wouldnt leak but i did it anyway cause i didnt want to deal with the headache.Once you have all these installed in the buckets the rest is easy as hell.i cut the PVC to fit and than i put it all together before i glue it.Take a sharpie and mark the pipes with 2 lines.One on the fitting and one on the pipe.Than you can glue it all up exactly the way it goes together.Purple primer and PVC glue.

 

[heisen]

In my pics you can see that adaptor in the bucket.The rubber washer goes on the outside of the bucket.The nut on the inside.screws right up.I cut all the 1 1/4" PVC to fit.YOU really want a setup so the pump can pull water from the center of the big undercurrent pipe so you get an even pull down both sides.I used a 1 1/4" T to 3/4 inch so i could run that line to the pump.Water goes out the top of the pump and into the chiller and than back to the control bucket.
My plants love this shit is all i can say

 

[heisen]

day 29
Not much changed since yesterday except i didnt have to refill the control bucket.The new reservoir is working real good keeping the water level up to where it needs to be.PH sitting at 5.8 and PPM around 730.Little bit of tip yellow here and there but nothing to worry about.
folding the tops over trying to reach the edges of the screen.

 

[heisen]

Also i put a shut off valve on the water line that comes from the reservoir.Not sure if you noticed.The reason is so i can hook that line straight to my RO line and fill the reservoir.I can set a timer cause it takes about 15 minutes to do a gallon.instead of toting gallons to fill it up i can just turn the ro line on and come back to it a few hours later.I also have a stick with gallon marks on it so i know how to add my nutes in by looking at the stick.will tell me exactly how many gallons i added.Also if i want to \drop my PPM i can turn the RO line on and just keep stirring it till my PPM gets to where i want it.

the reservoir with the drain line in the bottom.when i want to fill it i just turn it off at the bucket and connect it to my RO line.All this crap i came up with over time to make it as simple as easy as possible.I got it pretty damn dialed in right now.

a dowel with a mark for every gallon.Tells me exactly what they are eating every day and helps me know how much nute to add to the res after i fill it.

 

[Mmjcaveman]

You don't want to add Nutes to your reservoir of Nutes, add them in a separate container of fresh ro water then pour it into the res of Nutes. Micro will not chemically bind to the water otherwise. Micro first always. I did notice the shut off valve but thought it was for weekly refills or topping off n not adding Nutes. Great setup thanks for all the advice I didn't finish today got busy otherwise but tomorrow it should be all done I'll post a final pic

 

[heisen]

You don't want to add Nutes to your reservoir of Nutes, add them in a separate container of fresh ro water then pour it into the res of Nutes. Micro will not chemically bind to the water otherwise. Micro first always. I did notice the shut off valve but thought it was for weekly refills or topping off n not adding Nutes. Great setup thanks for all the advice I didn't finish today got busy otherwise but tomorrow it should be all done I'll post a final pic

i thought you wasnt supposed to add nutes together in concentrate before adding water.Wouldnt adding the nutes to 12 gallons of water be the same thing as adding the nutes to a gallon of water than pouring it in?

 

[heisen]

30 days.
turned the HPS off to get a couple pics with a white flash.they are still drinking a gallon a day and growing pretty fast.Im gonna flip them on tuesday next week.

 

[Mmjcaveman]

Very nice. No add Nutes to water then pour in

 

[Mmjcaveman]

Don't mix Nutes. Add nutrients one by one, in a separate container starting with micro. When you finish mixing Nutes to 1 or 5 gallons, add to main reserve.
Again don't mix Nutes, mix Nutes to separate water

 

[heisen]

Im using Nova so dont have micro.The micro is in the grow.
So what your saying i just need to put the micro in a separate gallon and mix with water and than pour into resevoir?I have been putting calmag in first and than floralicious than the rest.i guess i can dilute the nutes 1 by 1 with water than pour into the reservoir since the ratios will still be the same than fill water untill my PPM levels off.
Did you get your system built yet?