Dtw Vs Recirclating Waste?

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DTW vs Recirclating Waste?


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growGen

growGen

15
3
Started up 5, 3gal pots of coco coir. I layered PlantIt coco chips at the bottom, followed by a body of Cyco's coco pearl, a combination of coco peat and perlite, finished off by another layer of coco chips on top to reduce compaction. I just bought 5, 6'' hydro halo drip rings, submersible pump, air pump/stone, and control bucket. I am going to build a declined table to collect runoff. But DTW seems so wasteful. I understand the runoff will be a lower PH. My question to experienced coco growers is does this really have a drastic affect on the control res' PH? I also plan to flip a 75 micron bubble bag over the control bucket to filter any debris if I decide to recirculate runoff. I will be running Mills nutrient line in combination with a few mad farmer products and maybe OG tea's veganic special sauce microbial tea. All nutes were free samples Ive collected. Ive been working at a hydroponic and soil supply store in Colorado for about two months, and the perks are great. Ive absorbed a lot of info and continue to branch out to new techniques and product lines, researching, studying, observing results in order to better inform my customers. Next project: DIY recirculating DWC (based on current culture's design) complete with res chiller. I have plans for a 7gal 6 site setup priced at $950 or less ($700 with employee discount) from parts easily found at your local hydro store and home depot. (bluelab guardian combo meter at additional cost) I plan to monitor with my bluelab PH pen and ppm truncheon and a thermometer. but that's another post for another time. anyways, thoughts on DTW or save the waste.
 
tobh

tobh

Supporter
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Never recirculated but I wouldn't really want to. If you're wanting to recirculate, just go traditional hydro. Coco is a soil-less medium, meaning it is not hydro. Treat it accordingly, imo. I just think recirculating with coco as your medium would be a total pita and wouldn't reap much benefit. If you're concerned about waste, feed low ppm's and very little run off. Flush occasionally with 1/4 strength solution to flush out any salt build up and resume normal feeding. Just my .02.

One Love,
tobh
 
Apollo13

Apollo13

430
63
Build your own. For that much I got a 24 bucket rdwc system that runs dwc, rdwc, uc or plain Ole ebb. For much cheaper. Go 5 gallon green buckets with net pots. Twin 1.5 inch drains with 1.5 inch barbed sprinker fittings at hd and grommets on ebay. There is nothing magical about bought systems except if you don't know anything, the one time u should buy. Save money for upgrades, chillers or the killer, electricity. Producing great buds is awesome, producing great buds for dirt cheap is always better.
 
growGen

growGen

15
3
Never recirculated but I wouldn't really want to. If you're wanting to recirculate, just go traditional hydro. Coco is a soil-less medium, meaning it is not hydro. Treat it accordingly, imo. I just think recirculating with coco as your medium would be a total pita and wouldn't reap much benefit. If you're concerned about waste, feed low ppm's and very little run off. Flush occasionally with 1/4 strength solution to flush out any salt build up and resume normal feeding. Just my .02.

One Love,
tobh
cost is the driving concern to recycle atm. I am working toward RDWC. hopefully next round I will have it set up. just happened upon a couple of hydrofarm rainforest setups that will be the veg staging area for the RDWC.
 
growGen

growGen

15
3
Build your own. For that much I got a 24 bucket rdwc system that runs dwc, rdwc, uc or plain Ole ebb. For much cheaper. Go 5 gallon green buckets with net pots. Twin 1.5 inch drains with 1.5 inch barbed sprinker fittings at hd and grommets on ebay. There is nothing magical about bought systems except if you don't know anything, the one time u should buy. Save money for upgrades, chillers or the killer, electricity. Producing great buds is awesome, producing great buds for dirt cheap is always better.
my plan is to convert a grow flow ebb expansion pack consisting of 6 square 7 gal buckets with net pots into the RDWC grow sites. Rubbermaid tub from wally mart for reservoir, float valve, gromets, fill/drain caps, hosing,submersible pump, air pump, stones, and lines I get pretty cheap at work, most expensive part is still the 1/4hp res chiller even with 35% off msrp, and bluelab guardian is an arm and a leg after discount too. total msrp of current culture equivalent and chiller is around $1,600.

I probably could increase amount of sites if I switch to round buckets and pots, only concern is how well the bulkhead grommets will seal on a contoured surface vs a flat square bucket.
 
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FlyinJStable

FlyinJStable

2,518
263
I am a fan of Coco and of DTW i don't run a big grow its just for myself and a few PTSD Vets
but here is what I found to work As I water 2x daily By hand and have Low PPM w very minimal waste.

There was a Very good write up Research on a 12 unit, 6 timed daily watered system with Halos on 3 gal containers, Here is what it said FWIW
once the root system was WELL established the room temp was taken to 80 and the RH to 65-70 during the entire run
The concern for PM was not an issue with the 4 OSC fans in each corner leaving No air UN cycled > air movement a Must.
the Res tank was maintained @68 and the DTW were set to run30 seconds 6 times a day during lights on PPM was set Very conservative and by the end of the 9 weeks little no no swing was noticed in the Coco Keeping the salts from drying out with single watering s was most likely the cause prior to making the switch to this method.

Now this was a bit to absorb so I reduced my PPM to 425 and watered 4 times a day with no waist runoff or very little and My ladies were Lovin it
Its better to set up a system that starts out simple and work up I Love the multi watering low PPM and 0 waist. IMHO sounds good
I still kept my temps at 78 and 55% LoL I was to nervous to go any higher.
Peace FlyJ
I will try and find the Page and post it for you
 
Apollo13

Apollo13

430
63
You can make a powerful chiller out of old ac or dehumidifier. Almost free. Old freezer or fridge with some sort of radiator in fridge works too. My buddy fills a chest freezer with waterand put a car rad in it.

Use a inline pump, it's more but keeping pump out of water saves heat. Also let u have more options in the future. To me it's all profit minus overhead equals dollar per gram to produce.

If ur system is big enough and u buy a chiller, u don't need a res. Just more water to chill.
 
Apollo13

Apollo13

430
63
Another thing, I can get another 10 degrees with a fan strapped to chiller.

I wrapped my buckets with 5 layers of sill seal (building materal) then mylar bubble wrap. With 300 lpm air, 8500 gph water circulation, and 3000 watts of light, my chiller barely runs. They are on concrete. But the more insulated it is the cheaper it is.
 
Apollo13

Apollo13

430
63
I used a lil Vaseline on my grommets, it is not the best for the grommet, but make installation much easy and less prone to tares. I was considering using Burts bees wax next time.
 
Dezzie

Dezzie

25
3
IMG 2076
Hey guys, just thought I would weigh in on recirculated grow I've done a few with great success and quite easy too. I've recently started another recirculated grow and it's looking great so far, I'm using coco coir as my medium in 11ltr pots in Wilma systems with 2x 600w hps duel spec bulbs they are 2 weeks old today I'll add some pics to see what you guys think
 
Dezzie

Dezzie

25
3
Ph I try to keep under 6 around 5.6-5.8 just slight adjustments every other day I use filtered tap water too, I had to add some of AN's sensi cal/mag though had little deficiency going on but all sorted now and I feed every 3 hours during the light period, I'd appreciate any opinions good or bad thanks
 
jumpincactus

jumpincactus

Premium Member
Supporter
11,609
438
Drain to waste is a "Waste" Bad enough as growers we use more electricity than the average bear, but then to add insult to injury and use non sustainable methods such as dtw is not wise in my opinion. Does anyone consider the repercussions of where all those salts and nutes and a myriad of other chemicals ends up? Or do we just don't care. Hummppphhhhh
 
Dezzie

Dezzie

25
3
I agree it seems crazy and more expensive to dtw in my opinion especially if your getting good results with no waste, keep an eye on ppm's in the res and watch ph levels they'll thrive
 
Enforcer

Enforcer

2,008
263
I'm setting up a system for my next run and I'm still on the fence about which way to go.

View attachment 733999 Hey guys, just thought I would weigh in on recirculated grow I've done a few with great success and quite easy too. I've recently started another recirculated grow and it's looking great so far, I'm using coco coir as my medium in 11ltr pots in Wilma systems with 2x 600w hps duel spec bulbs they are 2 weeks old today I'll add some pics to see what you guys think

Dude, nice plants but please relocate all that electrical high in the tent so you don't burn your house down.
 
Enforcer

Enforcer

2,008
263
Ended up going with DTW. Pumps nute solution to plants, run off drains to sump, sump pumped out once a day to catch res, catch res dumped when filling main res. All happens on a timer.
 
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