Setting Up For First Dwc Grow. Not Your Average Noob

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Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Hi ppls,

I am from Canada and with legalization coming (still a few months out) I'm setting up for my first grow and have spent some doing research, much of it on forums such as this one and a few scientific studies i could dig up on some of the ideas i am thinking about employing . I'm hoping this long winded post will not discourage ppl from reading. I'm hoping to get some critique and advice from those of you who can point out deficiencies and missing factor as well as advice that you may feel will help me along the way.

A little about me. Although I am a complete noob at growing Cannabis I do have quite some experience in the aquatic world of growing plants. I have a decent understanding of Nutes and have been mixing my own dry ferts for some time now. In the interest of getting this post going I will dive right in. My aquarium in the profile pic is all live plants and although it may not look like much I can tell you keeping plants thriving while trying to keep sensitive fish alive can be quite the challenge and takes very stringent monitoring.

2x2 grow for the first couple and 3x3 after.

I will be using the scrog method.

Lighting: I have not purchased a light as of yet and as is in the aquatic world lighting will be the single biggest limiting factor in driving growth and flowering. For now i'm looking to get something that will get me by for a few grows before I upgrade as the initial cost of setting up is adding up. This will be the light I am intending on getting after I get a couple grows under my belt In meantime I'm thinking this light to get me by for $165 (I know the site says $195) My current Led's don't quite put out the wattage, proper spectrum or micro-mols needed for a decent grow.

Hydro DWC: Using hydrocorn as inert medium in 6" Hydro pot. I have Fluval Q2 that pushes up to 240/lph (80 Gal/hr) and a 4" round airstone using black airline to prevent light bleeding and possible algae promotion.

Nutes: This is where I could use some of you experts out there. While I have experience with nutes for aquatic plants, terrestrial plants differ in needs and with the absence of the need to worry about living organisms everything changes . So here is my plan for Veg as I have not yet finished my calculations for early or late flowering.

I will be using the following:

Macros:
Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate)
Potassium Monobasic Phosphate
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate)
Magnesium Sulfate (Heptahydrate)
Calcium Sulfate (Dihydrate)

PPM

N (NO3-) 170ppm
K 200ppm
P 32ppm
Mg 66.7ppm
Ca 133ppm
S 87.774ppm


Micro's
:
Since my Micro's are premixed and I am going to assume in the proper ratio's I will add enough to bring my FE (Iron) up to 2ppm and assume this will cover the micro's. If the grow world is anything like the aquatic world I welcome opinions on the micro's but rather not start a war over them.

CSM+B:
Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%

N (NO3-) 170
K 200
P 32
Mg 66.7
Ca 133
S 87.774

PH controller/Co2:
Something I have not seen much of in the research I have done is the use of Co2 to regulate PH in DWC. I can assume the reason would be the equipment cost and amount of aeration required which leads to faster off gassing of Co2 could be seen as a wasted Co2. But what if the Co2 was not wasted? Since I already have the equipment to do this there is no added cost I was thinking of a way to take advantage of it by using a DIY sealed grow space lined with mylar where the off gassed Co2 would end up. I won't go into the details unless anyone has specific questions about it.

Water Changes: I am going to attempt to do as minimal water changes as possible through balancing of nutrients and water testing. Since I already have an API master test kit I will attempt to regulate and record rough nutrient uptake at weekly intervals and try to determine a balanced feeding schedule for future grows of the same strain. Although some parameters are outside of the ranges testable by the kit this is easily solved by doubling the water sample and adding the same amount of reagents then multiplying the result by 2.

Well I think I will stop there and see what kinda of feedback and issues you all may see with any of this and go from there.

P.S. I have think skin so please don't hold back

Thanks in advance
 
Mr Bee

Mr Bee

3,776
263
Sorry man but u lost me at (...this long winded post....)
 
P

PharmHand

846
143
Hi ppls,

I am from Canada and with legalization coming (still a few months out) I'm setting up for my first grow and have spent some doing research, much of it on forums such as this one and a few scientific studies i could dig up on some of the ideas i am thinking about employing . I'm hoping this long winded post will not discourage ppl from reading. I'm hoping to get some critique and advice from those of you who can point out deficiencies and missing factor as well as advice that you may feel will help me along the way.

A little about me. Although I am a complete noob at growing Cannabis I do have quite some experience in the aquatic world of growing plants. I have a decent understanding of Nutes and have been mixing my own dry ferts for some time now. In the interest of getting this post going I will dive right in. My aquarium in the profile pic is all live plants and although it may not look like much I can tell you keeping plants thriving while trying to keep sensitive fish alive can be quite the challenge and takes very stringent monitoring.

2x2 grow for the first couple and 3x3 after.

I will be using the scrog method.

Lighting: I have not purchased a light as of yet and as is in the aquatic world lighting will be the single biggest limiting factor in driving growth and flowering. For now i'm looking to get something that will get me by for a few grows before I upgrade as the initial cost of setting up is adding up. This will be the light I am intending on getting after I get a couple grows under my belt In meantime I'm thinking this light to get me by for $165 (I know the site says $195) My current Led's don't quite put out the wattage, proper spectrum or micro-mols needed for a decent grow.

Hydro DWC: Using hydrocorn as inert medium in 6" Hydro pot. I have Fluval Q2 that pushes up to 240/lph (80 Gal/hr) and a 4" round airstone using black airline to prevent light bleeding and possible algae promotion.

Nutes: This is where I could use some of you experts out there. While I have experience with nutes for aquatic plants, terrestrial plants differ in needs and with the absence of the need to worry about living organisms everything changes . So here is my plan for Veg as I have not yet finished my calculations for early or late flowering.

I will be using the following:

Macros:
Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate)
Potassium Monobasic Phosphate
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate)
Magnesium Sulfate (Heptahydrate)
Calcium Sulfate (Dihydrate)

PPM

N (NO3-) 170ppm
K 200ppm
P 32ppm
Mg 66.7ppm
Ca 133ppm
S 87.774ppm


Micro's
:
Since my Micro's are premixed and I am going to assume in the proper ratio's I will add enough to bring my FE (Iron) up to 2ppm and assume this will cover the micro's. If the grow world is anything like the aquatic world I welcome opinions on the micro's but rather not start a war over them.

CSM+B:
Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%

N (NO3-) 170
K 200
P 32
Mg 66.7
Ca 133
S 87.774

PH controller/Co2:
Something I have not seen much of in the research I have done is the use of Co2 to regulate PH in DWC. I can assume the reason would be the equipment cost and amount of aeration required which leads to faster off gassing of Co2 could be seen as a wasted Co2. But what if the Co2 was not wasted? Since I already have the equipment to do this there is no added cost I was thinking of a way to take advantage of it by using a DIY sealed grow space lined with mylar where the off gassed Co2 would end up. I won't go into the details unless anyone has specific questions about it.

Water Changes: I am going to attempt to do as minimal water changes as possible through balancing of nutrients and water testing. Since I already have an API master test kit I will attempt to regulate and record rough nutrient uptake at weekly intervals and try to determine a balanced feeding schedule for future grows of the same strain. Although some parameters are outside of the ranges testable by the kit this is easily solved by doubling the water sample and adding the same amount of reagents then multiplying the result by 2.

Well I think I will stop there and see what kinda of feedback and issues you all may see with any of this and go from there.

P.S. I have think skin so please don't hold back

Thanks in advance
I admire your ambition to make your own dry salt mix. I’ve always wanted to but the simplicity of premade formulas has kept me complacent. This should help https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/fatmans-diy-nutrient-mixing-guide.20899/
The guys here that could have helped I’m pretty sure are long gone. @nMEEKS might be still around or @Ignignokt if not try searching their names and glean what you can from old posts.... I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
I admire your ambition to make your own dry salt mix. I’ve always wanted to but the simplicity of premade formulas has kept me complacent. This should help https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/fatmans-diy-nutrient-mixing-guide.20899/
The guys here that could have helped I’m pretty sure are long gone. @nMEEKS might be still around or @Ignignokt if not try searching their names and glean what you can from old posts.... I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors

Thank for the reply and the info. That thread really helped confirm my ratio's and I think I will dose based on PPM, see how the plants react and adjust dosing from there. Still working on my flowing nutes I will have to lower my N and up my P and maybe K. I'm looking forward to starting a journal once things here become legal.
 
DGP

DGP

1,214
263
Thank for the reply and the info. That thread really helped confirm my ratio's and I think I will dose based on PPM, see how the plants react and adjust dosing from there. Still working on my flowing nutes I will have to lower my N and up my P and maybe K. I'm looking forward to starting a journal once things here become legal.

Cannabis seems to like a p to k ratio of 1-2. So I like to go 3-1-2 in veg and 1-1-2 in Flower My schedule is more complicated than just that but there is an early veg and a transition and of course a flush.

Dee
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Cannabis seems to like a p to k ratio of 1-2. So I like to go 3-1-2 in veg and 1-1-2 in Flower My schedule is more complicated than just that but there is an early veg and a transition and of course a flush.

Dee

Thanks DGP. So would you suggest something closer to 150N ppm/50P ppm/100K ppm for Veg. I know there are no real magic numbers when it comes to this and appreciate any info you can provide on ratio's and times of change possibly in terms of weeks if its not to much trouble. This would greatly help he in mixing my own ferts. Its just so much cheaper then buying and so dam easy if you have the right targets. Also is much easier to control and correct deficiencies. I mean once I get going and can roughly measure nutrient uptake on an individual scale it should be easier but I would really like a decent plan going in so again I really appreciate the help on this.
 
stltoed

stltoed

324
93
How did it wind up? Do you still use powdered nutrients? Not my thing, but if I had to pay Canadian prices I might think about it. What did you use to inoculate your water?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
How did it wind up? Do you still use powdered nutrients? Not my thing, but if I had to pay Canadian prices I might think about it. What did you use to inoculate your water?
I use mega crop 2 part now with raw microbes in coco and southern ag fungicide or hydroguard in rdwc. Both with hygrozyme also. On in coco it's once every couple weeks and hydro only each res change.
 
Mikado

Mikado

3
3
Good day Aquaman. Newb here but can hold my own I'm pretty sure in the knowledge dept.

With your mega crop 2 part. Do u add the cal nit first or the main component first? I've had some fallout and tried both ways. Starting EC 0.1 tap water ph 7.7 ish starting out.

I would like to exceed 1.8 EC but that has been when I see them react. Any ideas as to what could cause? I removed the silicate (cyco) added first.

Perhaps I cannot exceed 1.8 EC (the max on their base feed)

Also DWC and megacrop 2 part, problematic?

Thanks ! Fellow Canuck
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Was the first grow a success?
Yup it was.

Good day Aquaman. Newb here but can hold my own I'm pretty sure in the knowledge dept.

With your mega crop 2 part. Do u add the cal nit first or the main component first? I've had some fallout and tried both ways. Starting EC 0.1 tap water ph 7.7 ish starting out.

I would like to exceed 1.8 EC but that has been when I see them react. Any ideas as to what could cause? I removed the silicate (cyco) added first.

Perhaps I cannot exceed 1.8 EC (the max on their base feed)

Also DWC and megacrop 2 part, problematic?

Thanks ! Fellow Canuck
First is more nutrients does not equal more growth. In hydro I don't need more than 1.2-1.4 EC and I run co2 so 1.2 in most cases should be plenty.

Ph stability is important at 0.5 EC tap you may need to add some alkalinity to slow ph drift. 0.2 increase in 24 hrs is a good place. If it's more you want to look at this.

Mix part B first and allow this for 20 min or so then add the cal nit (part A). While the micros a chelated you lrob want to ph down to about 6.5 and it won't take much with a water source low in EC like yours before adding the part b to be safe if your having issues.

Are you using silica by chance?
 
stltoed

stltoed

324
93
Yup it was.


First is more nutrients does not equal more growth. In hydro I don't need more than 1.2-1.4 EC and I run co2 so 1.2 in most cases should be plenty.

Ph stability is important at 0.5 EC tap you may need to add some alkalinity to slow ph drift. 0.2 increase in 24 hrs is a good place. If it's more you want to look at this.

Mix part B first and allow this for 20 min or so then add the cal nit (part A). While the micros a chelated you lrob want to ph down to about 6.5 and it won't take much with a water source low in EC like yours before adding the part b to be safe if your having issues.

Are you using silica by chance?
That's pretty impressive. Using powders on a first time grow, in hydro no less
 
Mikado

Mikado

3
3
Yup it was.


First is more nutrients does not equal more growth. In hydro I don't need more than 1.2-1.4 EC and I run co2 so 1.2 in most cases should be plenty.

Ph stability is important at 0.5 EC tap you may need to add some alkalinity to slow ph drift. 0.2 increase in 24 hrs is a good place. If it's more you want to look at this.

Mix part B first and allow this for 20 min or so then add the cal nit (part A). While the micros a chelated you lrob want to ph down to about 6.5 and it won't take much with a water source low in EC like yours before adding the part b to be safe if your having issues.

Are you using silica by chance?
I did try cyco brand silica and added it before the 2 part components. I understand 1.8 is high in DWC. I run 240w QB. The intensity is nuts and I run out of head room so I have ended up as close as 8" away....hit 4.0 EC to keep up lol. Drinking a good gallon a day and eating 0.5 EC. No supplements just base nutes. Used veg+bloom tap water to get that high EC. There are no ammonium nitrate sources which I believe is why it can go so high. I was using Heisenberg tea as well to when running it that high. This was a plant in Veg that keep as a mom.

So I did let the plant eat down to 1.8EC and deficiencies showed within 6 hrs. Bump back up and Smoot. Again I believe the key to that high EC is no ammonium and urea nitrogen sources.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
That's pretty impressive. Using powders on a first time grow, in hydro no less
I grew aquatic plants for man many years. Water is my comfortable place. Mixing my own nutes from powder form.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
I did try cyco brand silica and added it before the 2 part components. I understand 1.8 is high in DWC. I run 240w QB. The intensity is nuts and I run out of head room so I have ended up as close as 8" away....hit 4.0 EC to keep up lol. Drinking a good gallon a day and eating 0.5 EC. No supplements just base nutes. Used veg+bloom tap water to get that high EC. There are no ammonium nitrate sources which I believe is why it can go so high. I was using Heisenberg tea as well to when running it that high. This was a plant in Veg that keep as a mom.

So I did let the plant eat down to 1.8EC and deficiencies showed within 6 hrs. Bump back up and Smoot. Again I believe the key to that high EC is no ammonium and urea nitrogen sources.
Yeah each ppm of free ammonia will break down into almost 4ppm of nitrate if you have the proper bacteria. In hydrobwe want as little nitrogen in the form of ammonia as possible
 
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