Best DWC System And Why?

[AZreefer]

I'm not running a chiller, highest my water temps have gotten to is 73 and that's now with my 1000W light on 90%. I'm by no means an expert but from everything I've seen, going past a week is pushing it and asking to running into problems. It's not about what you take out of the water with the filter, or even root rot but about what your plants take out of the water and what they don't. They will not consume each nutrient in there at the same rate, certain nutrients will build up more while others are being eaten and you may build toxic levels of certain nutes and experience lock out. My water changes are no problem at all, I drop a pump in, pump the water out and then pump in new water that's been mixing for atleast 24 hours in my mixing resivor. I hope you prove all the old heads wrong and find out a way to go 2 or 3 weeks with no problems reliably and consistently. Are you using RO or distilled water?

RO/DI. There are a few hydro growers on the farm that don't change the water weekly. I'm not saying I'm going to go through a grow without topping off or even changing the water. But I am saying I will learn how long I can push the water and keep my plants happy. Me thinks more than a week is doable.

 

[DillyTrying2Learn]

RO/DI. There are a few hydro growers on the farm that don't change the water weekly. I'm not saying I'm going to go through a grow without topping off or even changing the water. But I am saying I will learn how long I can push the water and keep my plants happy. Me thinks more than a week is doable.

More than a week is no doubt doable, but for the average person and set up I think it is probably in their best interests to change weekly to reduce the chance of encountering problems. What you're doing though is how innovation happens. Not dogging you for trying at all.

 

[AZreefer]

More than a week is no doubt doable, but for the average person and set up I think it is probably in their best interests to change weekly to reduce the chance of encountering problems. What you're doing though is how innovation happens. Not dogging you for trying at all.

Not taken as anything more than an exchange of ideas among friends. I like the back and forth of ideas and I agree 100% with what you just said. The average person and set up. I'm moving my build above the average hobbiest because my understanding of water care is slightly better than average. My build will land out of the realms of average and the amount of time and money I invest in it over the next year will speak to that. I'm very excited. Don't think I won't post my fuck ups. I will.

 

[HeadHunterpipes]

Design or buy your hydroponic system according to the strain you plan on growing.
For me its 2 plants per 4x8 tent. 1280 watts of HLG lighting per tent. 20 gallon totes per plant, but next grow it will be 30 to 40 gallon totes.
You should be able to get 1 gram per watt of dried bud minimum. I get about 1.5 grams per watt to 2 grams per watt.
My plants use 4 gallons of water per day per plant or MORE. IMO small reservoirs dont cut it. You want the roots always submerged. Figure out how often you plan checking water? Buy the reservoir to according how often you plan on working the grow room/tent.
this check is refilling the reservoir or completely changing the water and checking to see if you need to add nutrients AND YOU HAVE CHECK PH almost every day depending on your water quality.
Bigger reservoirs are more stable,, less work.

Do you have a RO system or know the water quality where you plan on moving too ?

One of the first signs of a issue is the plant will slow down or stop uptaking water.
You will not know which plant is if you have more then one plant per system.

Runing different strains in the same system can also be a issue. uneven canopy's is a issue.. you want plants to be as matched as possible.
Stay away from slower flowering strains.

There is a big difference of the hydroponic system between indica strains and auto flowering strains.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Naw this filter won't pull out the nutes. A carbon filter might reduce your nutes a tad but not the 5 micron mesh filter I'm going to use. Problems will certainly arise along the way! The first run I'll be using the canna nutes line and enzyme with hydroguard. In the future I'm adding in a UV filter along with the sediment filter. I also have a few tricks up my sleeve as far as water care and system stability go as I've been fucking with big rdwc systems for a few years. Just not ones used for this purpose.

Soo hydroguard with live bacteria and uv light to kill them.

I just use some trichoderma and mycos and usually do 1 water change before flower.and sometimes when i get some deficency i cant figure out what it is.but usually its 1 water change whole grow its allways top offs

I did 10L and 70L pots and both work but 10L pot you better know how much she likes to eat because she will drink half of it in a day.70L is harder to notice the ppm change since there is soo much in there.and if you give too much you have to take out nute water its lots of manual labor

 

[AZreefer]

Soo hydroguard with live bacteria and uv light to kill them.

I just use some trichoderma and mycos and usually do 1 water change before flower.and sometimes when i get some deficency i cant figure out what it is.but usually its 1 water change whole grow its allways top offs

I did 10L and 70L pots and both work but 10L pot you better know how much she likes to eat because she will drink half of it in a day.70L is harder to notice the ppm change since there is soo much in there.and if you give too much you have to take out nute water its lots of manual labor

No. When the UV light is in play the system is sterile with no enzymes or bacteria. In it's place is a sterilizing solution

 

[AZreefer]

Live OR sterile. My first run is going to be live because I do not have my UV light purchased for this run.

 

[NorthenBud]

Just want to add when using UV make sure to have an iron supplement on hand.
I have this one and learned after 2 grows it was the problem. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRF7VWJ...=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw
It’s the 10w one.

 

[MileHiGhost]

Can anyone recommend one of these two systems over the other, and why?

Or recommend a better system?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09R1MX1K6/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09R1P9GV2/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1&th=1[/UIt

http://

Can anyone recommend one of these two systems over the other, and why?

Or recommend a better system?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09R1MX1K6/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Amazon.com

I run a DWC system pretty successfully. It all depends on your space. If I had a basement or a man cave 20x20 I would definitely choose a circulating system with a reservoir. Unfortunately I do not have that area I have 2 ft by 4 ft tent x 2. So I have to drain an refill ever 8-10 days. They are lively though. And save yourself some time and I can get a good pH ETC, temp meter. Use it ever 4 days. I

 

[Tharayman]

RDWC - same but all the buckets are connected with a supply and return pipe. Lot's of configurations out there but with DWC you feed each bucket. With RDWC you feed one bucket and that solution is pumped through all the other buckets.

For me I like to scrog, or train, my grows due to lack of heigth. DWC is impossible, really hard, to scrog really due to the fact you have to open to lid of the bucket. Hope this didn't cause any more confusion between the 2

Total newbie here: You are saying DWC+scrog is impossible because you would have to take the lid of in order to drain and clean the bucket?

The PA Hydro fallponis is a very very robust and affordable RDWC. My only complaint is you run A LOT of water so if you're using expensive nutes you'll feel it.

You will feel it due to the weekly water changes will cause you to throw a ton of nutes down the drain?

Naw this filter won't pull out the nutes. A carbon filter might reduce your nutes a tad but not the 5 micron mesh filter I'm going to use. Problems will certainly arise along the way! The first run I'll be using the canna nutes line and enzyme with hydroguard. In the future I'm adding in a UV filter along with the sediment filter. I also have a few tricks up my sleeve as far as water care and system stability go as I've been fucking with big rdwc systems for a few years. Just not ones used for this purpose.

Very excited to hear how far you have come along this path! Have you made a water treatment module? I am a lazy bastard and always looking for the highest grades of automation ;)

 

[jadins_journey]

Total newbie here: You are saying DWC+scrog is impossible because you would have to take the lid of in order to drain and clean the bucket?

Impossible no, difficult and not really worth it when there are simple ways to make it RDWC. As a matter of fact I ran one this spring, in my thread back a couple months, plum crazy x Okie was the strain

 

[amneziaHaze]

I didnt notice any difference expect its harder to clean the back side with the net in the way.but to check nutes you just pump out 200ml and do test on it.you drill a hole for access in normal dwc
In rdwc if you get a fail in the back its gonna be a pain in the ass to fix

 

[amneziaHaze]

 

[Tharayman]

In rdwc if you get a fail in the back its gonna be a pain in the ass to fix

"in the back"?

I am pretty much sold on RDWC. Seems to be so much less labour intensive. One reservoir to fill, one measurement location, one reservoir to drain. Not to mention the possibility of water temp control measures.

 

[amneziaHaze]

"in the back"?

I am pretty much sold on RDWC. Seems to be so much less labour intensive. One reservoir to fill, one measurement location, one reservoir to drain. Not to mention the possibility of water temp control measures.

And what if the roots fill up the tube that connects it to the next one and it start overfilling because it cant drain back?

 

[Olddude420]

Hey I picked up one of these for my next grow. I got the DIY 13 gallon bucket fall o ponic set. I'm so excited to put this together. 2-3 weeks about until my tent is available for the build. I'm going to be running a cooler and a filter on my reservoir to prolong the water changes. I'm also going to mainline so I won't have to scrog and I can routinely wipe buckets for inspection. I'm stoked!

What you think of my latest grow? Dsy 83 in the tent for Gorilla Glue #4. Biggest, fattest, stickyist, buds/colas i ever seen. Had to take hay twine & pull the branches 90* over about a month ago cause they grew within 4" of the light & I can't go any higher.

 

[Tharayman]

And what if the roots fill up the tube that connects it to the next one and it start overfilling because it cant drain back?

Aaah. So what you are saying is that such a system is quite vulnerable, and a small fault can fuck up the entire grow?
So how can one make sure that roots wont fill up the tubes? Go for a system with large diameter tubing?

 

[Olddude420]

Aaah. So what you are saying is that such a system is quite vulnerable, and a small fault can fuck up the entire grow?
So how can one make sure that roots wont fill up the tubes? Go for a system with large diameter tubing?

My system from PA Hydroponics uses 4" PVC as drain lines bucket to bucket as well as back to the reservoir. No chance of clogged drains.

 

[RussianWoodPecker]

My system from PA Hydroponics uses 4" PVC as drain lines bucket to bucket as well as back to the reservoir. No chance of clogged drains.

I just ordered that system say the tubes are 3inches where they made different in the past?

 

[DillyTrying2Learn]

I just ordered that system say the tubes are 3inches where they made different in the past?

Mine is 3" as well, I think he is mistaken on it being 4", Gary uses 3" pvc and bulkhead. I love mine, I'm on my 5th grow with mine.