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Help Please - First Go At Hydroculture (dwc)

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Help Please - First Go At Hydroculture (dwc)

Northernpop 44 Replies 6,932 Views
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Northernpop

Northernpop

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#1
Hey guys, I'm an organic soil grower, but fancy a go at hydroculture (DWC). I've been researching, and I don't think it's an option for me. My grow room is around 72-86*f and that's too hot for the water isn't it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Peace out !!
 
#3
Ah, great. Cheers MW. So if I use Dwc I can fill up a tub to say 80 litres, and that will act as a temperature buffer? Internal or external pump then? I assume submersible pumps heat up the water too much.

Happy growing !!
 
#4
Sorry, I'm mixing dwc with drip system !! Me bad !!
 
#5
I think it will be too warm for straight up DWC. The water needs to stay under 70F and 68f would be better. Above 70F the amount of oxygen the water can hold lowers significantly and then the anerobic bacteria can flourish and will likely cause root rot.

I have struggled with similar issues and just this week ordered a water chiller. In the mean time I have been putting frozen plastic jugs of water in the reservoirs to prevent problems. It is a pain in the ass and buying a chiller causes a similar pain in a similar place:) but only once.....

Judging by your user name you must be from that place where the "Northern Blues" came from. I used to work in East Hertfordshire near Bishop's Stortford.
 
#6
DGP said:
Judging by your user name you must be from that place where the "Northern Blues" came from. I used to work in East Hertfordshire near Bishop's Stortford.
Click to expand...

Cheers DGP !! I'm from the north of England.

Well that's a depressing read. What I'll do is keep a tank of water in the grow, with a max min temp sensor in it, and keep an eye. If it's fairly close, an ice pack every day dropped in the bucket may do it.

Any thoughts?

Happy growing !!
 
#7
I have a tent in my garage that had a similar issue. I was using an HPS lamp with a glass cover and was blowing air into the lamp housing with a 4" duct and straight out with more 4" ducting. This keeps as much thermal load of the lamp out as possible. The good news is the temperature at the bottom of the tent was a good 4 to 5f lower in temperature.

So, since the temps outside the tent are averaging 45f this time of year I placed a reservoir outside the tent and used a cheap aquarium pump to send cool water into the tent, through a flood tray and then let gravity send it back to the cool reservoir. A timer controls the pump and it floods and drains several times a day. It is a pain though cause when the weather gets warm I have to shuffle ice out the garage to put in the main reservoir. Had been using plastic jugs with a cap so they can float in the main reservoir and cool the water that way. Between this tent and my my flower room I was always busy ferrying ice out to the grow areas. This is why I ended up ordering a chiller this week. Ultimately the plan is to use RDWC in both rooms. I was trying to get by til April or so when I can grow outside til Fall when cooler weather returns but the weather lately has been unusually warm.

Recently I also built a COB LED light bar for this tent to further reduce the heat load in the grow.

Best Wishes,

D
 
#8
Hey DGB, et al. Could I try the diy container hydro system with sprayers fitted to keep the roots wet? Is the temperature on those systems as critical?

This is the type I mean.......

Happy growing !!
 

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#10
EventHorizan said:
You can do dwc without a chiller.. Use +life or any other bacteria to ward off pythuim...
Make sure you got 3x as much air as possible too....
Buy quality air diffusors...
Click to expand...

How warm can the water be when using +life? I still need to try this but have not had time to get to the local shop.

Thanks,

D
 
#11
DGP said:
How warm can the water be when using +life? I still need to try this but have not had time to get to the local shop.

Thanks,

D
Click to expand...
I dont know.. Prob 80ish...
But with just one dwc bucket, you will be fine...
 
#12
Northernpop said:
Hey DGB, et al. Could I try the diy container hydro system with sprayers fitted to keep the roots wet? Is the temperature on those systems as critical?

This is the type I mean.......

Happy growing !!
Click to expand...
Same philosophy.. +life...
 
#15
EventHorizan said:
I dont know.. Prob 80ish...
But with just one dwc bucket, you will be fine...
Click to expand...

Is that because the large volume of water stabilises the temperature EventHorizan? This may be a goer. I've got a min max probe in one gallon of water in grow, and temps are looking steady. With a large container/tupe? It'll be even more stable.

Cheers and happy growing !!
 
#16
Northernpop said:
Is that because the large volume of water stabilises the temperature EventHorizan? This may be a goer. I've got a min max probe in one gallon of water in grow, and temps are looking steady. With a large container/tupe? It'll be even more stable.

Cheers and happy growing !!
Click to expand...
Northernpop said:
Hey guys, I'm an organic soil grower, but fancy a go at hydroculture (DWC). I've been researching, and I don't think it's an option for me. My grow room is around 72-86*f and that's too hot for the water isn't it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Peace out !!
Click to expand...
Dude my room hits 82 degrees and the water temps are just fine, i'm running a re-circulating pump and even then they're fine. No root rot whatsoever. You can add "silica blast" by "Botinicare" and it will help build a defense mechanism to inclement climates. I've used it since I've switched to hydroponics and it has done me well. Just ease off some in the veg period because it will keep your plants stout. If you're running a single bubble bucket keep it at 2.5ml per gallon.
 
#17
I'm going to buy a 100litre container (as attached), and in the uk I can buy liquid oxygen by growth technology. That should help with the temps. I'll look for similar products.

Happy growing !!
 

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#18
Northernpop said:
Is that because the large volume of water stabilises the temperature EventHorizan? This may be a goer. I've got a min max probe in one gallon of water in grow, and temps are looking steady. With a large container/tupe? It'll be even more stable.

Cheers and happy growing !!
Click to expand...
I meant you could run just 1 bucket without needing a chiller... But it will need daily control in flower...
 
#19
EventHorizan said:
I meant you could run just 1 bucket without needing a chiller... But it will need daily control in flower...
Click to expand...

Ah, ok. Like temps and ec? My ph and ec probe finally came from china today, but reading through my main reference book (cultivating cannabis in the 21st century by C.K. Watson), it states that every hydroponic system must have the reservoir changed and throughly scrubbed every 7 days. With this, potentially two feeds a day, and temp issues, I think it seems a difficult thing to do. And very time consuming compared to soil.

Any other comments on hydro guys?

Peace out.
 
#20
My set up is stupid easy. I change my res out every 8 days. Do t scrub for the entire grow. I keep it outside the tent to keep it as others said before round 69-70 just by leaving on cold concrete.
I add my a + b mix in with some acid. Acidify once per day with nitric acid.
Add some bacterias in day 4, every week.

But the key, for the stupid easy ness of it is top feed buckets with hydroton. Get the free oxygen pull down from gravity. Run timer 14 on / 40 off on pump.

I don’t airate the Rez and have 9ppm DO.
 

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