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120-60-300-120-60-177.2 Nutrient Tutorial, or, My Thread Can Beat Up Your Thread.

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120-60-300-120-60-177.2 Nutrient Tutorial, or, My Thread Can Beat Up Your Thread.

dankworth 602 Replies 107,318 Views
Page 25 of 31 · Replies 481–500 of 603
#482
Tty what size top and bottom bucket are you using? And do you use a chiller? I like your system, especially your use of microbes and no sterilants, though i am not sure what the key difference is between your system and a normal RDWC system. More media so more room for bennies to colonize and grow?
 
#483
kushtrees said:
Tty what size top and bottom bucket are you using? And do you use a chiller? I like your system, especially your use of microbes and no sterilants, though i am not sure what the key difference is between your system and a normal RDWC system. More media so more room for bennies to colonize and grow?
Click to expand...

My RDWC uses 5 gallon buckets. The plants grow in 8"netpot bucket lids that fit snugly over the top of the 5 gallon buckets, sealing out light from above. To complete the dark environment inside, I painted the RDWC buckets and I'm sure to fill the netpots with soil about 3/4 full to cover the holes.

The key difference you're looking for is the hybrid nature of my system; I use 50/50 coco/hydroton as the media, and I topfeed through it. The water is pumped from the RDWC beneath, and the buckets get watered to at least 30-60% 'runoff', although it just drains down through the media, roots and back in to the RDWC bucket below. Because this gives so much room for beneficial microbes, I'm guessing this is why I haven't had any more problems with pythium or the like.

The airstones were huge for encouraging the roots to come out of their coco nursery and play in the airspace beneath the netpots and ultimately drop into the water below. When things are just right, I've measured 1.5" of growth a day in veg. for several days running. In bloom, stretch really takes on a Fantastic Four quality, and then the buds get so fat so fast they're breaking branches in week five?!

I use a chiller, all right- just one. It sits in the office all winter, generating enough heat to warm the whole house. It cools everything; RDWCs, and the sealed rooms. At the risk of digressing a little bit, I am also using the water cooling system to dehumidify the sealed rooms, and I just may have hit upon a way to do it at above 100% efficiency. Long and short, just the one 2 ton chiller cools all aspects of 16 lights' worth of growing space. In the summer- in a record breaking heatwave... with enough capacity left over to provide airconditioning for the house. SERIOUSLY.
 
#484
midwestdensies said:
Put a hole in a bucket 2 inches up, fill past hose with aerated medium (hydroton or perlite) then the remaining mix choose how aerated you want the mix wither being coco or just strait aeration. some like 50-75% aeration. So essentially the middle layer wicks off the mini rex in the bottom

I personally prefer a square rubbermaid or tuff box tote that is in the 18-27 gallon range and putting 2 plants per tote. If using a tote, I put 2 holes, both on same size 2 1/2 in up from bottom. Hempys rule pretty much and you can make mini ones to see how they work which I recommend just to test before jumping all in. HOpe this helps ty.

Dankworth- Hater buckets fucking rock buddy. Thanks for all your work posting recipes and info, that shit really helped me grasp things.

MW
Click to expand...

I still don't see why the airstone would be bad if it is covered in perlite or hydroton. The water will wick up no matter (airstone or not) what via capillary action won't it? I think I will try a straight perlite one to see if I can kill anything.
 
#485
ttystikk said:
My RDWC uses 5 gallon buckets. The plants grow in 8"netpot bucket lids that fit snugly over the top of the 5 gallon buckets, sealing out light from above. To complete the dark environment inside, I painted the RDWC buckets and I'm sure to fill the netpots with soil about 3/4 full to cover the holes.

The key difference you're looking for is the hybrid nature of my system; I use 50/50 coco/hydroton as the media, and I topfeed through it. The water is pumped from the RDWC beneath, and the buckets get watered to at least 30-60% 'runoff', although it just drains down through the media, roots and back in to the RDWC bucket below. Because this gives so much room for beneficial microbes, I'm guessing this is why I haven't had any more problems with pythium or the like.

The airstones were huge for encouraging the roots to come out of their coco nursery and play in the airspace beneath the netpots and ultimately drop into the water below. When things are just right, I've measured 1.5" of growth a day in veg. for several days running. In bloom, stretch really takes on a Fantastic Four quality, and then the buds get so fat so fast they're breaking branches in week five?!

I use a chiller, all right- just one. It sits in the office all winter, generating enough heat to warm the whole house. It cools everything; RDWCs, and the sealed rooms. At the risk of digressing a little bit, I am also using the water cooling system to dehumidify the sealed rooms, and I just may have hit upon a way to do it at above 100% efficiency. Long and short, just the one 2 ton chiller cools all aspects of 16 lights' worth of growing space. In the summer- in a record breaking heatwave... with enough capacity left over to provide airconditioning for the house. SERIOUSLY.
Click to expand...


I run a very similar set up with a coco/hydroton media in the net pot except I have discontinued my top feed. I hand water only. This gives me a great amount of control. The roots will act as wicks when they hit the water. That coupled with the bubbles from the airstone keeping the inside of the bucket and all around the netpot at 100% RH means no need for a consistent top feed. THERE IS NO NEED TO WATER FROM THE TOP AFTER THE ROOTS HIT THE WATER

If I want to add in an additive like silica or tea or aptus... I just mix a small batch and add a couple of cups per site. I keep EWC tea going all the time in the res. Things couldn't be better at the moment.
 
#486
Capulator said:
I still don't see why the airstone would be bad if it is covered in perlite or hydroton. The water will wick up no matter (airstone or not) what via capillary action won't it? I think I will try a straight perlite one to see if I can kill anything.
Click to expand...

I'm down to see what you find out-

the reason airstones work for me is that I'm in an open water RDWC situation, where the bubbles rise to the surface and pop- splashing droplets of nutrient water all up underneath my girls. This encourages the roots to pop out of the media and once they reach the water, it's off to the races!

Covering airstones with media below the waterline wouldn't interfere with this, but any media at or above the waterline most likely would.
 
#487
Capulator said:
I run a very similar set up with a coco/hydroton media in the net pot except I have discontinued my top feed. I hand water only. This gives me a great amount of control. The roots will act as wicks when they hit the water. That coupled with the bubbles from the airstone keeping the inside of the bucket and all around the netpot at 100% RH means no need for a consistent top feed. THERE IS NO NEED TO WATER FROM THE TOP AFTER THE ROOTS HIT THE WATER

If I want to add in an additive like silica or tea or aptus... I just mix a small batch and add a couple of cups per site. I keep EWC tea going all the time in the res. Things couldn't be better at the moment.
Click to expand...

For whatever reason- and it may be some detail about my system I haven't noticed- I do see a significant difference between the runs I've done with and without topfeeding. They like to be topfed, at least in my setup. The other reason I like it is that if the plants drink a bunch of water and lower the water level of the whole RDWC, some roots dry and die. With topfeed, everything stays alive until my lazy ass gets around to refilling it.
 
#488
ttystikk said:
For whatever reason- and it may be some detail about my system I haven't noticed- I do see a significant difference between the runs I've done with and without topfeeding. They like to be topfed, at least in my setup. The other reason I like it is that if the plants drink a bunch of water and lower the water level of the whole RDWC, some roots dry and die. With topfeed, everything stays alive until my lazy ass gets around to refilling it.
Click to expand...

I see. You must be running UC style. In the MPB the water level never goes down in the buckets. Maybe you should install a float valve?
 
#489
Capulator said:
I see. You must be running UC style. In the MPB the water level never goes down in the buckets. Maybe you should install a float valve?
Click to expand...

Yes, my RDWC is UC style. Yes, I need to install a float valve. The only holdup is the water source; the water in town here is 50ppm. Even after last summer's wildfire armageddon and all the silt washing down into the rivers, it never went over 75ppm as measured by electrical condictivity. Thus, I'm tempted to just get swamp cooler float valves and hook them up to the tap! I don't mix nutes in a barrel before adding them to my RDWC, I just mix in situ. Your thoughts?
 
J

Jalisco Kid

Guest
#490
midwestdensies said:
Krusty is the man who made these (hempys) popular a while ago. You should just google those 2 words and see what you find, it shocked me too. So no difference one in the same.

Hater buckets are I believe all Dankworth on that one so big props. The tote has the same hole or holes 2 or so inches up for overflow as hempys. That is an aeration frame or net pot in a tote but only the aeration frame is filled with medium. Then put into the tote with holes in the lid for the frame to rest suspended in the tote. A few inches of water always is in the bottom thats aerated with an airstone or two. pretty dope and uses far less medium than a hempy bucket.

No problem. Let me know if I can further help explain but you can also look at dankworths threads because he preaches that system and throws up a few pics explaining probably easier.
MW
Click to expand...
Hempies are not like a krusty bucket if done right.
 
#492
ttystikk said:
Yes, my RDWC is UC style. Yes, I need to install a float valve. The only holdup is the water source; the water in town here is 50ppm. Even after last summer's wildfire armageddon and all the silt washing down into the rivers, it never went over 75ppm as measured by electrical condictivity. Thus, I'm tempted to just get swamp cooler float valves and hook them up to the tap! I don't mix nutes in a barrel before adding them to my RDWC, I just mix in situ. Your thoughts?
Click to expand...

hook a cheap float valve up to the tap man!
 
#493
Hempies are a single bucket filled with media usually perlite/ coco these days though the original was perlite vermiculite at a high perlite ratio, though anything with a high air content works well Then instead of having drain holes at the bottom a single hole is drilled one to two inches above the bottom with a screen covering it so water can drain but media does not leak out and so that there is 1-2" of water at the bottom of the bucket at all times this water is usually referred to as a mini res. this way plants can be watered once every 2-3 days because there is water at the bottom for plants to drink between waterings. At waterings the plant is watered to enough run off so that the mini res is refreshed with fresh nutes. Mr dizzles hempies included short top drips every day to keep the whole media moist and they were still watered to refresh the mini res every 2-3 days.
 
#494
Krusty buckets, as I understand though I have never tried em, are a top bucket filled with perlite on top of another bucket. The top bucket is held up by something to keep some space between the two. The bottom bucket has a couple inches of water with an air line to constantly keep the water bubbling. Th plants also have top drip. This way once roots grow through the perlite bucket down to the bottom Bucket they hit a highly aerated SWC on the bottom bucket. These are much more similar to danks hater buckets. I am not sure if Krusty buckets are supposed to be recirculating or not this was from memory. If there is anyone who has done these they migh be able to update this.

Janus said his all perlite buckets on a 24/7 drip had just as high growth rates as RDWC but he had a chiller and kept all the water highly aerated. Plus he used pressure controlled drippers. Seems simple for the growth he claimed I always liked the idea, but I dnt want to get a chiller. I dnt know if he does this anymore though last I remember I think he switched to sunshine mix... Could be wrong on that though
 
#495
Krusty buckets were topfed. Krusty used Canadian Tyre lava rock as his medium. Recirc.
I think he advocated at one point submerging the res into the ground. That way the nute solution would be chilled, and be gravity-fed from the buckets on the floor into the res into the ground. And vert 1k lamps checkerboarded with the plant sites. 5' centers for plants I think.
Learned a lot about limiting factors to growth, and how to optimize growth rates from Krusty's posts.
SYK(someoneyouknow) that I have seen at this site here and there communicated with Krusty back in like 04 or something.

As far as I know, Krusty buckets set the standard for high performance bucket systems back in the day. And sealed rooms and all that with good temp and vpd characteristics.
 
#496
There you go haha. I think as far as media goes for these bucket systems as long as they have a high air content it's a matter of personal preference
 
J

Jalisco Kid

Guest
#497
Krusty used high compressed air to "froth" the nutes so it was more like an nft sysem. I built is system to spec,trashed it a week later when I learned why his system weight wise kicked my aero sys ass. He still has no clue why it works and I suspect 99% of others do not know either. It was better to put a 3.5/6 gal together. no need for spacers. He was such a pud he got all upset that I modified his system. 50% of my ideas I stole from him and others on VI. JK
 
#498
Jalisco Kid said:
Krusty used high compressed air to "froth" the nutes so it was more like an nft sysem. I built is system to spec,trashed it a week later when I learned why his system weight wise kicked my aero sys ass. He still has no clue why it works and I suspect 99% of others do not know either. It was better to put a 3.5/6 gal together. no need for spacers. He was such a pud he got all upset that I modified his system. 50% of my ideas I stole from him and others on VI. JK
Click to expand...


Why did his system add more weight?? Was it because of the highly aerated nutrient solution??
 
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