DIY RDWC system - First try with hydro

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M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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So here we go!! My first try with hydroponics. I've grown in soil for many years and always enjoyed it. But now I feel that I must expand into something new.
This is actually only a temporary set up, as I am in the middle of a multi room build in my barn. Full final size will be 8'x 35' with 3 rooms. 10' x 8' Clean/extracts room, 10' x 8' Veg/Equipment room, 10' x 8' Flower room, and before you enter is the 5' x 8' Entry/Disinfectant chamber. Glorious experiments shall take place soon growing cannabis and mushrooms.

Any way back to the fun at hand. This is set up in my basement for now and is the "trial run" for me to get my feet wet running a RDWC sys. I am still going to be having grows in soil, but need more avenues of growing under my belt.

STRAINS - Seedsman Northern lights Auto and Pyramid seeds Tutankhamon Auto

SPACE- 16 inches x 48 inches (40.64 cm x 121.92 cm) Yes I know!! So skinny right!?! Just temporary!!


SYSTEM- RDWC, 5.3 gallon (20 liter) buckets, 6 inch net pots, 37 gallon (140 liter) res., root plugs, clay pebbles, vivosun 210 gph (795 lph) Water pump, vivosun 950 gph (3596 lph) Air pump, 2 inch round air stones (x4)

NUTRIENTS- Master blend Tomato & Veg 4-18-38, Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0, Magnesium sulfate, Bloom City Silica Boost, Bloom City Clean Kelp, Flower Fuel (All for growing those mini baseball bats to club your friends with)

LIGHTING- QB 288 w/660nm, IR, UV Light boards (x4), max 460 watts( set just under Max, driver max 240w each) (No suntan lotion required!!) Light schedule is intermittent 5hr on/ 1hr off. (Had nice results from Auto flower soil grows with this method)
Diy rdwc system   first try with hydro
Diy rdwc system   first try with hydro 2
Diy rdwc system   first try with hydro 3
Diy rdwc system   first try with hydro 4
 
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Badchoice

Badchoice

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Nice set up, good luck with your first try hydro can be a little bit more tricky than soil on certain things but the output is gonna blow your mind well unless your use too growing trees outside than most likely not lol but, best advice I can give ya is be easy on the nutes. I’ve never used any of the brands your doing but if it’s anything like fox farm, GH, Botanicare etc only need 1/2 or 1/4 of the recommended full dosages will mostly burn them easily specially at those npk values. And make sure you got testing pens for PH,PPM, and EC.
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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On 10/28 I had to clean the entire system and run new return hoses from each bucket into main res. Plants wilted and show beginning signs of root rot (only minor spots). Sooooooo, a full cleaning was done, new water and nutrients mixed. The buckets were covered in reflective metal foil to prevent ALL possible light leaks. Cleaned roots in plain water for few hours to gently remove any residual slime/rot.
Northern lights: Was a champ the whole time, minimal shock.
IMG 20201030 223848973


Tutankhamon: Was very angry with me!
IMG 20201030 223859951 HDR
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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Nice set up, good luck with your first try hydro can be a little bit more tricky than soil on certain things but the output is gonna blow your mind well unless your use too growing trees outside than most likely not lol but, best advice I can give ya is be easy on the nutes. I’ve never used any of the brands your doing but if it’s anything like fox farm, GH, Botanicare etc only need 1/2 or 1/4 of the recommended full dosages will mostly burn them easily specially at those npk values. And make sure you got testing pens for PH,PPM, and EC.
Thank you!! Yes I have all the equipment. Im at around 380ppm at 6.2 ph, water 65-68°F, I did a lot of research before trying the Masterblend, didn't get a lot either just in case I wanted to switch.
 
AnselAdams

AnselAdams

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So here we go!! My first try with hydroponics. I've grown in soil for many years and always enjoyed it. But now I feel that I must expand into something new.
This is actually only a temporary set up, as I am in the middle of a multi room build in my barn. Full final size will be 8'x 35' with 3 rooms. 10' x 8' Clean/extracts room, 10' x 8' Veg/Equipment room, 10' x 8' Flower room, and before you enter is the 5' x 8' Entry/Disinfectant chamber. Glorious experiments shall take place soon growing cannabis and mushrooms.

Any way back to the fun at hand. This is set up in my basement for now and is the "trial run" for me to get my feet wet running a RDWC sys. I am still going to be having grows in soil, but need more avenues of growing under my belt.

STRAINS - Seedsman Northern lights Auto and Pyramid seeds Tutankhamon Auto

SPACE- 16 inches x 48 inches (40.64 cm x 121.92 cm) Yes I know!! So skinny right!?! Just temporary!!


SYSTEM- RDWC, 5.3 gallon (20 liter) buckets, 6 inch net pots, 37 gallon (140 liter) res., root plugs, clay pebbles, vivosun 210 gph (795 lph) Water pump, vivosun 950 gph (3596 lph) Air pump, 2 inch round air stones (x4)

NUTRIENTS- Master blend Tomato & Veg 4-18-38, Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0, Magnesium sulfate, Bloom City Silica Boost, Bloom City Clean Kelp, Flower Fuel (All for growing those mini baseball bats to club your friends with)

LIGHTING- QB 288 w/660nm, IR, UV Light boards (x4), max 460 watts( set just under Max, driver max 240w each) (No suntan lotion required!!) Light schedule is intermittent 5hr on/ 1hr off. (Had nice results from Auto flower soil grows with this method)
View attachment 1054363View attachment 1054365View attachment 1054366View attachment 1054367


Welcome to The Farm; 🥳

Nice clean setup you have there! I think I'll follow and see how it goes! If there is anything i can help you with, just add @AnselAdams anywhere in the post and I will be notified. If i don't know the answer (and there is a good chance i won't) then i'll help find someone who can.

Until Then... Happy Growing!! 😎🍻
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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The main res.
IMG 20201021 104829487
IMG 20201021 104845157

And a lil root porn. This was just a few days after the full system cleaning.
N.Lights
IMG 20201101 152659489

Tutankhamon
IMG 20201101 152726206

I meant to start this a week ago, but hey life happens😅 so I'll get all the pics caught up to date soon.
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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And this brings us up to date with pics. Both were fimmed 5 days ago and most fan leaves removed. Growth has taken off very well. I expect about another week or so and they will start their flip to flowering. Still around 380 ppm, 6.2 ph, 66.8°F water temp,
Screenshot 20201110 222941

N. Lights, appears to be getting some minor brown spots on oldest fan leaves.
IMG 20201109 120418872


Tutankhamon
IMG 20201109 120424194

Which decided to throw this at me....
IMG 20201109 120406266
 
TheBioMaster

TheBioMaster

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What's that Bloom City Clean Kelp like? Is it clear or dark?

Good luck!
 
TheBioMaster

TheBioMaster

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I'm not so sure about the Master Blend in RDWC......I think you have to much magnesium possibly. Or you have the beginning signs of root issues.
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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What's that Bloom City Clean Kelp like? Is it clear or dark?

Good luck!
It is dark in color and I did find people using it in DWC, and I looked into everything I used for nutrients. I found many using the Masterblend. But this is my learning run so we shall see. I already had to do a full clean and water change once.🤦 My fault for blindly believing that just cause the bottle says "for use in hydroponics". Live and learn
 
TheBioMaster

TheBioMaster

450
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The organics in that nutrient are gonna cause issues.....period. Its already caused you issues, and will again.....Unless you incorporate proper controls, air flow etc....Which u currently don't have. Your circulation pipes are to small for starters.

Why not try and increase probability for success??? Use the right nutrients, there are nutrients designed for recirculation systems.

If you did all this research then why choose such small containers and pipe sizes?? How many gallons does the system circulate per hour??

RDWC is for sure NOT for micro grows.....There is a minimum amount of total water needed to maintain a stable system.

Your not the first to try this.....by week 6 of flower there will be problems with circulation and keeping water levels constant when your buckets fill with roots and become root bound, or worse they will grow all inside the pipes stopping water flow completely.

Just because someone else used masterblend doesn't mean you should...

I could go on.....

There is a fine line between "learning" and wasting time and money.

Just trying to help......good luck!
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

Supporter
334
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The organics in that nutrient are gonna cause issues.....period. Its already caused you issues, and will again.....Unless you incorporate proper controls, air flow etc....Which u currently don't have. Your circulation pipes are to small for starters.

Why not try and increase probability for success??? Use the right nutrients, there are nutrients designed for recirculation systems.

If you did all this research then why choose such small containers and pipe sizes?? How many gallons does the system circulate per hour??

RDWC is for sure NOT for micro grows.....There is a minimum amount of total water needed to maintain a stable system.

Your not the first to try this.....by week 6 of flower there will be problems with circulation and keeping water levels constant when your buckets fill with roots and become root bound, or worse they will grow all inside the pipes stopping water flow completely.

Just because someone else used masterblend doesn't mean you should...

I could go on.....

There is a fine line between "learning" and wasting time and money.

Just trying to help......good luck!
Your right I'll just unplug everything and chop it down. No reason in wasting my time or even trying right?
 
Bean_Boy

Bean_Boy

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Are those litter buckets, or specific hydro containers? The litter buckets have been working great for me, a flap to check on things, and higher capacity than a 5 gal.

Masterblend also seems to be working well for me, but I'm still new. I'm at 60% strength

Best of luck
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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Are those litter buckets, or specific hydro containers? The litter buckets have been working great for me, a flap to check on things, and higher capacity than a 5 gal.

Masterblend also seems to be working well for me, but I'm still new. I'm at 60% strength

Best of luck
Yes!!! They are litter buckets that were originally for dutch bucket method, 5.3 gallon. Thought I could reuse them for now.
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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Was away for almost a week hunting, everything ran well and no issues. Wife was peeking in just to be sure.

N. Lights-
IMG 20201117 192003542


Tutankhamon-
IMG 20201117 192007467

Probably going to do a little defoliating, just to open centers up a bit more. Want those smaller branches to even out canopy and thicken up. Can't wait to see these girls start stretching any day now.
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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Been a little behind lately, but here are some pics of before and after the defoliating. They will be getting new containers tomorrow when I upgrade the whole system.

N.Lights
IMG 20201129 090751861 HDR
IMG 20201129 090810140 HDR
IMG 20201129 200552269 HDR


And the Tutankhamon
IMG 20201129 090757099 HDR
IMG 20201129 090816670 HDR
IMG 20201129 200601511 HDR
 
M0nStarNuggety

M0nStarNuggety

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Well since my barn build is taking longer than expected. I went and upgraded the system and will just finish these 2 ladies out in my basement. Installed the 2 extra lights for flowering, all running at 150 watts for nice even canopy overhead. New totes for plants, 2 in circulation pipes, and 6in support net.
IMG 20201130 121644475 HDR
IMG 20201130 121653082
IMG 20201130 122950504 HDR
IMG 20201130 122958668 HDR
IMG 20201130 133006446 HDR
 
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