Dwc/drip System Question

Shawnery · Sep 24, 2017

I'm running a recirculating 6 x 5 gallon bucket & 5 gallon reservoir DWC/drip system. It drips until it gets to the point of sitting in the solution.

My question is this,

How low should I let the roots drop before I switch off the drip?
On a related topic how much space, if any, should there be between the bottom of the net pot and where the roots hit the water?
Is it really necessary to have bubbles in each pot? I would have thought that the dissolved oxygen, if enough for all plants in system, would travel throughout all the buckets naturally? They're all connected by return tubing at the bottom so it just seems likely is all.
I have bubbles in all the buckets but I just didn't get why.

h4ppyf4rmer · Sep 25, 2017

I'm my case, I don't use a drip, I usually hand water twice a day until I get a couple of long roots extending into the water.

Space between the net pot and water: I have given an inch space between the pot and the water, I have also sat the bottom of the pot in the water a little, doesn't seem to make a difference to me.

Air stones in each bucket: my first grow, I had air stones in each bucket and none in the reservoir. The plants grew just fine but it was kind of a pain to separate the roots from the air stones. My second grow, I went to a separate veg and bloom tent. My veg tent had the stones in each bucket but the bloom tent had only stones in the reservoir. The second grow did have a little deficiency problem in the bloom tent but I don't know if it was due to not having stones in every bucket. This grow, I went back to stones in all buckets even in the bloom tent. I did it more to help agitate the water than having more dissolved O2 in the water.

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
On a related topic how much space, if any, should there be between the bottom of the net pot and where the roots hit the water?

there doesnt hav to b space.n u will get every answer under the sun on this.kinda no right or wrong answer.i do use space but not immediatly.wen u drop roots below cup,yur levels shud b high enough to reach 1/2" over bottom of netcup.do this until yur rootball fills n with mass(rootball same circumference as netcup)then u can drop levels to wherever as long as roots r submerged at bottom

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

So I've already waited to long?

I have one root zone almost to the bottom of the bucket but most of them are only an inch or two below the cups.

I've been running two dripers per cup under the hydroton but just above the roots, like a bubbler I think, 30min on 60min off from sunrise to sunset.

So as of now it would be best to raise the nutrient level to the bottom of the cups and stop the drippers?

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
So as of now it would be best to raise the nutrient level to the bottom of the cups and stop the drippers?

yes.once u hav even a couple roots hangin u dnt need drippers

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

Sorry if this is a stupid question but,

How does the solution get mixed if the drippers are off. Even slowly over time it seems difficult to believe it would naturally mix.

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

How do u hav 5gal pots,with a 5gal rezi?drippers or no drippers thats a gal per pot...recirculating system u shud hav 25gal rezi,fill....drain..i gues i just dnt understand wat u got going on.but like already said the airstone will mix..id trash the drippers n go dwc imo

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

fatawa said:
How do u hav 5gal pots,with a 5gal rezi?drippers or no drippers thats a gal per pot...recirculating system u shud hav 25gal rezi,fill....drain..i gues i just dnt understand wat u got going on.but like already said the airstone will mix..id trash the drippers n go dwc imo

All the 5 gallon buckets are connected at the bottom with 1/2" tubing to the 5 gallon res. All buckets have the same level of water so right now it's a little under half way full with a total of 15 gallons of water. The res water pumps to the plants through the drippers and returns through the bottom tubes.

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
All the 5 gallon buckets are connected at the bottom with 1/2" tubing to the 5 gallon res. All buckets have the same level of water so right now it's a little under half way full with a total of 15 gallons of water. The res water pumps to the plants through the drippers and returns through the bottom tubes.

i get all that.do u hav airstone only n rezi?

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

h4ppyf4rmer said:
Air stones in each bucket:

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

Why is it that a 5-gallon rez isn't big enough isn't the only thing the reservoir for is to run the pump and to add and mix nutrients in?

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

Dropping water levels (controlld) is an ol skool method..its wat u givs you a tree root look effect.u can hav yur water levels as high as netcup always n this is fine too..its on you.you can continue yur drip system,my personal opinion is get a pump n do "flood and drain" which wud wrk with everything u hav,or do dwc...these fastest hydro growth rate

fatawa · Sep 25, 2017

but if u want to continue the system yur n,its very very wise to get an airstone n each tote.it will solve yur problem(of mixing of the nutes) and will also arerate so yur roots hav max o2 as possible...more o2 the more they drink....(providing u dont over feed).

h4ppyf4rmer · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
Why is it that a 5-gallon rez isn't big enough isn't the only thing the reservoir for is to run the pump and to add and mix nutrients in?

I think this is probably ok... My system is a 6 (5 gallon)bucket RDWC. It has a 40 Gallon tote for a reservoir but I only use half that. I like the bigger res because it slows the need to top it off. When my plants are in full bloom mode, I can lose 1.5g in a day. If I were using a 5g bucket, I would need to top every day. also, the more water volume you have, the slower things fluctuate like ph and nute levels... like is said, I think you'll be fine, just need to watch things more };-)

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

I don't know where the not having an air stone in each thing came up but I do have one in each pot including the reservoir. sorry for the misunderstanding.

The only reason I'm running drip was because I was just waiting to start the dwc side that's all.

I don't see what's so weird about my system? And I'm not attempting to be argumentative I'm attempting to get better understanding. Honestly could just be about the way I explained my system. From what research I've done it except that I run drip instead of hand-feeding in between.

h4ppyf4rmer · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
I don't know where the not having an air stone in each thing came up but I do have one in each pot including the reservoir. sorry for the misunderstanding.

The only reason I'm running drip was because I was just waiting to start the dwc side that's all.

I don't see what's so weird about my system? And I'm not attempting to be argumentative I'm attempting to get better understanding. Honestly could just be about the way I explained my system. From what research I've done it except that I run drip instead of hand-feeding in between.

Your system seems fine to me.

Shawnery said:
Is it really necessary to have bubbles in each pot?

your original comment is what spurred the air stone discussion.

I just brought up that I've tried with and without bubbles in each bucket without any real conclusion...

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

I hope I don't come off argumentative or disrespectful at all I love to have a good debate and to learn and grow from the conversation that we're having that's all!

I appreciate anyone and everyone who takes the time to discuss the topic with me I'm as new as new can be. The one thing I have on my side is that I'm a very quick learner and I'm hoping my first crop ever of hydroponic will prove that to myself at least.

The hardest thing about being new at something is transversing all of the information out there on the net and this page even. I like to think of it is sort of forming a mental database and then cross referencing all the data into what I hope is a understandable flow chart of what's to come and what may or may not be the best choice in this moment on.

Now I totally get why a bigger Reservoir is better. When you take into consideration the massive amounts of fluctuations that can occur over time during a growth cycle.

I've been considering having another five or ten gallon bucket on a raised platform above my 5-gallon res. that way I can mix all my Solutions in the bucket that's risen above everything else and just have it gravity feed into the systems Reservoir.

Easier is the most important thing for me and they grow system. I'm actually Medical not to judge anybody who's not but it just goes to the story of my life and my grow. About 10 years ago I was in a huge motorcycle accident when I used to race. I broke for vertebrae almost died twice punctured lung brain hemorrhage the whole shebang. And I'm still really fucked up 10 years later so easy as a very important.

Junk · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
I'm running a recirculating 6 x 5 gallon bucket & 5 gallon reservoir DWC/drip system. It drips until it gets to the point of sitting in the solution.

My question is this,

How low should I let the roots drop before I switch off the drip?
On a related topic how much space, if any, should there be between the bottom of the net pot and where the roots hit the water?
Is it really necessary to have bubbles in each pot? I would have thought that the dissolved oxygen, if enough for all plants in system, would travel throughout all the buckets naturally? They're all connected by return tubing at the bottom so it just seems likely is all.
I have bubbles in all the buckets but I just didn't get why.

I've read the whole thread and am a little confused but I think I know what you are trying to figure out.

If all your buckets are plumbed together, the way people keep the nutes mixed is by having a control bucket with a submersed pump. The control bucket is plumbed on the bottom to the rest of the buckets with 1" line or larger. The pump feeds a top feed system of some sort, so that it recirculates the nutes.

I have 8 buckes, 8 Floreflex trays and 2 20gph octabubblers. Each Octabubbler takes care of 4 buckets...2 feed lines per tray. The pump kicks on every 4 hours for 15 minutes. In 15 minutes, each tray will recirc 10 gallons, which is enough to change each bucket over 3-4x. So every 4 hours, the system gets a good stir. A drip system isn't that efficient at "stirring" but I've used them for the same purpose.

You should have air stones in each bucket, not just the control or rez. Imo, you can never have enough dissolved oxygen. But in the setup you are describing, I have never seen anyone not run air stones in each bucket. Get as much air in there as you can.

Use a top feed system to recirculate your water, not just to feed the plants until the roots hit water. I love the flora-flex setup. My buckets are 5 gal filled to @ 3 gal.

Shawnery · Sep 25, 2017

What you explain is basically what i got it's just a home built version. I have a 400gph pump recirculating but they're really not dripers they're sprayers. I do have stones or curtains in every bucket, the question was just a question.

My plan for my next grow is to get a high pressure pump and switch my setup to an true aeroponics system. I have everything I need besides the pump and some pressure valves. I wanted to go simple, DWC, before I went all the way to the aero setup.

h4ppyf4rmer · Sep 25, 2017

Shawnery said:
I've been considering having another five or ten gallon bucket on a raised platform above my 5-gallon res. that way I can mix all my Solutions in the bucket that's risen above everything else and just have it gravity feed into the systems Reservoir.

Easier is the most important thing for me and they grow system. I'm actually Medical not to judge anybody who's not but it just goes to the story of my life and my grow. About 10 years ago I was in a huge motorcycle accident when I used to race. I broke for vertebrae almost died twice punctured lung brain hemorrhage the whole shebang. And I'm still really fucked up 10 years later so easy as a very important.

yeah, having a reservoir along with the "control" bucket is a classic way of doing it.

I'm mostly recreational other than some occasional anxiety that keeps me up at night... My wife is pure medical, fibromyalgia is her main issue.

Dwc/drip System Question

Dwc/drip System Question

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