Need some help figuring out how my hydroponics system water changes

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justinsloan

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Hi, I am doing hydroponics for the first time, I just picked up the kit in the link, but it did not come with any directions for changing the water. It seems like a pretty common system, so I thought that maybe other people have this model or one similar to it or have had it in the past, and if so, could you tell me the exact steps for changing the water? Do the water valve knobs face parallel to their tank to let out water from their tank and connect the system or would the valve be pointing at the tank? How do you drain the main reservoir without spilling water all over the place from the water in the pipes if you disconnect the main reservoir? Some help on the exact process of the change would be huge before I get started. Thanks!


 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Some say do weekly water changes but for me thats to vague. It depends a lot on the volume id water you start with. The goal is to keep nutrient ratios from becoming out of whack, stable ph and ppm (As i said the most important is the makeup of that ppm. Meaning the ratio of nutrients to eachother that makeup the ppm))

Eg. A RDWC system with 100gal res va a 5 gal DWC solo bucket has far different needs in terms of water changes. The 100gal system may go an entire grow without… a 5gal solo bucket doesn’t have a hooe in hell of doing that.

Some history in this weekly water change. It comes from the aquarium hobby that is eons older than our hydro systems. The reason this works in an aquarium is because there are many other rules used to make this effective like stocking calculations and bioloads you dont exceed like putting 20 goldfish in a fish bowl meant for 1 fish. In hydro as you can see we dont follow any suck rules and systems vary greatly. Most in the aquarium hobby never change more than 50% of the water at one time and instead do 25%-50% change out weekly to follow tom barrs EI (estimative index) for planted tanks which i incorporate in my grows but i wont get into that further. I believe @Moe.Red is also doing this as we have had several discussions on it maybe a year back but its a little more complex and more beneficial/needed in live systems.

Soooo how I adapted this practice for new growers in hydro to simplify it for both live and sterile is as follows.

You measure the actual water volume that the system holds (not the container size). Then keep track of how much you add back daily or as needed.

Once you reach the volume of water added back to the system over time that you started with… eg. 20 gal actual water volume and you reach a total 20gal of water added back… you simply changeout the entire res.

This is a one sizes fits all for water change outs.

There are definitely more advanced ways of going about it using the EI method but for simplicity this is what i suggest as its FAR more accurate than the general once a week ideology that does not take anything into account and while may work for some systems it does NOT work for all. Many times you will be wasting nutrients to start and not doing enough change outs in the end when using the archaic practice of weekly change outs.

Thats my reasoning and argument behind why I recommend what i do. But you will still find those with differing opinions on this
 
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MercDod

MercDod

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Not a DWC guy but couldnt you just pump the res out with a submersible pump with a hose that sits at bottom of res and empty's outside or wherever. That would also empty the satellite buckets if their valve is on/open. It seems as the only purpose of the res since the water is not continually recycled as well as filling them all from one place. All valves I have ever seen are closed (off) when perpendicular to the pipe and open (on) when parallel to pipe.
 
Ponky

Ponky

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https://a.co/d/5ph8JvA something like this with 2 lengths of hose on it. And a quality drill.
Screenshot 20220704 122751 Amazon Shopping
 
Electrolights

Electrolights

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You’ll be here for days going back and forth with peoples process, I’ve found just keep refilling it with equal amounts of nutes when the tank gets to the same water level with your desired ppms with some beneficial bacteria. Check out aqua man’s root rot remedy I put 1ml in every refeed along with a small amount of great white. Seems to have gotten root rot completely out of my system and staying out. I was panicking on this first grow all throughout veg stressed the fuck out of the autos changing the res every week till I got it right ended up waisting so much nutrients in the long run. Only full change I did after that nonsense was when it went to flower. Just get a small water pump with a 1/2 tube(or whatever works for you) and toss the other end in your sink or tub and plug it in, i have two of the same 20g containers so when I refill I can get exactly what I want into the existing res. They start drinking a shit ton in flower I’m at the point where I’m refilling with diluted light nutes every 4 days, almost 5 gallons for 2 plants
 
Electrolights

Electrolights

247
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@Ponky I tried that drill pump before, puts out a lot of pressure more than you’d think just have something holding both ends down so the end of the tube doesn’t come flying out of your tub like I did lol
 
Ponky

Ponky

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justinsloan said:
Okay, thank you so much. What would the drill be for? You can just take the lid off it seems. But, that makes things alot easier to be able to suck the water out with this thing. I could not get this model because it is in Canada, but I found the equivalent in the US.
Click to expand...
You need the drill to spin the input shaft of the transfer pump.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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What i used to use… waste goes right down the drain and can fill and drain. Cheap, easy and reliable as hell.

 
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