New to DWC

FMJ · May 10, 2020

High guys! New to DWC. First grow with bubble Bros.... I like soil , but figured I'd try my hand at it.
My nutes solution is at 5.8 to 6 .... I add 20 ml of Grow Big every 3 days. 1 plant fried. One plant is , well, have no idea ,..... And the other two looking good I guess..... They are 3 weeks old.....

I added some organic plant food (water soluble ) to raise the calcium, since I used RO water.....
Do the last two look ok? Any info or advise would be appreciated.
I know I need to put up some white paint or reflective material, but I've been doing this as a side project, amongst my many other projects.
Oh I'm using hydrofarms cfl 200 watt light. Will be adding more CFLs in the next week or so , before going to flower. Box is 4' x 3.5' x 6' tall....

threatco · May 11, 2020

Happy to see a new hydroponic post. Sorry bout the little fried plant. But don't despair.

It is good you are keeping the PH in a good range. It's good to let it bounce between 5.5 and 6.5. You don't have to keep it exact, moving around in that range lets it absorb its range of nutrients it needs.

Avoiding burn should be fairly simple. You just need a 15$ TDS meter. Something like this

With this you can figure out a safe concentration and just not go over that.

20 ml of grow every 3 days sounds way to much for little ones like these.

You don't normally add nutrients to DWC buckets directly. It's not like your plants are absoring them up at some fast rate. Nutrients actualy usualy get absorbed slower than the water. Meaning big healthy plants will drink a bucket of water down while the PPM concentration will go up.

So instead of adding more and more nutrients to the water in the DWC bucket over time, you will let the plants drink the water down, and top it up with fresh water to dilute the ppm back down to desired amounts.

I'll usualy add fresh water 2 times before I need to add a nutrient solution again.

How often you empty it all and start with all fresh water/nutrients is a matter of some debate. Some do it weekly. I like to do it after I've topped up my 5 gal bucket with 3 gal worth of top ups.

Little plants like yours will probably drink less water then evaporation. So they really don't need to have water/food solution added often. Just keep the ph/ppm where you want it and the water level steady

FMJ · May 11, 2020

threatco said:
Happy to see a new hydroponic post. Sorry bout the little fried plant. But don't despair.

It is good you are keeping the PH in a good range. It's good to let it bounce between 5.5 and 6.5. You don't have to keep it exact, moving around in that range lets it absorb its range of nutrients it needs.

Avoiding burn should be fairly simple. You just need a 15$ TDS meter. Something like this

View attachment 971363

With this you can figure out a safe concentration and just not go over that.

20 ml of grow every 3 days sounds way to much for little ones like these.

You don't normally add nutrients to DWC buckets directly. It's not like your plants are absoring them up at some fast rate. Nutrients actualy usualy get absorbed slower than the water. Meaning big healthy plants will drink a bucket of water down while the PPM concentration will go up.

So instead of adding more and more nutrients to the water in the DWC bucket over time, you will let the plants drink the water down, and top it up with fresh water to dilute the ppm back down to desired amounts.

I'll usualy add fresh water 2 times before I need to add a nutrient solution again.

How often you empty it all and start with all fresh water/nutrients is a matter of some debate. Some do it weekly. I like to do it after I've topped up my 5 gal bucket with 3 gal worth of top ups.

Little plants like yours will probably drink less water then evaporation. So they really don't need to have water/food solution added often. Just keep the ph/ppm where you want it and the water level steady

Thanks so much for the reply! I figured the plants were using up the nutes so I kept adding , mixed with a gallon of water..... In 3 days , I lose about 3/4 gallon of water.
I guess I need that ppm stick . Didn't need one for soil... It's funny , cuz the link you sent was the exact one I was looking at getting. Guess I'll order it after lunch. I kinda figured I was feeding too much , but , this is my first DWC grow and I'm learning...
I'm going to mix up fresh nute solution this week. These are in 3.5 gallon buckets. I'm going to veg for 2 more weeks , and then go to flower. I'm HOPING these two still growing are the feminised seeds..... My tags came off the buckets....
I'm not looking for a big yield this go around. This time is mainly to learn, and figure it out as best I can , before stepping up to more buckets and bigger plants. I have a 6 bucket system. I think I'd like to connect them all with a common reservoir, so I can chill all the buckets at the same time, and keep all the fluids level. My temps stay around 82° , humidity about 40-60% , and water about 70°-78° ....

threatco · May 11, 2020

FMJ said:
Thanks so much for the reply! I figured the plants were using up the nutes so I kept adding , mixed with a gallon of water..... In 3 days , I lose about 3/4 gallon of water.

Okay, this is not near as bad as how I read it. I thought you were adding in 20ml undiluted to the existing water. But again usually you need to top up twice with fresh to one time with normal strength nute solution. But once you have the ppm meter it will be fool proof.

FMJ · May 11, 2020

threatco said:
Okay, this is not near as bad as how I read it. I thought you were adding in 20ml undiluted to the existing water. But again usually you need to top up twice with fresh to one time with normal strength nute solution. But once you have the ppm meter it will be fool proof.

Would you recommend connecting all the buckets to a central bucket , to cool the solution and add solution when needed ? I saw another system like that , but it wasn't a bubbler. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.
At this point , I kinda feel like I got in over my head , and didn't research DWC enough before I purchased the kit. I used to grow in soil mix about 10 years ago and never had issues. Once my babies hit the box , they were ready to come back out for haircuts in 3 months , give or take a week or two. I don't cut em till I see almost gold tone in the glands ...
I have a few grow session pics in another forum , just not sure which one. I figured I'd just start fresh here. Looked like a friendly place to grow and learn.

Aqua Man · May 11, 2020

@threatco is right you need a ppm meter.

Also stay away from organic nutrients in hydro. We don't have the bacteria needed to break it down in order for the plants to be able to uptake it. And believe me you don't want it in those numbers.

Get yourself a hydroponic nutrient or inorganic nutrients that are going to be available to the plant.

Your environment looks good.

Write your add backs down and change the res everytime you add back the volume of water it holds (actual water) so a 5 gal is about 3.5 gal of water. This will keep the nutes balanced.

Just some tips.
Plants look good.

OldManRiver · May 11, 2020

Way overfeeding. Set your nute levels, fill initially, and generally don't add nutes until the reservoir change. They are typically just fine for two to three weeks for me. Use less than recommended levels. Nute's are NOT FOOD. They are needed in small amounts, more like vitamins. Light is the food.

When you are losing water, you should realize that plants can take the water in and leave the nutes behind. Nutes are absorbed through separate pathways. When your reservoir goes down, just replace with pH'd water.

threatco · May 12, 2020

OldManRiver said:
Nute's are NOT FOOD. They are needed in small amounts, more like vitamins. Light is the food.

Never heard it put that way. Nice quote.

FMJ said:
Would you recommend connecting all the buckets to a central bucket ,

You could do that. It's called a recirculating DWC with a central reservoir.

Yes, it makes it easier. But the construction of those bulwarks needed for connecting those PVC is tricky unless you're handy. A pre-made one is pricey.

I mainly avoid it because it's hard to move. I value being able to clean out my grow area.

I started with DWC. I also got tired of dealing with maintaining ideal conditions in each bucket. Especially once I wanted to add more and more buckets. It just got ridiculous to maintain. Even if each bucket is just 15 seconds each of dipping 2 sticks in. Just getting under the lid of some was an exercise in contortion. Not to mention the web of air hose going everywhere. The kind of pump needed gets loud for all those stones.

My conclusion. If you are willing to stick with hydro but want something easier and (arguably) better. Go with an ebb and flow flood table. If your unfamiliar it may sound fancy to figure out, but it's really super simple.

Below is a little diagram I mocked up for someone else asking about it. If something like this interests you in setting up, feel free to ask questions.

Reservoir, 46.5"x46.5"x13" 75 gal

Tubing 1/2" Black 25' Roll

Tubing 3/4" Black ID 0.75"xOD

Air Stone 12"

Spaghetti Tubing 1/8"

Tee Barbed 1/2"

Active Aqua Pump 400 GPH

Air Pump with 2 Outlets 7.8 lt per minute

PLANT!T Clay Pebbles 45L 8mm-16mm

Black Flood Table/Tray, 3'x3'

GH pH Down Liquid Gallon

Milwaukee pH Meter pH600 AQ

HM Digital Handheld TDS-3 Tester

FMJ · May 13, 2020

Ok so I got a couple more questions while I'm waiting for Amazon to drop off my ppm meter. .....
First , if my ppm is , say 900 for and giggles. ... With this solution being 3+ weeks old , would you
#A Remove some of the solution and add pH balanced water to dilute what's left ?
Or
#B Just start with a fresh batch of solution.......
For my next debacle.... I stopped growing about 10 years ago. I've been highly medicated a few times since then... I couldn't remember what my light cycle was , I only knew it was on when I came home from work at 6:30 PM. And on when I left for work at 5:30 AM ... I assumed I had it on during the day , so that's what I did this time. WRONG Thinking back , some if my co-workers always wanted to come by the house at lunch to see my babies. But they were always asleep.
My box is getting warm during the day. I want to start manipulating the light cycle so I end up with the light off during as much of the day as possible, without hurting the babies. Is that possible? Like start changing the hours , one hour a day , until my lights are on at night as much as possible.
Right now , it turns on at 5 am and off at 11 pm. I want to change it so tomorrow the light turns on at 6 am and off at 10. Do this until the light turns on at 7 pm , and off according to whether it's in veg or flower mode.....
Can I do that ?

FMJ · May 13, 2020

HOLY COW ! I see why the 2 smaller plants died now. They fried! My nute solution in bucket with big plant bounced between 1623 and 1840 !
The smaller bush is at 1700+ up to 1900+......
So I DEFINITELY over fed them....

So remove some and dilute ? Or start over fresh ?

threatco · May 13, 2020

remove it all and start over fresh, even rinse the grow media their in with freshwater and toss the runoff. may have built-up salts on it.

threatco · May 13, 2020

FMJ said:
Right now , it turns on at 5 am and off at 11 pm. I want to change it so tomorrow the light turns on at 6 am and off at 10. Do this until the light turns on at 7 pm , and off according to whether it's in veg or flower mode.....
Can I do that ?

You can do it all at once with no ill effect. When it turns on at 5am, just turn it off at 7pm. The shorter day won't do a darn thing.

The only light cycle thing to avoid is interrupting a dark cycle short of 12 hours during flower.

You can always extend dark time, or extend/shorten light time in order to get on the cycle you want.

FMJ · May 13, 2020

I reckon I run go get some fresh RO water after dinner......

Aqua Man · May 13, 2020

threatco said:
remove it all and start over fresh, even rinse the grow media their in with freshwater and toss the runoff. may have built-up salts on it.

This

FMJ · May 14, 2020

Ok well, konked out last night after dinner and slept till 3 am.... Took the day off from work to attend to my grow today.
Went and got 5 gallons of RO water and I had exactly 100 ml of Grow Big left , which is what the bottle says fir 5 gallons. I really need 6.5-7 gallons....
I poured the Grow Big in the 5 gallon jug. Tested the pH and it was 5.6.... Tested ppm , and it was almost 700.... Poured the water equally into 2 fresh buckets , and then added 1 gallon of the water I have the organic feed in , to top off what I still needed. THATS what is raising my ppm! It shot up to 1000+ but less than 1100... So I got a fresh gallon of RO and topped off the buckets to dilute a little. Got the ppm down to 800-900.... pH is still good....
Gonna pull out some water when the lights turn back on and dilute a little more... Or should I just wait and only add RO as needed to keep topped off ?
I don't have any more Grow Big , or I'd just start over again..... Can't get any shipped for 3 days....

The two plants that are left look pretty healthy.... I guess. I'll post pics after 5 pm.... Texas time ....
This pic was from yesterday

threatco · May 14, 2020

I would let them stay in that water. Watch the tips for new burns. If you see new tip burn, dilute.

FMJ · May 15, 2020

Well

We just had a power outage.... How long can the plants go with no bubbles ?
Do I need to need rig up a 12 v air pump some how ? Been with no bubbles for about 15 minutes...

Aqua Man · May 15, 2020

FMJ said:
Well We just had a power outage.... How long can the plants go with no bubbles ?
Do I need to need rig up a 12 v air pump some how ? Been with no bubbles for about 15 minutes...

your good no light no real demand on o2 from the roots. You have a while

FMJ · May 15, 2020

Thanks ! Normally they're back on in less than an hour , but we are having heavy storms at the moment.... If it's not back on in 30 minutes to an hour, I'm gonna go buy a 12v live well air pump....

threatco · May 15, 2020

FMJ said:
Thanks ! Normally they're back on in less than an hour , but we are having heavy storms at the moment.... If it's not back on in 30 minutes to an hour, I'm gonna go buy a 12v live well air pump....

Should be okay. If power goes out you can drain most the water, let the ends drink and the middle part breath. Will extend the time before they drown or dry out.

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