New to hydroponics, assistance needed

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Badchoice

Badchoice

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How many gallons in total is the tote and how what type of air pump gph wise you running? I remember reading a “”large plant needs atleast 3 gallons with 80gph
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

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I've got a 60 gallon on there right now and a 2x4 inch air stone under each plant. The toys is 18 gal and I have 10 gallons in there which puts the water level about an inch under the pots. These are autos I dont think they will get too big.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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How many gallons in total is the tote and how what type of air pump gph wise you running? I remember reading a “”large plant needs atleast 3 gallons with 80gph
Hey @Badchoice I hope I'm not seeming to be argumentative just looking to clear up a really widespread misconception on aeration bro. Honestly the majority of hydro growers have this concept of gph required for good gas exchange when it is in fact not the case.

Air pump gph should be matched to the requirements of the stones to ensure they are preforming ideally.

Myth: The bubbles are what oxygenate the water.

Myth: The more GPH the better oxygenation

The 3 main components to create the best gas exchange are surface agitation, surface area and water column mixing.

The larger the surface area the better the natural gas exchange will be.

The more surface area agitated the better the gas exchange will be.

The better the mixing of the water column (bringing o2 depleted water to the surface) the better the gas exchange will be.

Gas exchange happens at the surface and med to small size bubbles work well for aeration because micro bubbles do not mix the water column well and large bubbles are less efficient at surface agitation.

So the goal is if there is a surface area of water we want it to be agitated. It doesn't need to be violently. So in some cases more smaller airstones will be more beneficial than a single larger one. Like in a res thats shallow and wide you will get far more gas exchange using mutiple small stones to agitate the entire surface than 1 large one that only does a third of it. Same volume of air but completely different in terms of has exchange and water column mixing.

It's does not matter the manner in which this happens... why many like waterfalls, trickle filters, fluming etc. Anything that agitates the most surface area and mixes the water most effectively with give the best rates of gas exchange.

The gph that many places still give as viable info is a bad representation of how it works.

Its far more accurate to simply look at the surface of the water and make sure olits rolling bubbling or moving.
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

396
63
Hey @Badchoice I hope I'm not seeming to be argumentative just looking to clear up a really widespread misconception on aeration bro. Honestly the majority of hydro growers have this concept of gph required for good gas exchange when it is in fact not the case.

Air pump gph should be matched to the requirements of the stones to ensure they are preforming ideally.

Myth: The bubbles are what oxygenate the water.

Myth: The more GPH the better oxygenation

The 3 main components to create the best gas exchange are surface agitation, surface area and water column mixing.

The larger the surface area the better the natural gas exchange will be.

The more surface area agitated the better the gas exchange will be.

The better the mixing of the water column (bringing o2 depleted water to the surface) the better the gas exchange will be.

Gas exchange happens at the surface and med to small size bubbles work well for aeration because micro bubbles do not mix the water column well and large bubbles are less efficient at surface agitation.

So the goal is if there is a surface area of water we want it to be agitated. It doesn't need to be violently. So in some cases more smaller airstones will be more beneficial than a single larger one. Like in a res thats shallow and wide you will get far more gas exchange using mutiple small stones to agitate the entire surface than 1 large one that only does a third of it. Same volume of air but completely different in terms of has exchange and water column mixing.

It's does not matter the manner in which this happens... why many like waterfalls, trickle filters, fluming etc. Anything that agitates the most surface area and mixes the water most effectively with give the best rates of gas exchange.

The gph that many places still give as viable info is a bad representation of how it works.

Its far more accurate to simply look at the surface of the water and make sure olits rolling bubbling or moving.
I would never look at it look at like that, I’ve always been told in hydro with the size of your res can determine the size plant like you can do small plants in 1 gal medium size in 2.5 and large “”photo strains or ones that your gonna do longer veg or bloom cycles 3gal to insure proper PPM and EC from nutes to last a feeding schedule week, and just always make sure you have the proper air pump for mixing and aeration to safely cover the amount of gallons. Just something someone passed on to me as a small rule of thumb to remember so I’m just passing it on as well
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

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Also because it can’t be a life saver depending on environment, I would suggest using Hydroguard in your nute mixing it can save you from root rot head aches And if you got a unstable grow enviorment like days were temps and humidity are changing a lot I suggest liquid karma, really helps with cell structure and helps the plant with cold/heat spike resistance along with other stuff.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I would never look at it look at like that, I’ve always been told in hydro with the size of your res can determine the size plant like you can do small plants in 1 gal medium size in 2.5 and large “”photo strains or ones that your gonna do longer veg or bloom cycles 3gal to insure proper PPM and EC from nutes to last a feeding schedule week, and just always make sure you have the proper air pump for mixing and aeration to safely cover the amount of gallons. Just something someone passed on to me as a small rule of thumb to remember so I’m just passing it on as well
Yeah thats 90% of growers that have been given that info. For me a res will determine how long I can veg or the root mass. Bigger is always more stable but also a bit more wasteful depending how you do res changes.

+1 on the hydrogaurd
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

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63
Yeah thats 90% of growers that have been given that info. For me a res will determine how long I can veg or the root mass. Bigger is always more stable but also a bit more wasteful depending how you do res changes.

+1 on the hydrogaurd
Oh you talking to master cheap here lol 🙂 when I do res changes I keep the old res nutes and use it on my soil grow. Or if your lawn has bare or dry spots pour the nutes on that and watch your lawn get thick.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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638
Oh you talking to master cheap here lol 🙂 when I do res changes I keep the old res nutes and use it on my soil grow. Or if your lawn has bare or dry spots pour the nutes on that and watch your lawn get thick.
We'll call it resourceful and environmentally friendly 😁 sounds better.
 
Dwcmagic

Dwcmagic

147
43
Good day fellow farmers. I have just started my first hydroponic grow... well technically my second, my first set of seeds was dead within 24 hours.
The rundown - white widow fem autos
Day 1
I started my seedlings in a paper towel
Day 3
Transfer of seedlings to pre-soaked rapid rooter cubes
Day 5
Taproot is visible from the bottom of the cube
Transfer to reservoir
Day 6
24 hours after transfer to reservoir
Leaves twisting

Parameters
Water temp in res - 76 f
Temp in tent - 72 f
Rh 55
Ph - 6.04
EC - .3 or a ppm of 170-180
Using RO water
Nutes are added at general hydroponics recommendations for seedlings
Calmag added at 1 ml per gallon
5 gallons in res
Southern ag added at 2ml per gallon
250 watt mh with a current lux of 13000 on an eighteen hour light cycle
5 gallons in res

Could the southern ag cause this? I may have way too much of that floating around in there... if anyone has pics of an ag overdose I'd like to see them.

I think that's everything, if I missed anything let me know. I would like to see these girls all grown up some day and your help is greatly appreciated.
Is this a deep water culture system? Plant looks excellent, no changes there.
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
Thanks for the info @Badchoice and @Aqua Man. One of the things I love the most about this hobby is that there a lot of different roads that lead to the same destination. 👍

I'll definitely look in the liquid karma. Would this be needed if I'm using silica blast?

As for the hydroguard I was doing some research and came across southern ag fungicide. Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens (say that 5 times fast) is the active ingredient in both the hydroguard and southern ag, but the later has a higher concentration. I think I was talking to someone on here about that in a different post.
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

396
63
Just asked this on my thread, in for the info as iv never used silica before.
Not sure how much ppm to feed and what not.
GH armor SI or Botanicare silica blast are very important for proper cell wall growth and well it’s just important. You can grow with out, I’ve done it but after adding GH armor si in one week I could see the difference in the plant in about 3 days.
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

396
63
Thanks for the info @Badchoice and @Aqua Man. One of the things I love the most about this hobby is that there a lot of different roads that lead to the same destination. 👍

I'll definitely look in the liquid karma. Would this be needed if I'm using silica blast?

As for the hydroguard I was doing some research and came across southern ag fungicide. Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens (say that 5 times fast) is the active ingredient in both the hydroguard and southern ag, but the later has a higher concentration. I think I was talking to someone on here about that in a different post.
Ain’t that the truth about this hobby, 1000 ways to do one thing and they all work so just gotta pick what’s best for you. And I personally have never used that AG product so I can’t relate I just use Hydroguard it it helps keep algae down which for my grow area is important due too heat issues.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Thanks for the info @Badchoice and @Aqua Man. One of the things I love the most about this hobby is that there a lot of different roads that lead to the same destination. 👍

I'll definitely look in the liquid karma. Would this be needed if I'm using silica blast?

As for the hydroguard I was doing some research and came across southern ag fungicide. Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens (say that 5 times fast) is the active ingredient in both the hydroguard and southern ag, but the later has a higher concentration. I think I was talking to someone on here about that in a different post.
If using southern ag only dose at 1ml per 20 gal of water.
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
Just doing a little reading, so as far as I've found liquid karma is for early development and cuttings. Also the recommendation of dosage is 5 to 10ml a gallon... seems like a lot. GH Diamond nectar is the comparison to liquid karma correct? The dosage on that on is 1-2ml per gal. Seems more cost effective, have you had any experience with that one?

I have some silica blast I just purchased on the advice of some stellar folks here at the farm. @Aqua Man i had to drain my reservoir once due to over doing it with the southern ag, I went in at 2ml per gallon😬

@Dwcmagic Thanks👍 yup dwc, I think I called it a bubble ponics set up earlier but that includes a water pump I think with just the air stones its dwc right?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Just doing a little reading, so as far as I've found liquid karma is for early development and cuttings. Also the recommendation of dosage is 5 to 10ml a gallon... seems like a lot. GH Diamond nectar is the comparison to liquid karma correct? The dosage on that on is 1-2ml per gal. Seems more cost effective, have you had any experience with that one?

I have some silica blast I just purchased on the advice of some stellar folks here at the farm. @Aqua Man i had to drain my reservoir once due to over doing it with the southern ag, I went in at 2ml per gallon😬

@Dwcmagic Thanks👍 yup dwc, I think I called it a bubble ponics set up earlier but that includes a water pump I think with just the air stones its dwc right?
Honestly I woild skip all the additives. Go with silica, nutes and southern ag
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
Yeah, I'm leaning that way @Aqua Man but on the other hand I dont want to feel like I could've done more... I'll chew the fat on it for a bit.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

26,480
638
Yeah, I'm leaning that way @Aqua Man but on the other hand I dont want to feel like I could've done more... I'll chew the fat on it for a bit.
I can promise you more is more complicated. Especially if you don't have a grasp on nutrient interactions and how ratios affect uptake. I promise the absolute minimal gains that can be made by using them is not worth the risk of the problems they can create. IMO get 3 grows then try adding one new thing only so you can see if any benefit at all from them. Every addition will fuck with ratios. Silica is strait forward and so if southern ag or hydrogaurd. The only issue can be from improper mixing of silica or to much potassium silicate can put potassium ratio high affecting other nutrient availability.

IMO that enough to tackle on the first grow.

I'm not usually so adamant about this but you seem like a sponge so I wanna take the time to give ya what I feel is the best advice.

Keep it simple and you will be happy.
 
Badchoice

Badchoice

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63
Well one thing I’ve notice not yet said about which will come at the end is a flush agent for the the final flush before cropping to help get all the salts and fertilizers out. You have plenty of time before that but lol good thing to keep in mind when your getting around week 8 or 9 and than it’s oh shit no flush agent I’m sure you don’t want that headache.
 
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