Mr.GoodCat
- 693
- 63
Well fellow farmers i am currently in my first grow with my UCE12XL and wanted to start a thread to share with everybody what I have learned so far. Some of this stuff has been covered in other threads but some stuff hasn't. I don't want to come off as cocky or throw the label of "master grower" out there because I don't believe in labels, but lets just say I am an experienced grower. And trust me when I say this, eductaion isn't free. I have spent a lot of money and time on my mistakes and mishaps to have learned what I know today.
When you assemble the UC I found that a water soluble surgical lubricant works 10-times better then soap and water. Some people use KY, but I found that this surgical lube works the best. It will save you so much time please get some before attempting to assemble this bad boy.
This has been beaten into the ground time and time again, but less is better in the UC. I would recommend starting at about 350-400 ppm and working your way up from there. I started at 500ppm and the claw came on so fast I thought I was in the ring with Mick Foley. She was corrected when I dropped her down to the 400 range.
Your room conditions play such a huge role in the success of any system, UC included. Your RH is often the most overlooked variable in your room. In the winter time in colder c limates RH drops into the teens. You should keep your RH above 50% for best results. Temps between 70-80 have always worked great for me. Grab a chiller and keep your system temps in the upper 60's.
PH in any hydro system is important, but not as important as some people make it out to be. If your PH is anywhere in the 5.2-6.3 range your plants are uptaking nutrients. I recommend setting your PH low and letting it rise to about 6.3 or so before adjusting it down again. This allows your nutes to swing through the PH scale allowing different nutrients to uptake at their peak. For those using dosers, my personal thoughts. Dosers are great for maintaining a constant PH but your not getting the swing. I have a doser and this is what I have done to get the best of both worlds. I set my doser at 5.5 and let the doser adjust my PH to the set point and then I turn it off. When the PH swings up to about 6.3 I will turn the doser on again and let it return to the setpoint of 5.5. Yea this is the lazy way out but it ensures I dont add too much down to my system, and then you look like a mad scientist hovering over the epicenter with a bottle of up and a bottle of down tryin to get your PH just right. With my experience this will damage your roots and leave them more succeptable to root damage which in turn is an open invitation for root rot and other baddies to move in and set up shop. If adding PH up or down to the epicenter always dilute it first and add little doses at a time. Give your system 20-30 min to circulate before making added adjustments. This can take a while to get your PH set point right, but its much better then damaging the tender roots.
Water level. It was recommended to me that the water level in the uc be touching the bottom of the net pot until the roots come through and then lower the water level. I did this until about 8 of 12 of my plants had roots poking out of the sides and bottom. At that point I was talking to my homie and he is running a similiar setup and he told me something that makes perfect sense. He said to drop the water level down to an inch or 2 below the net cups, the condensation from the water will keep the hydroton moist and give the roots just enough moisture to go searching. I did this and they exploded! If the plants are givin too much water seems like they slow down and are "comfortable" but you make them go searching and work a little bit and boy what a difference.
Benis vs. sterile rez. This is a debate that will forever be ongoing, but I will share my personal opinions. I am using aquashield and have zero issues so far. I have read in a few instances that you can crown feed with a benificial suppliment like great white, but on the flip side some farmers are reporting that great white seems to be the cause of algae in their system so I decided just to use aqua shield with sub m and sub b. If you decide to use hygrozyme make sure you introduce it very slowly to the epicenter or you will have a brown froth that will take over your room. The good point about using a live rez is if something goes wrong you have options. You can treat with a number of products like h202, zone or hydrofungicide but if you start with the sterile rez and something goes wrong the where do you turn? I have heard this from a few sources and it makes very good sense to me.
I hope this thread helps some people who are taking the adventure in to the the wild wild wet. By no means I am an expert but I have ran stand alone DWC systems before and am starting my UC adventure. In week 2 and so far everything looks great! Peace and happy farming to all - Goodcat
When you assemble the UC I found that a water soluble surgical lubricant works 10-times better then soap and water. Some people use KY, but I found that this surgical lube works the best. It will save you so much time please get some before attempting to assemble this bad boy.
This has been beaten into the ground time and time again, but less is better in the UC. I would recommend starting at about 350-400 ppm and working your way up from there. I started at 500ppm and the claw came on so fast I thought I was in the ring with Mick Foley. She was corrected when I dropped her down to the 400 range.
Your room conditions play such a huge role in the success of any system, UC included. Your RH is often the most overlooked variable in your room. In the winter time in colder c limates RH drops into the teens. You should keep your RH above 50% for best results. Temps between 70-80 have always worked great for me. Grab a chiller and keep your system temps in the upper 60's.
PH in any hydro system is important, but not as important as some people make it out to be. If your PH is anywhere in the 5.2-6.3 range your plants are uptaking nutrients. I recommend setting your PH low and letting it rise to about 6.3 or so before adjusting it down again. This allows your nutes to swing through the PH scale allowing different nutrients to uptake at their peak. For those using dosers, my personal thoughts. Dosers are great for maintaining a constant PH but your not getting the swing. I have a doser and this is what I have done to get the best of both worlds. I set my doser at 5.5 and let the doser adjust my PH to the set point and then I turn it off. When the PH swings up to about 6.3 I will turn the doser on again and let it return to the setpoint of 5.5. Yea this is the lazy way out but it ensures I dont add too much down to my system, and then you look like a mad scientist hovering over the epicenter with a bottle of up and a bottle of down tryin to get your PH just right. With my experience this will damage your roots and leave them more succeptable to root damage which in turn is an open invitation for root rot and other baddies to move in and set up shop. If adding PH up or down to the epicenter always dilute it first and add little doses at a time. Give your system 20-30 min to circulate before making added adjustments. This can take a while to get your PH set point right, but its much better then damaging the tender roots.
Water level. It was recommended to me that the water level in the uc be touching the bottom of the net pot until the roots come through and then lower the water level. I did this until about 8 of 12 of my plants had roots poking out of the sides and bottom. At that point I was talking to my homie and he is running a similiar setup and he told me something that makes perfect sense. He said to drop the water level down to an inch or 2 below the net cups, the condensation from the water will keep the hydroton moist and give the roots just enough moisture to go searching. I did this and they exploded! If the plants are givin too much water seems like they slow down and are "comfortable" but you make them go searching and work a little bit and boy what a difference.
Benis vs. sterile rez. This is a debate that will forever be ongoing, but I will share my personal opinions. I am using aquashield and have zero issues so far. I have read in a few instances that you can crown feed with a benificial suppliment like great white, but on the flip side some farmers are reporting that great white seems to be the cause of algae in their system so I decided just to use aqua shield with sub m and sub b. If you decide to use hygrozyme make sure you introduce it very slowly to the epicenter or you will have a brown froth that will take over your room. The good point about using a live rez is if something goes wrong you have options. You can treat with a number of products like h202, zone or hydrofungicide but if you start with the sterile rez and something goes wrong the where do you turn? I have heard this from a few sources and it makes very good sense to me.
I hope this thread helps some people who are taking the adventure in to the the wild wild wet. By no means I am an expert but I have ran stand alone DWC systems before and am starting my UC adventure. In week 2 and so far everything looks great! Peace and happy farming to all - Goodcat
