Flooming GPH requirements?

[FrostyPelican]

Hello everyone, I was using a 120 gallon per hour pond pump in a 20 gallon tote and I don't think it was doing the trick. There was ripple on the surface but not very substantial.

Everything was going great, pearly white roots, excellent growth etc until this last weekend, week 4 of flower. My roots are now kind of yellowish and mushy on the topmost part. Still has the little fish bone structure on the lower roots although yellowish in color.

I'm kind of stumped because the first two months were great (1 month veg, 1 flower) and although I am still learning it doesn't seem logical that I would develop a root problem due the lack of floom action just because it the plant is more mature. I could be wrong and please let me know if I am.

The temps all good, I did run out of Cal Mag and was needing some badly, it took 4 days for me to receive the new Cal Mag and treat it with a fresh ph'd nute rez change. That is the only other factor I can think of that may be part of the problem.

Anyway, for those that floom please advise if you think the 120 gph pump is not enough. I have two of them that I could use and really don't want to buy another, I'm getting budgeted out.

 

[legallyflying]

I don't "floom". My mom raised me better

But just as an FYI..your ass better be getting some beneficialls in that system soon or its all going to go sideways and quick.

 

[FrostyPelican]

It has, I'm giving it one more day. I think it's gone. I took clones earlier so not a total loss.

 

[legallyflying]

Did you hit it with tea?

I know there is some real
Floam fans out there and they are admit that it works..but it just does not make sense to me.

Yeah, air is entrained by surface disruption..but how are you going to disrupt the surface when the pot is full of roots?

There is a reason 95?% of DWC growers use air stones. The simply work

 

[brimck325]

very good point lf.

 

[FrostyPelican]

Did you hit it with tea?

I know there is some real
Floam fans out there and they are admit that it works..but it just does not make sense to me.

Yeah, air is entrained by surface disruption..but how are you going to disrupt the surface when the pot is full of roots?

There is a reason 95?% of DWC growers use air stones. The simply work

No, it was too late. I just checked it and it's dead. I have always used air stones and still have a few more running with the traditional method. I actually got advice on this forum about using a fountain pump to disrupt the surface and have read about it elsewhere. Supposedly it was able to generate more DO but either my pump wasn't large enough or it really just isn't as effective as air stones. I'm think both for reasons you mentioned.

I leaned to not experiment on my nicest plant. Oh well, I learned something.

 

[legallyflying]

Someone on another forum completely debunked the glooming is massive DO myth

When I tested do, the smallest airstones achieved total saturation pretty quickly.

 

[Glaucoma]

I don't use airstones simply because it's too much of a hassle. One fish pump replaces it all. As far as size goes, I can easily aerate 30 gallons with a 24 watt pump.

Win/Win

 

[Hydroburn]

what is such a hassle about air stones?

 

[legallyflying]

exactly! i hasve seen MANY a pump wear out.

 

[ttystikk]

I do not floom, nor do I use airstones or bubblers.

The waterpump in my control bucket, the same one that draws water from throughout my system and across the cooling coils, feeds a manifold that sends water to a fitting in the netpot rim. This waterfall completely oxygen saturates the water, mixes and delivers nutrients, splashes water and nutes up onto roots and maximizes humidity.

Lower parts count, better reliability and faster mixing for the win!

 

[FrostyPelican]

I do not floom, nor do I use airstones or bubblers.

The waterpump in my control bucket, the same one that draws water from throughout my system and across the cooling coils, feeds a manifold that sends water to a fitting in the netpot rim. This waterfall completely oxygen saturates the water, mixes and delivers nutrients, splashes water and nutes up onto roots and maximizes humidity.

Lower parts count, better reliability and faster mixing for the win!

Something like your setup would work great.

 

[ttystikk]

Cheaper, too.

 

[legallyflying]

I don't now man, I'm not buying it. Any pictures of your system with a large root ball?

Sure. When the plants are little water flowing in will drop and saturated O2, Etc etc etc. But when the bucket is filled with roots, the water will hit the roots and then just follow the roots into the water.

I can't even see the water when I look in my pots. And in week 5 and beyond, the water is barely moving even with airstones blazing.

Anywho, if you had a picture that would be great

Thanks

 

[ttystikk]

I don't now man, I'm not buying it. Any pictures of your system with a large root ball?

Sure. When the plants are little water flowing in will drop and saturated O2, Etc etc etc. But when the bucket is filled with roots, the water will hit the roots and then just follow the roots into the water.

I can't even see the water when I look in my pots. And in week 5 and beyond, the water is barely moving even with airstones blazing.

Anywho, if you had a picture that would be great

Thanks

My plants are tiny- they only yield a pound of dried top quality bud... each.

If your roots fill the bucket so much water can't flow, then you need a bigger bucket. I use the 27 gallon tuffboxes from Wal-Mart (NOT Home dePot, because theirs are brittle and crack. This advice is worth its weight in kind bud, trust me) and grow just one plant in each one. The waterfall runs constantly which is key to its success.

The pump in the control bucket supplies the manifold which delivers water to each tub, so that's a great place to add nutrients and test water quality. Since it automatically splits, distributes and mixes everything, there's no need to dribble nutrient in super slowly.

I do NOT clean my RDWC system to a state of sparkling sterility between runs, far from it! I drain, flush once and then just fill 'er up and go.

All connections below the waterline are 1" bulkhead fittings and tubing. They do clog occasionally, it's worth blowing them out between runs with the hose.

 

[ttystikk]

I just don't post in DWC because I'm in the vert section instead.

 

[legallyflying]

You should throw more light on those plants. We are averaging 2p of dried bud per plant of those size.

I guess the proof is in the pudding but in my experience, even with 18 gallons, the water didn't seem to be mixing that much. Could just be an illusion.

We are switching to 10 gallon trash cans for the warehouse. Rubbermaid brutes. Every tote we have ever run only survives 3-4 harvests...they just get beat up.

 

[ttystikk]

Weird. What do you guys do to your poor defenseless res tubs, anyway? Mine sits on the floor and doesn't go anywhere...

 

[legallyflying]

Well we have to move them from veg to flower and we have 30 of them so when cleaning up, stacking and bleaching etc they just get thrown around and stuff. Plus I think the MH uv makes them brittle

 

[ttystikk]

Well instead of hauling the whole damned tub around, I only move the plant, a few handfuls of hydroton the plant grows through and the netpot bucket lids holding it all.

The tub and the growing system stay put.