first DWC grow

Sdh777

Well-Known Member
I've done about 50 DWC grows in RubberMaid tubs since '01 and going to get back into again. Been playing in the dirt the last while and it's a major PITA with crappy results. Just not a dirt farmer but can kill it with DWC.

Used mainly AN 3-part from the beginning and with RO water can go the whole grow without changing nutes once with great results. I may do a change after the stretch then switch to Lucas formula style feeding. Just Big Bud and Rhino Skin for AN additives. Any old CalMag will do and of course some Epsom salts. With the pH perfect nutes I never, ever bother checking pH. Just ppm and then add nutes in small amounts to raise or maintain my target ppm.

Start clones around 300 ppm then go up gradually to no more than 1000 tho that can be too high if your RH is low. 500 can be too high here in the winter with grow room RH around 20% a lot of the time. The plants go thru way more water and take up more nutes than they should which leads to toxic salts buildup that really starts to show around mid-flower.

I always ran sterile tubs using food grade H2O2 but 10 years ago or so built a chiller out of a water cooler and fountain pump so could keep the nute temps down to 65F easy. Stopped the peroxide and never got root rot.

I've had 3"/day growth in later veg. Never seen that in soil or soilless.

Good luck!

:peace:
50 grows...unreal!!! You’re like the Grand Master OG. I use both a chiller & either hydrogaurd or H2O2. I know it’s overkill, but I’m still relatively new at this compared to you, so I take extra precautions to keep my bitches in line. I travel a lot for work, so I’m afraid I’ll come home to an catastrophe if I don’t!
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
i have some mammoth p lying around you think its a good idea to add this to my nute solution when i start?
Not at the beginning. That's a flower booster and should be added when you flip to flower. After the stretch a switch to higher K over P works better. Too much P can block Ca, Mg, Zn and Fe.

Your base nutes should have a well balanced mix of NPK and other nutes to veg the plants fine. With RO you'll want CalMag and I like adding silica so use Rhino Skin as it is made to work with the other AN nutes. Don't have to pH down after adding it first to your water.

The Big Bud powder I use is 0-15-35 but I have P/K 0-53-34 that I'll use half and half with the BB to up the P level for the first couple weeks of 12/12.

I'm curious to try the Mega Crop nutes in DWC. Dry nutes with everything a plant desires in it. Dirt cheap compared to the watered down versions I'm used to using.
 

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Not at the beginning. That's a flower booster and should be added when you flip to flower. After the stretch a switch to higher K over P works better. Too much P can block Ca, Mg, Zn and Fe.

Your base nutes should have a well balanced mix of NPK and other nutes to veg the plants fine. With RO you'll want CalMag and I like adding silica so use Rhino Skin as it is made to work with the other AN nutes. Don't have to pH down after adding it first to your water.

The Big Bud powder I use is 0-15-35 but I have P/K 0-53-34 that I'll use half and half with the BB to up the P level for the first couple weeks of 12/12.

I'm curious to try the Mega Crop nutes in DWC. Dry nutes with everything a plant desires in it. Dirt cheap compared to the watered down versions I'm used to using.
50 grows...unreal!!! You’re like the Grand Master OG. I use both a chiller & either hydrogaurd or H2O2. I know it’s overkill, but I’m still relatively new at this compared to you, so I take extra precautions to keep my bitches in line. I travel a lot for work, so I’m afraid I’ll come home to an catastrophe if I don’t!
Ok guys so my bucket pump and air stone arrived, I’m pretty much ready to go other than I need to pop to the grow store and get some
P.H. down
Some clay pebbles
A chiller and a fish tank heater
And some aquaguard or hydro guard whatever it is called

should I cut this tube down so it connects to the other gromet?
 

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Jypsy Dog

Well-Known Member
Ok guys so my bucket pump and air stone arrived, I’m pretty much ready to go other than I need to pop to the grow store and get some
P.H. down
Some clay pebbles
A chiller and a fish tank heater
And some aquaguard or hydro guard whatever it is called

should I cut this tube down so it connects to the other gromet?
Trim it down a bit. I put a funnel in the end and refill from the bottom up.
 

HolyAngel

Well-Known Member
I would get two ph pens and two tds meters, preferably different brands, and the solutions to calibrate them. One can be off anytime so it's nice being able to check it against something else. TDS is less important about accuracy, but the PH needs to be on point or you're going to have issues. Calibrate them weekly to biweekly, religiously.

I'd also get some PH UP too and not just the down.

Don't worry about a heater at all unless your water is under 60F/16C, may need a chiller if it's over 70F/21C. I keep my air pumps outside of the tent in my basement and my water stays between 65-68 at all times.

If you're going to run beneficial bacteria like hydroguard or tribus or something, make sure your water is dechlorinated. Seachem Safe is cheap af for the amount you need and is safe to use. Will last decades unless you're doing ~100gal res' all the time.
 

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys appreciate the info, will keep you updated as and when, gonna order another P.H. and ppm reader so I have 2 of each, would you recommend declorinating water or not? And also can I run hydro guard and mammoth p at the same time (later in flower)
 

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
You can Scrog off a single bucket..
My space is pretty big, I can get like 2 of those scrogs In comfortable but I wanna run this one bucket first see how I get on, if all goes well I’ll convert to all dwc under a scrog

got some soil plants on the other side of the room just in case I fuck up lol
 

Jypsy Dog

Well-Known Member

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Also might be a silly question but when I’m doing a water change do I just leave the plant in the bucket and fill from bottom up then adjust the res, will them sitting in the in modified water be a problem as I adjust the P.H. and stuff or am I gonna need a second bucket?
 

Jypsy Dog

Well-Known Member
Also might be a silly question but when I’m doing a water change do I just leave the plant in the bucket and fill from bottom up then adjust the res, will them sitting in the in modified water be a problem as I adjust the P.H. and stuff or am I gonna need a second bucket?
I have extra buckets so I can stabilize the pH, then just swap the bucket.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys appreciate the info, will keep you updated as and when, gonna order another P.H. and ppm reader so I have 2 of each, would you recommend declorinating water or not? And also can I run hydro guard and mammoth p at the same time (later in flower)
Personally I don't see the need to have 2 of each. If you have calibration sol'n and your pH pen nails that then you really don't need a 2nd pen to confirm that the first is good. Make sure you get storage sol'n so the pen can sit in it between uses. I keep a spray bottle full of RO or distilled water handy for rinsing off the probe just before use and again just before sitting it back in it's cap that holds storage sol'n. My pH pen is going on 8 years old now and still calibrates perfectly with both pH 4 and 7. My ppm pen is at least 25 years old and it also works fine. I check it once in a blue moon and it's never more than 20ppm off. If further than that then I replace the cheapo batteries at a bargain store and it's back within 20.

Neither are POS units I got off Amazon either. The ppm pen is a Hanna I paid $75 for back in '82 and the pH pen is a EcoTestr pH 1 that was $70 at a garden center in Grande Prairie.

I would recommend getting pre-mixed liquid calibration sol'n over the salt packs that come with many pens. The liquid should be as dead on as you can get where mixing up your own stuff can is dependent on the mixer's skills for accuracy and water used to mix with. 500ml bottles of calibration sol'n cost from $5 - $10 each and should last you for years. As they are inorganic salts in water they won't spoil and will still be good long after you're worm food. :)

What you really want spare of is;

Lights!

Spare bulbs can save your grow. I like top-end bulbs for flowering with Hortilux Super HPS being my all-time fave. Not cheap tho at maybe $90 for a 400W to $299 for a 940W conversion bulb to get massive buds running off a 1000W MH ballast. Only paid $170 for mine 4 years ago but won't need that one anymore as I have a 1000W MH/HPS magnetic ballast and can just buy the regular SHPS bulbs for around $120. I also have cheapo versions of the same kind of bulbs so I can at least keep them going.

Air/water pumps. Running DWC and the air pump croaks? At least have a repair kit for your aerator if not a new pump standing by. With a dual outlet one, one side can die with the other keeps working. When using RubberMaid tubs I run two 12" airstones off one dual pump. The 12" ones lay perfectly in the two slots on the bottom of the tubs and create a great circulation to keep things mixed up well.

Running RDWC? Then a spare water pump is priority 1. Without constant infusion of oxygenated water like DWC stagnation sets in fast and root rot soon follows. Tip: Adding 1ml/L/day of 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide and stirring in saved my DWC back in '02 when we had no power for 8 days and the temps were -20C or lower. I ran a small propane heater, Mr. Heater, with it's element pointed at the plants to give them some light and keep the grow room in the garage from freezing up. Temps were in the low 40s F.

When filled to that ridge the tall tubs hold 50L. The shorter ones hold 35L and the lids are the same size. With 5 or 6" net pots that ridge is just an inch or so under the bottom of the pots which is perfect. I'd veg in the short ones then when I wanted to flip to flower I'd prepare a taller tub with all the nutes needed for a fast switch to flower mode. 3-part nutes at high ppm for Bloom with Big Bud

BoilingTubs01.jpg



Roots.jpg

Bug spray.

Don't use it just because you have it but have it on hand just in case. I recently got rid of a 2 year mite problem using just Safer's End All with 10ml of canola or neem oil added to each liter I mixed up from the concentrate. The secret to getting rid of them, thrips and many other leaf munching bugs is consistency of sprays. Mites or thrips can be wiped out if you hit the plants every 4th day for 4 treatments. Make sure you get every tiny spot on your plants and even lay them on their sides or turn them upside down to not miss a spot. This stuff is as non-toxic as you can get and a 500ml bottle costs only $15 or so and makes 10L of spray. spray the top of the soil and all over areas the plants sit too. Mites will climb up anything they can and end up all over your Light Rail and crap on the ceiling. I wasn't going to be growing in my basement room for a few months so kept the temp up to 70 after removing the last plants. Mites will go into hibernation if it gets colder than 50F or so. Keeping the temps up with no plants for them to feed on made sure that they would all hatch/die of starvation. I sure hope it hurt real bad! :D

There's probably more but those are tops for me.

:peace:
 

Cwrighty9420

Well-Known Member
Personally I don't see the need to have 2 of each. If you have calibration sol'n and your pH pen nails that then you really don't need a 2nd pen to confirm that the first is good. Make sure you get storage sol'n so the pen can sit in it between uses. I keep a spray bottle full of RO or distilled water handy for rinsing off the probe just before use and again just before sitting it back in it's cap that holds storage sol'n. My pH pen is going on 8 years old now and still calibrates perfectly with both pH 4 and 7. My ppm pen is at least 25 years old and it also works fine. I check it once in a blue moon and it's never more than 20ppm off. If further than that then I replace the cheapo batteries at a bargain store and it's back within 20.

Neither are POS units I got off Amazon either. The ppm pen is a Hanna I paid $75 for back in '82 and the pH pen is a EcoTestr pH 1 that was $70 at a garden center in Grande Prairie.

I would recommend getting pre-mixed liquid calibration sol'n over the salt packs that come with many pens. The liquid should be as dead on as you can get where mixing up your own stuff can is dependent on the mixer's skills for accuracy and water used to mix with. 500ml bottles of calibration sol'n cost from $5 - $10 each and should last you for years. As they are inorganic salts in water they won't spoil and will still be good long after you're worm food. :)

What you really want spare of is;

Lights!

Spare bulbs can save your grow. I like top-end bulbs for flowering with Hortilux Super HPS being my all-time fave. Not cheap tho at maybe $90 for a 400W to $299 for a 940W conversion bulb to get massive buds running off a 1000W MH ballast. Only paid $170 for mine 4 years ago but won't need that one anymore as I have a 1000W MH/HPS magnetic ballast and can just buy the regular SHPS bulbs for around $120. I also have cheapo versions of the same kind of bulbs so I can at least keep them going.

Air/water pumps. Running DWC and the air pump croaks? At least have a repair kit for your aerator if not a new pump standing by. With a dual outlet one, one side can die with the other keeps working. When using RubberMaid tubs I run two 12" airstones off one dual pump. The 12" ones lay perfectly in the two slots on the bottom of the tubs and create a great circulation to keep things mixed up well.

Running RDWC? Then a spare water pump is priority 1. Without constant infusion of oxygenated water like DWC stagnation sets in fast and root rot soon follows. Tip: Adding 1ml/L/day of 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide and stirring in saved my DWC back in '02 when we had no power for 8 days and the temps were -20C or lower. I ran a small propane heater, Mr. Heater, with it's element pointed at the plants to give them some light and keep the grow room in the garage from freezing up. Temps were in the low 40s F.

When filled to that ridge the tall tubs hold 50L. The shorter ones hold 35L and the lids are the same size. With 5 or 6" net pots that ridge is just an inch or so under the bottom of the pots which is perfect. I'd veg in the short ones then when I wanted to flip to flower I'd prepare a taller tub with all the nutes needed for a fast switch to flower mode. 3-part nutes at high ppm for Bloom with Big Bud

View attachment 4447118



View attachment 4447106

Bug spray.

Don't use it just because you have it but have it on hand just in case. I recently got rid of a 2 year mite problem using just Safer's End All with 10ml of canola or neem oil added to each liter I mixed up from the concentrate. The secret to getting rid of them, thrips and many other leaf munching bugs is consistency of sprays. Mites or thrips can be wiped out if you hit the plants every 4th day for 4 treatments. Make sure you get every tiny spot on your plants and even lay them on their sides or turn them upside down to not miss a spot. This stuff is as non-toxic as you can get and a 500ml bottle costs only $15 or so and makes 10L of spray. spray the top of the soil and all over areas the plants sit too. Mites will climb up anything they can and end up all over your Light Rail and crap on the ceiling. I wasn't going to be growing in my basement room for a few months so kept the temp up to 70 after removing the last plants. Mites will go into hibernation if it gets colder than 50F or so. Keeping the temps up with no plants for them to feed on made sure that they would all hatch/die of starvation. I sure hope it hurt real bad! :D

There's probably more but those are tops for me.

:peace:
That’s a lot of info right there. Lol

thanks a bunch guys I’m feeling pretty confident at the moment
 

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
Also might be a silly question but when I’m doing a water change do I just leave the plant in the bucket and fill from bottom up then adjust the res, will them sitting in the in modified water be a problem as I adjust the P.H. and stuff or am I gonna need a second bucket?
I always just used a spare bucket to plop the plant into while I changed out the solution.
 
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