DWC Questions from a newb.

B

Betterthanjesus

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, just had a few questions I figured someone could answer easily... ^^

I am thinking of trying out a DWC system, but I am just now learning about hydro systems, I notice some people say air pumps some say water pumps, when talking about their system, I see on HTG Supply, they have air pumps and water pumps, so are water pumps for misting the water underneath the plants and the air pump just pumping in air into the reservoir???

How does one "flush" a hydro DWC system? Seen a few people mention this.

I also see alot of people talking about EC,TDS,PPM meters (or whatever), what exactly do these abbreviations stand for? Are they a neccessity?

I am planning on following filthyfletch's DIY DWC, FYI

Thanks for helpin a 1st time poster out fellas.
 
medicineman

medicineman

New Member
In my estimation, the least hassle hydro grow system is the bubbler. Just start your seedlings, transplant to the bubbler and keep your Nutes and PH adjusted to recommended specs. Yes you'll need a PPM Meter and a PH meter. With the Bubbler systen, all you'll need is an air pump for every 6 hole bubblers you have, a Y to provide 2 airstones per bubbler. This is the most prolific grow system for the money. You can make your own bubbler tanks with tubs from walmart, or purchase a complete system for 50-130 bucks. The largest expense is the HPS lamp assy.. You'll need a small fan to stir the air around your plants, and something I did to help with smell during flowering, a 70++ CFM radial fan that you can duct to the attic that will also draw in cool air and vent the warm air and smell out. I used a 4" ductable fan from Ebay, cost 129.00, you can go to a 6" up to a 10" for large areas, my grow area is only 36 cubic ft., so my fan removes all the air twice a minute
 
B

Betterthanjesus

Well-Known Member
So I don't need a water pump? What if the bubbles made from the air pump+stone doesn't reach the roots in the hydro clay?? I thought thats what the water pump was for? Thanks alot for your info so far!!
 
C

chingy

Active Member
All u need is the air pump for a single dwc bucket. The roots will eventually grow down to the water, if not you can try feeding from the top and let the water drain down inside the bucket. The pump is not needed unless you do some modification to the system.
 
tckfui

tckfui

Well-Known Member
water pumps are only used in certan kinds of hydro set ups IE aero, ebb and flo, and others I'm to cheesed up to remember. air pumps are used in DWC manly. to give the roots air. because they need air. because the roots are sumberged in water.
 
B

Betterthanjesus

Well-Known Member
I feel like such an idiot. Sorry guys, I ment an Aero setup not DWC >_<, Sorry again for the confusion. So same questions above just bout Aero setups instead.
 
FilthyFletch

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
Yup my setups are aero so get you a 200 gph water pump submersiable kind and make the little manifold add the misters and turen it on 24 hours aday. You can add an airstone to the water for extra o2 which is quite helpful and I reccomned it but dont have to it helps get more o2 in the water.Now the things you asked about like ppm, ec,tds ppm= PartsPer Million. It tels you how many particles of your nutes are in your water per million parts (tells you your nute strength), the PH is the reading of how acidic or base your solution is in these grow setups 5.8 is perfect but you have a little play room 5.6-6 is the extreme ranges.TDS= Total Disolved Solids. This is similar to a ppm count and is related to your EC or Electrical Conductivity of a solution.For the basics you can start with just 2 of these which are easiest to understand. Use a ph meter keep the water at 5.8 with nutes in it.Get a ppm pen and follow your nute chart it will tell you homw much of each bottle to add per gallon of water then give a ppm reading you should be close to give or take 50 ppm.If your ppm is to high add some plain water if its way to low add more nutes as if you had 1 more gallon of water then check again. If the ph is too low ad a little ph up or if its too high add a little ph down. It will change daily so dont panic just adjust it. Pool ph stuff like at wal mart is fine little goes a long way so use small amount until you get used to how much adjusts the water to what. Good luck hope this helps some
 
tckfui

tckfui

Well-Known Member
great pic!!!... howd you take it
you should try and get better misters though . I have thoes... don't use them it sucked they cloged in like 20 minutes!
 
tastyaces

tastyaces

Well-Known Member
i was wondering about the dwc cause i just made one... right now i use hortawool as my medium. and i wanna get into these kinda systems. so i made one and well see how it goes. I just dont know too much about them. If the seeds havent rooted crazy yet how deep do u put the net pot i read 1/2 in. then when the roots start comin about an inch under the pot...any help would be awesome thx.....heres a pic...i also have a 400w mh on top about 8 inch away...
 

Attachments

tastyaces

tastyaces

Well-Known Member
in the back is my hortawool soon to be momma.. i think its sweet tooth but have no clue thats what a friend said when he gave me the seeds......
 
Awake and Baked

Awake and Baked

Active Member
so if i am am using a misting stone from an aquarium and the water is oxygenated then it is ok for the roots to be submerged? if i use a five gallon bucket with water in the bottom, when the roots grow down to the water the plant will not die?
 
herballuvmonkey

herballuvmonkey

Well-Known Member
tasty keep the water hitting the bottom of the pots until the roots actually start coming out of the net pots. The clay pellets act as a wick and bring the water to the roots. also something to think about is the amount of water (i.esize of the bucket) to the size of the bubbler ratio.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top