Basic hydro questions?

[dave on the decks]

hey people i have just bought a bud tent size 1.2m x2m high, installed for lighting is a cool tube system shade, with a 6" 460mm per second,along with a nice carbon filter, now ive shopped around for a good watering system and from the looks of things i was quite happy with this setup called the 10 pot wilma drip system, now ive got it all setup nice, havent as yet filled the resouvoir yet, as im expecting some nice cuttings in around a week id say, but anyways what im trying to get at, is im new to these hydroponic setups, i havent got a clue, im using ionic grow with boost, and shortly after the bloom and boost, but what i dont understand is how long do i keep a good mixture once done ,in the reservoir how long shall i leave it to feed of till i change the reservoir with clean water and new feed, if anybody could guide me as to when i feed them and when i need to change the water, this would be great, and another question is how many times do i feed them a day 2 times a day sounds good, for small young ens, and obviosly a few extra feeds when there growing up, and i need to know how long i should feed then , any scheduled time would be greatful,

 

[Al B. Fuct]

I dump my tanks every 2 weeks. In between tank dumps, you can watch the nutrient concentration drop as the plants eat the nutes. On mixing day, my tanks run at about 1300-1500ppm. I top the tanks with plain water as needed and dose the tanks with H2O2 every 3-4 days at 1ml/litre of tank volume. By the end of the second week, the nute concentration has dropped to about 800-900ppm.

Drip systems are all well and good, but check your drippers frequently (at least daily). Nutrient salts will tend to dry on the drippers and clog them- leading to dead plants if you're not paying enough attention.

I prefer flood/drain systems as they are not prone to clogging.

The frequency of your drip watering depends on the medium you're using. Expanded clay pellets can be watered a few times a day. Rockwool media may only need watered once a day.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

2 times a day sounds good, for small young ens, and obviosly a few extra feeds when there growing up, and i need to know how long i should feed then

'Extra feeds' are usually not only not needed but may cause root system problems. You haven't said what media you're using, but whatever it is, if the media is ever totally saturated, it's too wet. If the media is saturated, all the oxygen needed for root development is driven out of the media. Overwatering is newbie mistake #1. Your media should be damp- never wet.

Remember, you're dealing with plants- there's a bell-curve to your parameters. There's 'too little,' 'just right' and 'too much' when it comes to watering and feeding. These are not little engines which you can jam more fuel and air into and expect to get better performance out of them.

New growers tend to kill plants- with kindness.

 

[nongreenthumb]

The wilma's are a pretty good and efficient system, i got the 8 pot a while back,

To be honest the major problem though with the wilma and this will be the same for you because we got the same res, is that its a total bitch to empty, so you want to be able to get to a stage where you empty it as little as possible.

Use the little muffle filter that came with it and attach it onto the inlet of your maxijet1000.

I would only use the wilma system for flowering, if you do both stages its just an extra tank change and a heavy waste of veg nutes.

I only do a tank change every 8 weeks or however long it takes to flower as i have learnt to control the nutes and by time you get to week 4 of flowering the plants will be emptying the res quite quickly so just top it up as you see fit. You will need a ec/tds/ppm meter if you havent already got one though.

You will have to keep a daily check on the ph and the nute levels and adjust accordingly, also always leave some space in the tank for water to be added in case you add too much nutes and then you can water it down again.

Try not to go too much up and down on the ph juice as this will create lots of salts and create another opportunity for a tank change.

 

[BlueCHEESE!!]

im getting the wilma 10 pot system myself in the next 2 weeks and gonna be using coco in it how often would i need to feed the plants