Can someone critique my dwc bucket and ppm issue

Used tap left out for 1-2 days on my all soil first attempt and it burnt them up. Now with RO no issues

Aviatorshades said:

Used tap left out for 1-2 days on my all soil first attempt and it burnt them up. Now with RO no issues

Click to expand...

Yes if you use 250 PPM tap water you really have to back off the feed. For starters no calmag. If using GH Flora 3 Part like me you can use their hard water micro. Check PPM after mixing and if it's too high then cut it with water. I had a run where my RO filter started making shit water all of the sudden (membrane failed). I wasn't checking the PPM daily and I fed with that water one time and they got leaf tip burn really badly. My RO filter now has the inline PPM meter so I can check it easily and I log the PPM in and out. If you see production rates slow down the prefilters have to go, if the PPM starts rising the membrane has to go.

I always keep an extra set/s of filters and membrane on the shelf so I can change them fast.

I also keep a 300 gallon vertical storage tank full of RO water, for "hard times" lol. I put a float in it and set it up on 16" cement blocks, the top lid just barely fits between the floor joists and I used a space that wasn't able to be used for anything else. It came in handy when I had to wait for a new filter system.

My next big question is this. My nutes stay around 700-900. Should I up them anymore? I’m going by the gh flora nute chart


I would assume being on week 6 I should start the late bloom? They haven’t bulked up yet but one plant I see 5% amber

Aviatorshades said:

I would assume being on week 6 I should start the late bloom? They haven’t bulked up yet but one plant I see 5% amber

Click to expand...

Do you mean Week 6 according to that chart? Most of us discuss the flowering stage starting from the day we change lighting to 12/12 to flip to flowering so by that chart would be Week 3 for me.

You must be at week 6 of flower to be seeing 5% amber. I get to Week 8 and see no amber. Even if I go longer than I should there are very few amber like less than 1%.

I've always used AN 3-part which is practically the same as the GH trio as far as NPK ratios go and after the stretch, approx. 3 weeks after the flip, drop the Grow portion and feed Lucas Formula style. That's basically 0-1-2. No Grow and half as much Micro as Bloom. If lower leaves start yellowing then a bit of N will be needed so I up the Micro as that's where most of the N is. I use CalMag with RO so get some N from that.

I say week 6. My transition week doesn’t count when I flip to 12/12. So technically I guess this is week 7 since switch to 12/12

By week 6 or 7 they should be stacking up good unless they are a long flowering strain. Too much N can hold that back.

I'd cut out the N as much as you can now and let them go. Otherwise they're doing OK.

I typically run 500-800ppm in veg. And 1000-1200 in Bloom. Change Rez every week. Deff use cal mag with RO water. I top off every day and add back nutrient back up to the ppm I’m looking for if needed. I’ve been getting a GPW+ out of a CC rdwc system this way. Shooting for 2gpw this round. Jacks321, cc roots, ameno’s and Fulvic from RAW. MKP. Well water.

Hey was curious if I can use 27gal hdx totes from Home Depot and do 1 plant per tub. This way I have a big res of water and ph should stay stable longer? Should be like once a week oh and ppm check no?

Aviatorshades said:

Hey was curious if I can use 27gal hdx totes from Home Depot and do 1 plant per tub. This way I have a big res of water and ph should stay stable longer? Should be like once a week oh and ppm check no?

Click to expand...

Just a heads up, those 27gal HDX totes only actually hold about 18-20 gal safely. Possibly less depending on the depth of your netpot. But yes, you totally can.

Any chance it’s ok to just do 18-20 gal in them and then just check the ph and ppm once a week? I will be using ph perfect base nutes by AN

Aviatorshades said:

So I’m using 5gal dwc buckets with nice air stones. Anyways seems to be working fine but am confused.

I use RO water that is about 15ppm. I’ve been strict with how I’ve been doing the gh flora trio. Anyways the mix always comes out to around 600-700ppm including 2ml per gal of calimag.

Do I then just add RO until it gets down to let’s say 200ppm then put in new nutes. And also should I just add RO WITHOUT calmag or do I always add calmag?

Trying to figure out how to make this perfect and what my ppm swing should be? Thanks this is my second run at dwc and still getting things down. Pulled 16 dry with two 315s so I just not being too terrible at it. Just need to better myself

Click to expand...

so im gather u want a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory.

No just curious. I’d like to do readings and checks not every single day. It takes a lot of time. Hence the 27g. Less time filling. Measuring redosing etc

That's where it gets tricky. I've run that size tote with one plant and air stones so I can say that your ph and ppm might stay close to where you want them for a little while. The problem with only checking that often is that stuff can go wrong and escalate quickly with hydroponics. You might make it through most of veg like that. The plants will start drinking/eating more as they mature so you either need to spend the time checking or automate everything. After flip to flowering you really should pay attention in my opinion.
In my experience, once your environment is dialed in, you can start predicting when you'll need to do what. It only takes 5 min a day for checks when things are flowing well, maybe 15 min when I gotta adjust something.

Aviatorshades said:

Any chance it’s ok to just do 18-20 gal in them and then just check the ph and ppm once a week? I will be using ph perfect base nutes by AN

Click to expand...

Why would you bother checking pH with those nutes? Waste of time as the pen won't read right anyway. Trust the tech and just track the ppm.

I would top up my totes with RO then check ppm and add small amounts of nutes as needed to stay on target. Do whole grows without ever changing the nutes and get great yields. At least 50 tubs with sometimes 16 plants each. That's a bit nuts tho. Two plants ScroG style is good.