dwc ...need some help please

where to start ...
i have grown before with just regular bag seed with o.k. results out side with some dirt from the yard and miracle grow lol. this time im going all out and i need some help.. i trying to do a deep water culture ...

this is the equipment i have .....

2x4x5 grow tent
2-90 watt led ufo's
2-6u 85 watt 6500k cfl's ( true watts )
2- 65 watt cfl's 2700k ( true watts )
1-30 watt 6400k cfl
portable 9,000 btu air conditioner for fresh air in
2-40 cfm exhaust inline fans
8" fan for circulation
4"carbon filter
2-15 gallon rubbermaid tubs
50 gallon air pump with dual lines
2-12" air stones
2 submersible pumps if needed for circulation
2 timers
2 power strips
50 rockwool cubes
50 liters of hydroton
3" net pots
ppm meter
ph meter
clone tray
6 heavy duty yoyo hangers
6 light weight yoyo hangers
line of technaflora bc nutrients

A.C. keeps temps at 75 with humidity at 60%

in the picture theres a huge tub , i changed it for 2 smaller ones to lesson on my water usage . water here is a problem , i live in Costa Rica and you cant get distilled water here unless you want to pay $ 4.00 a gallon and drive 30 miles each way . RO water is a no go as well , so im using the water from my A.C. tap water here sucks ! the A.C water is ppm 15 ph 7.0 so i will go with that .....
supplies here are HARD to come by as we only have 1 hydroponic store in the entire country . ordering products on line is just as hard as not many items are allowed to be shipped in especially liquids like p.h. or nutes ( i have to wait 3 weeks for some p.h. down to get here by boat so im using vinegar for now). all the equipment i have was picked up in florida and i brought it down here in suitcases .most here even the hydro store know nothing about led's or cfl's or deep water culture so its fair to say i wont get no help in Costa Rica lol ...

i bought seeds from a friend in Amsterdam
10 barneys red dragon
10 blue cheese
i also got clones from a friend who knows a grower here , he said they are kronic #3 ????? never herd of them ..

i germinated 2 red dragons
3 blue cheese
and i have 24 kronic #3 clones

the dragons and cheese look good at 2 weeks old still in my cloning tray...

the kronics suck lol touchy lil suckers . guy had major problems from what i can see ( mites and root rot ) the mites were taken care of before i got them but you can see damage from them ,instead of rockwool this guy uses sponges to grow in..
originally he gave me 6 kronic clones all about 1 foot tall , the root rot was bad , i cut off what i could of the rot then treated them with H202 3 tsp per gallon.. i placed them in my DWC then all of a sudden i get a P.H. spike and BROWN SLIME in my res ( organic bacteria ).. i pulled everything from my DWC , i treated them once again and they came back a bit but i was afraid of getting root rot or bacteria back so i chopped them up and made 24 lil clones from them...... i figure this way the rot should be gone ....
so right now i got a total of 29 lil babies in my cloning tray ...
now when it comes to nutes im a NOOB !
when should i start feeding ? and what ppm am i looking for ? back in the day if my out door plants started to sag a little i just eyed out some 20 20 20 and all was good ( lucky ) i know not all strains are the same but there has to be a start point for plants this young . im thinking of starting them out at 165 PPM total ( water is 15 PPM ) is this to much ? ... mostly the problem im having is the nutes !!!! first time ... any and all help or sugestions if yall can and thank you in advance !

crgrower said:

where to start ...
I have grown before with just regular bag seed with o.k. Results out side with some dirt from the yard and miracle grow lol. This time im going all out and i need some help.. I trying to do a deep water culture ...

This is the equipment i have .....

2x4x5 grow tent
2-90 watt led ufo's
2-6u 85 watt 6500k cfl's ( true watts )
2- 65 watt cfl's 2700k ( true watts )
1-30 watt 6400k cfl
portable 9,000 btu air conditioner for fresh air in
2-40 cfm exhaust inline fans
8" fan for circulation
4"carbon filter
2-15 gallon rubbermaid tubs
50 gallon air pump with dual lines
2-12" air stones
2 submersible pumps if needed for circulation
2 timers
2 power strips
50 rockwool cubes
50 liters of hydroton
3" net pots
ppm meter
ph meter
clone tray
6 heavy duty yoyo hangers
6 light weight yoyo hangers
line of technaflora bc nutrients

a.c. Keeps temps at 75 with humidity at 60%

in the picture theres a huge tub , i changed it for 2 smaller ones to lesson on my water usage . Water here is a problem , i live in costa rica and you cant get distilled water here unless you want to pay $ 4.00 a gallon and drive 30 miles each way . Ro water is a no go as well , so im using the water from my a.c. Tap water here sucks ! The a.c water is ppm 15 ph 7.0 so i will go with that .....
Supplies here are hard to come by as we only have 1 hydroponic store in the entire country . Ordering products on line is just as hard as not many items are allowed to be shipped in especially liquids like p.h. Or nutes ( i have to wait 3 weeks for some p.h. Down to get here by boat so im using vinegar for now). All the equipment i have was picked up in florida and i brought it down here in suitcases .most here even the hydro store know nothing about led's or cfl's or deep water culture so its fair to say i wont get no help in costa rica lol ...

I bought seeds from a friend in amsterdam
10 barneys red dragon
10 blue cheese
i also got clones from a friend who knows a grower here , he said they are kronic #3 ????? Never herd of them ..

I germinated 2 red dragons
3 blue cheese
and i have 24 kronic #3 clones

the dragons and cheese look good at 2 weeks old still in my cloning tray...

The kronics suck lol touchy lil suckers . Guy had major problems from what i can see ( mites and root rot ) the mites were taken care of before i got them but you can see damage from them ,instead of rockwool this guy uses sponges to grow in..
Originally he gave me 6 kronic clones all about 1 foot tall , the root rot was bad , i cut off what i could of the rot then treated them with h202 3 tsp per gallon.. I placed them in my dwc then all of a sudden i get a p.h. Spike and brown slime in my res ( organic bacteria ).. I pulled everything from my dwc , i treated them once again and they came back a bit but i was afraid of getting root rot or bacteria back so i chopped them up and made 24 lil clones from them...... I figure this way the rot should be gone ....
So right now i got a total of 29 lil babies in my cloning tray ...
Now when it comes to nutes im a noob !
When should i start feeding ? And what ppm am i looking for ? Back in the day if my out door plants started to sag a little i just eyed out some 20 20 20 and all was good ( lucky ) i know not all strains are the same but there has to be a start point for plants this young . Im thinking of starting them out at 165 ppm total ( water is 15 ppm ) is this to much ? ... mostly the problem im having is the nutes !!!! first time ... Any and all help or sugestions if yall can and thank you in advance !
The plants in the net pots are blue cheese and red dragon

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alright im a noob myself but ill give ya mt 2 cents if ya got some good roots goin and there a couple weeks i would use about a 1/4 str of whatever your the recomended amount is for whatever your using. then watch the plants if they stay nice and green your good and slowly raise every week. if ya see it start to look burnt back off a little on the nutes. as far as your ppm im not to sure depends on plants when i was vegin mine i stayed between 800 and 900 and they seemed ok to me. just my opinion but besides that looks like a nice set up good job and you can drop those cfls right down with in 2 inches of those plants. not sure on led never used it but i think that can be super close as well.

o ok yeah u got them low looks good

For your tub first make sure it is light proof! use a roll of duct tape and that will work. get rid of the water pump to circulate the water(adding heat) You can split your air stones for a total of 4 on each pump and once they root get them in the tub. CLEAN ALL YOUR SHIT WITH BLEACH if not the slime will come back again and again... try to put your pump in the coolest part of your room outside the room is best because it pumps air into your tub(hot air, hot tub) try to keep your ph at 6 and your ppm's 3-500 to start and go up to 1500ppm, increase at 200ppm at a time let your water sit out for a couple days to evaporate and it is good water too, no need for $4 per gallon. Last you wont need to change your water till the flush if you keep stepping up your nutes so go for the big tub if you want. Roots need more air than water so dropping your water to half the tub height is great

o.k so its been months now and heres the up date , i had to switch from dwc to soil less mix , the plants are flurishing now and no problems with them at all , problem is I HATE SOIL N SOIL LESS MIX ! i so want to get away from that bullshit dirty ass bug infested method , my dragons are 5 foot toall and 4 weeks into flower , my cheese are 4 to 5 foot tall n doing great as well, my 3 rd stran ak47 is doing out standing ! i have 40 clones or so in a flood table , all doing o.k. i guess , i went to give dwc another try , the first week it was going great ! could easily see a difference in the flood table n dwc , dwc was going way faster in just 1 week ! as soon as the roots touched down it was all over !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! brown slime everywhere ! first week nothing but great growing , 2 nd week new nuts and great growing , 3 week new nuts and with in a day i had major slime ! i wash everything with bleach and a scrub brush in the shower for hours then let it sit in bleach water for 1 hour then rinse so i know its clean , as for light i sure dont ever want to hear that bullshit excuse again , my tub is light tight !!! i panda plastic covered the entire tub and sealed with duck tape to top it off , all air lines are black , not to mention i covered each net pot with a styrafoam plate and then took panda plastic and rapped it over the plate and around the plant n sealed it to the base of the plant , no freaking way light is getting in there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i done several tests and no light can get in to the res, no mistake about it , i keep hearing the excuse light tight light tight , i truly believe thats bullshit , it has to be coming from somewhere else . bran new batch of nut's , bleached tub , scrubbed well , good lighting ( 200 watts cfl ) 25 gallon air pump working 14 gallons of nut's and 2 days and caplow , slime ... can any EXPERIENCED grower pont me in the right direction.... p.s. water is from tap , i have it in 5 gallon jugs ( new clean jugs every week ! ) the water is 6.8 ph and 40 ppm out the tap . i let it stand in jugs for 2 days before use n yes with caps off... also yes i put hydrogen peroxide in the res before i add anything at all , 2 teaspoons per gallon , i also been spraying the rockwool n base of plants with it as well , n still i get this bullshit , im so very frustrated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! an old grower that lives here told me that i can never get a dwc to work here in costa rica , said he had the same problems and gave up after 2 years of trying n went to soil less mix, now he deals with mites all day , fuck that ! lifting pots n mites and all that is bull , can an experienced person give a answer asto where my problem is .......... i sure as hell dont want to hear it's light getting in , thats bull ....

p.s as for my temps , it only gets to about 79 degrees here , so it's not heat , all i havein the res is a air stone 12 inch and the air pump running , no water pump at all .. the res water stays at 75 give or take a few degrees ... this is driving me nute that i can watch some kid doing it in a freaking toilet n do it n im getting my but kicked ....

dude all i have to say is keep it simple. personally i use no medium... it's less to screw up. i use neoprene collars and net pots then the res in my dwc and no issues. depending on your nutes you may the h202 may be messing with something....

i have tried to do away with the hydraton ut you cant get neoprene here , so i went to plan b , i used a kids boogie board that was made of neoprene and cut out some disks lmao lmao they worked but none the less got slime again . it seems with out standing water , changed lights several times from ufo led's to 400 hps to cfl's , used rainforrest rain water i collected myself ! tried tap , tried water from the a.c. , tried changing several things around to see where im getting it from and im at a stall point , im positive the tub is light tight , no question in my mind ! before i pit it in use i ut 200 watts in it and turned it on in a dark room and nothing shined through , not to mention i myself ran it with light on it then under a cover opened the lid and waited for my eyes to adjust and no light was coming in so i know that cant be the problem .. what i have noticed is this : as roots were hanging all was fine , bubbles hit them and they LOVED IT , first roots touched water was fine from 1 plant , 1 week went by everything was fine , changed res and then other plants roots started to kick in , changed res 5 days later n all plants were touching the res now , with new res in just 2 days with roots touching water slime slime slime , i dumped the res and noticed not much algae on the tub bottom , mostly on the air stone , it's a 12 inch from pets smart , i brought it with from the states , down here all i can get is 1 inch stones . the air line is solid rubber black hose so i know light isnt getting through that , no way ! im thinking maybe it could be the air being blown in by the pump thats why the stone is being covered wat more then the tub , the air stone is the point where oxygen hits the water in a big amount , but then again if having an air stone was the problem it would happen to every bubbler out there...who knows ... all i know is that so far searching for 4 months on the net 3 or 4 message boards and tons of pages on this subject and all i get is 20 million different answers as to the problem and no one seems to know how to solve this , for every 1 person i hear say h202 takes care of it , i will show you a documented university study (1 for every person) saying h202 doesnt kill algea .. for eveery person saying light , i will show u a study saying algae doesnt need light to grow.. i myself can attest to that first hand !!! 2 years ago doing real estate ( thats what i do ) went to several grow houses that were busted and being put back on the market , got to see a lot of goodies !!!!!!! walked into a house that had a secret room , went into the room and couldnt see a dam thing !! not even my hand in my face , had to use my camera flash to see what i could at first , walked in and stepped in there res !!! it was a horse troff on the ground , i went in it up to my ankle , when i got into the light my foot was covered in slime n algea and black gunk , boy was i mad lol but algae was growing in that res and it was sitting in the dark for about a month before i got there ,algae flurrished in it with no light at all .... so all i can think now is maybe the air pump is getting hot n putting heat in at the air stone and creating the bloom , idk. at this point im ready to kill everything all 40 of them and stop . just so frustrated after ighting this for 4 months straight and im still at point one in my opinion , what sucks is the soil less mix pots i got are doing fine , i hate dirty stuff and i hate mites even more ! i dont want to go that route , im also running a flood table WITH LITTLE TO NO PROBLEMS , same type tub for a res , built a table for the tray , panda plastic covered the table and tub 2 times ! no problems with it , in my opinion the only difference between the 2 sysems is the air stone ! it has to be this , has anyone here doing dwc found this to be there problem ?

old wetsuit material?

lmao no a kids boogie board is made of neaprene , the ones for kids under like age 5 , its neaprene all i did was cut out circles to use in the net pots then poke a hole in the middle and presto , but those arnt the problem, same results with hydraton , changed lights 3 times not the problem , tub is sealed no doubt , tried 2 different mediums , tried 2 different nut's fox farm and bc nut's only differnece i can see between my 2 systems ( flood n drain and dwc ) is the air stone/pump . my flood table is fine ! its in the same room next to the dwc .... and has no issues at all . i bet ya if i added an air stone to it i will get slime .....

i have tried 2 types of nutes only to get the same results , b.c. nut's and foxfarm , i just changes my res yesterday , i bleached it totaly ! then used degreeser then antibacterial soap after that, i let it soak 4 hours then with a scrub brush cleaned it then rinsed it off in boiling water , put it back together , fresh water sat for 2 days open to air out , water was 40 ppm and 6.7 ph to start... i put it to 5.8 ppm and foxfarm nuts to 360 ppm . with in 1 daY I GOT SLIME ON THE ROOTS AGAIN ! WTF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no fucking light is getting in . 4 times i wrapped the tub n the plants with plastic cover n tape not to mention i covered the top of the dwc with styrafoam as well just because n still in 24 hours slime is back. i had also made a mix of h2o2 and dipped all the pots in it then sprayed off the roots with it as well......... i honestly think those who claim to do dwc are full of shit pump salesmen !!!!!!!!if a 35 year vet in growing tells me he tried it for over a year n couldnt do it then i should listen i guess .. after all this guy is one of the biggest in costa rica and has been for years , if he cant do it then it must be bullshit . so far no one seem to be able to tell me what the problem is ........

as for medium lmao i tried everything !! neoprene, hydrotron , foam , rockwool , all had the same results !!!!!!!!!!!! neoprene isnt the problem or the answer

i would like people to understand this , i currently live in costa rica , this place is a rain forest , plants grow unbelievable down here naturaly , as for algae , it's every where here !!!! all over the streets and covers the side walks , i mean every where !!!!!!! maybe i was blind to think i could keep it out of my grow room , my room is sealed with panda , carbon filtered air in and out , i have tried every type of water from distilled to r.o. to natural rain water , i have tried changing lights , changed nut's changed tubs , changed rooms , changed air pumps , changed water pumps , changed hose lines changed about everything once or twice, i spent about 5 k so far on equiptment and it looks like that number might go up if i continue . yes i know 5000 seems like a lot but to me it isnt that much , im o.k. on my bank roll . THINGS DOWN HERE COST A LOT !!! 3 TIMES WHAT U WOULD PAY FOR IN THE STATES . put it this way , a bottle of PH. DOWN i have to wait 2 months to get and pay 40.00 u.s.d. ....yes i know vinegar lol been using it till i get my ph down . just 1 cfl 200 costs me 125.00 down here . so im in this deep .maybe i should just go flood drain table since no one seems to be able to tell me what my problem is and i cant figure it out for the life of me . funny thing is , the dwc works great off the bat ! clones pop up fast and roots take off quickly , once they touch the water its all over and i have to rip everything apart everytime .. this is my 6th attempt at dwc only to get same results every time , different lights /nuts/ tubs/ cleaning chemicals / different plants , tried red dragon/ blue cheese and ak47 and northern lights , i paid to ship in from amsterdam , had to send a friend there to get them and bring them back , U CANT SHIP THEM IN HERE ! NO WAY ! shipping in things here is a nightmare and most stuff wont get in ! things work different in a 3 rd world country . thing is i can make a killing here if i can make this work. crip goes for normal u.s. prices here , my rent is 150 a month , my cell phone is 10.00 a month , my water bill is 5.00 a month . and my electric for running a 400 hps/2 100 led ufo's / 2 68 cfl's 2700 thats my flower room , veg room is 2 85 cfl's and a 30 cfl / 2 170 cfm fans , 1 pedistool fan 75 watts circulation , 2 40 cfm booster fans / 2 pumps 1 air pump , my electric bill last month was 40.00 ............. lol i can live here looking at the most beautifull women in the world hands down !!!!!!! for 200.00 a month. so if i can make my grow work that would be awesome. right now we move 2 lb. a month for another grower . so i got the biz customers , now if i can just cut out the big guy lol he grows with peat n pearlite thats all , says he tried everything else n nothing else will work here . only one place in this country that even sells peat here !! its crazy here . if anyone can please give an EXPERIENCED ANSWER AS TO WHERE THIS SLIME IS COMING FROM AND HOW TO GET IT OUT THEN PLEASE BY ALL MEANS POST !!

I've had my battles with slime in DWC before. Once you get it during your grow its hard to eliminate. Best you can hope to do is to slow it down and control it. My first grow in dwc was full of problems, mainly related to root rot and slime. As for your current grow your probably going to be battling with it all the way through.

Your water is really clean. I live in the great lakes area and my water doesn't even come that clean from the tap. I ended up getting a RODI filter which helped tremendously.

The other thing I did which has basically eliminated root rot and slime from my dwc reservoirs is use Dutch Master Zone. I started using it about half way through my first DWC grow and it helped stop the root rot and slime from spreading. New healthy roots grew out and stayed healthy throughout the remainder of the grow. The next run I used it from start to end. Have had absolutely no issues with root rot or slime since. I don't even clean my buckets during reservoir changes. Just dump the old nutes and put in the new. I'd take some pics of the roots now but my lights are off at the moment. All the roots are very white and fuzzy, basically perfect looking. It lasts pretty long in the reservoir as well, you don't have to keep adding it every few days like h202 and bleach. I only add it once per week with the reservoir change or add it to my nute solution that I premix for when the buckets need topping off.

http://www.dutchmaster.com.au/?language=english&page=product&product=ZONE

I don't typically hype products but this stuff has done wonders for my dwc. So it may be worth a try for you. Start off with a 1liter bottle. It's cheap and lasts pretty long. You only need like 10-15ml per 5 gallons of water.

Good luck man!

Personally, I have a dwc with a raft system and everything seems to be growing better than anything i have done before. I am using Buddha Grow Organic Nutes and they are wonderful....I plan on using Buddha Bloom for flower. ANYWAY, I use a mixture for my potting medium. I start out with some small rocks about one inch deep...Then I put in my rock wool which I have previously germed and sprouted in. Then I fill the sides with perlite all the way up to the top of the rock wool so its level. After that is done I add another layer of rock to the top to discourage and algae growth in the perlite because it stays wets for the most part....I have had great sucess with this method and I wish I had pics but my camera is broken.....Best of luck to you man, your setup is great, much better than mine. Then again My setup probably cost around 100$ in total which is niiiiiiice. Best of luck homie!

Banditt is right, the water quality is soooooooo important. I had the same slime prob on my first dwc but after sticking with it, losing a crop to root rot, I learned a lesson. DWC is soooo sensitive to any changes in the water......Heres what i do. I keep my pH as low as possible usually under or at 6. When I give nute it usually takes about days of pH treatment once or twice a day to bring it back. I ALSO have black tubing on this new system because I realized on my first one that the clear tubing was letting too much light in. When I took the first system apart the slime was all over the tubes..... The sensitivity while it can be your enemy can also be your greatest ally, it is what allows the plants to thrive so well. I will have a camera soon and post pics but my new grow on DWC with CFL's is 22 days old and bigger and bushier than anything I have ever seen before. I can no longer see the stem because of all of the new growth...That is just the first plant too, there are others doing just as well. Again good luck though man, dont hesistate to PM me if you have anymore questions. I am not the most knowledgeable by any means but I will try my best to help.....Sorry for any kind of thread jacking. I had good intentions to start.

hey thanks for the post/info guys ! right now n this is my first grow btw , i got 2 red dragon 5 foot tall 3 weeks left budding looking great , 3 blue cheese 4 to 5 feet tall 2 weeks left budding , 1 ak47 3 foot tall budding 2 weeks more , n 6 ak47 with 5 weeks left budding , all those are in peat/pearlite mix n doing great , now i have the flood table with 6 dragons in it 2 of witch are from seed , 7 blue cheese 3 of are from seed , 12 ak47 clones ... in my dwc i have 4 blue cheese n 2 ak47 , the root mass is growing like a weed lol plants love it way more then the flood table !!! they are 3 times the size of there sisters of the same age in the flood table . i get slime every 12 hours in the dwc , tried rain water that was 18 ppm and a flat 6.8 ph didnt work ! tried tap at 50 ppm n 7.0 ph didnt work , tried to filter water myself , didnt work , tried bottled water from spring , didnt work , all had the same results , same as nuts , foxfarm or bc nuts same results , it seems to be an hourly thing with it , funny thing is , the first batch in dwc that showed slime i pulled out n put them back in the flood table , and 1 week later no issues with them or the flood table having slime at all , no ph raise , no nothing !!!! go figuer they had slime n as soon as i put them into the flood table problem went away , the ones kept in the dwc continued to show the same problems , dwc n flood have same plant types in them , same water , same nuts ,ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE AIR STONE ! i truly believe this is where the problem lies in dwc , i dont think its water quality or light of nuts or any of that , i believe the problem is the addition of c02 into the water supply, with NO LIGHT and i mean no light , got to tub covered 3 times with panda plastic so i know no light at all get in there , plants are covered up to the base of the stem with panda , with no light blown slime grows still, how the fuck is that possible ????? well i think im just gonna throw all the dwc stuff in the trash today n start over with flood tables , tried n true method , it seems everyone has issues with dwc n doesnt seem worth the extra time n effort struggleing every 12 hours around the clock 7 days a week fighting slime in dwc ... im gonna post sokme pictures today a lil larter ..........

o.k. lets see. brand new tub (20 gallon ) bran new tubes ( black ) brand new air stones , brand new air pump , brand new plants , new nut's , clones from my flood drain table 4- blue cheese and 2- ak47 , water was 50 ppm and 7.0 ph to start from tap. i let it stand 3 days in 5 gallon jugs , i treated the water the first day with 1 drop bleach and h202 3 millimeters per gallon , the water is kept in complete darkness with open tops and i make sure each day to shake the jugs a bit ... i made my water to 350 ppm and 5.8 ph , had it stable for 24 hours so i then put the system together and kaplow! with in 10 hours i got slime !!!!!!!! with brand new everything still i get the same results . i truly believe dwc is mostly just hype ! im tossing all that junk in the garbage , flood drain is the way to go , my table has had the same water/nuts for over a week with no problems at all , the ph drifts about 0.1 per day at best and no slime or algae n lights pounding on it . wtf so i know it cant be light that causes these problems in dwc as most would say . i honestly believe its where you live ( the climate ) here in costa rica its a rain forest climate , algae grows everywhere , the streets to the sidewalks is covered with it as well as most structures here . o well all in the trash n start over with nothing but flood tables from here on out ..... dwc is junk imo