First time grower DWC High Temps need some advise!

Hey! First time poster here hoping to get some advise towards how i should handle my situation/future of my growth.

Growing Auto Tangerine with about 2 months from germination to harvest

I bought a complete growing kit from ebay at the start of summer: (Currently am not able to post a link, due to first timer here. I have a 120x120x210 tent with a 600w hid light)

I am currently struggling with controlling temperature in my grow tent. I have around 31-33* C after running some hours, the leafs are curling upwards which are sure signs of heat stress, but after experimenting a bit the light distance (i am keeping it as far up as i can now) leaves don't curl so much. My concern tho is the water temperature if i leave it unattended the temps can rise to 28-29*C, currently struggling to freeze enough waterbottles to keep it under 25c when i am sleeping or at work, and sometimes not so successfull. I came home from work today and it was 26,5.

I was kinda at my budget limit after buying the grow tent and the unexpected import fees to and i have had to buy a bit of equipment extra so i dont have much more to sink into this project at this moment. A waterchiller at this point is out of my range. I am currently buying some ice packs in store to help cool down reservoir, but it will also be expensive in the long run.

So basicly my question is Do you think my growth would survive to harvest with fluctating temperatures ranging from 20-28*c, but it will be at least 16h a day with temps below 25*C? (do i need to change water/nutrients if it goes over 25c? )

I am thinking of maybe taking it out of the dwc and put into soil instead, and was wondering if someone had some advise on that (its in a big block of rockwool, into a basket with some hydroton around), also if someone maybe had some recommandations towards some cheap nutrients that would see me to harvest!

I am 16 days into my growth

3 Days since i put it into the basket

I'll add some photos below, i don't have pictures of the basket as its currently running and i don't want to expose it to the lights, i will add later.

The fan standing on top of the cartbox on the right side, i put it there when i tried moving the lights closer and had the fan blowing directly into it, in hopes of keeping the temps down, no success.

I greatly would appriciate any tips and advice!

Best Regards

i would either choose to run a sterile res or beneficial bacteria to combat the heat.

sterile via chlorine or peroxide
bennies via hydroguard or something similar

the best solution is a chiller so start saving your money for one in the future if you can.

ok awsome, for me now its just important to get through the first harvest! Crisis fucking happening tonight, the fan on the carboard inside the tent fell over and damaged my plant quite a bit. Top 4 shoots of the main cola is broken off. was only some plant matter it hung left, so i cut it off down by the stem. I couldnt take a good picture but i'll upload the ones i had.

Anyone know if i can recover from this? kinda looked like it broke off the point people usually top to get two main colas, but im doing an auto so how much will this affect my harvest?

And yes i am running botanicares hydroguard, 30ml in a 70l reservoir should be good?

And also my rockwool is now constantly soaked from beeing splashed by the waterbubbles, even the top has a wet feel to it like i just watered it, will this cause an issue?

Cheeriosparker said:

And yes i am running botanicares hydroguard, 30ml in a 70l reservoir should be good?

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i'm in the US and run something called Southern Ag Fungicide. same bacteria but much cheaper.

i would just run the botanicare at the maximum dose to be safe. root rot will kill your plant quickly.

rkymtnman said:

i'm in the US and run something called Southern Ag Fungicide. same bacteria but much cheaper.

i would just run the botanicare at the maximum dose to be safe. root rot will kill your plant quickly.

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I’ve been using the southern Ag fungicide for a couple months now. Roughly .5ml a gallon... do you have a suggested amount for dwc? Thanks in advance.

A chiller won't help your problem unless you're planning on chilling the tent.
Fix your ventilation issue(especially venting your HID hood) and get the room temp down below 80degF and you can make it work with Hydroguard/GFF

Do you have a good way to vent my winged hood? Im kinda at the point were im considering just taking a piece of cartboard or similar and just cut a hole for my plant and keep it above the tank so its not directly exposed to the heat?

I also run Southern AG Garden Friendly Fungicide with good results. No root rot even with Rez temps getting into the 80’s sometimes.

insulate the rez and as said above cover the top of rez with holes cut for plants,keeps temps down a couple of degrees not much but something.

tehdansauce said:

Roughly .5ml a gallon... do you have a suggested amount for dwc? Thanks in advance.

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i use 1mL per 2 gallons once a week in waterfarms. it's way more than needed but it's so cheap for a pint. you could easily use 0.25mL a gallon and be fine i would think

What I'm saying is that until you fix your ventilation/heat issue, a chiller won't help your hi temps in the tent.

I have tried many things now but i can't seem to get the temperature down, it keeps rising to 30c abouts the 600w hid is absolutely a beast on heating my tent up. W/O lights, 22c with lights on straight up to 29-31c. Can i keep this harvest alive with hydroguard and temps ranging from 20-27 in reservoir? Or is this the time to replant it into soil, i will get airy and fluffy buds from 29-30c but i will at least be able to harvest. Ideas?

can you afford a air cooled reflector for the 600? and a 6" fan? if so, buy them.

yeah i can i guess, i watched prices and not so horrible. you got one you can recommend?

I have a 600 in a 5x5 room. Insulated and in a cool bsmt. I have a 4” inline running full. Has one 90 and about 7 ft of hose. It just keeps up. Get the 6” fan it’s double the cfm then a 4”
If you want to go to dirt or coco bows the time. Plants can easily be removed from one medium to another. Just go slow and be careful roots will break no problems.

not really one to recommend. i haven't used HPS in years. i'd get a cheap reflector and a good fan (with a speed controller)

Yeah for 6" fan with a speed controller its about 150$, which is a bit out of my spending limit for now unfortunately, at least for another month, due to some payments issue at work (new contractor) they changed dates so i'll barely be keeping afloat with bills this next month im sadly not able to put more then max 50$ into it for now. My friend has some baskets for soil growth and some nutrients, should i maybe swap over or do you think i could be able to get out 1 harvest from this setup as is with fluctuating temperatures? My tent is way to big and noisy i will sell it after this harvest and buy a smaller version as i only plan to grow 1-2 plants at a time.

Damn! Sorry to hear that-experience can be a harsh teacher.
Your primary aim should be to ventilate your grow space or reduce the heat load-if you can't get that to happen...harsh teacher.

not sure where you are at but there are a bunch of places in Colorado that sell used grow equipment. also Craigslist too.

Ill give it a shot thanks