Can anyone who's a dedicated DWCR grower give me some hints, tips and a nutritional guide? I've swapped from soil to dwcr and spent a shitload on the system but in all honesty I feel like I've wasted my money. $600 just for the water chiller as I got real bad root rot from the water temps getting over 32C under the 1000mh. They're recovering but now I'm sort of confused about what ppm levels etc to stick to. I had them at 750 and it seems they're taking it up because 5 days later it's down to 450-500. Do I add more before my weekly refresh or wait? I'm baffled
Swapped from soil to dwcr after 30 year
- Thread starter Mr Lizard
- Start date
BobThe420Builder
Well-Known Member
Sounds like too much heat in yer tent with that light
I've never used a chiller and my water is at ambient room temp at 76-78f
I never feed by ppm, just check if they are eating
I use manuf suggested schedule for nutes
Add hydroguard and z7 for goopies, and never an issues
How often you changing the rezz
I've never used a chiller and my water is at ambient room temp at 76-78f
I never feed by ppm, just check if they are eating
I use manuf suggested schedule for nutes
Add hydroguard and z7 for goopies, and never an issues
How often you changing the rezz
myke
Well-Known Member
You have to cover your system so the IR from the lighting doesn't heat up everything.Proper venting/airflow is a must.What ppm meter do you have some read on a different scale, .5 .64 and .7. Your girls must be big to eat that much,you can read about add back theirs a few opinions on that subject.Im a 33% add back guy between change outs.
BobThe420Builder
Well-Known Member
I'm a 200% add nutes water when adding to my buckets
Always
Always
I change the whole lot every 7-10 days. It's a DWC system I bought online with a branching pipe that connects all the buckets/growing pots to the main res. I'm not in a tent. I built a dummy ceiling in our garage with a clean air in at one end and a filtered air out at the other. All the walls are covered with Mylar sheet. Because the buckets are plack plastic with 140mm wide and 120mm deep mesh caps for the buckets they are meant to stay static. This is where the heat build up came from. I bought an over the top chiller that keeps everything at pretty much whatever I set it to. I run it at 19C and the water doesn't get above 21.2 in any of them. I've put a 1000L/H pump in the main res and have blocked off pipes feeding back into each one. Getting the water flow right was a pain. I drilled a 4mm hole in all of them but had to block them and drop to a 1.5mm hole coz a couple were over flowing slowly. I think I may have it figured out. I printed out a feeding chart which I taped to the wall when I set it up 4 weeks back. Today I read it very closely and realised the ppm levels were for if I was growing in soil. I had the PPM at 550-650. I looked up CYCO Platinum on their website and for RDWC it apparently should be 850ppm for the first 2 weeks then about 1000ppm after that. No wonder they look happy but they aren't growing or branching. Nothing to eat
I am due to flush everything tomorrow. I'll adjust all the levels to where they advise on the website. Shit it was easier in big pots with soil. I'd just add 20ml of A&B to a 9 litre watering can and adjust the ph. I had it down so I could nearly do it blindfolded. I want a system that I can automate with online internet control. We just spent 100,000 on a Winnebago and if I used soil I'd have to water every 2nd day in summer. Trying to get a controlled system so we can go away for a week or 2 at a time. Only coming home to collect our mail and do the absolute necessities. Found out I have Leukemia a year ago so it'd be good to relax and see the country of Australia I haven't seen yet b4 I die.I have to run the water at a constant flow to get the chiller to keep the water temp down
myke
Well-Known Member
Yes of course. Otherwise it wouldn’t be RDWC. DWC is the same but without the recirculating. I wish you the best of luck.
myke
Well-Known Member
Sorry I misunderstood. Yes. If your in a hot environment rdwc can be problematic. What made u switch ? Soil growing seems easier.
We are getting older and bought a Winnebago. If we want to go away for a week or 2 at a time I have internet controlled switches so I can top up the res remotely and lift the lights up or down using 2 motors off windscreen wipers. With a camera in the room I can monitor the room from anywhere in the world with internet
Another reason I swapped was the getting new and discarding the old soil at each new grow. The pots when wet weigh about 40kg and I have to carry each one about 40 metres to the bin. (You'd have to know the layout of our house). Then going to the hardware and getting 4x50litre bags of new soil and carrying them in in front of the nisey neighbours. I figured with water all I'd need to do would be to empty each 15-20kg bucket out on the garden and then fill them up with the hose, adjust everything and turn it on once a week. Where I am atm is I feel like ripping everything out and going back to soil and figuring out a remote watering system. This is my first experience with hydro and I really am not liking it at all. I have 2 in soil under a 600 just to make a comparison and they are going gangbusters
Yeh I have a couple of those drinking water ones we use as spare water when camping. I got a huge airpump with the kit with an 8 outlet on it. Just Teflon taped it because the crap rubber fitting popped off....again. All these little things are just f#$#ng with my head and making me want to go HULK SMASH on the whole hydro idea. It's turning out way more trouble than it was explained to me
myke
Well-Known Member
Cool,I run 3 pails 5g ea.My rez is 25g it needs top up once a week.If i go away i just have someone come over and add for me.
Lifting the lights remotely thats sweet.Do u have a pic?