Waterfarm Mods & Tips

Hey everyone, I just joined and would love to know how to give +rep points....

Anyway, I just got back from my local hydroponics store and purchased a Waterfarm "complete kit"!(the one that comes with the hardware, air pump, hose, Hydroton clay pebbles and all three 8 oz nutrient bottles... Yeah, im excited).


*Pics coming soon*

I picked up these items to go along with it:

NGW Mylar roll 25ft
GH pH control kit
Hydrion Papers pH test roll dispenser
60-120 gallon dual port air pump (used for $6!!!)
4" disc air stone
NGW Ecolplus small round airstone
10' of 1/4" plastic tubing

*Pics coming soon*

Now, what I already have setup right now is:

45"L x 22"W x 60"H of grow space (portion of closet)

Since this is my first time, I germinated 8 old seeds from some great "sinsemilla" (sometimes you'll find one or two in a large quantity... if you're experienced with final products and consuming mass amounts of the final products like I am you'll know that you will come across a seed in a dank BAG every once in a blue moon. anyway sry im high lol) batches that i've been throughout the past couple of years or so.. . I also get them from buddies, too. Always Dank shit.
Ok so they're good seeds.
As soon as they were geminated, I planted them into 8 5" black nursery pots. I believe they're all about 2.5L each.

*Pics coming soon*

They sprouted and grew into beautiful babies really quickly and as of now they stand at a WHOPPING
4". Ha. But hey they grew to that size in a matter of 12 days or so. They love this organic soil, I tell ya!


Soil
BIOCANNA BIO Terra Plus (BIOCANNA :: The Bio Solution for growth and bloom ::)
Amendments - very little perlite

Nutrients
As of now, excluding the nutes that come with the WF kit, I have BIOCANNA BioVega.
I actually included a 1/4 strength dosage of this in my irragation water for the first time today! (We'll see how they do, i'll keep you posted.)

*Pics coming soon*

Lights
Hydrofarm System Comp Fluorescent 125W Daylight [FLCO125D]
(heres the direct hydrofarm link just in case you arent directly familiar with it: Hydrofarm - Hydrofarm FLCO125D System Comp Fluorescent 125W Day)

8 26w daylight 6100k CFL


For now, since I am using CFL's, i'm not really getting any heat issues at plant level whatsoever.. they love this light. I have the light 2-5 inches from the plants at all times, and I have the 26w twistys on dual sockets that I have mounted onto the Hydrofarm reflector itself so they are adjustable on two different joints it makes sense when you see it (man my camera has water damage )

I also have a Hydrofarm Sunburst 250W HPS/MH Convertible [SBC250]
(Hydrofarm - Hydrofarm SBC250 Sunburst 250W HPS/MH Convertible)
just laying around waiting for flowering time. I know that with this model of reflector I have the capability of coverting to a MH during vegg, but i'd rather not deal with the heat issues for now considering the fact that it gets hotter than hell out here during the summer time (in the SW), of course. SOOooOO, throwing that all aside..

I have the temp at a constant 76F / RH 40-55% at plant level during the day...

At night, the temps drop to as low as 66F / RH 40%.

Plants like it, but im going hydro, yo..

I'm going to cull out the weakset links little by little over the course of this week. I will buy a camera before I decide to cull any at all and ask for opinions and suggestions based upon pics and whatnot. After that, I will rinse off soil and transplant to my WF that will already have pH'ed water running in it.....
airstones and all....

WELL, ACTUALLY I was wondering about that. I have heard different things about having the airstone in play during the early stages of vegg growth.. "Early stages" in this case would be classified as: before the roots directly come into contact with Res. water.
Now what's better, running the 4" disc airstone and all from the get-go OR running only the drip ring while the roots haven't reached the res... or does it even matter.
My guess would be it does really matter as in life or death for the plants, lols, but I would think more aeration and oxygen in the res water at any given point of growth is good. Especially considering that fact that when I was at the actual "hydro store" itself they had a display WF going with the same 4" disc airstone mod I got. He lifted the growing reservoir and all I saw was this whirlwind of bubbles in the solution. It actually increases "visible" circulation in reservoir ROOT MASS, too.
But hey, i'm just guessing.
Another thing about the number of plants per Waterfarm... How many plants do YOU reccomended for a ScrOG setup on on Waterfarm?

I wanna know how many I should cull out, or just pick ONE favorite.


I have been reading this forum amongst others for months and months on end. I carefully decided to pick out the forum I wanted to register for. (I dont want to be on every damn forum for parnoia sakes) I chose THIS forum because all of the "high rep, high contributing" peeps don't seem to be assholes and I enjoy that. So i'm hOping I can get some decent input and suggestions down the road.

I will keep you updated. I WILL BE POSTING STEP BY STEP PICS ASAP ( camera got wet, buying a new one sometime very very soon... maybe tommorow if i get the chance
BUT my memory card is drying out and by tomorrow I will have uploaded the pics I have already taken. Hence, "*Pics coming soon*")

So yeah, once again.... REP POINTS: HOW DO YOU GIVE EM?

Great thread by the way.. I'm glad I found it.
Thanks for reading! Hope I didn't bore you!
time to fill in my profile info..

Didn't mean to attempt to "hi-jack" ur shiat..

Check it out Caddyluck: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/205727-waterfarm-closet-grow-first-grow-cfls-250w-hps.html

Link is in my sig too. See you there!

I accidently planted my clones a little low in the bucket and the drip rings spit up on the leaves, whoops. i guess you just have to plant them high or have the drip rings right at the hydroton level. I also don't feel like the recirculating kit really recirculates all that well. I am having trouble also with the tubes kinking on the outside, the big blue ones. think I just have to start over being a little more carefull.

I hooked my w/fs up to my multibucket e&f system after noticing some premature browning of hairsat week 3 ,so well see how she does

do leave the water pump running all the time?

mutzilla said:

I accidently planted my clones a little low in the bucket and the drip rings spit up on the leaves, whoops. i guess you just have to plant them high or have the drip rings right at the hydroton level. I also don't feel like the recirculating kit really recirculates all that well. I am having trouble also with the tubes kinking on the outside, the big blue ones. think I just have to start over being a little more carefull.

Click to expand...

You definitely have to keep the drip rings on the hydroton or it will splash. If you have the upgrade circulating kit for the waterfarms and it's hooked up properly - I assure you that it is working. It may not seem to be doing much but it is keeping the ppm and ph in all the buckets the same. Try cutting your blue tubes shorter to avoid kinking.

DarkMark911 said:

do leave the water pump running all the time?

Click to expand...

Waterfarms don't use water pumps - they use air pumps. If that's what you mean - then yes leave them on all the time. I however eliminate the drip rings altogether once the roots grow into the bottom chamber and add an airstone in each bucket - similar to dwc.

when i plant a seedling, how will the rockwool get wet if it was in the middle of the drip ring? how will the the drip reach it?

I had better luck using more established clones and planting them about 2'' beneath the hydroton.. I had to hand water for the first week so.. Once they get going i ran the drip 24 hours a day...

I've got the 8 pack kit + circulating kit and set it all up with regular water as a test run.

One of the things I noticed right away, is that the water pumps + tubes going into the ring only make somewhat sporadic water splashes into each container. It took a long time before all the buckets had water coming out of the rings, and some of the rings would only drip a couple drops every few seconds.

Its not a steady stream of water coming out of each hole. some of the rings drip more than others, I'm not really sure that this is working the way it should.

You'd think that each hole of the drip rings would be dripping water constantly when its turned on, not a few drips here and there every few seconds.

And also thats a really good question, how does the drip ring make the center rockwool cube wet, or any of the clay pellets NOT directly underneath the ring wet, since theres only a few drops of water randomly every few seconds.

Mod to the mod for single WF setup. Reference post 69. I seperated the drain from the sight glass. The single unit took too long to drain because of the air tube obstruction. I run pump all the time. Cut mylar to cover ring and errant splash.

high, i'm a first time indoor "dro" grower.
i just bought one.. have some questions?
do i leave my pump on 24/7? i have been doing 12/12 with the lights?
good, not good?
i haven't shut the pump off yet. its been 2 weeks. its looking pretty good so far.
any helpful tips?

oh and i've been using nestle pure life purified mineral water. its been through reverse osmosis. is that the right water.

i heard to collect rain water??

Those with waterfarms I recommend getting a chiller if you get root rot it's all for NOT! I run my drippers 1/2 hr on 1/2 hr off was on 24hr but showed signs of overwatering plus I wanted to add some drying time for the top roots.

My current grow, Started with 3 plants per bucket 24 total 8 males, 16 females.
Just starting 4th week of flowering.

SciensWiz said:

yea you have to get the kit if you want to use the waterfarm..otherwise its not worth it when you could just get a good ebb and flow...

Hey D4 what kind of pump are you using to return to the control unit? Ive got the regular old recirculating setup with a 30-60 gal air pump im using..its not pumping hardly any water out of it anymore though and im thinking maybe its because there is so much root mass in my buckets? Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Click to expand...

I upgraded my recirc pump to one that put out 10x more air and it got my system going a lot better when there was a large root mass, might want to upgrade that air pump.

Come on guys, lets keep this thread going with tips and tricks.

I was considering ordering the waterfarm 8 with the recirc kit.
Upgrading that air pump right away to a much stronger one (how strong should I go?).

Drilling larger holes in the bottom of the bucket (how big do you guys go?)

Also I thought I would get a pump to run a airstone in the bottom of each bucket through
the entire grow (any suggestion on pump power for 8 airstones at the bottom of the buckets). The airstone wont hurt anything in the early stages (may not help as the roots are still too high)
but when the roots reach it, it will be ready and waiting! I also want a airstone in the main bucket to keep the nutrients
and all well mixed.

Still trying to decide a proper water schedule, seems what you hear is all over, I hear 15 on per hour, 15 on every 4 hrs,
15 per hr during light or 24 straight.

I was thinking of keeping my reservoir and controller outside of my tent to keep it out of the intense heat.

Any help or advice?

Any suggestions on nutrient selection? I want something nice and clean as I do not want think buildup in
the lines (I hear BC products are much thicker for example).

Are any of you running hydrogen peroxide in this set up?

Also what are your thoughts on CO2? I am running a 4X8 tent (will have 3 going a mth apart).
I already have 2 tanks that are about 5 ft tall and also have plenty of the knee high ones.
I would have to buy a controller but that is not too much in the big scheme of things.

I really kicked back and forth between this system and the EuroGrower.......
I am thinking this is getting the edge on the Euro grower as I rather a ring, it allows more water
spread than a drib tube alone. I can keep the reservoir outside of the tent and I can also use airstones
at the bottom.

Not sure if this is a stupid question or not but here it goes.

Why is there a Res and a Control, couldnt there just be a big Control?

Also not really understanding how the water gets moved around to each Farm with just a air pump in the Control.

Trying to find some close up pics of the controls insides workings, was hoping for a video but GH's videos are outdated.

I got my 8 babies growin in my table for 2 weeks now. I got my waterfarm yesterday, and putting it together. the shut off valves are a great Idea! Its half set up now, and will finish it off when my current crop comes out.. woo hoo.. Sounds like a good system

When you drain it. Your draining from the controller unit, does it draw all the water from the 8 units, or do you have to empty each one seperately?

deliott said:

And also thats a really good question, how does the drip ring make the center rockwool cube wet, or any of the clay pellets NOT directly underneath the ring wet, since theres only a few drops of water randomly every few seconds.

Click to expand...

lets see this answered, Having trouble seeing how my new clones will get their rockwool wet.