Anyone using this DWC system? Your opinions most welcome.

[cavadge]

:)Greetings all,

My first post here. For the last several weeks I've been researching and reading, and reading, and reading... books, FAQs, literally thousands of threads, here and on other sites, to get set up for my first indoor hydro grow (have a couple of indoor/outdoor soil grows under my belt). Am building a grow area in my basement. Have most of the equipment scoped out and sourced. Separate rooms for veg (T5s) and flower (1000W HPS). Starting with seeds but expect to be moving to clones immediately after. The only thing I'm still working out is what growing system to use.

I'm inclined to go with a drip system. I've looked at everything mentioned here and out there I could find. I stumbled across this system, called the "AdvanceDWC Multi 28", by a company called Hydrospirit --> HydroSpirit Hydroponics (http://www.hydrospirit.com/product_2.htm)

When I research a product I'm considering purchasing, I search for reviews and comments from end users. However, I can't find anything on this system, anywhere. Zip, nada, zilch. The only hit, aside from the mfr, is for an ebay auction. It seems to have everything needed for a good drip system. My one concern is that each container of 4 grow sites only has one drip emitter.

Lacking the experience to pass judgement on this system, I ask what your thoughts are on something like this? Yay or nay? The other systems at the top of my list are the Waterfarm 8 pak or Eurogrower, but it seems that these need mods to work well. Looking to utilize a 4X4 grow area at this point. Any other drip systems you can recommend? I've gotten saturated with all the info I'm trying to absorb and a little confused on which way to go. I'm also considering putting together my own drip system; however, I'm inclined to go turnkey due to my lack of experience.

Any and all comments and thoughts are most welcome, and greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and your help. :)

[Weedhound]

I doubt you will be able to get a very good yield from that setup.....i'ts pretty small. I like the IDEA of the waterfarms but you are right.........we've made many changes to the system to make it work well for us but you'll get larger plants.

Also consider this.....if you use unsexed seeds in that setup by the time you discover your males you may not be able to remove them as the root mass of all the plants will get tangled together so I vote no. If you are going to use clones or feminized seeds then the issue for that is moot.

No opinion about the Eurogrower.......never seen one.

[cavadge]

Thanks kindly Weedhound. (Been seein' your name a lot in my quest :) )

Being unable to separate the plants within a chamber is something I didn't consider. Excellent point. That, and the fact I can't find anything more info on it anywhere leads me to scratch it off my list.

I get the sense that there isn't any one "best" system. That whatever you end up you need to tweak it and mess with it to make it work for your particular application.

At this point the Waterfarm with the flow enhancement kit looks the simplest setup going for a noob. Gotta keep reading and thinking...

Thanks again. :rasta:

[SpaceNeedle]

You're right, there is no one good system. Each have their advantages and disadvantages. I think I've tried them all with the exception of soil. I feel I have the best system possible now. I bought 2 trays each about 4ft by 4 ft and maybe 8 inches high. I've set the first one on the floor, layed a couple of 2x4's across them, and placed the second onto the 2x4s. I have about 15 plants in pots that are about 10" high and they are square 4"x4". Then I put a pump into the bottom tray (now called my reservoir) and ran a hose across the top tray. Drilled a large drain hole into the top tray, and am running 1/4" tubing into each pot from the garden hose (no nozzles, no drippers, just the tube). Turn the pump on and walk away. The plants MUST be in Hydroton for drainage, when you're constantly watering with the tubing. Nutes run into each pot, drain out the bottom and end up draining out into the reservoir again. This method is superior to DWC for two main reasons. You can move the plants around within the tray much easier than in a DWC. I've had a lot of problems keeping the temps down using DWC, with this system no more problems. You really don't need to buy a 'system', when you can just take two trays a pond pump and a piece of garden hose, and have 'your system'.

I can fit up to 25 pots in my tray, but I keep it at 15 or so to keep them from being too crowded. I put them into flowering when they are about 18" high, and then I bend the tips (without cracking them) over to slow the stretching once the are put into flowering.

sn

[cavadge]

See that? I knew I was making too much of it. :thumbsup: Thanks SpaceNeedle. I'm a big fan of the KISS principle. Your setup sounds dead simple.

So you're constanly circulating the solution? And the Hydrotron allows the roots to still get oxygen? Lastly, what size and type pots are you using?

Sorry for the noob questions. Seems the more I learn, the more questions I have, and the more I realize how little I do know. It's all good. Have to start somewhere.

Peace. :stoned:

[SpaceNeedle]

the pots I use are 8"x8" square at the top, taper down to 6"x6" at the bottom and are 10" high. That gives you lots of room for root growth.

[SpaceNeedle]

OH, and my nutes are running 24/7. I used to run them one hour off and one hour on..... until my timer broke. I didn't see any difference in how they acted, so now I don't have a timer to break down. I'm glad I was home the day it broke, if I had been out of town, it would have caused big problems. No drippers on the line either, just straight out of the tube. At Lowes in the lawn sprinkler area you can get some plastic stakes for the tubing, its a good Idea to use them, occasionally one of the tubes could drop off the pot and your girl will start drooping pretty fast.

sn

[cavadge]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. Going to see what I come up at the local big box stores.

Gotta keep reading, too. :)

[Justtrying]

OH, and my nutes are running 24/7. I used to run them one hour off and one hour on..... until my timer broke. I didn't see any difference in how they acted, so now I don't have a timer to break down. I'm glad I was home the day it broke, if I had been out of town, it would have caused big problems. No drippers on the line either, just straight out of the tube. At Lowes in the lawn sprinkler area you can get some plastic stakes for the tubing, its a good Idea to use them, occasionally one of the tubes could drop off the pot and your girl will start drooping pretty fast.

sn

Would it be out of line to ask you for a couple pictures or if you have, can you lead us to this thread. I get it, but I am a bit redneck when it comes to things other than pictures. Must be why I loved elementary school so much, so many pictures :)

Thanks...

JustTrying