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just built a recirculating dwc system, with an overflow tube in each bucket going straight back to the reservoir
should i have the water pump running 24/7 to keep the water level constant in the buckets?
or should i have the water pump run once every 24 hours,
or only turn the pump on manually after they have had a bit to drink?
thanks in advance
Whatever it takes to keep the roots pretty moist for the first 2 or 3 weeks, then you want them to dry out some from time to time. I think times like 5 minutes on, 6 times a day are pretty common, but you probably want to experiment for your particular set up, starting out wet and going dryer little by little.
It is best if you can have at least a few inches of roots in the solution at all times, incase there is a power outage and the bubbles stop popping on the surface, which might dry out the roots beyond repair.
in a regular dwc application, you would have the water level pretty constant..
so if i only ran the pump for 5 minutes, it would only be filled to just below the netpot for 5 minutes..
would i still be able to keep the water level constant and it would basically be the same thing as a seperate 5gallon bucket dwc?/
would this be an added advantage of using recirculating dwc?
benefits of oxygenated water bath, plus the ability to dry out the roots from time to time easily and prevent root rot
seems like it would be the "best" condition for the roots
**edit**
the water lines are about an inch and a half above the bottom of the buckets, so if i were to drain them by shutting the pump off, there would still be 1.5 inches of bubbling water at the bottom :)
To keep the water level constant is not to difficult. However to do that and be able to vary the level, now that's a different story. I ended up making Plexiglas containers that have three different levels available. You could try positioning float valves in the buckets, or maybe just one of the buckets. When the water drains low enough the float turns the pump on again, and off when it's high enough. This really is not necessary however, and I should think once the roots get half way down the bucket, the 1 1/2" of water should be plenty to splash the roots and keep them wet until the next flood time.
It's nice to have one big res and a bunch of buckets with overflows on them. Kinda like this: Waterfarm Hydroponic Garden and Controller Kits. You could do DWC or drip or a hybrid combo type thing. It's sooo much more betterish if you can have one res to look after instead of several.