PS......or online perhaps?
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PS......or online perhaps?
im trying to stay away from buying online as long as possible, i've heard of some businesses reporting to the police when somebody buys a large hydro or lighting system.
Well check out a good pet store.....tell them you have a 100 gallon tank or something.......how about ordering online from a pet store?
Just got my rubbermaid,it holds 18 gal, also got 2 24'' "cool white" fluoros, got home to find out i need 18'', :mad:, going back out to exchange and get a pump,some hose, and airstones.
Did you ever get your calmag and stabilize your pH? That's STILL the problem!
You probably have only a couple days, a week tops, before those plants die if you don't do something fast. Not only do you need the Ca in distilled (ir even distilled + tap) water, but coco fibre is a known calcium scavenger, and I just noticed you are using coco liners in your pots. I never use those liners, and that's one of the reasons- the other being introduction of extraneous organic matter into what is a perfectly serviceable hydroton system. Kinda defeats part of the purpose. Also, what is the grainy whitish stuff in the liners?
The liners came with the hydroton, net pots, and pump that i got in my hydroponics. I didnt kno there were cocoa liners, let alone the white stuff in it, sorry i couldn't tell you. Thanks for the input, how do u suggest i go about taking those out now that the roots have grow through them? or can I.
By mixing distilled and tap what i hope i did fix the cal/mag problem. Ph is as stable as it will get until i can put the hydroton, that the plants are in, through a water and bleach mix.
Got my dwc up! I have a 20-60 gallon pump along with a 10'' airstone. Got 2 "cool white" bulbs to replace my ultra-violet ones.
Don't pull the nets out, they will damage the roots.
You didn't fix the Ca problem unless your tap water happens to have twice the Calcium and trace minerals needed... unlikely. YOU NEED CALMAG. I promise!
I'm not sure how bleach will stabilize your pH? Bleach is a sodium compound, very very dangerous to plants at even relatively low concentrations. It would also RAISE the pH, and hydroton tends to drift UP.
The correct way to stabilize the pH of your system (since you now have plants in it and have to do the whole thing), is to get a pH up/down/indicator kit and just keep checking the res every ~12 hours or so and adjusting the pH until it is completely stable, with all the stuff in the system running (air stone/pump/other).
Here's some reading on the concept of pH:
pH - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hope that helps. There's no getting around basic hydro techniques, and doing daily pH checks, and, yes, adjustments too if you have to, is one of them. Using CalMag with a distilled water source is another. Jsut mixing in some more tap water isn't going to solve an existing calcium deficiency; in fact, I'd personally go so far as to foliar feed a weak solution of the stuff since you are already in the fix-or-die stage or the deficiency. But still add it to the res.
Do Weedhound's troubleshooting method:
Start with your source water. The EC should be very low.
Add your CalMag until EC reads 300ppm. This gives you the 'ideal' mock tap water that plants like in hydro.
Then add your one part grow or bloom until you reach 600 ppm.
Check and adjust your pH to right around 6.0.
Check back in a day or so for signs that you need to raise or lower your main fertilizer.
This is pretty much a basic black-beans-n-rice diet for your plants. It's the minimum they need to be happy in hydro.
I like the DWC tub......you'll need more airstones asap......but like Stinky I'm really not sure where the bleach part fits in.........
I thought i had read some where that you should soak your hydroton with a mix of light bleach water. i might be mistaking. I know bleach is bad for you plants, which is why i said i would have to wait to treat the hydroton.