First Time DWC W/ Water Farm Buckets

This is my first Bucket grow ever. I have done tables before and had great results Soil ect... Then I seen the excellent results People were getting out of 4 bubbler plants with LST. So I Just purchased 2 8 pack Water Farm Bucket Systems. After 5 days I can see that I need to buy a stronger pump and more line cause I cut it all down. I'm running tap water 7.8 dropping it down to 5.8 to 6.3 W/ PH Down.

I set up the system without washing the Hydrotone and balancing the PH level of it. I did the set up and let it run for a day before balancing out PH levels and transplanting yet I am still having problems with PH. I go to the Rez and it's 5.8. I set the Ph in each bucket the day prior to 5.8 maybe 6.0. I checked them the following day and they were as high as 7.6 and as low as 7.2, WTF is happening will this balance out it take me 1 hr to set the PH in every bucket LOL...

I'm feeding the 1-1-1 8ml per gallon of GH Grow Micro and Bloom W/ Cal Mag and Hydrozyme and I foilar spray the W/ VHO (Very High OUTPUT) strongly recommended it makes them blow up. I transplanted from soil. They were in four inch pots there are two strains Train Wreck and Church. TW is strong as they get the roots were unbelievable when they were cleaned. Check out the Pic Below... Church seems to be a little more delicate and temper mental.

The water with these systems I'm very unsure and confused of.... Should the pumps be on constant with lights on? Or should they go on and off every HR? Do they belong fully open or should you regulate to a slow Drip? Then @ 12/12 what goes on with the watering is there any changes? Thanks for any help possible with the watering Technique. The Pic below show some yellowing on a plant do you think that could just be from the PH issue?

lookin good man. good luck with the new grow set-up!

yes...the ph is a problem....you need to check and adjust it several times a day to keep it normal since you didn't wash or pretreat your hydroton.

Also keep in mind that constantly adding ph down (or up) can cause it's own issues by throwing your ratios off balance.....the ph adjusters are also higher in salts so you'll have to keep changing the water and rez fairly often to keep things stable....again until your ph straightens out.

And with no pretreatment or washing....that could take awhile.

good luck.

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

Also keep in mind that constantly adding ph down (or up) can cause it's own issues by throwing your ratios off balance.....the ph adjusters are also higher in salts so you'll have to keep changing the water and rez fairly often to keep things stable....again until your ph straightens out..

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WH thanks for that bad news ;):jointsmile::jointsmile:LOL ... OK Well now it's time to correct it what do you think? Maybe when I do a flush I should just open all 16 of them and pour 5 gallons into each pal to force clean the hydrotone. Ok maybe a bit to much. It's just becoming a pain in the ass is the hydrotone PH really high? What about the watering?

Thanks again WH

honestly I water mine 24/7 and I think you could too. The hydroton is plenty airy enough and I have not come up against overwatering issues yet (except for brand new seedlings.) Don't take everything apart.....just check ph as much as you can and keep correcting it. When I have come up against this problem (I HATE hydroton) I've discovered you just have to wait it out and then the next time soak the living crap out of the stuff. But for now just keep correcting as often as possible and change out your water every 4-5 days depending on how much ph up and down you have to use...(again...salts in those adjusters)

i think hydroton generally has a ph of about 7......too high for hydro right out of the bag.

If they were going to croak they'd have done it by now so I think you may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here.

Got a LOT of buckets there.....hope your room is big enough to handle all that. :D

Keep the log updated....i'll check back in and make sure things are going ok if you like.

I still have a bunch of that VHO....been using the Liquid Light but I may make way back to the VHO myself.

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

Got a LOT of buckets there.....hope your room is big enough to handle all that. :D

Keep the log updated....i'll check back in and make sure things are going OK if you like.

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The room is 8x15 Sealed Complete W/ CO2 but not set up yet. The A/C's will be going in tomorrow.

WH your input is always Welcomed and Appreciated.

PH is still a major issue I went in to check the Babbie's @ about 1 pm PH was 7.3 dropped it down to 5.8. Checked it again @ 5 PM and it was back to 6.6-6.8 so back to good old PH Down.. I can't wait and never will make the mistake of not washing my hydroone... If you are reading this to learn always wash down your hydrotone and set the PH That MF @ the Hydro store told me that I did not have to worry about that. He probably has overstock on PH Down;) or stock in the Company::wtf:.

Today I worked in the one room for Over 5Hrs really really drained me. I'm currently using 3 Bell and Washington LR 1000 hoods they are 1000 watt hps. I brought the plants from under a T5 straight to a 1000. I stick to my methods of only the strong survive.. I'm talking brave Because My NY Diesel Sensi Star clones took off. The EZ Cloner is exactly what they say EZ almost dummied proof 5 days and roots popping.:thumbsup: To EZ Cloner.

Topped all Rez off today they were almost empty They both took 8 gallons each. I added Cal Mag & Hydrotone in 1 bucket and Bloom Grow and Micro in another one making the ppm's in the one 1100 to top out before a full Rez change. WH when you flush you drain all buckets complete? I will have to due to all the PH down... Well keep you posted will put up some picks tommorow...:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::jo intsmile:

whats your plan on draining them?

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

whats your plan on draining them?

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Good Question I thought about it. Do you fully Drain?

Thank God the place has concrete floors!!!! Maybe even a Shop Vac the lights will dry the floors right up......:thumbsup:

I don't know how else I would do it space is not a concern. The canopy of the lights is though. I really am having second thoughts on the two systems right now I was under the impression they were a little more user friendly. I mean the kinks in the lines, then having to cut them short so you get good flow and moving the fourth bucket to the first LOL LOL. Now I will need longer lines to add to it. I'm not giving up It's just a little more difficult then I though. I was looking @ this 30" pot Ebb and flow System That seemed a Little more easier Plus the recirculation would be great. I heard they changed these pots to a new Recirculating System. Owe well this will be a working thread if I have to put 5 Hrs a day. It will happen:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile:

Why how would you change out all them pots?

5pm balanced PH to 5.8 returned @ 9 PM PH 6.4 Balanced back to 5.4-5.8 it will be 7.0 by midnight and I'm done for the evening... I need the A/C's. 2 more day of hell maybe even less if all goes well...

Hard work....good job....you should start to see them growing again soon. It's pretty easy to start getting obsessed with the ph and you shouldn't....just do the best you can.

Draining.....get a good water pump (like for ponds or aquariums) and go that route if you can....your w/f's are all hooked together and then to a central rez?

Let me look around for a pic....

Here are a couple of photos of the way I set my system up for recirculating.....but I'm only using two buckets instead of all of them.

Very nice:thumbsup: I completely agree and was telling my buddy that we needed to make it recirculate and I'm probably going to try to make it run on one big Rez. I would like to try a 55 Gallon Rubber maid not full of course but I will only need one chiller. That should not be a big project. I was going to go to the local fish store to pick up the hose. They should carry some I just hope enough... LOL:jointsmile:

I see the valves to shut down. I also see the return line with more shut off valves. Do you basically bleed the system a few times daily pull out and then recirculate back to pots. That seems the possible way considering that it's all gravity that feeds the pots.....

Jesus Christ dude, you need to smoke some weed and slow down. You're giving me, and your plants a head ache.

Stop chasing your plants with the pH meter. Set the course and make an adjustment no more than once in a day. TOPS. If you need to make an adjustment more than once a week or so, you need to learn to work your nutes better. But that is an advanced lesson.

For now, fill your controller with fresh water and don't touch the pH! Now add your nutes and your calmag. Now check your pH and tell me if it's not 5.5 to 6.5.

Feed your plants and walk away. Check in a day or so and tell me.

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Originally Posted by herbie the love bud

Jesus Christ dude, you need to smoke some weed and slow down. You're giving me, and your plants a head ache.

Stop chasing your plants with the pH meter. Set the course and make an adjustment no more than once in a day. TOPS. If you need to make an adjustment more than once a week or so, you need to learn to work your nutes better. But that is an advanced lesson.

For now, fill your controller with fresh water and don't touch the pH! Now add your nutes and your calmag. Now check your pH and tell me if it's not 5.5 to 6.5.

Feed your plants and walk away. Check in a day or so and tell me.

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Your post is just negative take that some were else " Advanced Section". Did you even read the thread? The Hydrotone was not washed which is causing the PH to rise as high as 8.0 and is not balancing out yet. What the hell are you talking about just use my tap water 7.8 PH that rises when it runs through the system?

"It's in the advanced section" Just post that advice there.... Good luck Herb.
:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile:

I Attached some reading material for your "Advanced Section"

Leaf there's a couple ways to do it....X-Crispi sets his up by "daisy-chaining them" instead of one entry/exit hole they come with. This is not hard to do with a good drill and some grommets.....you can get 1/2 grommets at the hardware or hydro store. I set mine up to drain from one set of lines and fill from another using the pump you see there.

You seem like a sharp cookie so let me dig up an old thread for you to look at.....I think you'll like it.

http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponi...-dwc-club.html

This is a TERRIFIC thread you will want to bookmark or something....not a brief read through but full of different ideas to change/update your system etc..... Hope it gives you some ideas.

Ps. I LOVE my stop valves.....they allow me to take the entire system apart down to each single unit and change the way they are set up, add or take away a pod or to stop the water flow to a section I want to work on. Worth every penny and I have big box full I keep on hand. :thumbsup:

What's Happening Ms H. How is your day absolutely beautiful here in NYC. The valves are a great way to be able to disconnect:thumbsup:. I wonder if they sell exactly that like a coupler or a quick disconnect that will allow you to disconnect one or many pots and halt water. I will look for that when I go to buy my Valves maybe experiment on a few. I just want to get everything stable and still seem to have PH issues on day 5 or so. I was able to check PH but did not down it yet. it was @ 7.2 I'm actually going to handle that now along with the A/C... Thank God 650 and worth every penny.

OK the big question So with the Recirculation of your system is it constant or do you open and close valves to redistribute water? I hope a few more hour and a few more $$$$ and I can put a handle on it and buckle everything down.... I remember fixing sprinkler heads and with the underground water pipping I remember it would never kink and they sell huge rolls it's Black with like a double yellow stripe that runs down the sides. With the pump hoses I hope to find a really strong pump and hang all lines from ceiling and dropping into the pots. I can't stand a messy room more then anything no good can come from it.

Thanks for the post to that DWC thread I was referring back to that thread alot GREAT thread.:thumbsup:

Well since you ask there's a couple ways to do that too.....I found the best way (since the pics are there) was to set it up on a timer so that once every few hours the entire system would recirculate. The stop valves are all set in the on position generally unless I want to change something.

In the pics above the scenario goes like this....pump turns on and runs for two minutes. In that two minutes it pulls all the water out of the buckets and sends it to the top rez.
The pump then shuts off.

Because I've set up the tubing from the BOTTOM rez to the buckets in a VERY meandering style with a bunch of L turns AND because the system fills on gravity the refill is extremely slow. The water follows the patch of least resistance.....so with a (pretty straight) line from the buckets to the pump your chance of pulling out NEW solution from the line instead of what is in the buckets is very small. The timer is set up to run four times a day......every six hours.

I dont know if this will work for you with your 8-16 buckets so daisy-chaining them with a circulating pump may be a better idea for you. X-Crispi uses the very small pumps (120 gal/hour I believe) and he would put them inside THE BUCKETS themselves. But again......you'd need an entry AND an exit hole in each bucket to work with.

Is it worth the work and expense? Yes..I think so. It will help a LOT keeping your ph stable in general as it tends to rise during flowering at a fair rate. This is normal and once the plants get big....trust me.....you WONT want to be adjusting the ph's one by one. It will also help keep your nutes ratios in balance and provide better 02 saturation in your water.

Keep in mind that it won't solve ALL your problems......it will have it's own drawback and "side effects" you'll have to monitor but it's better than the check-one-at-a-time buzz kill. :jointsmile:

Hey WH I also agree that the set up is worth it cause once it's done it becomes a $$$$$ Machine.. LOL;)

Well I put the A/C into the sealed room Thanks to Tranobles wonderful post (MAYBE TO GOOD TO BE TRUE). Now Temp is an Issue I can not find a water cooled unit. So I picked up a 14,000 BTU A/C W/ De humid built in as well as heat. installed and put on highest setting @ 8PM. Last night was the fist time I shut the main door. When I went back @ 2 AM the Temp was @ 102. Shut off A/C and opened doors back up. I really hope I can get an A/C to handle the room or else I'm going to have to cut the perfect Sealed Rooms Up. I did not want to do an Intake and exhaust. I've already invested over $10,000 into the build and equipment and I may be to determined to get this to work. Yet I have to much ridding on it now to stop. I don't want to start hacking up the Rooms. Thank GOD I'm not working now and have time to deal with all these issues.

Thanks for everything WH I will keep you posted...

I hate to tell you this but do you really have 3k watts?

Your only chance is inline fans and cool tubes or mostly sealed reflectors......trust me. Intake and outtake. Where's X-Crispi when you need him?

You may be able to get away with one intake and one out take if you line your lights together......we need x-c or someone similar....

OK installed to 115 Volt A/C's 12,000 BTU'S each. They dropped the Temp and I set them to 75.... My Babbie's may be perky tomorrow. I hope so they have had a bad 3 days. Tomorrow or the following day I will do a full system flush. Just waiting on a 6 burner CO2 Unit with a in-fared sensor that runs on liquid propane. It's all finally turning around. Checked the PH really late today and was @ 7.3 dropped them all down to 5.8 or lower. Once everything goes stable I'm going to 12/12:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile:

those grow rocks you guys use can you reuse them over and over and over or are they a one time use kinda thing??

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Originally Posted by MadSativa

those grow rocks you guys use can you reuse them over and over and over or are they a one time use kinda thing??

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They say you can use it over and over I was told to bleach it. Haven't reached that point hope it comes soon.

You can reuse them....either bleach or I actually use H202 to disinfect them because after 24 hours or so the H202 evaporates and becomes harmless so you don't have to make sure you get every last drop of it rinsed out like with bleach.

http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponi...ng-system.html GL I just discovered this. Check it out. I love mine.

Hey WH what's going on? I tried to get onto the site last night about 20 Times NG>. I was able to get the 3000 watts cooled. Yesterday I did my first full system flush, what a pain in the ass no Shut off Valves yet. Water all over the place and I took the bulk to the door (Rezez) to dump. Just a serious Pain in the ass I'm going with two strains now as you know they came out of four inch pots and I washed off the roots and put the peat pellets in to the Hydrotone.

Well after almost a week the Train Wreck is so strong it's scary. I know you have grown the church before If I'm not mistaken in the last log you had done. I see major root Development on TW yet The Church seems very slow to take to the hydrotone. I pulled out a church and you were able to see they were basically the same way they were when they were washed. As for Train that's a hole nother story roots popping every were.

What is your opinion on The Church Temperament or just that TW is unbelievable. I will get picks of roots pretty sick the development on TW. If the Church can not hang I will move them out and wait for them to really develop to go back in with them. I have NYC Diesel Sensi star clones Ready to go waiting for the swap. I just have to sex them then get rid of about 6 4 footers of NYCDSS. I will keep the best for the Mom but the rest have to go and be flowed.

So I will be Daisy Channing but I have to figure out how it is Done. LOL I will be popping some buckets off to keep @'s mothers hopefully in the end there is 8 or less and I will still use the two Rez but I will be able to fit the big ones under one lamp. Well back to work hope I can shave this W/E will see.


WH Thanks for everything :thumbsup::thumbsup::jointsmile::jointsmile:

Hey good work getting your temps under control. That's the way to beat that grow room into shape!! :D

I found the church VERY tempramental in veg and then it became a monster in flower. Hope yours turns out as well for you.

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

I found the church VERY tempramental in veg and then it became a monster in flower. Hope yours turns out as well for you.

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Exactly I washed off the roots as you know and all the Train Wrecks have crazy roots pooping up all over the place. The church seems to be a much slower developer.

I'm so glad the fire is out PH seems to be going down also Pics are the same except for the changes to the room. Ill post some Pics in the next day to show the full S/U.


Thanks again WH:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I'm experiencing major PH issues. I try-ed to drop it down with powder and have not had the chance to try the liquid form yet.

I Have 2 Water Farm 8 Packs. I had all 16 set up and I dropped down to 12 I originally set things up @ 5.8 "THE PERFECT PH LEVEL"
Then I read a bunch of posts on PH and hydro. It went on to say that PH years back was measured with fish tank testers and there was nothing even close to accurate to check PH. For the People who were even trying to check PH always said "5.8 IS THE PERFECT PH" Well to try to get my PH somewhat balanced I went to each pail dropping them as low as 3.8 and as high as 4.3. Two House later they read 5.5 5.8 and the next day 6.0 to 6.7. On all the new readings on PH I have read state that when the PH goes above 6.5 the plants uptake diminishes and lower then 4.0 is the same. So I keep my rez now @ 3.8 and will try to balance out into the future to use the PH in the Rez to stabilize out the system Till I convert it to recirculate which I put in a big order hose valves ect....

Plants are now happy when I was setting it to 5.8 2 Hrs later it was 6.3 6.5 and the plants were all flat not in good shape. I will be posting that thread on PH check it out I will through up a link...

I'm experiencing major PH issues. I try-ed to drop it down with powder and have not had the chance to try the liquid form yet.

I Have 2 Water Farm 8 Packs. I had all 16 set up and I dropped down to 12 I originally set things up @ 5.8 "THE PERFECT PH LEVEL"
Then I read a bunch of posts on PH and hydro. It went on to say that PH years back was measured with fish tank testers and there was nothing even close to accurate to check PH. For the People who were even trying to check PH always said "5.8 IS THE PERFECT PH" Well to try to get my PH somewhat balanced I went to each pail dropping them as low as 3.8 and as high as 4.3. Two House later they read 5.5 5.8 and the next day 6.0 to 6.7. On all the new readings on PH I have read state that when the PH goes above 6.5 the plants uptake diminishes and lower then 4.0 is the same. So I keep my rez now @ 3.8 and will try to balance out into the future to use the PH in the Rez to stabilize out the system Till I convert it to recirculate which I put in a big order hose valves ect....

Plants are now happy when I was setting it to 5.8 2 Hrs later it was 6.3 6.5 and the plants were all flat not in good shape. I will be posting that thread on PH check it out I will through up a link...

:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile::j ointsmile:


THANK YOU FOR FIXXING THR FOURM CANNANIS.COM

Check out this thread on PH!!!!

Helped me...

http://boards.cannabis.com/advanced-...-approach.html

I'm sorry but I'm completely lost here.....both as to what the different approach thread was saying but also what you are saying as well. And I mean.....really lost. That being said....you said you seem to have solved the problem so that's grea!!! :thumbsup:

Good luck with the rest of your grow. :)

I dont think you can do anything about not washing the hydroton at this point. Even if you didnt set the PH on the hydroton before you started using it.....eventually it will stablize with use.
I think you have something else going on here that is causing the ph to rise so rapidly.
The ph for you water right out of the tap is on the high side.
I would cut your nutes in half till you figure out what the problem is.
I use Vita Grow nutes...........and have used them for years and have never had PH problems. Most people in the forums dont even seem to be aware of Vita Grow. It is very cost effective and yealds very good.
Seems to me most people who have PH problems are using Foxfarm products.
I have grown plants perfectly happy at a ph of 7. Though I usually will run my system at the high 5's.
After you havest this crop clean your hydroton and get all the residue out of your buckets.
Good luck.

Johnny Fingers I've done a full system flush. I washed and went through threw the buckets with hundreds of gallons. How can you feed a hydo system @ 7.0 if there uptake will be so diminished?
I've been setting my Rez @ 4.3 and fist pail is 5.8 last pail is 6.7. PH down is used everyday. I feed them GH 3 Part system with hydrozyme Cal-Mag and Foil With VHO. I [plan on hitting them with some Flora Nova later on. Straight TAP 7.8.


Is that enought?

http://boards.cannabis.com/advanced-...-approach.html

WH With the system what do you think if I drill a hole and put an air stone in the bottom with another pump?

Greenleaf I hate to do this to you but understand I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on and johnny may have a good point.....can you repeat your basic stats for us?

Tap water ppm?
gh 3 part ppm?
Cal Mag? ppm?
Room temps these days?
age of plants and all the cool little jazz that goes along with it. :)

The lighting i know is 3 kw and 16 w/fs if I'm not mistaken so please correct me if I'm wrong and update the rest of your specs if possible.

An updated photo would be great too. The nutes sound good but I'm not sure you need Cal Mag along with tap water but I suppose it would depend on the ppm of your tap water.

[quote=Weedhound]Tap water ppm?
gh 3 part ppm?
Cal Mag? ppm?
Room temps these days?
age of plants QUOTE]

I use LateWoods Theory on NUTES.

Except his is 8ml of fluids per gallon. I use 25ml of fluids which on the bottle is the eqivalent to 45ml of NUTES. Which equals out to be 3 TBS per 5 gallon.

So the answer is TAP is 60ppm

After the 3 TBS of Each equals 1500 ppm for VEG

VEG Has been a bit over a month for some and 5 months for others .

Room Temp is 80-82 W/ A/C's can set to anything waiting on the CO2 Machine this week.

Cal-Mag and Hydrozyme really don't mesure. Really with the nutes is the same I sometimes back off on the NITRO. Most of the time a TBS or Two per 5 gallons of each ZYME or Cal.

Will post PICS in a few HRS...

Like I said I'm new to this bucket with hydrotone. I feel I'm getting it down just the hard way. I can not believe the plant's quick development. I found out I have an issue W/ one of the REZes. I have to goto the Hydro store on Tue. I fucked up my buddy assembled both systems. I checked the two of them and in the lower REZ the float valves are different. One has a white flange and the other is just a bubble with no way it appears to be able to regulate the water from the top. I seen Hydrotone in the lower REZ and the water is higher in that rezes buckets.. I called them and they will be Fixxing my issue TUES. The pump that came with that set up is Fucked up too. I can not win I should have checked out that system when I broke it down. I took it and made it a 4 plant system hoping to correct what ever the issue was. Not realizing that I was killing them. Back to my theory of only the strong survive. Man it is pissing me off it was all my churches except for the two I switched the first few days when I noticed the problem. I even transplanted a few in soil they are doing good. Coming back to life. The ones that are still kicking out of the four will be left till TUES. I will post PICS today.

8 ml gallon? And am I correct in reading that you are using 25/ml gallon? 1500 ppm (what type of meter do you have?). Holy tamoly.....my plants would drop over dead from that number!! I don't have mine on 1500 EVER....1350 is about as high as I go and thats including the Cal Mag and and not until the last four weeks of flower.

Hope they're doing ok with that. (Or perhaps I just read that all wrong.....sorry...:stoned:)