Water Farm/DWC club

OK, since I noticed so many people using the Farms I decided to put out some questions about the buckets that can be kind of like a Farm/DWC thread.
Some things info to give, how many buckets do you use, what kind of lights, what kind of yields have you had and what kind of strains you have had the best exp with.
Also, this would be a good thread for general questions and suggestions perhaps.
With this, new hydro converts and curious folks could just stop in and ask or add their two cents.

Adieu

Sounds like a good idea I just starting a hydro grow DWC / Bubbler style. In the mids of setting up!

What kind of lights, size buckets and strains???
Adieu

Come on in folks and give a little...
I just went out tonight and got 2 30 gal rubber mades for the thread so don't leave me hanging...
Question, do folks who are runing the 8 packs use the air pump that they came with or have some of you up graded???
Adieu

Well Im planiing to do a SOG I either have white widow or Big Bud got mixed up!

I m doing it in one room but it will be split into three. Two for flowering one will be on while one is off both rooms will have a 1000W.

I m using Rubbermaid boxs with there trays as well.
Length: 26 in 66.0 cm
Width: 18 in 45.7 cm
Depth: 15 in 38.1 cm
Volume Capacity [Nom]: 21 1/2 gal 81.4 L
I have 4 of these boxs I ve also got trays that fit exactly in them I got 6 of those so two can hold clones while the other 4 are in flower

Well i'm in. Here's a question for the w/f folks...two actually.....what kind of medium are people using? I know the round clay stuff is popular (Hygroton?)...I ended up using something called Higromite....looks kind of like natural rock; made mostly from silica. Want to know how happy folks are with their medium of choice. Also whats the biggest sized plant people have tried transplanting into a w/f bucket; how did they accomplish it, and did it work ok? Did they transplant from soil or another hydro system? I always use those rapid rooters and small seedlings but would like some input on transplanting something larger into the system. Thanks!!!!

DWC. 8 buckets, all individual (no recirculating). 400 watt MH for veg and 400 watt HPS for flower. First grow happening right now, I've got 8 of Soma's Somango going. I'm hoping for a yield of around 7-8 oz's.

Hi LM....On my first grow I got about 1 and 1/2 oz cured bud per plant and JOLLY GOOD WEED IT WAS!! Out of the 8 buckets I ended up with five females---which reminds me..what kind of ratios are people getting male vs females and under what conditions? I have the standard w/f 8 bucket setup in about a 4x 8 foot space....mylar on walls... 1000w mh for veg/hps for flower; 4" inline fan that works great.

Ps What kind of nutes are people using in their setup? I know the w/f's come with the gh 3 part...are people using this or something else?

I have a question and it may seem stupid. But I have yet to read fully up on this. thats why I need a Book (the other Thread)

Does a bubbler bucket system have a res where the water is kept cyclying through all the buckets?

Or is it you fill the bucket and put the pump and airstones in the bucket. no outside holes or pipes. this would be ideal. ahhahaha

I was under the impression that each bucket had its own water and it only cycled around withen itself in that particular bucket. I think I may be wrong though?

Sorry if this is a the wrong question for this thread. I need to get a good Book. please see my other POST and help me find a good book.

kd

hey bluebear -n- weedhound ,
good call for a thread of this type . esp. after all my questions to you guys and all the other w/f questions that all poped up at once here latley .

i'm using a w/f 8 pack w/ a homemade controller to recirculate the nutes so the ppm / ph stays consistant in all the farms . i'm using gen. hydro 3 part nutes 321 / 123 recipe w/ a tsp. of cal-mag added per gallon of nutes , i also just went out n got a 1 1/2 lb. container of koolbloom too for the last 4 weeks of flowering .

i'm using hydroton as my grow medium , and transplanted my babies into the system once 2in. rockwool cubes had lotsa roots poping out of em . i'm doing 4 d/p fem. blueberry , -n- 4 can. seeds fem. outdoor mix= cottoncandy/nycd x sage .

i now run the g/h supplied pump for driprings for 15min. on , 15min. off while lights are on . while lights off i run for 15min. on , 45 min. off .

2-1000w. hps. in cooltubes w/ 2 hurricane fans 1 pushing 1 pulling thru tubes . 4 farms under each light . i'm just started week 2 of flowering , all 8 have been topped n have just blown up huge w/ new growth n soon to be budsites everywhere . the indoor mix seems much more forgiving w/ nutes -n- light than the blueberry

this is my first grow w/ the farms . in past i made 5 gal. bubble bukts w/ a dripper in each run off a lil via aqua pumps in ea. bucket . quickly became a pita filling buckets everyday once flowering and they were using 1 gal. to 1 1/2 gallons a day -n- no res. and roots eventually plugging up the pumps . i had 6 buckets , worst buckets yield was 5-6 oz. -n- best was 15 oz. this took about 6 mos. start to finish . i bought thew/f system to try to eliminate these problems .

thanx for all help -n- input guy -n- gals .
xcrispi

Wow the thread came alive over night. Well, for KD a typical bubbler/DWC is generally self contained in one bucket or a rubbermade tub with multiple net net pots growing multiple plants, if you want to connect other buckets to a main reservoir where you can mix you're nutes and check PH and refill water and so on than this called a recirculating DWC. The Water farms can be an individual unit consisting of one bucket or can come in an 8 pack with a controller and main reservoir whir you add nutes and water so it can be distributed to all of the buckets. But once the water/nutes leaves the controller in the Water Farm 8 pack to go to the buckets it does not recerculate back to the controler so it is not a real recerculating type system, but can be modified to be one.
Weed Hound I think it was you who asked about mediums, around here in my state people use lava rockes the red kind, but it needs a peroxide bath before using, know the measurements of water ratio if anyone is interested. Transplanting, well some people when transferring in any hydro system with net pots will sometimes start off in small net pots with their grow medium and as they transplant will just take the whole net pot and place it in a bigger one and have no problems.
Xcrispi sounds like you had a pretty good run in your old set up, hope that this run is comparable. As for your water temp problems I see a couple possibilities, 1. If you did modify your system to a recerculating system, can't remember if that was you, use an aquarium heater in the main controller. 2. With 8 packs, you could get 8 heating pads to put under each bucket, I know it sounds like a pain and probably would be, not too mention raise your electric bill some, but it is just a suggestion.
Well Adieu

yep bluebear that was me , :)
water temps are 60deg at the coldest when lights out but , there's no snow on the ground here yet and will prob affect it greatly . first i'll try a res heater , don't wanna mess w/ 8 sep. heating pads as i'm tryin to avoid all the clutter in the room so there's no issues w/ me funkin anything up in there w/ the wheelchair .
do you have any past experience w/ kool bloom ? :confused:
they claim a 1/4 tsp. per gallon -n- the numbers are sooooooo high on the powdered stuff . i don't wanna burn em up . maybe an 1/8 th tsp. per gallon ?
peace
xcrispi :thumbsup:

Hey Xcrispi, the Cool bloom is a bit strong and I would go with the 1/8 to start or approx 1g to 1.5 gram if you have a digetal scale and you may want to cutt back a bit on your main bloom in the process.
Hope that helps and I also have to keep the clutter down in my room because of disability, but it still turns into a jungle at times.
Adieu

Also Xcrispi you will prob notice a increase in smell after the first couple of days with your strains after you use the CB so be ready.
Adieu

thanks for clearing that up for me Blue bear ...

much appreciated...

kd

cool bluebear , thx for the heads up on the stink ,
i found that the blueberry is already funkin up the house w/o even any flowers yet . we have a 3rd. hurricane fan and a good 6in. carbon filter on hand .
peace

What do you think about your hurricane fans?
Adieu

Oh Yeh KD not a problem and HK keep us updated on your grow. You said that you use a 1K in veg and a 1K in flower, why not use a 600W in veg and both 2K's in flower, just wondering?
Adieu

hurricane / vortex fans are the only inteligent option out there
given they're 5 -n- 10 year warranty . i live on ssd. soc. sec. disability so moneys kinda tight , when i do go and spend a lil , i can't afford to buy junk .
i spent 2 yrs. reading up on overgrow before it was axed and there was soooo much good info i never even had to sign up or establish a user name . i knew the info i was looking for and i tried to learn from all the other folks mistakes because some of them can be incredibly costly . like buying junk equipment .
peace
your cuz
xcrispi

Same with the SSI and so on and same with me on the intense studying. Seem to have some things in common, and I also think the same about the fans as you probably noticed in my post earlyer about fan salection.
Your Cuz Blue

Wah! I tried to do a quote thingy but couldn't figure out how! Lava rocks...like the kind for a barbecue thing? Bear I am so dumb I need to ask you to be more specific in transplanting.....what do you do with all the roots hanging down from the net pot when placing it into a larger pot--beside not fucking them up? (Small) inquiring minds need to know....

PS X I tried some blueberries too and found the same problem as you...not as forgiving to mistakes as others. I have one russian-X bagseed group of seeds that are just monsterously easy to grow...couldn't kill them with a baseball bat....great buzz.

Hi I'm new to the board, but I've read it for a month or two now after I decided to grow myself a little something. I grew for myself back in the 80's, but not hydro until now.

I decided to make a recirculating DWC setup with the res. being a 20 gallon tub and the grow tub being a 10 gallon. Both started out dark, then I wrapped them 100% in good duct tape rated to block sunlight and UV rays. The res and growtub are connected about a half inch from the floor to each other using 1/2" black tube (with a quick disconnect in the middle to make cleanings easier).

I have the heavy duty GH airpump with 2 stones in the growtub and 1 in the res. Bubbles galore.

I am using tap water for now since I have no RO system yet. I have a continuous meter for TDS and PH monitoring (my water comes out between 250-300 PPM and PH almost 8!). The system only needs about 10 gallons when theres no roots showing, and now with the taproot in the water, about 8 gallons seems decent.

I also have a waterpump in the res with a tap off the 1/2" tube to 1/4" which instead of dripping, I decided to route into the growtub, "t" it, and run two short lengths of drip tube in a "waterfall" fashion. I can adjust the flow with a valve, so I keep it trickling nicely. This way, the system recirculates when I run the waterpump.

I germed 2 NLX seed in papertowels, then put them into rapid rooters until the taproot was an inch out of the bottom, then put the rapid rooters into 5.5" netpots with hydroton. I cover the top of the netpots with plastic plates with a slot and hole cut for the stem. Trying to block any and all light penetration.

The first week I had the system running and after PH Downing the water to a stable 5.8, I noticed after 2 days some white foam forming, and a stink as if you left a wet towel sitting for 2 days. I figured it was some algea trying to take hold because my PH was trying to slowly rise as well. Since I wasn't using any nutes at all yet for the seedlings, I got some H2O2 and kept adding it until the foaming was mostly gone, a little more each few hours until I had a nice clean smelling water again and the PH was stable again.

When my nutes arrived the other day (GH 3 part with Hardwater Micro), I drained, disassembled, washed with plenty of H2O2 and refilled with 8 gallons of water I'd been boiling and letting sit all week long, waiting for the big day lol.

My PPM and PH were as before, around 250 PPM and PH of 8. Since I've read that GH hardwater micro tends to PH down over the first 24 hours, I let it go overnight, but there was no PH down effect from it (I only used the amount for seedlings, which in my case was only 2 teaspoons total of each of 3 parts for 8 gallons).

I also noticed this morning (the res change was yesterday) the funky smell starting to form again already.. so I dosed in some more H2O2 which I was hoping I wouldnt need to. I've had to PH Down the heck out of it too, to get it down to 5.8. I was wondering if thats normal? I think I'm doing things right, I think you can see I did my homework. Do I now simply have to keep checking the res and adding H2O2 until it's nice and clean smelling again? What is a normal amount for 8 gallons to make sure everything is dead besides my plants, and is it possible this funk survived in my water even though I'd boiled and stored it all week until I had my 8 1 gallon jugs filled? Seems unlikely to me! Yet here I am asking anyway.

I was hoping to keep it all chemical except a drop or two of superthrive now and then. (I figured 24 hours or so after the H2O2 was applied, it would be plain water again and the superthrive would live). I'm not after anything amazing, just acceptable and healthy and hopefully fast growing.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any input. :pimp:

ps: Oh duh, I'm only using an old 4 foot shoplight with cool white bulbs for now until I get a 600watt HPS with hortilux.

hey weedhound ,
what russian strain ? do you know ? i'm lookin for something that feminised that'll put up w/ some crap . i might start lookin for fem. russian strains . w/ such a small plant count n length of veg. time i can't waste any time w/ males showin up . and until i get the waterfarm thing perfected i'm not looking to try cloning anything ?
i have another thread on here in seeds n strains looking for good resilliant fem. strains now .
thanx
-n-
peace

Sorry X I mistated the russian-X--they are a russian thing (on the bag it said blue russian) but not feminised...Don't know what they are mixed with but I always throw a couple in the mix because you know they're going to grow and not give you any bs like the weenie types.....have looked at alot of photos and they are probably closet to some early girl or something indica-ish....I will take a photo and post it but it's pretty generic looking. It definitely doesn't come out with that lovely white frost like the white russian...am hoping to try breeding some soon so I don't run out....if it works I'll send you some if you like.....

E if you are using tapwater you may well be fighting your ph level constantly (and uselessly) How are your plants growing in general? The problem with tap or well water is that you really don't know what's in it....yes you can say 250 ppms, but 250ppms of what? Coal dust? (j/k) Sounds as though RO water is in your future plan...you have obviously studied...IMO RO water is more important than it seems and I found out the hard way for sure. I have heard that having to use large amounts of ph up/down can cause its own problems with EC or something like that and too much H202 can be harmful as well. How much is too much? Well that's where the people who know things come in.....and it ain't me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weedhound

E if you are using tapwater you may well be fighting your ph level constantly (and uselessly) How are your plants growing in general? The problem with tap or well water is that you really don't know what's in it....yes you can say 250 ppms, but 250ppms of what? Coal dust? (j/k) Sounds as though RO water is in your future plan...you have obviously studied...IMO RO water is more important than it seems and I found out the hard way for sure. I have heard that having to use large amounts of ph up/down can cause its own problems with EC or something like that and too much H202 can be harmful as well. How much is too much? Well that's where the people who know things come in.....and it ain't me.

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Yep I hear what you're saying about whats in the water. No clue, lol. I tell you this, whatever it is it's hard. It'll rust up a toilet bowl super fast, and theres so much limescale that I need to CLR my showerhead like 4 times a year. So yes, a countertop RO filter is in my future, but I'd like to get through this test-grow without it. The PH has stabilized for now after dosing it with H2O2 this morning, and some PH down. My total PPM is 450 right now, so it *should* not be too much acid I dont think.. Once the algea or whatever it is dies, it actually behaves really well. Getting to that point is the battle. I'm hoping I just missed a spot during cleaning.

I'll need to keep a much closer track of exactly how much I add in next res change for sure.

Well the plants started off slow, and put on more stem growth than I would have thought under so much blue spectrum light, but really I put them in the netpots too soon based on what I've read. They're doing better now, with nice healthy looking new green growth. This week should be the real test to see how they put out with some very small feeding. Because again, who knows whats in the water alone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlueBear

Oh Yeh KD not a problem and HK keep us updated on your grow. You said that you use a 1K in veg and a 1K in flower, why not use a 600W in veg and both 2K's in flower, just wondering?
Adieu

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Sorry I did not make my self clear I have two flower rooms both with 1000W each so while one is on during the day the other is on at night so if I have two! Instead of every two months I have a harvest it can be every month!

The room is going to be set up this friday I have just cropped my outdoor plants.

I have the mother for the outdoor and I m starting Big bud or White widow dont know cos it got mixed up! The BB or WW is for the new indoor that I m setting up!

Once the room is set I will post pics!

Sorry forgot to say for veg I was planning to use 4ft Floros to get them rooted and then straight to 12/12.

My mothers will be under 1-2 400Hps depending how the look and how big they get!

X here are some photos of my russian thing. Look familiar to anyone? Very easy grow. (Sorry about the lighting--only light in there)

PS Does tend to want to stretch and does great with topping....

hey mister e ,
r/o water might be the ticket , but if you do get a r/o filter be sure to get some cal-mag . r/o filters will strip just about everything outa the water n you will end up w/ calcium n magnesium defencies .
hey bluebear , yes , lots in lots in common man, we need to kick it on im or in chat on here man . might learn lots from each other .
peace folks
happy turkey day
your cuz
xcrispi

I think that you should try to replace the tap water with RO or distilled water. If that takes the smell away then you need to get some Cal Mag to replace any micro nutriants that were lost in the RO process. Are there any other nutes that you are using???
WeedHound, with the roots that are hanging out of the net pot that you want to sit into the new larger net pot you can try to kind of angle the roots into the new pots holes or you can drill some 1 1/2 inch holes in the new pots to sit the roots down threw or just make 1 2 1/2 inch hole right in the middle of the new pots for the thicker roots and drape the other smaller roots into the side slits. Hope that helps.
Adieu

No, no other nutes at all. Just plain water until 2 days ago, then very weak 3 part. I'm basically commited to it, but I'd like to spread out my expenses. Starting from zero is a pretty steep expense in total. Decent lighting and RO system is next, and that'll be around $500 or so total. I was hoping to get by using my standard water with the hardwater micro. Maybe when the plants get bigger and I use more of it, it'll help with the PH as it's been reported to by many sources.
I do plan to get a supply of calmag once I do get clean water though, definitely.
I'll monitor things very close until next weeks' res change before deciding to spend the extra sooner rather than later. I know it's worth it.

Sure did! Thanks Bear. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Hey bro you can just get some bottled distilled water to test weather or not it is the problem and also so you don't have to get a whole new RO system. I am sure that it is the water, and just think about buying some water from WalMart or something IMO.
Good luck.
Adieu folks

That sounds like a good idea to me also....I agree with Bear that if you try it with some good water you'll be sold....the maintenance side of tap water alone will exhaust you....not to mention how much your plants will love ro or distilled water.

all you need is a 5 gallon bucket. an aqarium airpump, some netpots, some hydroton, and some nutes. period. paint the bucket black on outside for algae prevention rez...If you want to use big rubbermaid tubs...that is OK, I use 10 gallon tubs for 1-2 plants.
Unless you have a good cloning system you shouldn't grow more than 1-2 plants in a tub, because the roots get all tangled up and once you sex and find males...you have to chop them off and leave the remaining roots, or else you damaged root system and shock the chit out of them. peace

don't try to grow more than you can handle...you will most likely run into problems keeping up with them. You will yield more allowing 1-2 healthy plants have more space to grow in. peace

I've been pricing some filters. Looks like $150 to $200 should get me near 100GPD. I should be able to hook it up "countertop" style with a simple adapter which I probably already own. Although many of them have clear filter housings which I'd want to light-proof also I suppose. (anyone got a link to a great RO filter with readily available replacement filters for down the road?)

My 10 gallon grow tub is only 2 plants. Even then I know they'll be crowded unless I train them away from each other.

When I do get to cloning stage, I plan to pick up some neoprene replacement plugs, and build my own from a small plastic container and lots of bubbles.

Incidently, the current water temp is 66 degrees, the room temp under the light is currently 73 degrees, and the room is about 5' x 7' x 8', and I have access to the attic through a ceiling hatch.

Whatever it is that wants to grow in my water seems to be a slimy brownish. I guess I'll dilute some bleach on my next cleaning and really kick it's ass and replace with good water and see how it goes.

I have one that does something like 30 gal per day and it works great for my waterfarms (which I think needs about 25 gal for a res change) I heard you can get them for really good prices on E-bay....I have had some bad experiences shopping on E-bay so I don't shop there but perhaps you like the thrill....you really don't need 100gpd for your setup....I still like Bear's idea of trying some distilled first...see how you like it.....

Another question guys now that I just read latewood's thread....any ideas on how to keep roots from getting tangled in something like that? Would some sort of screen between them or something work? I want to build a setup like that to start my 8 seedlings off before I transplant them into the farms but didnt consider the tangling root thing....suggestions?

Yeah for sure I dont *need* 90 or 100 gpd. My thinking is longer filter life? Quicker filling? It's new to me. I could also drink it I guess huh ;)

I also dont care for ebay, never used it. I buy pretty much everything online though. A couple of sites have the Spectra Pure 90gpd for around $180. I was considering that one.