stupid DWC ??

[disrupt86]

i woud raise your water level,browning of the roots is one of 2 things rot or nutrient stains. deff bring the water level back up to the bottom of the pots,u wont hurt anything.hell thats how i veg cuttings,just a tub of water with vitamine b1 and superthrive.they sit there for about 2 weeks.as long as u have oxygen u wont have a problem.cannazyme will help like some one else sed,it eats old bad roots and causes benneficial bacteria to be released.how far away are your lights.my guess is your lights are 2 far away to really stimulate growth and 2 having the added stress of just trying to stay hydrated.so give it a shot for about a week .put those flouros about an inch or 2 from the top and raise the water level i bet u will see major growth in that time,deff 2/3 inches and much more root mass.if u want to stabalize your rez temps u can buy a seedling heat mat and put it under your bucket,or go to petsmart and buy aquarium heater with a temp controll for like 10 bucks.

disrupt86 Reviewed by disrupt86 on 11-21-2009. stupid DWC ?? this is probably a simple stupid question but what is the easiest way to do a water change in a 5 gal DWC bucket?? I dont run DWC as of yet but thinking about doing a mother plant this way and continuing E&F in my cab and tent. so if I have a 5 gal bucket, netpot lid, airstone and pump what would the simple method be?? just didnt think popping the lid of and exposing roots to light to change water was a good idea but I have no clue hehe :wtf: Rating: 5

[cannamanibus]

i woud raise your water level,browning of the roots is one of 2 things rot or nutrient stains. deff bring the water level back up to the bottom of the pots,u wont hurt anything.hell thats how i veg cuttings,just a tub of water with vitamine b1 and superthrive.they sit there for about 2 weeks.as long as u have oxygen u wont have a problem.cannazyme will help like some one else sed,it eats old bad roots and causes benneficial bacteria to be released.how far away are your lights.my guess is your lights are 2 far away to really stimulate growth and 2 having the added stress of just trying to stay hydrated.so give it a shot for about a week .put those flouros about an inch or 2 from the top and raise the water level i bet u will see major growth in that time,deff 2/3 inches and much more root mass.if u want to stabalize your rez temps u can buy a seedling heat mat and put it under your bucket,or go to petsmart and buy aquarium heater with a temp controll for like 10 bucks.

Are you saying the roots of your veg. plants actually sit in water with an oxygenator?

[GetThisOrDie]

i woud raise your water level,browning of the roots is one of 2 things rot or nutrient stains.

That makes me feel better at least... i kind of figured it was from the big bloom since it looks like chocolate milk and now the roots are brown.

[tinytoon]

the browning of my roots has decieded not to be a problem as a lil H2O2 once or twice a week and we good. res temps run from about 68-72. lights and distance are 2 100w cfl about 20" overhead and 2 24" flouro tubes as side lighting about 12" from plant. water level is about 2" below basket. lights run 18/6. nutes are at 100%, same mix as I use in my E&F. did I forget anything? once again could this slow growth be because I am comparing this setup to my E&F stup running a 400w MH bulb?

[GetThisOrDie]

Maybe they are just stressed a bit from you having to fine tune it? Sounds like a decent amount of light...

When i was experimenting with hydro in a small rez under four 23w CFLs, I had a time when it didnt grow for almost a week because I kept messing with the nutes. Then once it got used to it they exploded.

[tinytoon]

kk ty i'll be looking for the Boom!! :weedpoke:

[DreadedHermie]

distance are 2 100w cfl about 20" overhead and 2 24" flouro tubes as side lighting about 12" from plant

I think your lights are too far away.

TT, I don't know what your 100W CFL's are like. But I usta run a pretty impressive T5 array within 2" of my tops, with some small fans blowing lengthwise along the tubes / in the airspace above the plants. Use the back of your hand cross-referenced against a thermometer and keep the temps at or below 85-87degF at the tops. (The lower sections of the plants will be cooler, unless you're growing in a "tiny" enclosure as well. )

IMO, the sidelight tubes are unneccessary at this point. Basically, your plants don't really have "sides" to light yet. If you need them for heat, go ahead--the more light the better. But I'd get them as close as I could also, within an inch or two, temps permitting, if you're going to bother with them.

If you have to choose between adding sidelights or positioning your primary overheads correctly, ditch the sidelights. All that "NASA" data about how effective sidelighting is, is misquoted and/or taken out of context. I've read it. A lot of the figures I see bandied about were taken from an annual report that basically said, "Here is what we EXPECT so get next time, if you renew our grant funding." Grant funding was NOT continued, the experiments were never conducted, yet I see these 28-35% improvement figures flung around as gospel. It was a sales pitch, and the claims were NOT substantiated in experiments conducted by D. Hermie & Associates.

Visit a commercial greenhouse. Observe the conspicuous lack of sidelighting. Speak to the resident horticultural expert and prepare to get scoffed at for suggesting such a thing.

But like I said, I don't have a clue what your hundred-watters are. Maybe they can peel paint at a foot away. But they've GOTTA be able to go closer than 20". I've run 400 watt HPS without vented hoods closer than that.

Throw up a picture or some specs on your CFLs and maybe some folks will chime in. (I've used CFLs before, but nothing bigger than the ~46 watt ones with a standard E-26 Edison base.) But get those babies in as close as possible, and get reflective material in place, also--as well as you can without obstructing airflow.


Hermie :hippy:

[disrupt86]

Are you saying the roots of your veg. plants actually sit in water with an oxygenator?

yep,star em in a 35 site bubble cloner,once rooots have formed they go into net pots with hydroten, fill a trey full of soultion about half way up the net pots "right about were the root system should be and i just let em chill with a gh 4 site air pump.when there big enough they go right into flower.

[tinytoon]

well I guess I cant read very well lol. apparently a 23w cfl is equivilent to a 100w reg bulb so I guess I misstated what I had.

[MerryPrankstr]

tinytoon,
I've been reading along with this thread with no idea what's going wrong, so no comment so far. But the difference between 23 watts and 100watts may be part of the key. I totally agree with DH, IMHO they need more light.
I ususally have my Ph around 5.4 and ppm around 350(Milwaukee) when I start to convert from coco pot to net/DWC. I wait until the roots start to run up a 6" pot then transfer them to the 6" net in 5 Gal DWC. The level is 1/4 to 1/2 " until they start to take off, then let it drop down to as much as 4-6" before refilling the rez. I let the ph sweep from 5.4 ish to around 6.2 ish then replace, usually every 2-3 weeks. I Increase the ppm gradually and back off at the first sign of over nuts.

7 weeks and they look like this:

[attachment=o231904]

Laughing Buddha roots...

My :twocents:
M.P.