Water Farm/DWC club

[Weedhound]

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.

[MisterE]

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. imp:

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.

[xcrispi]

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

[Weedhound]

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.....

[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.

[MisterE]

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.

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.

[HK Slyone]

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

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!

[HK Slyone]

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!

[Weedhound]

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....

[xcrispi]

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