Daft DWC

[Deft]

I've been having terrible trouble inside with soil grows, outside I grow healthy vigorous plants but inside something eats the roots.

So I decided to spend the $120 to get set up for DWC and bought GH 3 part nutes, a control wizard PPM/EC/CF digistick, Hydroton, more net pots than I can use, pro-tekt potassium silicate, a 18 gallon rubbermaid, a turkey baster that measures in ML and Oz, an 18" airstone (great), an external fish tank stick on thermometer and probably some other things I am forgetting.

I had a lot of stuff that I allready needed like 3w air pump (hung on elastic cord), my 250w CMH/HPS DIY lamp which has been great so far, mylar, PH meter and calibration solution, etc etc etc..

I started two Holy grail seeds to test things and if things go right I may have a mother for outdoor cuts come spring. I forgot to buy rockwool so in a pinch I used peat pucks and its worked out fine so far. I am worried I might get pathogens growing in them so I give them a shot of SM-90 every now and again as preventative care.

I have been having fairly bad temps in the high 70s at peak during lights on so I have added a little SM-90 in the rez but thats just because of unseasonably warm temps in winter. Today it was 65* outside when its normally freezing. I use AC in summer.

My tap PH is crappy at well over 8 after in sink carbon filter, but ppms are acceptable in the 80-100 range.

I've measured the vital statistics today and they are as follows. PPM 420, ph 5.5, ec .8..... I've set up a spread sheet to chart those stats so I might see changes more easily.

So I'm going to make a grow thread for the first time in a long time, I really hope to get feedback and avoid any pitfalls I can't see coming and maybe get something to smoke along the way.

 

[Deft]

Took a pic after lights out just now, the reflector is cocked because the arc tube in my cmh is a little off kilter I think because my socket base is a little off.

The roots hit the water yesterday and are starting to branch out rapidly and are healthy and white so far though I worry about temps a lot. I cut a little hole which the turkey baster is in so I can easily check the ph/ec/tds without having to lift anything up. Can also add nutes that way.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Are the 70º temps air or water? I grew one with water temps in the 75-80 range with no res troubles and I'm guessing that using GH instead of organics played a part. Got any air movement around the res? You want to be careful you don't build an Easy-Bake Oven.

Break a leg!

 

[Deft]

Temps have been up to 78* on hot winter days, today its 76 as things are cooling off outside.
I found that a fan on the rez increased temps by 2 degrees or so, probably because cab temps are in the high 80s. I need to find the fan I use to exchange air between the closet and the room but no luck finding it yet. It helps a lot in keeping the closet air temps down and bringing in fresh air.

There is a fan up above kicking air on the cold roof and it falls down to the plant level. I really need to look for my other fan though.

 

[fully baked]

Best of luck Deft, I didn't have any root troubles until they started to overrun the DWC and were filling the container anyways. That was without any water safeguard such as your SM-90. Hopefully it all works out real well for ya, and I'll be a few days behind you with my SWC holy grails... Found two ladies already

Grow on,
FB

 

[Deft]

Yea fullybaked, I was wondering if we would be doing twin grows and I guess we will be.

I think I like hydro already, I have not had healthy white roots in soil inside in a while sine there is something that kills them. Outside is fine but inside the roots die and rot even when relatively dry so hydro may just be the answer.

I'm already impressed with the speed of root foliage and stem growth and roots just hit the water the other day.

 

[hehateme19]

Yeah ok Deft I found you. I asked some questions on a different post earlier and I guess they have been answered here.

Hows the bubbles looking in that rubbermaid with that airstone.

Also I couldn't tell but what color is that container, did you wrap the outide of it? I saw how you wrapped the lid but was just wondering about the sides did you do anything for that? (black trash bags?)

You have now motivated me to go out and get some net pots tomorrow for sure. I gonna but a GH dual diaphram pump as well and just run 2 of the outlets. I am thinking about running a 10 inch airstone (but it looks like it has a larger adapter for air that what the pumps have... any suggestions) or 2 smaller ones or a 4 ft air diffuser or maybe 2. any ideas???

Anyways glad I found you, Im gonna add this one for sure.

Happy Growing

 

[Deft]

Sorry I missed your questions in the other thread.

The bubbles look great, lots of them even from the big stone. Its so big it can only lay from one corner to the opposite and I think the extra surface area will help keep it from getting clogged like the regular stones do.

The container is grey with a black lid, the black lid was getting very hot so I covered it in foil, I'll probably spray pint it flat white before I use it again. No trash bags or anything, its very dark inside the rez so I'm going to leave it that way for now, if it becomes a problem I'll just buy another rubbermaid and stick this one inside it to help with heat and light insulation.

Net pots are so damn cheep that I got 10 3" and 6 6" and I'll probably never use them but I have them if I need them or find someone else who needs some.

Pics are real easy to take as my comp has a built in card reader so I'll be showing a lot hopefully, heres todays set.







I'm kinda worried that they are a little too light in color but I think I'll wait till the ppm starts dropping to add more nutes.

 

[hehateme19]

Yeah Dude (Im not an expert like you) my lil ones are always that lighter green in the beginning. Those plants are gonna blow up, just wait.

do you top your plants??

 

[Deft]

Lol me an expert?? I laugh when I hear that, but your not the first to say it. I'm much much much better at vegetable gardening which I have been doing for 90% of my life. Indoors I am not so good but hydro may help with that. I set up a veggie garden for a relative this past summer and they ended up with a jungle of tomatoes brussle sprouts cukes and all sorts of other yummies, they had to donate most of it to the local homeless shelter/pantry and give a lot away because there was no way they could use it all or can it.

I do top plants, some love it and from my reading in the holy grail thread they should do well with it and turn into minoras or bushes. Sativa plants don't seem to like it but plants with a good bit of indica seem to like it a lot.

They are allready blowing up, they well more than doubled in size over the last 48 hours.

 

[FreezerBoy]

I've got a blue rubbermaid under a 250 CMH. Definitely not opaque but no algae problems here (although cold garage temps may figure into it.)

On the tub in tub theory, I've considered propping one up inside the other and filling the space with instant spray foam. I suppose a cooler would be as effective if you could find one in a suitable size.

 

[Deft]

That's the idea I had exactally, spray in some great stuff insulation foam and plop one inside the other, seems it would work awesome for insulation from heat and light.

 

[hehateme19]

Nice, Nice

Freezerboy: Yeah both of mine are that light blue color and Im pretty sure you can see light thru mine, but in your case hey if it aint broke don't fix it right. I like that idea for the spray foam, sounds like it would be fun to try. One question though, the spray foam I have expands so I wonder what that would do to the integrity of the containers? I guess you could drill some holes at the bottom of the top one (make sense?) and let the foam expand thru there, not sure if it would work, and fill it with epoxy when dry maybe. I dont know. I real interested in it though cuz I used these before and like I said you could for sure see the light thru them.

Deft: I was taught to top, the only strains I have ever grown have mostly been Indica dominant (At least I think) so thats what we have always done. I top as soon as I take from the cloner to new pot. And I dont really do to much bending, I do however supercrop before switching to flower.

I found out that the rubbermaids I was going to use are only 10 gallon, so I might just use one of them, I also have a 18 gallon to add as well. (I have a bunch of clones that have been rooted for a while now so Im gonna use them, seeing everyones success on icmag has motivated me to step up the growing, I have lights that Im not using so I figure why not.) So I figue on starting 3 new ones tomorrow. Ill keep you in the loop bro.

 

[SpoCannabis]

Ask Dr. DWC....hehe

Ask Dr. DWC....hehe

Yeah, you definitely don't want to ever be using aluminum foil anywhere near your grow. I like your ambition in wanting to get into the DWC! As far as your temps, you are just fine around 78...You don't want to go much over 80, unless you are supplying CO2 to the room. Once you get into flowering, you will want to make sure you temps stay in the 70's with the light on and no lower than 60 with the light off. As mentioned before, I would like to see a picture of your tub with bubbles. Personally, I get MUCH better output from the smaller airstones, than the large "bubble wands". Always remember with DWC to watch your nute mix temps...if they get too warm you will have problems. Not to mention, dissolved oxygen is our friend in all of this and we know there is MUCH more DO in cold water than warm water ;-)

The plants look healthy, and well taken care of so far. If I may make a couple suggestions...

1 - I would personally mount your light the other direction if possible, due to the light output and the spectrum profile (you will get better light coverage and maximize available light).

2 - Cover your rapid rooter plug with hydroton. It is easy for an HID light to dry those cubes or plugs out, which can cause addition problems in the beginning before you have a healthy root base to start with.

Hope this was helpful, thanks for sharing with us!! Look forward to seeing updates from ya!! K++ ;-) Good luck

 

[Deft]

Your right about the expansion, I just remembered I used some to seal a drafty bulkhead door frame and it actually pushed the frame in on one side so the door would not close till I shaved it with a plane. There must be a low expansion kind or something that will expand and then not dry for a while to give you time to put the top bucket in.

DWC is probably the way to go for low wattage personal grows. But man, recirc dwc would be sooo easy to cool with a chiller made from a water cooler.

 

[fred_light]

Looking great Deft!

Thanks for the input on the temperatures SpoCannabis, I was wondering about temps. Great info.

I am also doing my first plant these days (WaterFarm), so I am gonna follow this grow.

 

[Deft]

Hey SpoCanna, snuck in there on me. Why do you say no aluminum? I understand its toxic in high concentrations and a conductor so I watch out for that.

I don't really want to mount the light the other way around because the ends are open and it would send a lot of light out of the closet as I keep the doors open a little to get airflow. Its also hard to reflectivize the two closet doors since they are thin and have a lot of relief.

I'll go cover up the puck that's not mostly covered, the hydroton level is a little low in that one anyways. Probably won't matter for roots since the roots are down in the water now and are branching out but I could still grow algae so blocking off light isn't a bad idea.

 

[Deft]

Goth dammm, everyone is sneaking in on me before I can reply! Good to see all of y'all!

 

[hehateme19]

Yeah cut the light out for sure bro........I had some extra light sneaking in before and had some weird shit happen.

Let me know about that foam thing if you remember.

Ya Man

 

[Deft]

I'm not going to do the foam thing till maybe next grow, I don't want to lift 12 gallons of water lol. If I do do that I'll have to get another thermometer since mine is a stick on for aquariums.