the ORIGINAL DWC..... What do you all think?

[BLUNToPOTomuss]

The guy at the hydro shop offered this to me for $120 with nutes.

I was telling him how Ive done 4 cycles with FFOF straight, no addiing anything.

I aslo told him I was very interested in hydro but really couldnt afford to fuck up a crop and be outta supply for 8 weeks. Thats one of the reasons Ive stayed with soil, the ease of working with it.

Dont get me wrong, Ive enjoyed soil and am not oppossed to running something else, ala.... coco with 25%perilite..... something to that nature.

So he goes and tells me that DWC is the easiest way to go and offers me this http://www.deepwaterculture.com/products.asp?id=15949 you see the MSRP is 179, he offered to order it and give it to me with nutes for 120.

What do you all think, is it worth it? Is a setup like this easy to run? OH!! Ill only be running 6 plant in it, most likely the outside six pots.


Thanks!

Blunt-o

 

[bendoslendo]

You're also going to need a pH meter if you don't have one. The drops will do too. Some would suggest an EC/TDS pen as well.

Your biggest concern will likely be reservoir temperatures. Can you keep your grow room cool? It's a much bigger concern with hydro than with soil.

In the summer I run Hempys (also experimenting with Coco/Perlite) instead of DWC. Res temps are an issue otherwise.

 

[BLUNToPOTomuss]

My cab runs at 68 right now to fight PM, so temps not an issue with in my cab. what is the proper temp for a res?

I can go lower or higher than that, my closet is AC/heated so I can do what i want for the most part.

Thanks for the response!

 

[FreezerBoy]

You can build your own for about $30-$40 from scratch. Less if you're the type with stuff lying around the house. It's a tub of water with a couple of air stones.

A gal of GH FloraMicro and FloraBloom run about $25 each. A liter of pH down runs $15 or less so, $65 for food AND pH control.

I prefer drops to pH pens. Drops cost about $5. EC control is the one place I dropped some coin. $130 for a Bluelab EC Truncheon but, many run a straight Lucas Formula which uses water replacement rather than EC measurments. I prefer to measure as Lucas says 0-8-16(*) while I've had plants that say 0-3-6 is too strong. Nothing wrong with cutting nute costs by 60-70%.

(*) Lucas is based on GH 3 part Flora nutes. The numbers are ml per gallon. The "0" is FloraGrow (the green bottle) and is not used at all. The second number is FloraMicro, the third, FloraBloom.

Here's my very first DWC. I knew absolutely nothing about the process except what I'd read here. Here's what I got stuck with. Approx 1/2 pound from a single plant.



Outside of dirt farming where you drop a seed and come back in 6 months, I can't imagine an easier way to grow. I can leave it unattended for a week with no prep. 2 weeks with 10 minutes prep. I've gone 3, she was still going but, she wasn't very happy with that.

.... add ....

P.S. 68ºF is perfect for res temps.

 

[Mickymouse]

I switched to RDWC for my veg room and flower room.Im growing bigger,faster, better than I ever have.Like Freezerboy said DIY and save $$$

 

[bobcat1963]

I bought something similar off an auction site,the problem was the height.Mine was seven inches tall and when I put the netpots in I had maybe two inches of nute solution in the bottom.That did not go very well for me.So I bought an eighteen gallon rubbermaid,and used the original lid with netcups and all is well now.

 

[FreezerBoy]

What you had was SWC or Shallow Water Culture. Works the same just a lot more work. NGB used it to great success by removing the net pots and just hanging bare plants with a neoprene collar. Like you, I went with DWC and the 18 gallon tub. I can leave for 2-3 weeks. With SWC more than 2-3 days could be a disaster but, it's a viable alternative for space challenged types.

 

[PetFlora]

If you want to investigate a true aero system that, once you get a handle on it is simple to monitor and maintain, then check out my journal

 

[HBxNLmaster]

DWC is great but you could make 4 tubs for that much loot just buy net pots, clay balls, and one dual outlet fish air pump with airstones for each tub, cut wholes in the lid of sterlite wal mart container size of your choosing you could have like 6 of them for 120 dollars

 

[HBxNLmaster]

yeah what i forgot to say was do it yourself and take the money you save and buy some extra stuff at the hydro store that will help you out with your grown, the easiet to use nutes i have tried is the AN 3 part . My friends and I all had trouble with root problems when first started DWC so much so that they gave up, but i have come up with a perfect formula that seems to work everytime and keeps roots healthy and clean through out the whole grow, I use AN 3 parts nutes and hygrozyme along with a capfull or two of sm-90 per 18 gallon res . I use this as a base in all my DWC tubs and have 100 percent success just adding plain water after that. and only need to change when you wanna up your ppm level or if PH starts fluctuating. I always went at least a month into flowering before doing anything and when running low on nutes i have run some fast flowering strains the whole duration of flowering without changing out nutes like 65 days. All with minimal effort. Hygrozyme is expensive but is worth every penny and a must for my peace of mind and sm-90 is cheap and like the smell it makes my water smell like its extra clean lol i dont its funny but smell it sometime i love it. i also add some additives like BIG BUD, gonna try KOOL bloom as i got a free bottle and heard good things, warning do not use humbold flower hardner unless you really knwo what ur doing i have tried it and had horrible results both times i used it, and have seen many others who have as well.

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

Why not build one or two 5 gallon bucket DWCs and run them alongside your soil setup. That way, if things don't work out, you're not missing an entire harvest, and if they do, you'll be able to see how it would fit your situation.