Considering DWC - some questions

[candent]

High, I'm considering trying out DWC.

1. How big should the airpump be - formula?

2. How old should the clones be before I put them in DWC?

3.Do I need to change the water of each bucket every 2 weeks or something, or maybe refill the buckets with water and nuts?

4.How many plants can I have under 1 x 1000w lamp in DWC?

5. How much space do each plant need for the roots? (cm3,litre)

6. Is it recommended to have each plant in its own container, or serveral plants in one big container?

Tips and tricks are welcome

 

[skotty]

have a read through my devil diary it might answer some of your questions, as a starting point

peace

 

[jm420]

18 gallon tote 5 plants
air pump =bigger the better
same amount of plants as soil or e-f shoot for 60 watts per sq foot
dwc and scrog go hand in hand
biggest thing is keeping res cool

 

[jammie]

hey there candent. i do individual 5 gal buckets powered by an 8 outlet commercial air pump that delivers 7 liter/min to each bucket, don't use airstones, just use a clamp in end of tubing to keep on bottom. i veg 10 and flower 5-6 under my 1k hid. i change out my buckets every 2 weeks or so. i only do 1 plant per bucket.

 

[jammie]

oh- as far as the clones go, if they have roots they can go into the system.

 

[candent]

Thanks guys!

3.Do I need to change the water of each bucket every 2 weeks or something, or maybe refill the buckets with water and nuts?

 

[jm420]

i drain res every 10 dats add new nutes then ph to 6 some peeps never change there res ,but i would'nt suggest it for a first timer. for nutes search lucas its the easiest way to start the learning curve.The problem using buckets is keeping your ph stable .The bigger the res the easier it is to keep ph in the 5.8- 6 range .never mind when plants go into flower they drink alot so you filling res daily versus topping of every 3-5 days

 

[candent]

Is there any good DWC guides/tutorials or books?

 

[dwarfganja]

Best guide on the net!
https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=49

 

[durka_durka420]

High, I'm considering trying out DWC.

1. How big should the airpump be - formula?

2. How old should the clones be before I put them in DWC?

3.Do I need to change the water of each bucket every 2 weeks or something, or maybe refill the buckets with water and nuts?

4.How many plants can I have under 1 x 1000w lamp in DWC?

5. How much space do each plant need for the roots? (cm3,litre)

6. Is it recommended to have each plant in its own container, or serveral plants in one big container?

Tips and tricks are welcome

ok #1 air pump really depends on how many buckets and how big they are, for me im using a small bucket and a decently sized pump to see how these work for testing pourposes and using a 5in flat bubble stone..so far i am loving it. much faster growth then soil and plant is huge already...pics can be found in my thread in grow diary forum

#2 i started from seedling in my dwc with VERY low nutes and am having great success...

#3 water changes depends on size of bucket, for me using almost 1/2gal bucket i change WEEKLY for a 3-5 gallon id say you can get away with 2 weeks change the water..

#4 how many plants depends on square footage of grow space most people use 1sqfoot per plant for normal growing for sog you can do 4 plants per sq foot...also be sure to have atleast 50w/sqfoot of lighting..

#5 space for roots depends on how big you want the plants but also container size is relative to your yeild (bigger buckets more rootmass can form more yeild)

#6 one plant per bucket if your using buckets if your using rubbermaids you can do more depending on size its all up to you.. good luck im just getting into hydro slowly so i hope i have helped

 

[Scrogerman]

JM's advice is what i do myself. 2 or 4 plant Totes are easier to keep cool & much easier to keep stable, EC & PH etc. I just bought an 80L Tote (runnin 4 plants), im gonna run either 40 or 60 lpm pump with multi defusers(airstones). DWC run this way is simple & little will go wrong, its only water temps you gotta worry about & usually only mid summer when i struggle, just bang a couple of ice bottles in my res 2 or 3 times a day for a few weeks untill temps return to something i can handle, its pretty much the only thing thats a problem with DWC, if you have the money buy a chiller! Good Luck & Great system Choice!

Just make sure you either cut a flap(in lid) for access to the res solution or cut out a hole for bildge tube(drain).

 

[Scrogerman]

Like the man said, DWC & ScrOG go hand in hand & yields are large. Achieving 1gpw is pretty standard stuff, i usually hit 1.1-1.3 gpw depending on strain.

in the pic- 'Nivarna ICE', 2 plants 15oz. 1 Tip- Dont mix pheno's or strains as they will require different feed scheduals-EC. If you want to run diff strains use mutiple totes, or use 'Oxy Pots' like Skotty does up top there.(makes it a little more complicated)

 

[SCROG McDuck]

With any type of hydro (water based) growing, a small, 2 gallon, wet/dry shop vac like this one for $25 and one of the cheapest investments one can make - for WET tasks only:

http://www.harborfreight.com/22-gallon-wet-dry-vacuum-blower-90981.html

with a 4" hole cut into the top of the rez, has been one of my most valued growroom tools...

Useing it for things like, draining the rez and draining the condensate tank for the portable a/c.
I used to use a submersable pump to drain the rez, the vac takes ???? 15-20 seconds to suck out 2 gallons. No contest.

A second one for DRY applications, if you have the room to store 2.

 

[Scrogerman]

Thanks Scrog McD, Been looking for something like this for ages. I use 1.5" Hose and siphon, still very quick & drains 60 litres in all of 20 seconds, but im sick of getting mouthfulls of juice, swallowed once too, like the misses, just the once lol(well, she is a Lady)! Cheers buddy great piece of kit!!

 

[BeaverHuntr]

I too am going to go DWC bubbleponics. Should I go single 5 gal buckets per plant or try the tote? How do I avoid the roots becoming tangles in a tote ? I wanted to go with the buckets to avoid the roots from becoming tangled most places sell a 8 outlet air pump.

 

[candent]

Is it necessary to use airstones?

 

[SCROG McDuck]

Is it necessary to use airstones?

Some say you do not need air stones..
I'd guess if you change out your rez every week one might not need them.
IMO, you should use them. Rule Of Thumb: 1 watt / gallon of rez (Lucas)

They infuse O2 int the root zone, giving your rez mix, higher Desolved Oxygen (DO) content....

I also think that air pumps and stones/curtains/glass diffusers
are the one of the biggest PITAs there is in this sport.

Air pumps are loud and droaning and stones/curtains clog and stop passing O2.
I use curtains (WalMart) and glass defusers,
stones clog the easiest..

DO... it is essential for healthy plants and greater yields.

 

[El Toker]

Is it necessary to use airstones?

You can grow in a glass of water, so strictly speaking the answer is no.

However, all hydroponic systems in legit agriculture use some means to oxygenate the water and nearly all percy growers do the same. If plants grew just as well in DWC without oxygenating the water, chances are somebody would have noticed by now.

So it's probably best to stick with tried and trusted methods for your first few grows at least.

 

[Scrogerman]

I too am going to go DWC bubbleponics. Should I go single 5 gal buckets per plant or try the tote? How do I avoid the roots becoming tangles in a tote ? I wanted to go with the buckets to avoid the roots from becoming tangled most places sell a 8 outlet air pump.

It doesnt matter about roots getting tangled, ive filled a tote to the brim before now with roots, sometimes its a good idea to use a zyme product to keeps root mass down, ive never lost yield doing it, Cannazyme is good, nice n clean!
Just dont mix strains or pheno's if you can help it, they will require a different feed schedual, if you wanna run diff strains, run Buckets or Multi-Totes, but each bucket with diff strain will require diff feed schedual(EC).
I swear by Totes myself, easier to keep cool & stable! 80lite tote Vs 20 litre bucket, for me its no-contest! Please do use Air diffusers, you get much better D'O(dissolved Oxygen) infused into your solution, the smaller the bubbles the better & faster the the D'O content in your solution, av a look at Micropore stones, easy to clean & mine never clog. Im gonna be running between a 40lpm 'or a' 60 lpm(litres per minute) airpump with 6 stones(hopefully micropore-but their expensive) in my new 80l Res/tote(4 plants-same strain, 2 diff pheno's)! Good Luck!

'The best Tip/Advice ive ever given': 'Keep a fan on your Airpump(dedicated)', as roots envelop your airstones(about early bloom), back-pressure on your pump will rise, making the pump work harder & in-turn make it hot, this contributes to blowing warm air straight into your res(your airstones will get strangled as roots gain mass). The closer you put your fan to your pump, the cooler your pump will stay, in turn helping to keep your res solution cool. This is another good reason to use zymes, keeping root mass down will help reduce pump back pressure, in turn, this helps to keep pump & res cool!
All you DWC'ers that struggle with res temps & have never used a dedicated Fan on your Airpump, please try this, you'll wish you had done it sooner! Good Luck All!

 

[SCROG McDuck]

It doesnt matter about roots getting tangled,

'The best Tip/Advice ive ever given': 'Keep a fan on your Airpump(dedicated)', as roots envelop your airstones(about early bloom), back-pressure on your pump will rise, making the pump work harder & in-turn make it hot, this contributes to blowing warm air straight into your res(your airstones will get strangled as roots gain mass). The closer you put your fan to your pump, the cooler your pump will stay, in turn helping to keep your res solution cool. This is another good reason to use zymes, keeping root mass down will help reduce pump back pressure, in turn, this helps to keep pump & res cool!
All you DWC'ers that struggle with res temps & have never used a dedicated Fan on your Airpump, please try this, you'll wish you had done it sooner! Good Luck All!

I thought conventional thinking was root mass is directly related to yield... more is more. Why am I thinking that?