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my first diy bubbler advice please

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pashi2004

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Hi all ive constructed my first bubbler system and its also my first hydro i have a few quick questions and welcome any advice or thoughts on my bubbler. Ive converted a plastic toy box into a bubbler that will take three netpots. i calculated the volume at 103 litres but planned on rounding that down to 100 for easier calculations when feeding.I will be growing clones but do not no the strain as of yet but i suspect they will be a couple of weeks old when they arrive . Im using 2 12" toblerone airstones powered by 1 200lph aquarium pump. Im using clay pebbles as a medium in three 2 litre netpots . I plan to use phosporic acid and potassium hydroxide as ph up and down and ionic hydro grow , bloom and boost as my nutrients. They will be vegging under a 600wt sunmaster dual spectrum hps lamp and flowered under the same. My questions are - 1/ Do i need anything else for the res such as root stim or anything to help keep the res clean ? 2/ would it be better to use 2 aquarium pumps ? 3/ For a res that size how often would i add nutes ? 4/ When topping up can i use water direct from the tap ( EC 0.8 Ph 7.8 ) ? 5/ As i may have a hieght issue how soon can i top ?.
If anyone who reads this can see any potential issues with this set up or can offer any advice to improve it then i would greatly appreciate your input. As ive explained this is a first for me and i really want to give it my best shot ' ill try and post some pics at some point .

many thanks , peace out

pashi
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

Active member
Veteran
Hey bro, i luv DWC,
first off, have you considered that your netpots will be sunk into your 'Tote/toybox' so your gonna lose your litre calcs some esp with 2l netpots, there big, but thats nothing to worry about at all. i use the 3.5" netpots with hydroton, plenty big enough imo!

second: your 200lph airpump needs way upgrading for such a big tote, i use a 70LPM(litre per minute) in a 70L Tote that fills to 60-65L, you'll want something of that order really, 200lph wont cut it bro, trust me, get a bigger airpump bro!

You will rarely if ever need PH up, ive used a drop out of a 2litre bottle once in 3 years lol! just add un'ph'd nute mix to top up if you fk up your PH & go too low, practice & taking notes makes perfect on that issue.

Ionic is great, luvs to be used with H2o2(Oxy+) for keeping a sterile Res & adding O2(DO/dissolved O2), great growth boost, cool as long as you change out every week to 10 days for fresh solution.

Dont take water from the tap directly-needs to dechlorinate-leave 24-48 hours before you mix with it!, EC 0.8, are you sure?, thats hard as fk dude? make sure to use Ionic HW formula, you might even have to invest in an RO unit, as that 0.8 is very Hard water.

All ya need is Ionic hw, H2o2 & PK 13/14 or PK 9/18, or just use Ionics PK boost, its good stuff anyway. Youve obviously got EC & PH meters, so your gonna be cool!

Ill stick around bro, G'Luck,
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

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heres one of mine, i used a clear Tote, covered with binbags leaving a window flap on front for measuring,& then covered in mylar to be flash & keep all light out my Res! Access hatch cut into lid with bigger cover 2x size of hole ;)
The pump you see in that pic was 10 or 20lpm & was later upgraded to the 70lpm. soon as roots start swamping your res you'll be glad you got bigger pump! bigger is better on airpump imo.! You'll prolly need some non-return valves with the upgraded pump! essential you upgrade airpump output imo bro! save you loads of bollocks!



sure you get the picture, cleaner you keep the grow the better!

G'Luck!
 
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pashi2004

Member
hi scrogerman , i may be wrong about the EC as i live in a soft water area but i recently had a wilma system going which i had to rip out after two weeks for reasons i wont go into lol but technically this will be my first complete grow, i did quite abit of water testing to get used to using the Ph and EC meters and im not sure what the water Ec was , it may have been 1.2 does that sound better ? Also how much and how often will i have to add nutrients ? How much for a bigger pump ? would 2 200 litre pumps not make a ny difference ?
many thanks for your input
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

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No its never that hard bro, EC1.2 is alot more that 0.8. what EC meter have you got & what does it say when you dip in your tapwater? what country you in bro? Soft water, would have a low EC, like EC0.13 & under for instance. hard water would be anything 'over' EC 0.2 typically, so as you can see 0.8 is mental hard!

2x200litre per 'Hour', no its way out bro & will never cut it on that kind of litrage, trust me man!

you'll set ya res with your mix(EC & PH correct) & as the plants drink you'll top off with 1/4 strength solution you have already waiting, sounds like you could do with a fk load of links/info to read, which ill supply, got some perfect threads i can drop you on bro!

id say your gonna want a minimum 60lpm pump, but id say 70lpm or even an 80lpm would serve you better, at least the 60lpm, ill link you up to a cheap one if you want, if money is no object, have a look at a 'MEDO' airpump, nice bit of kit, dont get hot etc. ill see what i can dig out for ya man! no-probs!
 
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pashi2004

Member
I also took into account that the pots would be sitting in the res but thought they sat just in the top inch or so of the res ? i aslo planned on under feeding just to be on the safe side, Any ideas for root stim ?
thanks
 
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pashi2004

Member
I lve in the uk ' cornwall to be precise , i may be wrong with the EC , we used an Ec wand previously but i havent used my new one as yet so the info on the Ec could be wrong.
 
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pashi2004

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is there any way of topping up without the hassle of pre prepared 1/4 mix solution ? how much would i top up with ?
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

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Veteran
pashi2004 said:
I also took into account that the pots would be sitting in the res but thought they sat just in the top inch or so of the res ? i aslo planned on under feeding just to be on the safe side, Any ideas for root stim ?
thanks
Click to expand...


No, they are sunken in, just leaving the very top 5mm of the netpot showing, 95% of the net is in the res itself! see pic of mine above.

What you want rootstims for? Ionic & H2o2(Oxy+) is all ya need, roots will fly. if i had to rec a rootstim, it would be Rhizotonic & roots exel from H&G but you cant run H2o2/Oxy+ with those bro!

If i was you, id stick to the simple 'Ionic', PK boost, & Oxy+. you could run Ionic & Rhizo if you really like though, but not with Oxy, better for you to Run a dead res(Sterile) on your first run imo! which the Oxy+ will give you, so will bleach.
 
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pashi2004

Member
Awesome set up pal , is that scrog your doing too ? ive got smaller netpots but bought bigger ones because i didnt think such small pots would support such big plants ' how tall will yours grow ?
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

Active member
Veteran
Thats a ScrOG grow from late last year, im having time out right now, but really missing it atm.

You dont need massive netpots at all, suprising as it may seem, 3.5" nets will hold up huge plants, although they like to twist, its the roots doing that, dont really matter either way, which size you use, it'll just be all about water/solution levels if you use big'uns, it doesnt matter imo! go for it!
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

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Veteran
pashi2004 said:
is there any way of topping up without the hassle of pre prepared 1/4 mix solution ? how much would i top up with ?
Click to expand...

Yeah with a header/auto top up tank(seperate with a float valve), although i recommend for you you do it manual on ya first run, makes it easier to get to grips with the system. I just premix 20L at a time in a spare Res, always good to have a spare res! & i keep one for dechlorianted water(with the 2 my ass is covered).

25L Oxypots might be something you could look at instead of tote, just upgrade the airpump & you can link them to do recirc/RDWC too, pretty cheap & grow trees!
 
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pashi2004

Member
Whats oxy ? im still on a bit of learning curve at the moment when it comes to terminology , how many times over the grow period and the bloom period will i have to feed them ?
 
Scrogerman

Scrogerman

Active member
Veteran
read the stickys on DWC in the Hydro forum bro. ill post some links for ya!

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=26343

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=168523

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=13689

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=26473&page=2

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2009/11/supercharging-your-plants-with-oxygen-in-hydroponics/

http://www.underwaterwarehouse.com/Medo-Linear-Air-Pumps-Air-Pumps-and-Accessories-sc-38.html
 
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