DWC-When to top off reservoir?

[Johhnyblaze44]

Heres my grow so far. Im day 37 from seed. I have two 5 gallon DWC Buckets

-Ph is between 5.8-6.2
-PPM around 300
-Using tap water (ppm around 150-160)
-Using GH 3 Part Flora series (2ml of each for each reservoir)

My question is when do i top off the res? Does the water level have to be 1/2 inch under the net pot at all times or close to it? I never really understood that part of DWC. So far iv topped off each res twice since i started this grow. I just used plain tap water and filled up the bucket to the white line and phd the res down to 5.8-6.0. I never added nutes just tap water.



Heres my water level marker. The white line is where the water level is about a 1/2 inch under the net pot. Right now the water level is about 3/4 inch under the white level marker

 

[mofreak]

i've been doing the exact same thing your doing for years,and i didnt know the answer to that question either.ive had them go as low as an inch of water(as long as the roots are in the water i.e. long enough to touch the bottom) but i usually top 'em off after they're about a 1/4 down.ppm them and ph them and then add the appropriate ppm'd and ph'd water.but as long as the roots are in the water you'll be cool.also ,sometimes i'll wet the blocks from the top(you have too inthe beginning till the roots drop down)but if the roots are in the water you dont have to do that

 

[mofreak]

what's the light situation?

 

[TheCleanGame]

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[Johhnyblaze44]

I just did a complete res change with fresh nutes/water and an hour later both plants were droopy.





I checked the ph right away and it drifted up to around 6.8 so i lowered back to 5.9/6.0 and i lowered the water level a bit. What causes droopy plants in DWC and how long do they took to recover?

 

[TheCleanGame]

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[Cat Jockey]

My fellow Coloradan has it right on the pH. There are about 3% of us on the online weed forums that got it right. I've been on said forums since the 90's and watched the wrong pH get cemented in as 'correct'. A couple other BS myths I won't get into here, either.

Especially using GH 3-Part. Mix dat shit up and go. It will be around 5.1-5.3 to start. Perfect. Use RO water, if you are not. Tap water does more damage to a nutrient solution than most think.

If lighting is correct and the color on my screen is accurate, I didn't need for you to tell me the pH you are running - the plants are telling me, too.

Mix up fresh shit, throw that pH adjusting shit away (all it does is fuck up your nutrient solution, as you are finding out), along with any bottle of Cal/Mag you may have (use GH at proper pH and you don't need that crap and the associated N toxicities that come with it - I have tested this on probably 80 strains, never a Ca or Mg issue, so ...).

With your lights and system, just top off with RO, when the pH rises towards 5.9-6.1, dump it and start over. Up to 6.3, if you feel the need in flower, but taking a res over 6.4-6.5 starts fucking it up, chemically, which will have a negative impact upon your harvest fuggin' you up, chemically. Capiche?

I am going to add, with any plants you have in a peat/perlite/vermiculite soiless mix gets the same pH, too. People are way, way high on their dirt (not soil) grows. [/stirring da mudder fuggin' pot]

 

[Cat Jockey]

Oh yea. When you, 'Mix dat shit up and go.', you know to always do the Micro Nutes first, else you will fuck up your res, right?

 

[FlowerFarmer]

I would top off with RO daily or every couple days. Add-Back nutes once per week to bring you back to target EC.

This achieves two things. It gradually weakens your mix as the plants consume and your pH will gradually rise from about 5.2 to 6.2. At this point you can add-back to your already diluted res, thus bring your EC back up to ~1.8 or so and pH knocked back down to 5.2.

Typically this can allow you to run an entire grow without needing pH up or down if using RO water. Use RO water and nutrients to make adjustments.


I'd keep water level to bottom of net cup not below as been perpetuated for years. You do NOT want cord roots.


^That advice is for larger reservoirs. If you're changing out the bucket individually... I'd top off with RO water during the course of the week and then dump/start fresh every week or once you've added back the volume of water that your container holds.

 

[Johhnyblaze44]

I think it might of been shock.... my res temps were always around low 70s and when i did my res change the new water was 60-61 degrees. They are looking a little better today. Hopefully they will be back to normal tomorrow or Monday, not sure what i can really do but wait

 

[TheCleanGame]

---Snip---

 

[overbudjet]

I would top off with RO daily or every couple days. Add-Back nutes once per week to bring you back to target EC.

This achieves two things. It gradually weakens your mix as the plants consume and your pH will gradually rise from about 5.2 to 6.2. At this point you can add-back to your already diluted res, thus bring your EC back up to ~1.8 or so and pH knocked back down to 5.2.

Typically this can allow you to run an entire grow without needing pH up or down if using RO water. Use RO water and nutrients to make adjustments.


I'd keep water level to bottom of net cup not below as been perpetuated for years. You do NOT want cord roots.


^That advice is for larger reservoirs. If you're changing out the bucket individually... I'd top off with RO water during the course of the week and then dump/start fresh every week or once you've added back the volume of water that your container holds.

Agreed

 

[extreegrowerrr]

Hook it up to a float valve adjust Nutes a every few days. Simple

 

[Mixxy]

Hey peeps. I'm new to icmag. Stumbled across this thread while cruising around the site. I'm a DWC guy myself. I know I'm gonna get odd looks when I say this, but I don't measure anything but the nutes I'm adding to my buckets. I've never had any meters and never had any issues with drooping or plants dying from low or high ph. I check temps and let them be. I used to top up daily. Now I just let them eat. I plan to start a journal soon so I'll have pics of my healthy girls. I hope they bounce back.they look good. Happy growing.

 

[TheCleanGame]

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[SirStynkalot]

Keeping the res topped off is a good idea. If possible I'd try to recirculate all dwcs with an external res. Helps with dialage.

If you can grow DWC without any meters and are happy with the results though then you're probably not going to be terribly worried about that. It'll still work just fine. I've let 5 gal dwc buckets dry most of the way out in the past. Wrecked my weight but the plants lived and finished out. Where you keep it between those two extremes is up to you.

 

[mbkboy]

Was the new water properly aerated during the change? Dropping is typically overwatering/lack of o2. My two cents:

Keep water topped to an inch below the net pots (you want as much grow media as possible for thr root zone)
Bump up those ppm. 300 is low, I have a seedling with his little tap root going into 300ppm and he's growing fast and healthy.