RDWC Grow Along!

Smplfrmr said:

Just raise the ceiling a few feet

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blooper said:

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=56974&pictureid=1360624&thumb=1"]View Image[/URL]

this system works too well lol. idk what to do with this.

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salgado said:

PPM's going up... Is this even possible? OR do I just have a crappy meter? Just ordered a blue lab combo meter so I should get it straight soon. SO is it actually possible for PPM's to go up and if so what does that mean?

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Snype said:

This is some of the data for tonight. It is only the data for the average of 2 systems. There is this individual data for all of the systems that are taken almost every day of the entire grow. I learn loads of information from this data:

Date: May 31, 2014
Stage: Day 54 Flower
Heights: 34"-43"
Top Off: 8 Gal (est)
pH pre: 5.85
Adeed (pH): n/a
pH post: 6.2
PPM pre (500 scale): 695
Added (ppm): n/a
PPM post: 565
Water Temperature: 63
Air Temperature: 66 - 76F
rH: 60's
CO2: 600 PPM
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Light Cycle: 11on/13off
Ballast Setting: 750's
Other Information: Plants look amazing!

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Snype said:

salgado, as usual you provide the most limited details possible. I don't know why you continue to do this.

For example, if I have 5 gallons of solution at 1 EC, as the plants take in water and nutrients from the 5 gallons, the solution of liquid decreases. You are not letting us know if you are topping up the rez when taking those readings or if those readings are being taken after some of the solution is gone from the 5 gallons which would mean it was less than 5 gallons and not topped off.

I keep trying to tell you to read my threads because you keep coming and asking me the most basic things that should have already been explained over and over and over.

To be honest, I don't like helping people who don't provide adequate data. I've given you an example of the data that I keep and it's within the thread that I linked to you before. When you keep data, you know what's going on with your plants and you don't have to keep asking people for help.

Most people enjoy the idea of over feeding their plants. A lot of people think they have to add so many things to try and obtain quality but it has the opposite affect. If your PPM's are going up, it is usually telling you that you are over feeding. It doesn't take much nutrients for plants to flourish.

Now just because your PPM is going up doesn't necessarily mean that you are over feeding because the pH of your solution is also going to affect how much your plants can eat as well. But you don't provide any of those details to tell you anything of value.

I want you to pay attention to the 13th post in this thread that we are in right now:



Please start recording your data if you want to know what is going on with your plants. Don't trouble me to make speculations on your limited crop data. Personally, I get the feeling that RDWC may not be for a personality like yourself. Soil might work much better for you.

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salgado said:

Snype, Man I do appreciate your wisdom and advice especially when you give it in a way that isn't so freaking condescending. I have provided you with lots of details in various posts. The ones you have asked for and more in some cases. I ALSO DO READ YOUR POSTS. As a matter of fact I read and even reread them often. Every question I have isn't always covered in your threads in a way I understand. My question here was very basic and you covered it in your last paragraph in your response to me. That was all that was needed.

RDWC is great but a lot more complicated (at least than soil) and Im learning. Ill try not to ask such basic questions in your threads in the future.

As for RDWC not being for me shit man give me a break. I record room temp, water temp, humidity, ph and ppm 3 or 4 times a day. I really enjoy the process. Maybe there is more to record Im just trying my best to understand.

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salgado said:

Cool... Again, This is my 1st RDWC.... I will keep much more detailed data and try to provide it relevant to my future posts and questions.

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ChemDoubleDs said:

I apologize for not providing all the details that I have logged. Part of it has to do with posting on my phone and losing the message halfway through so having to start over and also posting before Passing out after some ChemDD. the things you mentioned such as rH, room and water temp, room size, are all logged but some of it hasn't made it into these messages. I'll make sure to be very clear in future posts because I know it's a pain in your ass to try and answer questions without knowing exactly what's going on. And also that it doesn't really do me much good if I look for help without providing thorough details.
I know how it is to lose a long message before sending it. It happens to me all the time. Sucks
Before I post any more data, I wanted to try and get this feeding process down. I'm still a little confused. Am I correct that the amount of nutes the plants have eaten is the difference between pre and post top off (before adding anything back except water) ppm? And the target is roughly 20 ppm/day. So like after 3 days the plants have eaten 20 ppm on average each day. If this is the case, how much nutes is appropriate to have left the system before adding back nutrients?
The target isn't really a number per day. That was an old explanation that I gave that I need to update. Because the systems that we are using are so small and don't hold much water compared to the size of the plants, I have another way of looking at it. Basically, as the solution goes down over time from plants drinking up the liquid, you want the PPMs to stay the same. So it the PPMs go up as the solution goes down, I consider you to be over feeding although the plants may not be getting over fed at that point. But that's the sweet spot that I look for. It'll change from week to week and the plants will show you what they want in numbers as long as your pH stays consistent and your environment is the same. You'll see in the later weeks that the plants want much less nutes than peak flower. You'll be surprised what the numbers will say if you keep track of them.

So you are asking how to know when to add back nutes. Let me give you an example. Say you just put a fresh batch of nutes in the system after doing a rez change. Lets say that your PPM was at 1,000. Remember to mark a line on your controller to know where to fill the water up to when the plants drink. So you come back 24 hours later and take a reading before you top off. And say it reads 1,000 PPM. That means you are where you want to be because it's the same number as the day before. But now you have to top off the rez. My plants will easily consume 4 Gallons of solution per day. So when I add back that 4 gallons of tap water into the rez, the PPM will read lower. Maybe 900 PPM depending on many variables. So if that's the case, I need to add more nutes to bring it back up to 1,000 PPM again. Are you starting to understand?

Previously, I thought that the difference in post top off (after adding nutes) ppm after initially filling the Rez on day 1 and the ppm pre top off upon the next measurement was the amount they had eaten. So when the ppm dropped from 560 to 500 ppm on day 4, I looked at that difference as the amount they had eaten. But now I think you are saying that the amount is only based on the difference in the pre top off and post top off (before adding anything back except water). So if the top off amount was a gallon, ppm pre top off was 500 and post top off was 450, that difference would show the amount the plants had eaten since being topped off last.
It's kind of confusing what you are saying here but it's really simple. You need 3 different PPM readings to understand if you need to add anything:
1. Yesterdays After Top Off and Additions Data
2. Todays Pre Top Off Data
3. Todays Post Top Off Data
#2 and #1 should equal the same number.
#3 should always be lower than #1 &#2.

After that you may need to add nutes depending on what the numbers tell you. You shouldn't have to empty anything out of the rez if you slightly over nuted because just adding water to top it off is going to decrease the PPM. You just have to be close to that sweet spot though. A lot of times I'll have my plants in Peak Flower at 1,000 PPM. 24 hours later, the pre top off data is still at 1,000 PPM but after I top off it can be as low as 870 PPM. So I have to add back nutes to bring it up to 1,000.

But say that I had it at 1,000 PPM yesterday and today the pre PPM data says 1050 PPM. That's going to be common for you as well. So then you top it off and it reads 950PPM. In that case you don't need to add nutes but you weren't in the sweet spot.

The sweet spot changes from week to week. Many variables will affect how much food your plants can take in. Some of them include, light intensity, CO2, environment, temperature, etc. The key to getting the most valuable data is to have the perfect environment at all times so that your data is real and accurate. Pay attention to how your plants eat in certain weeks or even at different when the solution is at different pH levels. Once you know how your plants eat in every day of it's cycle, you'll be able to plan the next days feed accordingly and know when to drop the feed down hundreds of points during esp after peak flowering. Hope all this is starting to make sense.

Don't wanna be a pain in your ass about all this, I just really wanna get it right. Thanks dude

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Waterlab420 said:

I have a plant. Growing in water. It's green. Should I harvest? Or add more nutes. Lol

No but seriously. I'm in process of setting up a RDWC

6.5 gallon buckets (2) of them
1000w mh for veg
(2) 600w has for flower in separate room.
Running sensi grow/bloom, thrive, magi-cal. And a little voodoo in the beginning

My question is; is it gonna be a pain in the ass with a RDWC to be moving the buckets from veg to flower room? I love the idea of RDWC but not sure of its right fit.

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Snype said:

I just don't know how you are going to run RDWC with 2 x 6.5 gallons buckets and huge plants. It's not enough root space unless you were trying to get 6 oz per plant or up to 12 oz max. It's doable but not likely. You sound like you're trying to get up to 3 pounds with 2 plants when I see how much light that you're using. You'd have to at least double your pot size to put it in a working RDWC system because your roots would clog the pipes. You could just run a 2 DWC's instead.

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Waterlab420 said:

Well the two 6.5 gallon buckets and a 20 gallon res forgot to add that lol.

My goal is 2 pounds per two plants. Maybe I will just have to stick with DWC. Just thought it would be so much easier to manage with a separate res.

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Snype said:

The rez doesn't really add any value to the equation if the buckets that the plants are in is too small for moving water through pipes because the plants are too big. Instead of putting them into the 6.5 gallon buckets, put each plant into a separate 20 gallon rez and link both of them together with 2-3" pipe and add another 20 gallon rez for a control bucket. You'll have a good chance of 2 pound plants that way.

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