How To Build A Simple DWC Hydro Setup!!

hey all, have wanted to get into hydro for a little while and after doing a fair bit of research with books and youtube (great resources for growing marijuana i might add!!) i decided to try a reticulating drip system / DWC (deep water culture grow) set up and make it myself.

anyway just thought i'd put the steps up here for others who're interested so they don't have to do the same amount of searching and playing with designs etc in order to make one. i might add i'm still a novice so i'm sure my setup isn't perfect so please feel free to critique it and give me advice on making a better one next time or improving this current one!

first i'll give you a list of shit you need to make the RD/DWC system.

* below items can be acquired from most hardware/hydro stores
1/2" piping x ~2m
1mm piping x ~1m
hold pumping tool (yellow in photo)
T piece
plastic stakes
30L black opaque tub and lid
mesh/net pots x 8
clay pellets x 25L (i bought a half bag from hydro store)

* below items can be acquired from any aquarium store
water pump
air pump
1 way valve
air stone (i'm using a flexible tube one)
2mm aquarium air piping x ~2m

* tools used
drill
jig saw
leatherman


step 1. place net pots upside down on to upside of 30L tub lid and trace around them with a permanent texture.




step 2. once you've traced the 8 circles (in my case, you can do as many or as few as you like) turn the net pots upright and place the base of each pot in the middle of each circle traced and then trace the bottom in each circle.






step 3. once you've traced all the circle pairs onto your container lid you need to make some kind of hole in the middle of each inner circle in order to fit the jig saw blade in in order to cut the inner circle out. a drill is the easiest way to do so!

step 4. once all the holes have been drilled into each inner circle use the jig saw to cut out that inner circle. best way i found to do this is to get a sturdy bucket and put the tub lid on it while using the jig saw. this way all sides are supported while you use the jig saw to cut the inner circles out.






step 5. once you've cut all the inner circles out, cut lines into the area of plastic (1" ring) that was inside of the outer circle out outside of the inner circle. *space between the lines you traced*. once down fold each plastic tab down so that it holds/supports the net pot when you place them in each hole in the lid.

step 6. get your piping out. you'll need to cut your 1/2" tubing so that you have a length long enough to circle the outside of the lid of your tube (for the drips to come off for each plant) and a second length 1-2ft long for you pump in the reservoir below. drill a hold in the middle of one side of the tub. poke the short length of 1/2" tubing up through that hole and insert the T piece. also connect the long length of 1/2" piping to one side of the T piece.





step 7. drill small pairs of holes between the pots and the outer rim of the tub lid and thread cable ties down through the outer hole and then up through the inner hole in order to hold the long length of 1/2" tubing in place around the tub lid.



*these holes can be drilled or i found you can use the blade of a leatherman (mine's very sharp) and twist it 180 degrees back and forth and it makes a cone shaped hole in about 2s*

step 8. cut the left over 1/2" piping off and join the other end to the T piece completely the water circuit.



step 9. poke a hole in the 1/2" pipe next to each net pot with the hole punching tool.



step 10. push the 1mm piping into the hole and then pull it back (out) slightly. only a little bit, this seals the hole and makes it more water proof. thread the end of the 1mm piping through a stake or just place over its designated net pot.



*i also added some more cable ties later on on these middle parts of the pipe to keep them off the pot edges*

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step 11. thread the 2mm air tubing through the same hole the 1/2" water tubing is going down into the reservoir through and push the airstone onto the end of the tubing.

step 12. cut your 2mm air tubing in half and place the 1 way valve between the two lengths to prevent back flow of water into the air pump. one could also place the air pump higher than reservoir to prevent it too.



step 13. clean up your mess! haha i did it inside stupidly and left crap everywhere...










just wanted to also add that i ordered these books off amazon! i recommend sussing them out if you're after as much info about all aspects of growing as possible, especially jorge cervantes' marijuana grow bible!!! (they've a deal on amazong at the moment for three great books including jorge's for USD$48)

http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Hor...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271079687&sr=8-2

HERE"S THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!

you leave he water pump underneath in the water reservoir and place the airpump outside as far away from the reservoir as you can to make sure water stays away from it. also keep it as high as possible.








*the middle's dipped down a bit in the lid, so i might find a way of propping it up and keeping it all level, though it's probably no real big issue*


FINAL INFORMATION

when putting water into the reservoir, tap water's fine and most chemical nutrients you'll buy assume you're adding it to tap water so don't account for absence of chemicals like Chlorine and Flouride etc, fill the water up to submerge the bottom of each pot by about 1" max.

fill each pot all the way with clay pellets and then place clones or seedlings that're in rockwool/jiffy pellets etc just under the surface of the clay pellets. roots will grow in a few weeks down through the pellets and reach the water.

it's important to use the dripped as often as possible during the day for about 1min. i've been recommended 8 x 1mins a day by the hydro place near me. don't leave it on constantly for smaller plants especially as you might suffocate them. keep using the drip system until roots can easily reach the reservoir water below. once they've hit the water you probably don't need to use it at all.

after seedling phase (~2 weeks from seed) you need to use veg chemicals. A and B solutions are the most common and i'm currently using the THC brand Veg (and flower A and B for when flowering). also using root stimulant, super thrive or vit etc in the right amounts will only help your plant thrive!

get a EC/TDS meter and measure your nutes in your water each day. for the first week of veg stage and flowering stage you should have an EC of ~0.7-0.9 and after the first week in each stage bring it up to about twice that ~2.2 max. make sure the pH is between 5.5-6.5 also. i think anything about 6 is safest, getting into the 5s can be dangerous with respect to nute deficiency.

anyway i hope this has helped! and as i said i'm still a novice so if anything i've said is incorrect etc let me know and i'll correct it and if you've got any tips etc i'd love to hear them! thanks for reading

darwin

i've currently got 1 4 week old plant and 9 clones, and am going to put the clones all into the hydro system after they root. 6 of the clones are White Widow taken from 3 different plants, the other 3 are Power Plant and were taken from my 4 week old plant.

(plant on the top right i don't really consider one, it's the remnants of a sick White Widow that i cloned in order to save the healthy shoots and move them to hydro, we'll see if it can grow me some more clones before i remove it)



i've removed one of these lights because the clones don't need that much light at this stage and the other plants have plenty

Nice setup and tutorial, but this seems more like a Recirculating Drip more than an DWC setup. Not to be brash, but what about it makes it DWC to you (i could've missed it in your posts)?

solarz

yeah maybe you're right, i just watched a few videos on youtube that said this was DWC. so i'm guessing they were wrong. haha my bad. thanks for clearing that up though, i don't think i can change it in the title of the thread unfortunately, but i'll correct it in the posts. thanks solarz

umm ps the original system i took this idea from didn't have the drip system in it, i just added that because i've young plants/clones that i'll put in there that won't have long enough roots etc

here's a great sped up vid tute on making a similar system for those interested - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDQ1aUDOmh0

Your build looks pretty good, it should do the job. A couple points, dwc, does not have drip, I ain't being critical, just saying for clarity. Also, the air hose backflow preventors cut as much as half of the airflow, I stopped using them years ago. Good luck.
H

yeah ^^^ just take those off, and make sure that the pump is off the ground, and you should be good.

Haps said:

Your build looks pretty good, it should do the job. A couple points, dwc, does not have drip, I ain't being critical, just saying for clarity. Also, the air hose backflow preventors cut as much as half of the airflow, I stopped using them years ago. Good luck.
H

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thanks mate, i'll see how it goes, i've got another line i can send out from this air pump so i might try that with the same air stone but without a 1 way valve and see if there's a significant difference in which cause i might just make sure the pump's always higher than the water to prevent back flow. yeah i took the idea from DWC but added the drips on top for the first week or two of putting clones in, but yeah i take it that's made it a reticulated drip system now. cheers mate

1. arent they a lil too close together?

2. will that lid be enough to support the wieght, your not planning on having the grow out too big?

other than that, its a damn fine system, and the principle is sound

looks like a pretty good set-up there. just a couple points...

with the water pump in the res, be careful of water temps. warm water equals nasty things have a chance of growing in there.freezerboy has had luck with warm water situations by not using any unneccesary products in the res. be careful.

careful not to overcrowd your growing space. with that many sites in a small area, you could crowd the plants to the point of molding while in flower. keep air moving alot to help cut down crowding/humidity issues...

next time you cut openings in the lid, try using a holesaw attached to your drill. just place the lid on a board to stabilize it. makes it fast and easy.

other than that, good job!! nice clean work, cant wait to see what comes out of it!!!


cm

FRIENDinDEED said:

1. arent they a lil too close together?

2. will that lid be enough to support the wieght, your not planning on having the grow out too big?

other than that, its a damn fine system, and the principle is sound

Click to expand...

yeah mate they won't be getting too big at all, and i'll be making a support system for underneath to hold the lid up. hopefully it'll be ok. thanks for the compliments mate i'll keep you all posted once i plant things in it!

cravin morehead said:

looks like a pretty good set-up there. just a couple points...

with the water pump in the res, be careful of water temps. warm water equals nasty things have a chance of growing in there.freezerboy has had luck with warm water situations by not using any unneccesary products in the res. be careful.

careful not to overcrowd your growing space. with that many sites in a small area, you could crowd the plants to the point of molding while in flower. keep air moving alot to help cut down crowding/humidity issues...

next time you cut openings in the lid, try using a holesaw attached to your drill. just place the lid on a board to stabilize it. makes it fast and easy.

other than that, good job!! nice clean work, cant wait to see what comes out of it!!!


cm

Click to expand...

hey cravin thanks for the comment and pointers! yeah i was reading freezer boys thread and the bit about water temp. what's the best way of keeping it down if you were to have issues with it being too warm? i know the warmer it is the more likely stuff will grow in it and also dissolved o2 decreases exponentially as it warms up. with the crowding point, you're probably right, but they won't be getting too big as it'll be a closet grow (don't want the parents to know) and i've read up a shit load on pruning and roping/staking plants out in order to give them more space/air/light etc to ensure better growth. but yeah if it is too much to have all 8 pots filled i'll just have to take out a few in order to make the remaining plants healthier/bigger. thanks again mate!

well the best way to keep temps down is a chiller. kinda expensive though. other than that is doing the frozen water bottle thing. freezing soda bottles (or whatever bottles) filled with water. put a couple in the res, and have a couple freezing waiting their turn. rotating them can be a pain, but it works ok.

or maybe you can get an in-line water pump that can be run outside the res. like this one:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

by putting it outside the res, it will keep that pump motor from heating the water up. thats how i run my chiller.


cm

ahhhh brilliant idea with the frozen bottles and rotating them! definitely more of a pain but cheap solution for the win! thanks for that mate. if i have issues i'll give that a burl, we're going into winter over hear in aus so if i don't keep the room heated it'll be around 10-20C ambient temp max, the pump's not very big as it's a small set up so hopefully it doesn't heat up the water too much, but we'll see i guess. cheers again

darwin