Hydroton - Do you need to drip 24/7 ?

S

stinkydinky

Member

• Oct 22, 2020

• #1

Hi guys,

thinking about hydroton here - is it a necessity to drip all the time?

the idea would be NOT to recycle the nutrients, draining to waste the rather absolutely minimum runoff.

rather than dripping 24/7 figuring out the time it needs till runoff, pause for an hour or whatever interval, repeat.

would this also saturate all the hydroballs by their wicking effect?

its all small 1gallon pots.

would this lead to issues or can it be run this way? it appears much more efficient to me and would cut out tons of the problems
i read about concerning ph swinging etc.

 

G

GUY-FAWKES

Active member

• Oct 28, 2020

• #2

ive done just this method 15 mins every 2-4 hours depending on size of plant and heat at the time

 

Mr Commercial

Active member

• Oct 30, 2020

• #3

i leave it on 24-7 had good results

 

R

RockinRobot

Active member

• Oct 30, 2020

• #4

If you want to run Drain to Waste I would go with coco or perlite over Hydroton. You will have way more waste trying to get all the hydroton soaked and will have to feed way more often. IMHO you are better off with 24/7 drip in recirc with Hydroton.

 

WHIPEDMEAT

Modortalan

Supermod

Veteran

• Oct 30, 2020

• #5

wilma hydroton topfeed 24/7 constant

 

S

stinkydinky

Member

• Nov 3, 2020

• #6

WHIPEDMEAT said:

wilma hydroton topfeed 24/7 constant



View Image

Click to expand...

the wilma systems are very popular around here and i have seen a lot of them in the stores,
never in action though.

i have understood by now that it would probably lead to a big salt buildup if i left the hydroton to dryup nearly like i thought of in the beginning,

si i would please like to ask if you would share some details of your operation whipedmeat.

like what nutes you run and how you keep the ph in check which seems to be the biggest downside with hydroton from what i understand.

 

WHIPEDMEAT

Modortalan

Supermod

Veteran

• Nov 3, 2020

• #7

r.o. filter, m,echanical water filter in the tank,



ferticare II, ferticare IV, phosphoricacid, MgSO4, CaN3



ghe floranova bloom
ghe mineral magic
ghe tripack soft water micro, +grow +bloom




hesi roots
superthrive
wuxal super


i have these nutes and additives around the wilma

and use ph.indicator drops to check ph once a day.

biggest downside is the cleaning before reuse, need to find out some tricks to clean it

 

S

stinkydinky

Member

• Nov 3, 2020

• #8

WHIPEDMEAT said:

r.o. filter, m,echanical water filter in the tank,



ferticare II, ferticare IV, phosphoricacid, MgSO4, CaN3



ghe floranova bloom
ghe mineral magic
ghe tripack soft water micro, +grow +bloom




hesi roots
superthrive
wuxal super


i have these nutes and additives around the wilma

and use ph.indicator drops to check ph once a day.

biggest downside is the cleaning before reuse, need to find out some tricks to clean it

Click to expand...

thank you for this in depth reply, so you dont get too big ph swings?

 

WHIPEDMEAT

Modortalan

Supermod

Veteran

• Nov 3, 2020

• #9

5.2 to 6.2 is the swing intervall for this,
keep mostly around 5.5


i forgot diamond nectar, and humic / fulvic additives sorry


here is a picture with autoflowers after few weeks in it, with ultrasonic humidifier, it is a must when you are into hydro, you need to keep a relative humidity level in the higher region.

 

R

RockinRobot

Active member

• Nov 3, 2020

• #10

Ph swings are actually good . I don't run drip but I do flood and drain in hydroton and as Whiped has said 5.5 to 6.2 is perfect range. When it goes up to 6.2 just adjust back down to 5.5.

As for salt build up. Do a fresh water flush half way through flower.

 

T

tilopa

Member

• Dec 1, 2020

• #11

RockenRobot - How many times to you flood a day?

 

R

RockinRobot

Active member

• Dec 1, 2020

• #12

tilopa said:

RockenRobot - How many times to you flood a day?

Click to expand...

I flood 3 times a day during lights on. Pump runs 10 minutes then another 3-5 min to drain. No floods during dark period.

These gals are growing into the lights. Vegged a bit too long I think. They have another 5 weeks to go.