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Recycling runoff water

NoMore

Member
Hi guys, newbe with coco here, and currently running a sog on a DIY drain to waste table
Feed by hands and was wandering if I can reuse the runoff water to not waste it.
Trying to not get to much runoff but with 30 plants I always get a lot of it, could i use it to cut my tap water (wich is hell hard) ?
Just didn't find anything about it.
 

who dat is

Cave Dweller
Veteran
Could you not just drain it to a 5 gallon bucket and use that next watering? If you're running coco you're probably watering at least once a day right? Sorry as I've only grown in soil before so I'm not so familiar.
 

NoMore

Member
Could you not just drain it to a 5 gallon bucket and use that next watering? If you're running coco you're probably watering at least once a day right? Sorry as I've only grown in soil before so I'm not so familiar.

yes it goes right in to another bucket, but I never tried using it, I water about 5 gallon once a day for all the pots and get a bit less of a half of it in runoff...and i's a waste of nutes but don't know if reusing it could mess up the "new" nutes
 

who dat is

Cave Dweller
Veteran
So it sounds like you mix up 5 gallons worth of nutes every day and essentially use half of it? I would say it's worth a shot to mix a fat bucket of nutes and use the runoff for the next day. That way you aren't wasting anything and you only have to mix nutes every other day right?
 

NoMore

Member
So it sounds like you mix up 5 gallons worth of nutes every day and essentially use half of it? I would say it's worth a shot to mix a fat bucket of nutes and use the runoff for the next day. That way you aren't wasting anything and you only have to mix nutes every other day right?

Yeah it's pretty much it, ad sounds weird to me that I found almost nothing about this whit all the DTW related threads here.
Gonna try now and mix up half runoff and half tap, then adjust the EC (feeding at 1.5 now)
 

sethimus

Member
horticulture companies do this, BUT they sterilize everything and then they do a water test on what nutrients are still in there and add the missing ones according to the recipe they want, not so easy to do on your own without analyzing everything each time
 

NoMore

Member
horticulture companies do this, BUT they sterilize everything and then they do a water test on what nutrients are still in there and add the missing ones according to the recipe they want, not so easy to do on your own without analyzing everything each time

That's what I'm concerned about, don't have the knowledge to figure out what is missing an wahat's not, but I m gonna give a try, cutting it in half...if anything happend still can flush.
I know It's an expansive hobby, but running a full line feeding and watching that runoff being wasted...
Hope to read more about it
 

FunkBomb

Power Armor rules
Veteran
Figure out how to get just about 5-10% runoff to prevent salt buildup in the coco. If you don't have the equipment to test the runoff its not worth it.

An easier method is to not worry about runoff. Lower your nutrient levels by 30-40% and plan to do a plain watering once a week.

-Funk
 

NoMore

Member
Figure out how to get just about 5-10% runoff to prevent salt buildup in the coco. If you don't have the equipment to test the runoff its not worth it.

An easier method is to not worry about runoff. Lower your nutrient levels by 30-40% and plan to do a plain watering once a week.

-Funk

Yeah the right amount sounds like the best option, to test for good what's left in the runoff I might probably need a lab
 

sethimus

Member
That's what I'm concerned about, don't have the knowledge to figure out what is missing an wahat's not, but I m gonna give a try, cutting it in half...if anything happend still can flush.
I know It's an expansive hobby, but running a full line feeding and watching that runoff being wasted...
Hope to read more about it


try a cheaper nutrient line maybe? have you heard of megacrop? it's a one part powder, lots of people swear by it:


www.rollitup.org/t/greenleaf-nutrients-and-mega-crop-happy-to-be-on-rui.946071/
 

RB56

Active member
Veteran
I agree with the putting on houseplants, shubs and lawn idea. I've been doing that for years. There's enough residual content to keep houseplants looking pretty good, but not enough to be worth messing with.



I have my system set up to let me collect the waste water in buckets. If I don't, it drains into the basement sump and is pumped outside.This happens quite often - gallons of waste water being pumped outside of the house. The vegetation that receives this "feeding" looks no different than the rest of the garden.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
40% waste is high. 25-30% is nice. Less than this will require a reduction in the plant food used, or there will be an unwanted build-up in your root zone. This is compromise. Ideally you want that 30% run-off to push the somewhat depleted food away, and replace it with food that's correctly proportioned. The more of that used food you keep around, the further from your feed manufacturers ideal mix you get.

I have known people run the entire cycle with no run-off. Obviously the nutrient profile around the roots, was not what was coming out the bottle. It was bottle, plus whatever was in the pot. They got to harvest though and thought no better of it. However, once they had a good talking to, they started to produce run-off, allowing a bit more food in their tank, leading to a better profile around the roots, and the obvious improvement that brings.


So, how to find the right amount of food, for your run-off?
Well personally, the right amount of food in a run-to-waste system, is always found by measuring the run-off. It's a good indicator of what's going on around your roots. It will tell you when they're feeding heavily, and when they want you to drop the levels again. Did you tell us your medium? I forget... but find coco common in this type of system, and a run-off cf around 16 reasonable. Over 18 and it's time to get concerned. Under 12 and you have something like light mix (compost).

All plants are obviously different, so I give the figures simply as a guide. If your putting in 12 and getting out 12, you can probably give them 14 to get that 16 run-off. If that 12 in gives 10 out, they're not getting enough.

Over time, the picture may look like 12-14 in, gives about 14 out to begin with. Growing fine. Then over time that 14 out will creep up to 16 but can be ignored. Only past mid flower will you see 18 coming out, which unchecked would be 20+ in a week and toxic to most plants. So your 12-14 in, would have to be 12 with a fair amount of waste produced to get that 18 under control. This sudden rise normal after peak flower. Where you may of been using a lot of PK to build them, but now they are slowing down.


Some people don't believe run-off is worth measuring. I think it's more important than the supply tank. I have lent heavily of this measurement for some time, and learnt a lot from it.


May the force by with you. But not the uniformed one's.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
I've often been shown sick hydro plants, where the only issue was run-off measuring in the high 20s and beyond there, where I can't measure. Just a good leeching with the correct feed was needed. What's in the bottle we buy is fine. Food related problems are generally PH or accumulation based. With water supply a distinct possibility in some areas.
 

NoMore

Member
I've often been shown sick hydro plants, where the only issue was run-off measuring in the high 20s and beyond there, where I can't measure. Just a good leeching with the correct feed was needed. What's in the bottle we buy is fine. Food related problems are generally PH or accumulation based. With water supply a distinct possibility in some areas.

Thanks for the tips man, my sub is full coco (and a little perlite from the rooting pots), i do check ph and ec of the waste and never had bad results, ph almost the same, a tiny bit higher, ec is always around a half of the one that goes in, but never measured the actual liters (I don't measure in gallons) of the runoff
Good points anyway man, thanks

try a cheaper nutrient line maybe? have you heard of megacrop? it's a one part powder, lots of people swear by it:
Never heard of it and dont eaven know if it's available in my country, but i'm definitely looking for a cheaper line, i'm going with the full canna coco line, and some of the products are pretty expansive

Anyway last feeding added 30% of the previous runoff to the tap water ( both same ec level) for the feeding, a little less nutes, and the plants responded well, should try on a separate run
 
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GodspeedGrows

New member
you can re-use it but I would suggest doing so in something like a 10-30 gal. If you choose to continue to reclaim runoff you should use an EC/PPM and PH meter. I am able to run a 4x4 table on 30 gallons for 3 weeks by doing a top-off once a week and adjusting ph/ppm with those top offs. ((Target ppm-actual pp)/target) *100= percentage of nutrients missing. Multiply that percentage by the original dosage of nutrient to get the amount you need to add for compensation.
 
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