Building a DWC bucket

[SpellingEror]

Hola,
So I grow in soil and I want to try a DWC bucket and I'm on a tight budget (like $10). However I already have pretty much everything I need, I think, and just wanted to ask some folks with experience whether or not it would be worth the effort. So here's what I got:

-5 gal. bucket w/ lid
-air pump (dual outlet)
-lava rocks
-Alaska Morbloom
-Age Old Bloom
-Koolbloom
-Superthrive
-Maxicrop
-HiBrix

I'm thinking this is what I need:

-air stone + hose
-net pot
-calcium supplement
-pH tester/pen

So the plan is to just pop in a cutting of something, purplewreck as long as it roots, and veg the shit out of it to make more cuttings quickly. The PW seems to grow pretty slowly in my garden so I was thinking DWC bucket would chug right along and get me some cuts ready sooner that a dirt pot would.

Does anyone foresee any problems with this setup? I'm worried about an overall lack of calcium in the nutrients I have, and I can't afford to buy more. I'm not trying to flower anything, I just want to veg. I worked at a greenhouse once and set up a few DWC buckets but they had a machine run alll the nutes.

Anyway, thanks for any help.

Sp

 

[weedomat]

Make sure your air pump is strong enough, should be around 50gal/hour for your bucket.
Also don't cheap out on the PH testing equipment.

 

[stoney917]

if u plan on usin tap aint no need for calmag but u can use epson salt or bakin soda mix if ur havin issues and dont want to buy a product. i never have a calmag issue till i flower and i use ro . but i use sensi 2 part for veg. once i start to see a slight def usually 1 wk i swap buckets with fresh veg nutes and its fine. cal def show more in veg and from what i seen are really strain dependant. some strains dont need extra cal some cant get enough.
a good ph pen is very imp get some drops to to check ur pens accuracy they are never wrong.
i never used ur nutes but if ur gonna just be veggin u dont need nething with the word bloom in it. a basic 2 or 3 part and the superthrive will be more then enough. also i would like to say if ur runnin organic nutes in the bucket u must keep ur temps down to like 68-72 anything higher will cause issues i run my veg with the 2 part and my temps are in the 74 deg range and its fine. single buckets can heat up under lights u may want to avoid organics.
best of luck bro
thats another good tip above ucan never have 2 much air.

 

[stussy22]

sounds like you have a general idea and handle on things. Keep up posted and take pics as you're building. Might be able to spot something you are missing.

 

[FreezerBoy]

You don't actually need a netpot with hydroton. Seems silly to by a bag-o-rocks for a single cup. A simple puck will do, made of "pool noodle" or the soft foam used to pack hard drives and similar electronics equipment. Heck, foam rubber would probably do. Cut a 3" hole for a 3.5 inch puck, slit the puck from the center to one edge to place the seedling. The puck will allow the stem to expand without cutting off nutes. You'd need to hold the plant up with a trellis of some sort (string with: clothes hangers, popsicle sticks, pvc) to keep plant from falling into the tub which is the only true function of the cup-n-rocks.

 

[ak-51]

You may not even need air stones. It's often stated here that it's mostly surface turbulence that mixes up dissolved oxygen in the water. I still like the idea of tiny bubbles massaging my girls roots, but I may try going without any air stones next run.

DWC has been for me pretty simple. Mix the nutes right, pH often and your already half way there in my book. The problem I had was that it doesn't scale well unless you go RDWC. It seems perfect for keeping moms though.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Airstones are primarily about stealth. Little tiny bubbles make less noise than great big bubbles. If the sound of giant blorps is acceptable to you, no need to invest in new airstones every grow.

 

[macdiesel]

Yeah, no need for an airstone.......

most important thing is to ph the water properly.

5.5 to 6.5......I like starting it off at 5.5, because in buckets, when your plant feeds, ph goes up.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

You may not even need air stones. It's often stated here that it's mostly surface turbulence that mixes up dissolved oxygen in the water. I still like the idea of tiny bubbles massaging my girls roots, but I may try going without any air stones next run.

DWC has been for me pretty simple. Mix the nutes right, pH often and your already half way there in my book. The problem I had was that it doesn't scale well unless you go RDWC. It seems perfect for keeping moms though.

Why the heck would you not put an airstone in a single 5 gallon bucket? That is retarded. it has nothing to do with "Massaging" roots..... airstone provide oxygen to your roots other with they are sitting in stagnant water.... keeping them from suffocating. pretty simple stuff guys

Spellingerror- u may want to get a little "T" to take advantage of both outlets of your dual outlet airpumps!

 

[SpellingEror]

Thanks to everyone for replying. I think I could have been a little more clear though. I'm doing a single bucket primarily to prove to my partner that I can grow a plant in a bucket of water. He is pretty old skool and has only seen 1 hydro set up (NFT) and that was like 30 years ago. I have done DWC before but only at a job, not growing cannabis. I know I dont need the airstones, however I need to pick up tubing so might as well spend $2 on stones. @FreezerBoy, Im familiar with that setup as that is how i used to germinate and grow chickpeas into their 65 gallon dwc for my old job. 65 gal DWC per plant, ha! The boss thought it was a brilliant idea. not so much....

Also, I didn't really justify my nute regimen. The Age Old Bloom has a solid array of micros and the NPK is like 5-10-5, i think? so I am confident this will provide most everything. Anyway i got superthrive. you can grow anything in a puddle of superthrive. Also going to be experimenting with hibrix in veg to stimulate growth. Because brix = sugar and sugar = energy, so maybe a low dose to start and take it from there.

pH tester, hehe a little too rich for my blood. I'll pick one up a little later down the road, probably when I absolutely can't do without it. I'm not worried about noise or temps, my room stays pretty cool, plus i have another bucket and a pump, so I could always jump on the RDWC bus if the water temps get too high. My room stays between 60-75 F. No big deal. Also going to be doing a side by side with a hempy bucket. Lots of experiments going on. Thanks for the great advice folks.


Sp

 

[cyat]

Nobody said anything yet, but those nutes are going to cause problems. Get some nutes made for water growing! No mollases for sure.

 

[macdiesel]

Why the heck would you not put an airstone in a single 5 gallon bucket? That is retarded. it has nothing to do with "Massaging" roots..... airstone provide oxygen to your roots other with they are sitting in stagnant water.... keeping them from suffocating. pretty simple stuff guys

Spellingerror- u may want to get a little "T" to take advantage of both outlets of your dual outlet airpumps!

Airstones can clog......not using an airstone provides more turbulence to the water surface which is what oxygenates the water....not little bubbles. lol

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[SpellingEror]

ok im not sure why my bucket would grow anaerobic bacteria if im bubbling it all the time? that does not make sense to me. also no one seems to care about the organic hydro thread, so i posted here. airstones mean a larger surface area of air bubbles, which means they will dissolve into the water at a faster rate. this is the goal, no? it's just like force carbonating a keg of homebrew, just gotta dissolve that co2 into the liquid.

anyway, im gonna start with just superthrive, the net pot makes my life a bit easier so im going with that too. lavarocks should be a great spot for the aerobic bacteria to colonize. as she needs it, i'll feed with the Age Old. if i have problems i can dump the pump and fill her bucket with soil. ain't no thing but a chicken wing. if i can get hold of a camera i will post some pics, next to the hempy bucket. cuttings are only 2 days old so if they dont root then its all moot. but, I havent lost a single cut yet so i should be good. that wal-mart cloner is money! many thanks to whoever posted that.

Sp

 

[cyat]

The bacteria that break down your organics will use up all the d.o. As Milehigh said , you are basically making a tea, it will go bad, you will have problems. Get your soil ready!

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[cyat]

Milehigh we are on the same page.
I have heard of people using pura vida organics, but most organics won't work. IMHO the best tried and true organic hydro that works( just not great for ganja) is aquaponics. Check murray hallams 12in ebb and flow beds.AP dwc ala UVI technique requires much filtration and lacks nutrient spectrum beyond lettuce and basil. All of these systems will get root rot if you add mollases. Keep it simple nute wise.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Airstones can clog......not using an airstone provides more turbulence to the water surface which is what oxygenates the water....not little bubbles. lol

Yeah they can clog but how can no air oxygenate the water? either im missing out on something or u r stupid.

 

[!!!]

Yeah they can clog but how can no air oxygenate the water? either im missing out on something or u r stupid.

u shuld fink b4 callin ppl 'tupid k?

You're assuming "airstone" in this context means a pump, tubing and an airstone.

The discussion is about plugging an airstone into the end of the air tube. Should she or he do so?

The air pump and air tubing still goes into the bucket, but the question is whether it's better to have an airstone or just a naked tube.

FreezerBoy mentioned a very good point about the airstone damping some of the bubble noise. I would imagine without an airstone, the sound would be close to a bong with a standard downstem.

Of course the airstone also adds static pressure which 1) reduces the life of the pump slightly, and 2) lets a little less air through.

 

[lilnick]

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