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Hydroton vs. Silica Stone

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Dirty

Member
Hey guys, I've been away for a good while, and am getting back into the swing of things (sortof).

Anyways, I've been building some DWC buckets (was doing a home made ebb n flo before), and for a medium was wondering what most of you guys prefer to use, hydroton or silica stone?

I ended up buying both, probably should've gotten on here and asked before spending the cash I suppose, hehe.

Any thoughts appreciated,
Dirty
 
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EvilTwin

Hi Dirty,
Either will work just fine. With the Higromite...you'll get the silica. I started with hydroton (E&F) but now use a mixture of the two for the silica benefit...
ET
 
D

Dirty

Member
Thanks for the input, my basic setup is gonna be using more of a SWC for vegging, then I planned on using 6-9 5 gal DWC buckets for flowering, so I'd be moving the plants out of the SWC and into the DWC buckets, 400w mh for veg, 1k hps for flower, will see if I can throw some pics up in the next few days.

It's a mickey mouse setup though, that's for sure, so don't laugh, haha.

Edit: what I also meant to post was that I was gonna do some hydroton, some silica, and some a mixture of the two, and just see what works for me, as of now I'm just kindof winging it, was spose to start the clones vegging tonight but will wait till tomorrow night.
 
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BurmeseDragon

BurmeseDragon

Member
I never heard of the silica, any pics?

I have always heard it's hygroscopic so that means it absorbs water, not even sure how much hydro rocks do that.
 
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EvilTwin

Dirty,
When you move the plants from veg to bloom...will they be able to stay in the same size net pot? In other words...will you be able to simply pick them up off the swc and set them down on the dwc?
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MAZEinaHAZE

Member
i tried that eviltwin........brought the 3" netpot from a 3 gal shallow rez....and directly brought into flower room and put 3" netpot into 18 gal rez for the 8 - 10 wks....

i found that once the plant puts on wieght, i spent more time trying to keep the plant erect, then anything else......

maybe i suggest a 5" netpot for the flowering stage.....i actually keep it in the 3" netpot, and replant into the 5", add more hydroton...and bam !!! stability !!!!!
 
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EvilTwin

MAZEinaHAZE said:
i tried that eviltwin........brought the 3" netpot from a 3 gal shallow rez....and directly brought into flower room and put 3" netpot into 18 gal rez for the 8 - 10 wks....

i found that once the plant puts on wieght, i spent more time trying to keep the plant erect, then anything else......

maybe i suggest a 5" netpot for the flowering stage.....i actually keep it in the 3" netpot, and replant into the 5", add more hydroton...and bam !!! stability !!!!!
Click to expand...

OK, thanks Maze. That was my concern. I've never done DWC but it seems like it would be impossible to remove the roots from a net pot without damaging them. So your plants are actually in 2 netpots...hey whatever works!
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MAZEinaHAZE

Member
exactly....they are in 2 netpots. at first, i thought i should cut away the 3" and transplant......but then i thought that was dumb. so now i keep them in place.

anyone think that's counter-productive ?? in a growing - quality - fairness to the ladies sense
 
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EvilTwin

Maze...
Now that you mention it...I have heard of other people doing that. The plant will send the roots to where the nutrient and water is...that's really the bottom line.

Cutting out the old netpot I think would be a disaster resulting in a seriously traumatized plant.

The reason I'm so interested in all that, is that I'm working toward a totally dirt-free system. Starting in rockwool...then I have a small E&F system in my veg area. And if I veg them enough, the hydroton/rootmass hangs together so I can then transplant into large buckets of hydroton (maybe a netpot) where they'll be fed top drip.

It all started from a failed DIY multi-pot system that I built but didn't like. So I have the buckets all sitting there waiting for a soil grow to finish so I can give it a shot.

And on the hydroton/higromite question...I have heard that the silica stone is easier to clean then hydroton. Throw that into the equation...
Cheers.
ET
 
D

Dirty

Member
Actually I was going to be putting them from cuttings straight into "5.5 inch "heavy duty" (we'll see about that part) net pots, and then keep them in the "5.5 inch pots for flower, keep in mind I'll be doing 6-9 plants, preferrably 9 if possible, 3 by 3, so I don't plan on vegging the plants to be very big.

I would definitely not cut away a 3" net pot to put into a 5", just do what ya do, and if it works, then why change it.

When I did my DIY ebb and flo, I'd veg with a 4" square, then once in flower, i'd cut slabs of rockwool up, and basically "double" slab, in the good ol' days of OG, a member (BOG) used to always do a double potting technique using dirt. boths of those may sound crude, but hell, if it works it works.

I've spent (and probably wasted) a bit of spare change on all types of air diffusers, will take a picture of all the different types I got an what I think will work best for me. Will also get pics of the veg setup, hopefully I won't letcha guys down, been out of the scene a long time, work, life, health issues, so bear with me.

Dirty
 
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EvilTwin

Thanks Dirty,
I'm familiar with BOGs technique for transplanting. Not from OG but because I'm probably one of the few people that read his book. Good grower and breeder.

Hope your return to growing is successful. I returned after 15 year off...many things had changed. But the basics of growing will always be the same. Good luck...
ET
 
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MAZEinaHAZE

Member
Dirty.....air stones are like a love/hate relationship......you gotta have em, but man they can sux.

i've noticed tho....the better and stronger the air pump, the better results from the stones -- regardless of brand name, quality or shape.

evil.....sounds like a great plan. please keep us updated as you switch over
 
D

Dirty

Member
grrr... been so llong since I put up any pics... it's telling me to "drag images into my post", but everytime I do my reply goes to my pic gallery....

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785937&ppuser=9954

Some of the stones i've been using, for me I prefer the small round balls (looks like two blueberries on the bottom right) and the 4" porcelain (sp?) bar, the white one, I plan on using one of those for the 5 gallon buckets, the small blue round balls are only about a buck a piece though.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785942&ppuser=9954

air pumps, from left to right, i think the first puts out about 50gph i would guess, second puts out 140 gph, third one does 300, and the last one puts out 600.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785938&ppuser=9954

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785939&ppuser=9954

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785940&ppuser=9954

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=785941&ppuser=9954

I'm using the third pump (300gph) for that container, it has four outlets, I'm using 4 12" air stones for it, and I used two brass "T" valves to split two lines and put in two of those long 23" "air walls" along both sides, they don't put out alot of bubbles but I wanted to make sure I could get air to as much area as possible.

Clones aren't in the best shape, but they seem to be taking to this much better than they do when I would move them into 4" rockwool. Those pictures were taken right after I put them in, it's been just under 48 hours and I'm already seeing a few roots coming out of atleast one of the nets.

Thanks for any feedback and I hope everyone had a good and safe holiday,

Dirty
 
C

CaNNaBisALChemY

New member
MAZEinaHAZE said:
Dirty.....air stones are like a love/hate relationship......you gotta have em, but man they can sux.

i've noticed tho....the better and stronger the air pump, the better results from the stones -- regardless of brand name, quality or shape.

evil.....sounds like a great plan. please keep us updated as you switch over
Click to expand...

i agree a good strong aeration pump and a ceramic aeration stone will make your plants happy ;):abduct:
 
ShroomDr

ShroomDr

CartoonHead
Veteran
i tried sunleaves silica stone, about 3 years ago, in dwc. It was impossible to keep the ph below 6.2.
 
D

Dirty

Member
welp its been almost 72 hours and most the net pots have roots growing outside the nets now... hopefully in the next few days the plants will start to take off, then it's a matter of deciding which ones to flower and which to cull. =)
 
D

Dirty

Member
possible issues?

possible issues?

hey guys, so it's day seven for the plants in this setup.

Having some issues with ph, keeps sliding up, works it's way up to 6.0-6.2 and I'll keep dropping it down to 5.8 about every other day.

Plants are rooting at a good rate yet only a few of the plants are really showing good growth, again these clones weren't in the best shape, ended up culling one and replacing it with another.

Anyways, some pics.

picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


Any comments appreciated. I'm afraid I may be overfeeding a bit, using GH at about half strength, can't check the TDS of the res because I broke my pen a while back and won't have the spare change for another till after the holidays.
 
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