Need DWC advice and tips

[bionicchronic]

im a little concerned because im 4 days into flower and i havent changed my tubs nutes. ive just been replacing water with only bloom nutes but im out of nutes and wont have any for about 5 or 6 days.
the tub hasnt been dumped and scrubbed since about the 4th or 5th week of veg and they were vegged for 50 or 60 dayz...

advice?
nice plant btw. did a good job.

 

[bionicchronic]

heres pics from today. roots are still pretty white under white light

 

[bionicchronic]

i thought i read somewhere tht its a must to change out the tub when switchting to flower. and going 4 to 5 weeks without changing solution sounds like a bad idea... but honestly when i changed it out everyweek the water would smell like a lake. but now it smells earthy. i throw in about a G of great white each week too.

so yeah what sould i do? put them in p.h'd tap water with some koolbloom 0-10-10 only? or wait till nutes get here and change it then.


edit: i also noticed that the ph takes next less than 1ml of solution to change the whold tubs ph by atleast 1.0 but with fresh tap it takes 40ml to get it from 7.3 to 5.5.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

im a little concerned because im 4 days into flower and i havent changed my tubs nutes.

Changing out your nutes is a waste of water and nutes. pH changes are done by adding nutes back to beginning ppm/ec strength. Re-read my previous posts on this. I haven't changed out a res, during a flower run, for over a decade. Not counting the pure r/o switch 3-5 days before harvest.

 

[WelderDan]

im a little concerned because im 4 days into flower and i havent changed my tubs nutes. ive just been replacing water with only bloom nutes but im out of nutes and wont have any for about 5 or 6 days.
the tub hasnt been dumped and scrubbed since about the 4th or 5th week of veg and they were vegged for 50 or 60 dayz...

advice?
nice plant btw. did a good job.

You're only 4 days into flower, you'll be alright until the nutes arrive. I never changed out the rez, just switched over too bloom nutes.

DWC is very forgiving. The only downside is keeping the rez in the right temp range. You've got a lot of wiggle room for everything but that.

 

[bionicchronic]

sweet thanks guys i cant wait for this harvest. i want to double what i got last time indoors (with 3 autos @7.5oz) i think 14 is a good estimate

 

[Bobby Boucher]

Changing out your nutes is a waste of water and nutes.

Sorry to pick your brain like this, and thanks in advance for taking the time to share your experiences, but I've got a couple more questions if ya got the time to spare. Sorry if they seem rattled off but, wtf, right?

Do you use supplemental CO2? LPM of air per gallon of water? Do you keep your air pumps on the floor with the aid of check valves? Suspended up high? Inside or outside of grow area? Strapped to the bucket? Are you using buckets? How large are your containers?

I use supplemental co2, and keep a single op'ed air pump on the floor just outside my tent, so I do regular dumps under the assumption that co2 accumulates in my 5 gal buckets (along with rejected nutrients/plant waste). I have always tried spacing my dumps as far apart as possible, as far as not dumping at all, but a wet vac and a drain port have streamlined the process enough to where at least I don't feel I am wasting my time or efforts, which I've always valued more than a few dollars of material.

Describe your water source. Hows it look before RO treatment? What model filter are you running? UV treated? How is it stored? How long is it stored?

Feeding regimen? What and when are your target PPM's in flower? Do you dwindle down before your 3-5 day flush? Add back process? After you swing to 5.8 from 5.4, what exactly do you do? Simply premix a heavy dose using an add back calculator? Ever deviate at all from the 1/2/3 ratio at all for any reason? Which leads me to my last question..

What kinda issues do you/have you run into (in regards to dwc), if any, and how exactly do you trouble shoot them without dumping?

Thanks Doug!

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Sorry to pick your brain like this, and thanks in advance for taking the time to share your experiences, but I've got a couple more questions if ya got the time to spare. Sorry if they seem rattled off but, wtf, right?

No worries.

Do you use supplemental CO2? LPM of air per gallon of water?

No CO2, I run 3-4watts of airpump per 10 gallons of solution.

Do you keep your air pumps on the floor with the aid of check valves? Suspended up high? Inside or outside of grow area? Strapped to the bucket?

Usually run the pumps on top of the reservoir lid, amongst the plants. I try to have them sucking up cool air, to help with res temps.

Are you using buckets? How large are your containers?

I prefer 1 res per light and strain. Same strain helps keeping level canopy, definitely easier to feed properly for top quality. (Edit: Res size is related to lamp wattage. 1K hps is 45-50 gallons of solution in a 65-70 gallon res)

I use supplemental co2, and keep a single op'ed air pump on the floor just outside my tent, so I do regular dumps under the assumption that co2 accumulates in my 5 gal buckets (along with rejected nutrients/plant waste).

It doesn't and they don't. (Edit: in regards to rejected nutrients and waste. When using a balanced nutrient profile, there's very little nutrient being rejected. I've not visually noticed plants creating waste, so much as I've noticed organic debris accumulating and pH spotting after 4 months or so.) It takes about 4 months for a properly maintained nutrient solution to begin having issues. At some point I'll be doing res changes on 6 month sativas, haven't reached that point yet. heh

Describe your water source. Hows it look before RO treatment? What model filter are you running? UV treated? How is it stored? How long is it stored?

I use r/o, non-UV treated. I've lived in several states now and always used r/o. I don't normally store water but just recently picked up a 50 gallon drum. I prefer fresh made r/o.

Feeding regimen? What and when are your target PPM's in flower? Do you dwindle down before your 3-5 day flush?

Fresh mixed flower res is around 700-750 max ppm. Once mass flower growth slows, you'll notice the transpiration rate will slow if the nutes are kept hot. I try to keep the transpiration rate close to the same as things slow down. When harvest rolls around I'm already at low ppm. Once things get close to 5% amber I'm swapping the nute solution for pure r/o, no pH adjustment.

Add back process? After you swing to 5.8 from 5.4, what exactly do you do? Simply premix a heavy dose using an add back calculator? Ever deviate at all from the 1/2/3 ratio at all for any reason? Which leads me to my last question..

Add back? I add back pure r/o daily. Once pH rises to 5.8, I add back nutes to drop the pH down to 5.4 again, which puts me back at the target ppm. I've always run 8:16 Micro:Bloom, as a base. I've played around with epsom, pro-tekt and Floralicious+. The quality cannabis can produce is insane, so I haven't worked much with other additives or nute profiles. Have to be careful, pH changing additives affect the pH swing. (Edit: I mix in 10ml of micro and then 20ml of bloom and see what the ppm difference is. I then calculate how much micro and bloom I'll need and mix it in. When using maxibloom (hydro bonsai mums) I do the same, using a measured amount of maxibloom. Very simple and effective.)

What kinda issues do you/have you run into (in regards to dwc), if any, and how exactly do you trouble shoot them without dumping?

I've always run the Lucas formula with the lucas res maintenance, so my issues have been pretty basic.

Magnesium needs are the largest variable, I use epsom salt with the amount varying with the strain/phenotype. Mag is easy to spot with the yellowing on leaves between the green veins. I'll mix anywhere from .5g/gallon to 1g/gallon in the initial flowering reservoir. Unless I see mag deficiency signs again, I won't add more. You should be able to clip flower at any time during the flowering period and not get magnesium sparkles from it when dry.

Root rot, most easily brought on by res temps above 69F and biological explosions. Nutes too hot will kill roots fast, leading to root rot and the pH will drop like a rock. When nutes are too hot, pull some out and replace with plain r/o water.

Bad water supply. Not my r/o water, the water from the tap I used to rinse and clean equipment with. Lived in one spot where it liked to grow some serious snot. Some bacteria which caused me great headaches till I found info on it online.

Reservoir too cold. Below 65F growth slows and nutrient uptake issues start causing deficiencies.

I'm actually no help, other than mag deficiencies, when people ask what deficiency they have. The basic lucas is close enough to a balanced nute, I really have to screw up with the pH, low temps and/or maintenance to have other deficiencies. Been rather rare.

Thanks Doug!

My pleasure. Simply returning the favor others did for me, so many years ago.

 

[Hydrogramps]

Hey Guys ! New Here today. I am learning fast with DWC. I caught enuf here to figure out more about what I did yesterday to improve my grow. I had new transplants too deep in their new home. Just about drownded these babies. They are gonna sit a day out of the Bucket! I will just feed from top a few days till I can see roots. Any suggestions about training the roots to reach for the water will be appreciated. I have them in starter cubes and put them in Hydroton in netbaskets. 1/4 strength Grow Big. 450ppm. Still adjusting my PH. Trying for 5.8 PH. I will set the level to just below the bottom of the baskets and feed from top sparingly for the next few days. Any Suggestions ?

Thanks,

HydroGramps

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I bury the roots in the net basket, with at least one layer of hydroton on the bottom first. Roots go on top and additional hydroton used to fill up the rest of the cup and cover the roots.

Water level is set where the bottom layer of hydroton is damp. All of the hydroton should be damp around the roots. I pull solution from the res and pour it over the plants twice a day, until I see roots being exposed to bubbles from the res.

Welcome to the wild wild world of hydroponic cannabis.

 

[gh0stm0de]

I used to never change nutes or do it once or twice. Now i like to change regularly. I want to know precise composition of nutrients available to roots at all times to the best of my ability. When i leave res in i dont know what theyre eating more of and npk may become disproportionate. Nutes are cheap

Just my perspective

 

[Loc Dog]

I used to never change nutes or do it once or twice. Now i like to change regularly. I want to know precise composition of nutrients available to roots at all times to the best of my ability. When i leave res in i dont know what theyre eating more of and npk may become disproportionate. Nutes are cheap

Just my perspective

I do RDWC, and can never get out everything, emptying from reservoir. I feed weak for a few days, then build back up to normal PPM.

 

[gh0stm0de]

So, you just top off nutes? Problem is, as girls eat, you dont know exactly whats being replaced and whats just being added. I do rdwc also, UC style.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

So, you just top off nutes? Problem is, as girls eat, you dont know exactly whats being replaced and whats just being added. I do rdwc also, UC style.

This is why a *balanced* nutrient profile is so nice to have in hydro. When the plant cleans it's plate every meal, the ratios stay the same. I've consistently run flower reservoirs for 3 months without a changeout.

Amaaaaazing quality, health and yield. (not to mention a significant reduction of work, water and nutes through not dumping every week-2weeks)

 

[gh0stm0de]

Yea if you had a perfectly ballanced nute i could see that. I guess you supplement for strains with different needs

 

[Robbie Nood]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...ggkMAE&usg=AFQjCNF6-X3aElNBD2eHDhy-0eiJNxPXsQ

This document will explain what happens to a nutrient solution over time.

Some elements are taken much quicker than others. I've crunched the numbers and it explains why some nutrients like Jacks Hydro give a recirculating solution longevity. The document works in Mol/L I converted to mg/L(ppm) for mixing my own.

Peace
RN

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Yea if you had a perfectly ballanced nute i could see that. I guess you supplement for strains with different needs

I run Lucas Formula and use Lucas's Reservoir management methods (they go together). The only major modification per strain has been the amount of epsom salts for magnesium needs.

The problems begin when you use it without paying attention to 'why' Lucas recommends the res management he does. Running any kind of Roots-In hydro? (systems where the plant roots are constantly exposed to nutrient solution) You'll want to look up "Ask Lucas" on the web and read the thread over and over. Save you a lot of time and frustration regarding hydro.