RDWC Grow Along!

[Bennyweed1]

Yo snype, whats crackin' man?

One thing I have always wondered about your pristine setup is the spigot and shut off valve to drain the system.

In your photos the shut off valve is before the spigot. How do you direct 100% of pump pressure solely to the spigot for draining the system with the shut of valve before the spigot?

 

[Snype]

Yo snype, whats crackin' man?

One thing I have always wondered about your pristine setup is the spigot and shut off valve to drain the system.

In your photos the shut off valve is before the spigot. How do you direct 100% of pump pressure solely to the spigot for draining the system with the shut of valve before the spigot?

That's a good point! You should also add a shut off right after the boiler valve so you get all the pressure that you need to drain the system. I just take a 1/2" pvc plug that I cap on to the pipe in the controller when I'm draining the system. I'll have to add that extra shut off in the Construction Tutorial.

 

[w4tch]

Thank you

Thank you

Any one you can find if your talking about the original clone only's. I've never been lucky to have any of the original ones so I was stuck looking for pheno's when I found the ChemDD. For seed, you can't go wrong with StarDawg but they are hard to get. The only seed company that I can suggest instead of the StarDawg would be Connoisseur Genetics that you can get on Seedbay. If you're interested, look through some of his wares.

Thank you so much. I'll be in on this thread too

 

[sahdgrower]

Joinin in

Joinin in

Hey now! Thought I would jump in here as I am just about to run a 4-bucket system of your design under a 600w Gavita Pro. I have my plants in Veg A right now for about another week then on to RDWC. I will post up some pics periodically. Ultimately I plan on increasing to one or two 8-bucket systems, or possibly even four 4-bucket systems so that I can run 4 different strains and cater to each.

 

[romuros]

Hey Snype
long time no word from you. Hope your ok.

 

[flat9]

Snype DWC questions -- couldn't you more efficiently forgo the air pumps entirely and stick w/ top feeding over hydroton? This would also make the return line + inline pump unnecessary I think... just one pump for top feed.

 

[sahdgrower]

Snype DWC questions -- couldn't you more efficiently forgo the air pumps entirely and stick w/ top feeding over hydroton? This would also make the return line + inline pump unnecessary I think... just one pump for top feed.

This is doable but is not really RDWC. The inline pump and return lines make the whole system constantly cycle to a calculated degree so as to maintain continuity throughout (nutes, oxygen, temp., PH, etc.). With what you describe you would not ensure this level of equality between each plant in the system. Additionally this system allows you to add back in the control bucket and your add back is mixed into the system more thoroughly and quickly. There are many many designs for these systems. I find Snype's design is all done with consideration towards EACH design element. Nothing really added for shits and giggles. Pure practicality.

Just my 2 on the subject.

 

[DapperDon]

This is doable but is not really RDWC. The inline pump and return lines make the whole system constantly cycle to a calculated degree so as to maintain continuity throughout (nutes, oxygen, temp., PH, etc.). With what you describe you would not ensure this level of equality between each plant in the system. Additionally this system allows you to add back in the control bucket and your add back is mixed into the system more thoroughly and quickly. There are many many designs for these systems. I find Snype's design is all done with consideration towards EACH design element. Nothing really added for shits and giggles. Pure practicality.

Just my 2 on the subject.

Where is the goddamn upvote button on here?!?!

 

[JuneBugJoe]

where are the god damn harvest pictures and weigh out?

 

[The Doktor]

where are the god damn harvest pictures and weigh out?

That's just the thing. There are never any harvest or weigh outs because he never finishes a thread or grow. All I have seen are the same old pictures over and over again with nothing new. If you read any of his other threads they are all the same and then when people start calling him out on it he goes quiet for a couple of weeks only to return with some kind of unrealistic drama and excuses. Wash rinse and repeat. I think buddy may have some....issues.

 

[Snype]

Wow, I forgot all about this thread! Too bad I didn't have the data in here from that crop because it got left at that farm. Oh well. Hopefully other growers who are goring RDWC style will post their grows.

 

[blooper]

Snype, is the spigot you have plumbed in for potable water use? i'm having problems with what looks like either a pH problem or cal/mag deficiency and both are spot on so i suspect the lead containing spigot i'm using is leaching into the system.

 

[Snype]

Snype, is the spigot you have plumbed in for potable water use? i'm having problems with what looks like either a pH problem or cal/mag deficiency and both are spot on so i suspect the lead containing spigot i'm using is leaching into the system.

Sorry blooper, I'm a little high right now and am wondering what a spigot is. Can you tell me what piece that you are referring to. The PVC pipes that I use is for drinking water. I've never had pH problems caused by the RDWC system itself. I'm interested in the exact system that you built. Can you tell me more about how many buckets and also what air pump you are using?

 

[blooper]

sorry, i mean the faucet type drain valve, the piece i have is called a boiler drain valve.

i pretty much followed your RDWC construction tutorial but i dialed it back to 8 buckets. i put this system together with parts of old hydro setups so i'm currently running 2 lines into each bucket using 2 separate pumps with 8 outlets each. an ecoplus 1 commercial air 18w/50l/m and ecoair 8 10.5w/20l/m

 

[Snype]

sorry, i mean the faucet type drain valve, the piece i have is called a boiler drain valve.

i pretty much followed your RDWC construction tutorial but i dialed it back to 8 buckets. i put this system together with parts of old hydro setups so i'm currently running 2 lines into each bucket using 2 separate pumps with 8 outlets each. an ecoplus 1 commercial air 18w/50l/m and ecoair 8 10.5w/20l/m

Looks like you have plenty of air from those pumps. The boiler drain adapter never comes into contact with the water solution when the system is already filled up. You could easily run a test and fill up the buckets with a hose and don't go through the boiler drain adapter. I just don't personally think that the boiler drain adapter is causing you a problem because it's only used for a short period of time when you are filling up the system. After thinking about it, I see that the boiler drain adapter does come into contact with the solution. I've never had an problems with the specific boiler drain adapter that I advertised in the construction thread. I'm not sure if you used a different model. You could still run a test and take the boiler drain adapter out of the system and cap it off with a pvc plug. Maybe the model that you used is causing you problems but you won't know for sure unless you run the test. If you come to that conclusion, you could swap out your adapter for another model or you could run a pvc shutoff valve on the other side of the valve so that you keep the pvc valve closed so it never comes into contact with the solution when the system is already running.

It's possible that you are having other problems. I'm not sure what variables that you've already gone through, but I'd look around for other sources that may be causing the problem. How do the roots look? Are all the buckets bubbling nicely? What is your PPM telling you? When you top off the system after 24 hours, does the PPM reading go down? What nutes are you using and how much do you use? The more information that you can tell me, the easier it may be to help you through your problem. What exactly is your pH doing? How do the readings read over what period of time? How long have you been running this system for? Did you ever run the system and not have these problems?

 

[romuros]

Hi Snype

Glad to hear from you again. How is life going? hope your fine and we will soon read yours brilliant threads.

 

[Snype]

Hi Snype

Glad to hear from you again. How is life going? hope your fine and we will soon read yours brilliant threads.

Glad to be back and be able to contribute! I hope things are going well for you. I'll be in the process of testing other types of RDWC systems and will be able to get some data and techniques out here which will be good. Thanks for popping in!

 

[The Doktor]

Snype, is the spigot you have plumbed in for potable water use? i'm having problems with what looks like either a pH problem or cal/mag deficiency and both are spot on so i suspect the lead containing spigot i'm using is leaching into the system.

The spigot is your problem. You cannot have brass or copper anywhere near your nute solution. Bad things happen there I don't care who you are. Look at all the failed grows posted and you will see that the most common denominator is the introduction of brass or copper, followed by water temps, then everything else. Swap out that old spigot and get yourself one of these PVC ones. http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=97124&catid=810 Best of luck to you.

 

[blooper]

thanks for the help. the roots have been pretty stressed out after a root aphid treatment with rosemary essential oil. they started to turn brown after the treatment but it's not slimy at all. most of it just rinses off and since i added dutch master zone, the roots are looking healthier and making lots of new white growth.

the buckets are all bubbling nicely and the PPM is sitting at about 450 for clones that have been vegging for about 2 weeks. i'll have to get back to you after i top off about the PPM.

nutes are maxibloom at 1.75 grams per gallon (about 300ppm) as well as GH cal-mag and dutch master zone i added after the root problems started. pH doesn't drift very much, from about 5.8 to 6.1 every 48 hours before i adjust back down. using tap water.

right now i'm seeing new growth on top and deficiency starting at the bottom of the plants so i upped the maxibloom and cal-mag this morning, taking the PPM up to 450.



first pic is what i'm seeing on most plants, second pic is the worst leaf of the bunch.

 

[Snype]

thanks for the help. the roots have been pretty stressed out after a root aphid treatment with rosemary essential oil. they started to turn brown after the treatment but it's not slimy at all. most of it just rinses off and since i added dutch master zone, the roots are looking healthier and making lots of new white growth.

the buckets are all bubbling nicely and the PPM is sitting at about 450 for clones that have been vegging for about 2 weeks. i'll have to get back to you after i top off about the PPM.

nutes are maxibloom at 1.75 grams per gallon (about 300ppm) as well as GH cal-mag and dutch master zone i added after the root problems started. pH doesn't drift very much, from about 5.8 to 6.1 every 48 hours before i adjust back down. using tap water.

right now i'm seeing new growth on top and deficiency starting at the bottom of the plants so i upped the maxibloom and cal-mag this morning, taking the PPM up to 450.

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=56974&pictureid=1333932&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=56974&pictureid=1333933&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

first pic is what i'm seeing on most plants, second pic is the worst leaf of the bunch.

TD makes a good point that I didn't know about the Boiler Drain Adapter. However I do not agree with his statement,
"Look at all the failed grows posted and you will see that the most common denominator is the introduction of brass or copper, followed by water temps, then everything else."

What I would say is that most systems fail due to stress related issues that lead to root problems. All that it takes is a little stress and then your problems start to compound. For example your Root Aphid problem. I'm going to take into consideration what he said about the adapter and change them out to the PVC ones. Personally I never had a problem but if what he is saying is true, it would be better to change out the piece to have a safer system.

What I'd be paying attention to right now is how your PPM numbers work over time. I've personally haven't used your brand of nutrients in the system so it's hard for me to tell you what to add. There will most likely be at a different ratio of the balance of nutrients that I use. A swing of 5.8-6.1 in 48 hours is common for me. It doesn't ring alarm bells. If the swing was greater i'd be more concerned. The fact that your roots got all messed up from your RA treatment was most likely the factor that lead to your current problems. Hopefully your plants will swing back into health. I'd keep the lights high up until plants are in full health and roots get better. Intense light can cause more stress if your plants don't respond well.

You want to see your PPM going down after every 24 hour top off. That's what I'd be checking to help see what's going on. That's really the only way that I personally know to know if I should up the nutes any or lower them as well. It'll also help tell you if you're still having root problems.