DWC: Group or Individual resevoir?

Hey guys, doing the preliminary research and all that on my first hydro grow, and was curious:

in a DWC setup, is it better for multiple plants to share a reservoir, or for each to have their own?

in doing my stealth dresser build, i could either fit the standard 55L plastic container, or 3 smaller ones, the idea being to have one plant to each, maybe even two. seems having 3 small containers would allow better degree of experimentation(in respect to nutes and water)...but I'd thought I'd ask some peeps with experience first! Thanks

I just finished my first grow in seperate dwc buckets, it is better to do it this way cuz if you have all ur plants in one resevoir its much harder to maintain. the roots will combine into one mass if u have males it will be much harder to get rid of them without damaging other plants. if one plant has disease they all do. With seperate buckets you can monitor them individually and they will probobly grow faster. If this is your first grow i recommend a 5 gal bucket for each plant.

Thanks dude. also:

is there a minimum water depth for DWC systems?

just cuz the buckets are pretty tall and I'm running HPS, so I don't want them to be getting burned. maybe i can runt hem in shallower buckets?

DaoWaza said:

Thanks dude. also:

is there a minimum water depth for DWC systems?

just cuz the buckets are pretty tall and I'm running HPS, so I don't want them to be getting burned. maybe i can runt hem in shallower buckets?

Click to expand...

As long as the plant has a steady supply of water and nutrients the bucket size doesnt matter, but the smaller the bucket the faster that water is gone.

I would recommend having them grow individually. I almost done with my first grow and was using 3g buckets. My roots filled up like 3/4 of the bucket so not much water was in there. The water runs out pretty quick so my next grow I will be using 5g buckets. Click the link in my signature to see my dwc grow.

Yes, there are many good reasons to use seperate containers for each plant......but one thing to consider is that the more solution you have in a larger container the more stable your ppm and pH will remain, regardless of roots inter-twining, etc....... Hopefully you are starting with clones that you know to be female(especially with your limited space). And as others are saying, they can drink a lot of water---is why I surely wouldn't go for a short container; <---- + it's more work.........
After your first grow and you get what your doing dialed in you might want to try one of the 'Bucket-Systems' here in the DIY's, or maybe something like a flood/drain table the size of your area, if you could keep the res outside the cab and disguise it somehow??

You'll like the dwc's though. What are you using for light??

anyway, great luck to you!!

growinman

i've got a dwc grow goin on right now, i would suggest one big container - it's much easier to maintain. I don't think you'll need to cater to each plant individually - and it doesn't really matter if the roots tangle if you arent removing any plants.

i'm using a 5gal dwc and i find its a great size for 1 -2 plants. i started off using a 1 gal when the plants were small and the PH was a lot more work to maintain, i had to balance it at LEAST every day. With a 5 gal i balance it once a week, MUCH easier... and the plant has a lot of water to drink before i need to worry about it drying up (i can be gone for the weekend without worrying).

so i say use one big dwc rather than individual smaller ones

the more water the better, as said earlier, cause the PH wont bounce around as much, and they will last longer if you forget to change the water.

seperate post are almost essential if you using seeds, removing males from a multi plant post just doesnt work.

with a bit of thinking you can rig x many small buckets to a seperate big res, and you have the best of both worlds, just have a pump recycling the water around.

I also recommend using the buckets. I found one advantage was a smaller plant I had and I was able to mover her and her bucket closer to the light and she actually caught up. I like the felxibility of pulling one bucket and replacing it with another one, no moving a larger container with a bunch of plants in it when it comes to flushing. I just prep a 5 gal bucket with nutes, water, and the buckets clean airstone and switch the buckets out, very easy.

I use 18 - 32 gallon buckets, this allows plenty of room for the roots to go ape shit and fill in the space. I can also get away with adding water every second or third day thanks to the extra gallons. I leave 2 or 3 inches between the bottom of the cup and the water line to let the roots absorb some extra oxy. After many years of ebb and flow I really enjoy the ability to monitor my plants development individually so I can better serve their needs, instead of just seeing a canopy as a whole.