alright, we get about 3 thread a day on here about water temps= root rot.

There is an overwhelming majority of noobs that do not realize that this is a problem.

CAN WE PLEASE POST A STICKY THAT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?!!?
CAN WE ADD THAT TO THE FAQ SOMEHOW and simply DIRECT PPL THERE?

rofl brigade.

alright.

Ya better listen up, he looks mean.

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for sure needs to be faq section.

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IF YOU GO CHEAP YOU GROW CHEAP

Water Temps.

In hydroponics it is important to keep the water at a steady temperature. Especially in Deep Water Culture (DWC or Bubble Ponics).

As water becomes warmer it loses its ability to hold dissolved oxygen. A lack of oxygen slows growth and encourages “Bad” micro organisms to grow, the end result is a mass of slimy brown roots.

I have found that ideal water temps are between 16c to 19c (61F – 66F )

It is also important in the winter months to keep the water temps above 15c (59F) as low water temps can shock the roots and stunt growth.



Keep your Rez Cool

Here are a few ways to keep those temps down.

Most effective is a Water Cooler. These cost $$$ but will do the best job.

Ice Packs, You can place ICE packs in the Rez every day, this works okay.

Air movement. Placing a Fan to blow air across the top of the water can cool it by as much as 10C ß I have never tried this method but have been told it works.

right....sooo....lets do it!

indeed potroast I am to be feared greatly.

I'm having these issues right now. I'm averaging 85F. I put a frozen gatorade bottle and it dropped by about 5 degrees only.

I would spend the money on a chiller...but how could this work for my power cloner? There's no additional holes available on the res to do the circulation. I guess I could cut my own, but I'd probably f that up some how.

I guess I'll be getting more gatorade bottles...

Despite the high temp, my clones are still rooting.

Clones usually like warmer temperatures,
and since there are no roots, no rot,
normally you will move them,
before that starts to happen.

DWC is prone to Root Rot,
always due to low DO*

Altitude and Salinity play an important role
in how much DO a solution can carry.

If you reduce your nute loads,
your solution can carry more DO.

If you live in Denver,
you may have a problem indoor growing
with any temps above 65ºf

If you check out Roseypanties' experiment,
you will see he had much better result using a reduced nute load.

There were two positive effects on his plants,
that were grown using the reduced nute load.

The first good thing that happened was,
his DO increased,
due to the reduced salinity,
of his nutrient solution.

Second, osmotic pressure was reduced in the rhyzome,
allowing the plant to take in more H2o
and thus grow faster.

What does this second statement really mean?

Take your hand,
and leave it in salt water for an hour.

What happens?

Your skin wrinkles,... why?

Because the salt
has caused the osmotic pressure
on the outdside of your skin
to be higher than the pressure inside your skin,
and as the water in your hand
is sucked out through your skin,
your hand actually shrinks
from the loss of fluid
and the skin becomes loose
and wrinkled.

It is harder for your plant
to uptake water and nutrients
when you use high nute loads,
because the salt creates negative osmotic pressure (hypertonicity)
against the semipermeable membrane
of the root cell walls.

Here is the Wiki "scientific answer".

Osmotic pressure is the hydrostatic pressure
produced by a solution
in a space divided by a semipermeable membrane (your roots)
due to a differential in the concentrations of solute.

Osmoregulation is the homeostasis mechanism of an organism
to reach balance in osmotic pressure.

Osmotic potential is the opposite of water potential
with the former meaning
the degree to which a solvent (usually water)
would want to stay in a liquid
and not pass through the membrane.

Hypertonicity is a solution that causes cells to shrink.

It may or may not have a higher osmotic pressure than the cell interior
since the rate of water entry will depend upon the permeability of the cell membrane.

Hypotonicity is a solution that causes cells to swell.

It may or may not have a lower osmotic pressure than the cell interior,
since the rate of water entry will depend upon the permeability of the cell membrane.

Isotonic is a solution that produces no change in cell volume.
(this is what you want your nute solution to be)

When a biological cell is in a hypotonic environment,
the cell interior accumulates water,
water flows across the cell membrane into the cell,
causing it to expand.

In plant cells,
the cell wall restricts the expansion,
resulting in pressure on the cell wall
from within called turgor pressure.

(Swollen cells,
like swollen ankles or hands,
are not as productive.)

If you are good at math,
and want to get your nute solution perfect,
the osmotic pressure of a dilute solution
can be calculated using this formula

whereas
i is the van 't Hoff factor
M is the molarity
R is the gas constant, where R = 0.08206 L · atm · mol-1 · K-1
T is the thermodynamic temperature (formerly called absolute temperature)

Note: the similarity of the above formula to the ideal gas law
and also that osmotic pressure is not dependent on particle charge.
This equation was derived by van 't Hoff.

Now doing this calculation would be nice
if there are any college math majors out there,
but I use this chart,
and it has worked well for me.


_____________________% of Nute Load________________

As you can see, 50-75% is very adequate,
and it has been my personal experience,
that I have improved yields
and better taste,
when I use the lower end of "Sufficient",
on that chart.

(*Dissolved Oxygen)
.

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hempy bucket grow
Aero Space Shuttle

ahh good to see some responses on here finally. This thread is just like the 800 newb plant problem threads though...how a bout we just copy and paste all of earl's responses into a sticky thread. Anyone? no? ug.

anyways ty for the chart earl. I have been waiting for that one to surface for a lil while. * saved *

no offense noobs...keep on tryin.

Thank you earl.... Takin notes earl is like the old ef hutton commercials everybody better listen lol

__________________
IF YOU GO CHEAP YOU GROW CHEAP

In seeMoreBuds video I noticed that he placed an aquarium heater in the aquamists and it was set to 82 degrees???????