Looking for DWC nutrient suggestion

I've been growing in soil for about 10 years now and have always used FoxFarm for both soil and nutes and it's always worked well for me.

I've built up enough of a stash so it won't kill me if I screw up a harvest or two so I decided to give hydro a try.

My requirements were something simple with minimal upkeep. I'm growing in a tent with a 600w HPS and decided that DWC buckets made the most sense.

Since I always had good luck with Fox Farms I decided to try their hydro. At first I was thrilled when I realized that of the three bottles of nutes I used for soil (Big Bloom, Grow Big and Tiger Bloom) only Grow Big had a specific hydro version. The other two were used for both soil and hydro.

Today I did my first bucket change and was not thrilled with the amount of sentiment that had settled in the bottom. I'm not sure if this is normal but I think it might be more specific to the FoxFarm line because of their "organic" nature hence the reason I'm asking for suggestion.

My plan it to change out the bucket water every one or two weeks and top off with straight water in between.

Here's a photo of my setup.

Dyna-gro, man. That or the FloraNova line.

I've used FF for many bucket grows. Sediment never bothered me.

I'd just keep using what you already have. You'll probably have to add calmag to it, though, if I remember correctly.

what about CYCO platinum series

I am planning on switching from Humblodt to Jacks

I run Dutch Masters gold. No sediment and real ph stable.
You can get some stuff from lowes called Reflectix and cut to fit around buckets. It will really help to keep the buckets cooler.

Do this:

Dutchmaster zone
You will never have any sediment ever again.

Are you getting enough water movement?
i.e your airstones?
If the water isnt moving around enough it might not be mixing it all around enough.
Ive never used that product so im not sure what you mean about sediment.
But i usually change my water weekly and never had much of anything but ive had to bump up my air pump and now run two big puck sized airstones in each tote.
Good luck tho man and as a recent soil crossover guy believe me you wont be going back to dirt. The difference is massive

Commander Strax said:

I am planning on switching from Humblodt to Jacks

Click to expand...

I've run Jacks for years, it's cheap, it works- but there are better alternatives. Here are two I've tried, both are excellent;

Hydrogardens.com Don't believe the website; they are happy to ship stuff in increments of ten to twenty five pounds. I run their 'high K' complete hydroponic nutrient, 5-11-26 with micros. It's designed to be used with calcium nitrate and epsom salt, just like Jacks. UNLIKE Jacks, it carries much more micros and it dissolves faster with no impurities. This is the nutrient workhorse of my setup.

Tekengow.com has just come out with a dry two part nutrient line that starts with the salts the above have, then adds a select mix of non-nutrient plant active materials including humates and fulvates. There will be NO plant growth regulators (PGRs). If the grower wants them, they have that choice- and everyone else isn't stuck with them. I'm doing some testing with this line in my Super Silo and so far the plants are responding extremely well.

hydrogreen65 said:

I run Dutch Masters gold. No sediment and real ph stable.
You can get some stuff from lowes called Reflectix and cut to fit around buckets. It will really help to keep the buckets cooler.

Click to expand...

Reflectix is an excellent idea, as it reflects radiant heat as well as provides insulation from convective heating.

torontoke said:

Are you getting enough water movement?
i.e your airstones?
If the water isnt moving around enough it might not be mixing it all around enough.
Ive never used that product so im not sure what you mean about sediment.
But i usually change my water weekly and never had much of anything but ive had to bump up my air pump and now run two big puck sized airstones in each tote.
Good luck tho man and as a recent soil crossover guy believe me you wont be going back to dirt. The difference is massive

Click to expand...

That may have been a problem. I just upgraded to a 45 lt per minute pump that is driving four airstones (two in each bucket). Be interesting to see if that makes much of a difference.

I knew it sounds like blasphemy, but I get better aeration without airstones at all.

Ive seen alot o people just use larger diameter air lines with a plug on the end and holes punched sporatically on the hose.
Ive tried alot of different methods and stones and my favorite are the long square ones for fish tanks that are cheap.
I found that over time they actually make more bubbles and the more expensive ones bubble less because they get clogged.
To each their own i suppose.

Instead of airstones, lines and air pumps, I just use the same waterpump that circulated the nutrient solution in my RDWC. It feeds a manifold that delivers water to a fitting in the lid of each tubsite and the water falls- WATERFALLS, get it?!- into the tub where the roots are.

This does a better job of oxygenation- yes, it's true, do your own research- and agitation than airstones. In addition, it creates no additional heat because a circulation pump has to run all the time anyway in RDWC, to move the water around and past the cooling coils.

like this?

Bottom line; I built an RDWC system because I wanted high performance with low effort. I've carefully studied every system I could find, some online, some at trade shows, others that don't even exist anymore. I did the research, till the best ideas, added some of my own... and then simplified the Fuck out of everything.

I now have a totally modular system that I can disassemble, move, reconfigure, reassemble and use in an afternoon... usually without ever making one single cut in tubing, because all the lengths are standard too.

I built it for lea money than anything else I've seen and I gave up nothing in terms of performance or flexibility; my plants can grow four inches in a twenty four hour period, and I'm currently hard at work raising my 'bowling average', or my average per plant pull, from about one to two #.

I currently have one Frankenstein of a Super Lemon Haze that might set a new personal best and offer a hint of things to come; everyone who sees it thinks three # is a serious possibility.

I'm not just here to share a few ideas on bubbleponics, boys and girls- make no mistake about it,

I AM HERE TO RESHAPE HOW INDOOR CULTIVATION IS DONE, FROM BEDROOMS TO MEGAWATT OPERATIONS.

Y'all think that sounds a bit brash? Stick around, we'll see who's right.

nice...