dwc help noobie

I want to use AN sensi grow and bloom. I Pretty sure of that and I am going to use a 5 gal black bucket with net pot, wit air pump and stone. I know you all have seen this title a 1000x. This is my first run outta soil. Ive gotten pretty good in that aspect i usually only grow 4 plants under 1000 watts. Ive always used Earthjuice sugar peak. Its just what i started on and its always worked for me. This time (dwc) im gonna go with 2 and use a 400watt light. Maybe a couple 65watt cfl in early seedling and veg. My questions are 1) I intend on ph-ng water to optimum specs then use the nutes wit ph stabilizing action. Is this necessary? 2) Will I be able to use only these base nutes through entire grow without getting all the additives? 3) going to use water that we get outta dispenser in front of grocery store .25 a gallon. Is that advisable? Our water here is absolutely horrible 4) ive always used seeds started in paper towel then into dirt, should I go to Rockwool in dome till roots come out like a clone? Was that a lot of ?...lol. any suggestions would be highly appreciated. Maybe another additives thats almost mandatory with the Sensi grow. Thanks guys

yes and yes

Im not sure qbout the nutes your using but i will probably work by itself. Add the nutes before adjusting the ph because they might change the ph. tap water works for me but if you hqve really hard water or a well you might need to filter or get it from the store. I plant my seeds in rockwool and water from the top until the roots reach the water just to make sure it doesnt dry out.

farmaadvanced post: 11076171 said:

Im not sure qbout the nutes your using but i will probably work by itself. Add the nutes before adjusting the ph because they might change the ph. tap water works for me but if you hqve really hard water or a well you might need to filter or get it from the store. I plant my seeds in rockwool and water from the top until the roots reach the water just to make sure it doesnt dry out.

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Gonna us the anvanced nutrients sensi 2 part. Appreciate the help.

usually also run silica and bennies in hydro.

The ph perfect is loaded with buffers to keep ph in check, adding more ph up or down would be a waste,
I dint use a ph meter

Penny wise said:

The ph perfect is loaded with buffers to keep ph in check, adding more ph up or down would be a waste,
I dint use a ph meter

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what about cal/mag...would that be necessary with water from them machines at the grocery stores. Think they're RO...have to make sure. Our water is very bad here

youll need cal mag..
do yourself a favor,return the nutes,and slap the shit outta the guy who sold em to ya..
then go get some dyna gro foilage pro,protekt,and magpro...use a tri meter.
have fun.

rory420420 said:

youll need cal mag..
do yourself a favor,return the nutes,and slap the shit outta the guy who sold em to ya..
then go get some dyna gro foilage pro,protekt,and magpro...use a tri meter.
have fun.

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Lol

juldan1834 said:

what about cal/mag...would that be necessary with water from them machines at the grocery stores. Think they're RO...have to make sure. Our water is very bad here

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The A and B have cal/mag in them, just work your way up to full strengh or as close to it as your strain will take,, with no additives you should be fine without burning,

funny thing my buddy runs a hydro store and he tells people not to buy advanced and to get things like dynagrow, bluemoon, GH, simply because he makes more profit,, all awhile me and him use advanced

Penny wise said:

The A and B sea l/mag in them, just work your way up to full strengh or as close to it as your strain will take,, with no additives you should be fine without burning,

funny thing my buddy runs a hydro store and he tells people not to buy advanced and to get things like dynagrow, bluemoon, GH, simply because he makes more profit,, all awhile me and him use advanced

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Lol thats sounds about right to me. My store acts like they have no Idea what does what. They just have a ton of inventory and just buy what u want. Cool deal thanks for the imput man.

You might consider using the Lucas Formula till you get the hang of DWC. Definately use Rapid Start in early veg. It really helps with root development. The majority of drinking water from the store is not RO. It's filtered for taste & odor. If it doesn't say RO, it probably isn't.

I also use the Ph Perfect 2 part Sensi Grow/Bloom in a 4 site RDWC. I started off using distilled water while waiting on my RO system, and the Ph Perfect did not work at all...I'm not sure why, but when I switched to my RO water, I have literally not used a drop of PH up/down since, not even after applying the nutes. So if the water isn't RO, you'll likely need some ph adjuster. I would consider an RO system though, it will save lots of $ in the long run...plus, you get lots of weird looks going through the isle of wal-mart with 30 gallons of distilled water haha. I too have only grown in soil until this time, and I too ONLY use 2 pt Sensi, however during Veg I saw calcium/magnesium deficiency and added CalMag+ which fixed the issue. However, if you look on the Bloom Part A it contains Calcium and Magnesium, however on Grow Part A it only contains Calcium...I believe this is why I haven't had to add any CalMag+ since I switched to 12/12. Anyways, besides what other people say, you should be just fine for your first DWC....I had only grown 2 crops before I switched, and I've big beautiful plants. Best of luck to you and your ladies!

I forgot to mention, Hydroburn is right....I started running Hydroguard because literally in the first week I caught pythium, perhaps because the water was about 70F (I was even using H202 because I wasn't educated about how much more effective having bennies is than a totally sterile root zone), but now I add about 2ml/Gallon and keep my water at about 65-68F. As for silicas, I'm sure it would help, such as Rhino Skin (potassium silicate). But probably not needed...I think I'm going to try Rhino Skin out either later this grow or next grow&see how I like it. I just want to learn the ropes before I mess with additives besides bennies and such.

I think AN and all the people selling all the fancy ass boosters and what is ENTIRELY supported by newbs. I don't know ANYONE that has a decent sized grow that uses them.

Just by the dyna grow silica. Rhino skin my dick..silica is silica.

First and foremost if you want to actually learn how to grow in hydro buy a GOOD PH meter and a good ppm meter and start taking notes.

Experienced DWC guys don't say "oh shit..the ph is climbing I better add ph down or buy me some of that ultra mega buffered AN shit". What the say is...hmmm. Ph is rising a little fast, the plants want stronger nutes.

Same thing with the PH dropping although most experienced guys will freak the fuck out if the PH drops..to me it's a big flashing light "you got root problems, you got root problems"

We generally use silica as a substitute for PH up when mixing up new nutes but we have really soft water here so we are at about 5.3 after nutes and before silica.

Good luck and keep reading. DWC is the BOMB but it is much much more difficult to achieve consistent results until you learn a lot of different things.

He's just asking if or what he would need in terms of additives and such....no need to get all worked up now.. use what works for ya, experiment with different nutes, I've heard a few of AN Sensi people switch to the Dynagrow line for their base fertilizer. If you don't like your results, and have a few extra bucks, I'd give it a shot. I actually emailed AN support after reading this because it had me curious. The guy claimed that their labels only contained a minimal list of ingredients, and that it had "all 16 elements" needed for plant health and didn't require anything else. As to if I believe him...well, it's a fertilizer company's representative...ha. I wouldn't listen to anyone who bashes any brand though...unless it's in way of explaining their own experience. Personally, I don't prefer a brand...I just prefer what's going to give the best results...whether it's AN, GH, Dyna, H&G, etc etc... And LegallyFlying is right, no matter what it says about Ph Perfect, PH&TDS meters are still imperative, sorry if I implied otherwise.