From DWC to NFT

Hey everyone, I've been absent from the site for a while... Kinda reeling after my last grow. I had three plants going in DWC + SCROG:



It was working like a charm. I outfitted each reservoir with a a 10" bucket lid net pot, two 5" air stones, water level indicator, and a 250gph submersible pump for draining my reservoir as needed. Above the reservoirs, I put the screen on and vegged for a few days before flipping to flowering. Things looked great:



Somehow though... one of my ladies hermied - but only partially. I never saw a single pollen sac... even while I was harvesting. Anyhow... All three ladies ended up producing seeds. Not a full seed crop or a total loss, but a bummer for sure. 22 oz of seedy, airy bud. Eh... it smokes ok. Still potent as fuck. I should point out this was my second grow of the Humboldt Seed Organization's Blue Dream (from seed)...

I liked my set up, but the amount of time I spent on res changes, ph adjustments, and other maintenance tasks makes me not want to renew my efforts scrogging with DWC. It's difficult to say the least. So, I'm about to saddle up again... this time I'm going for the sea of green. I got to the Attitude and grabbed a pack of Green House Seeds's White Widow (fem). I'm going to grow them up, pick a mother or two and off I go.

Whereas before I was vegging in the tent, then flipping the lights to flower and harvesting to empty, I'm reserving the tent for flowering. Outside under my 192w T5's I'll grow my mother(s) and clones. If I start with 5-6" clones, I won't need to veg my clones really at all. Once they have a decent root system, I'll just start them in flower.

I thought about using similar DWC buckets, but with 6 or 8 net pots, but that's still 4 res changes as needed. That's a lot of work. I'm looking to simplify and reduce the amount of time it takes me to keep my garden healthy.

Enter NFT. For some reason, I was under the impression NFT was an advanced technique, which should not be attempted by the freshman or sophomore grower. But, as I was looking into other hydro styles, I did enough research into NFT to believe this might be the way to go for me. I'm not spending thousands on a commercial NFT, but I found a DIY tutorial which looks amazing:


Once it's built (and I can build this no problem)... I'll have one 20+ gallon reservoir with 3 5" air stones, and I can use the same 250gph pump to power the system. I'm putting the reservoir on castors for more mobility too. If I stick to the 1 sq. ft. per plant, I can get about 21 plant sites in my flower room. I need room in that tent for a dehumidifier, otherwise I could get another 3-5 plants in there...

To keep things even more simple, I'm switching from the GH 3-part flora formula to the Lucas formula. I wasn't brave enough to venture off the label's instructions my first two grows, but now that I'm not a complete greenhorn, I'm confident... And hey, if I fuck it up, I have a crop of clones going in the other room

So (and I know I'm long-winded)... my questions are:

1. Anyone else using NFT and have advice for me?
2. Am I overlooking something obvious that might cause me big problems? E.g. I didn't realize how difficult DWC maintenance was when you're scrogging... Anything like this in NFT? (besides the catastrophic stuff like power outage/pump failure; I know this can happen)
3. Lucas formula advice?

I gutted my 10' x 15' grow room and am re-configuring everything to run smoother and be more organized. Once my beans get here (should be any day now).... I'll fire up my germination station and get this mutha growing

Blue dream from seed, huh? I hope you're not from CA, because that would be a shame.

NFT will work fine, but it seems like a lot of plumbing and those 4" fence posts will fill up with roots pretty fast. gotta run smaller plants (at least compared to DWC).

Have you considered just running a flood/drain table?

Clown Baby said:

Blue dream from seed, huh? I hope you're not from CA, because that would be a shame.

NFT will work fine, but it seems like a lot of plumbing and those 4" fence posts will fill up with roots pretty fast. gotta run smaller plants (at least compared to DWC).

Have you considered just running a flood/drain table?

Click to expand...

I tried to DIY a flood/drain table last year. It didn't work out right.... First, I needed 4 reservoirs to keep up with the four flood containers.... The first three reservoirs were for feeding, the last for flushing before harvest... So that's really 3x the pH balancing, 3x the nute changes, etc... As much as anything, (since I was using the 3-part feeding schedule) that was 3x the wasted nutes. I drained to waste. The other problem was that because my flood tables (cement mixing tubs you can buy at Lowes/Home Depot) were flat bottomed, I couldn't ever get the table to drain completely. This was leaving standing water (about 1/4" or so) on my roots which was causing problems. I started to notice some algae growing in my reservoirs. I eventually bailed on the whole set up and went back to DWC + scrog... With it came similar headaches, lol....

So i believe NFT will be the most efficient and cost-effective solution. Whereas I had 3 27 gallon totes, I can probably do with just 1. So long as while the pump is running, there is enough water to keep the pump submerged. I should be able to supply the 21+ plants with just the one reservoir with minimal effort. I might use two reservoirs + 2 pumps, just because I think (and correct me if I'm wrong, RIU) the more plants drawing nutes from the same reservoir, the more the pH will fluctuate? If I split the reservoir into two, it might be easier to keep the pH in check, anyone??

I'm a big fan of DWC, but it's not great for sea of green. There might be more maintenance top side since there isn't much root zone support and our chosen produce is top heavy (hopefully , but the nute changes/hydro maintenance should be a lot simpler... That's what I'm going for.

Also, I'm using 5" x 5" fence posts... not the 4x4's

There is pros and cons to every hydro style.

I think all your issues could be solved or at least mitigated, with dwc or flood and drain for that matter.

You'll probably farther off then jumping ship.

Larger Reservoirs need less maintenance.

- Jiji

My DWC "buckets" were actually 27 gallon totes I bought from Lowe's (link here: http://www.lowes.com/pd_44066-61896-44066_0__?Ntt=27+gallon+tote&UserSearch=27+gallon+tote&productId=3551290&rpp=32#noop)

Each bucket had two air stones, and a pump (for doing nute changes without removing the plant - which is impossible since they were all under the same scrog screen... I also added a water level indicator so I could keep track of when I needed to add/replace the nute solution. I've also found the larger reservoirs require less maintenance... Unless there's a problem, the pH stays in check longer. The problem was the res changes and ph balancing took forever. I had enough. I think the NFT is going to simplify my grow. If not, I'll have learned my lesson and will be better next time. This is a hobby for me, and I enjoy the experimentation part of it.

You're on the right track bro! I've been running Aero/NFT for many years now with great results. 5" fence posts work great although you won't notice much difference from the 4". I've used both 2" and 3" net pots but like the smaller 2" better. 400GPH pump for 10-15 sprayers. Hook up a Tee fitting with an on/off valve and garden hose adapter to make res changes quick and easy.

Watch your water temps. and you should be okay. Big res will help stabilize everything. You are going to want to think about plant support/training. Some strains do better if you top/train them.

Good luck bro!