need help on first time hydro

this is my first set using hydro i have bulit and designed this myself so any pointers will be greatly welcome also plant health??? (she looks very pale)

when useing deep water culture what is the recomended nuits to us in the UK i just found out that what im using has a lot of calcium init and apparently thats bad but i dont have a clue

so much for the advise i' going back to soil

Hey smokie, nice design. Don't give up on hydro yet. I have a couple of comments that may help.

First the design is good that it has circulating, oxygenated water and has an adequate amount of water to feed the plants between nutrient changes. You won't have to change the water as often that way.

Your system will work from start to finish with a few tweaks along the way.

Observations: Don't use clear or semi-clear containers. Light promotes algae and other unwanted water problems in your reservoir.

It's best not to let any light get to the reservoir. So that also means having enough rocks in your net pots on top not to allow light to penetrate to the reservoir. You can also cover the tops of the unused net pots to stop the light.

How are you getting nutrients to your plants before their roots are long enough to touch the water in your reservoir.
Did you install drains in the system for easier water changes?

What is your ph? What is your ppm? Lights? Lighting schedule? Strain? Feeding schedule?

I'll help as much as I know.

Go Green....Grow

come one man you built all that and you going to give up in 3 hours because no replys. you will learn pretty quick on this board you wont get much help until you have done a little research. looks like you have done some home work to be where your at now. but i suggest you go back to the FAQs and check out the DWC part of it. also search through the grows journals and find people running the DWC. you can start at mine if you like.

its my first grow. i started out drip system. did not like it went to DWC. loved it. tried cloning could not clone for shit. i saw this aerophonics system at the grow shop $450. basically DWC with spray heads in it. i liked this system so much i made 5 gal buckets with the aerophonic theory. its all in my grow. check it out, if you like what you see PM me and i will send you a link to another grow journal i have that is much more detailed, and i even have a DIY thread with step by step instruction and pics on the cloner i built for $65

i do wonder why you have a reservoir. to me it would not be needed. most DWC i have seen the roots hang down into the water with the air bubbles. one container.

what kind of meter do you have. EC,PPM (tds), or the truncheons stick?
what kink of nutes?
do you have a PH meter?

all this stuff is vital to hydro. i started out with none of these tools. or the cheapest method possible, and let me tell you it sucked. you cant even really diagnose a problem if you dont have these tools. you might as well guess what is wrong.

thanks for the post and i get what ur saying, but i still need to do more reserch till i go in 100%

I don't think anyone on here ever stops learning something new or different no matter how long they have been growing. To grow successfully you must have patience, especially in the beginning.

I have 5 failed grows under my belt so far. I went back to the drawing board, redesigned my setup, and may (if the Grow Gremlin Jinx doesn't strike) have my first successful grow. It may not be the highest yield, best potency aroma, flavor, etc. but I can say that I did it myself. With a lot of help from friends at RIU.

Keep researching and tweaking your setup. You'll get what works best for you in the end.

Good luck.

Go Green...Grow

dont give up, DWC sounds very easy until you get started with it, I know from experience, I still cant figure out why people recomend it too noobs, but in any event, do what I did switch your plant from dwc to a hempy bucket........very user friendly cheap and easy passive hydro system