Sick of Root Rot can I convert my RDWC to some other system?

Your holding tank needs no airstone.
But if the nutrient is in that large tank in the top corner ('holding tank') make sure that not all nutrients sink to the bottom for example.
Have some kind of circulationpump in there (at least that is what I would do)

What I don't get in your system... the plants are top fed by the black thin lines, right?
Then the water goes through the pots and ends up in the bottom of your buckets right?
Why does the red arrow next to your reservoir point in the direction of the buckets? Should it not point towards your reservoir?
Why circulate water with the pump in the middle of the drawing when they are top fed?

Air pruning... I think it will be no big deal. If they go into the bucket and get moist, they will survive.
If not, they die. Only problem could be that they will clog your system and that they bring dead material in your system.
So just clean it up now and then.
That is how I look at it, but perhaps someone else has a different opinion.

Keesje said:

What I don't get in your system... the plants are top fed by the black thin lines, right?
Then the water goes through the pots and ends up in the bottom of your buckets right?
Why does the red arrow next to your reservoir point in the direction of the buckets? Should it not point towards your reservoir?
Why circulate water with the pump in the middle of the drawing when they are top fed?.

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Many thanks for your reply Keesje. I have changed the diagram.

The purple non submersible pump PULLS the nutrient solution from the last 2 pots in the line through all 8 pots and then waterfalls back into the top of the res. This is just to keep the nutes in the system fresh and mixed. All 8 pots are joined together with 2" pipe. It is a shallow recirculating system then top fed with a separate pump.

The red submersible pump inside of the res simply PUSHES the feed solution to the top of the plant pots for 15 minutes 2 x each day (long watering to prevent salt build up and stabilize pot PH and EC to be the same as the res so it can be easily checked and adjusted from there the res).

Yes the black line is the feed, and the water does fall back into the tubs to be recirculated.

ah, ok.
Get it.
I wonder if the nutrient solution that you pull with the purple pump has to circulate all the time.
If your buckets would be higher, gravity would let all the water flow back to your reservoir.
Of course you need some height for this, because the waterlevel in the reservoir should be below the bottom of the buckets.
But when you don't have this height, the pump will do. Still I don't think it has to run 24/7. A few times a day so your solution gets mixed, it is ok.
Oxygen will reach your roots in gaseous state. Way better and more effective then DO.

I hope I do understand and that I don't give the wrong advice. Besides it is just my opinion. So do what you think is best.

Many thanks Keesje, two heads are always better than one.

I think I will run the recirculating pump several times each day for 15 minutes or so and have it on at feed times.

Many thanks for your reassurance and advice.

Just looked into cost for 45 watt pump and it will cost me £70 a year to run the pump 24/7, so I think 4-5, 15 minute recirculating cycles each day will suffice.

when getting into a large amount of sites you need to put the pump in the middle and manifold a little more main line, central pump. how many sites are you doing?
i see you do 10 looking back. i would put the pump in the center with 4 branches. its all about engineering

You might want to think about running a sterile res. You can make some Clearez really cheap using pool shock. Mix 1 gram per gallon of water. Now add 1 teaspoon of solution for every 5 gallons of water. Do this every 3-4 days as the chlorine will evaporate. Say goodbye to root rot!

think he tried the sterile way allready.
while, have to say, if i would try dwc again next on the list is also "sterile".
On the other hand my hempys do so well atm, i will stick with them and dont care for this factor that much anymore.

StinkBud said:

You might want to think about running a sterile res. You can make some Clearez really cheap using pool shock. Mix 1 gram per gallon of water. Now add 1 teaspoon of solution for every 5 gallons of water. Do this every 3-4 days as the chlorine will evaporate. Say goodbye to root rot!

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Thanks SB I did try sterile on my first RDWC grow and got the rot which once in my system just kept coming back. I did get one rot free run and managed well over a gram per watt but next run lost the lot.

Well here is my new system up and running and loving it, No root rot, no air stones (thank god) and the plants seem to be going great guns just over a week into 12/12.

fartoblue said:

Hello lads, I have a diy RDWC system with airstones, just like the current culture ones. I had root rot in my firts grow and have had it ever since to some extent, just getting a bit fed up now. Lost full grow after full grow with a few decent grows in between. I now have 10 plants with the rot again due to the 3 day hot UK weather spell, came on in 2 days and crippled them. I can't really afford to buy or run a water chiller but res temps are not to bad 22 max in summer. I am running live with Hydroguard, tried sterile first grow and it was disastrous.

The advice I am asking is there any way I could convert this system to another type of hydro. I have been thinking flood and drain or aeroponics, anything really. If I can't I am going back to coco DTW. Can't take anymore losses.

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What product did you use? I've been running sterile system for years. For me sterile systems is true Hydroponics. Don't mix organics with Hydroponics. If you tried running it sterile you must have done something wrong. What residual dose did you use? Invest in a RO filter if you don't already use one.

Bleach is way better and safer to use than H2O2. I run residual at 0.5ppm, adding eod. You could dose 10 times higher than that safely. Do your own research and don't abandon something you know work easily and safely for a lot of growers and is also widely used on industrial crops. You just have to do it properly.

I add 1ml 3% Sodium hypochlorite to my 13.5 gallon reservoir every other day. I always have big white and clean lateral roots growing. Keep the rootzone clean and focus on optimizing surface tension. If you don't run a silica product I recommend doing that also. You guys in the states can get Agsil 16h for cheap. If you don't like waiting on crystals to dissolve you could go for Pro-tek from Dyna Gro. You will get a more resilient plant by using silica from start to finish.

Don't add anything else to the res. If you feel you want to use any addatives and more resilience I recommend spraying with potassium sulfate a couple of time during the growth cycle. Seaweed and humic/fulvic is also amazing as foliar spray during veg. I stop foliar at second week of flowering. Don't forget the surfacant. I use Yucca or tween20, whatever I got at hand. Dish soap works fine also. pH correct to 5.8 before spraying.

When you feel you have everything dialed in you can start adding other plant regulators, but they are not really needed or necessary for high quality bud. But that being said I like spraying some Tria and BAP on healthy plants.

fartoblue said:

Well here is my new system up and running and loving it, No root rot, no air stones (thank god) and the plants seem to be going great guns just over a week into 12/12.

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nice job man. glad to hear you got your situation resolved.

Nice recovery! I like how you cleared out the lower for good airflow. It will mean a lot when the buds are massive.

fartoblue said:

Hello lads, I have a diy RDWC system with airstones, just like the current culture ones. I had root rot in my firts grow and have had it ever since to some extent, just getting a bit fed up now. Lost full grow after full grow with a few decent grows in between. I now have 10 plants with the rot again due to the 3 day hot UK weather spell, came on in 2 days and crippled them. I can't really afford to buy or run a water chiller but res temps are not to bad 22 max in summer. I am running live with Hydroguard, tried sterile first grow and it was disastrous.

The advice I am asking is there any way I could convert this system to another type of hydro. I have been thinking flood and drain or aeroponics, anything really. If I can't I am going back to coco DTW. Can't take anymore losses.

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lolol 3 day hot weather in the uk lololol now thats fucken funny i grow dwc in aus 46c

fartoblue said:

Well here is my new system up and running and loving it, No root rot, no air stones (thank god) and the plants seem to be going great guns just over a week into 12/12.

View attachment 4404684
View attachment 4404685
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haha his a pom its prob like 15c and its hot for him there heat wave is prob like 32c hehehe

fartoblue said:

Hello lads, I have a diy RDWC system with airstones, just like the current culture ones. I had root rot in my firts grow and have had it ever since to some extent, just getting a bit fed up now. Lost full grow after full grow with a few decent grows in between. I now have 10 plants with the rot again due to the 3 day hot UK weather spell, came on in 2 days and crippled them. I can't really afford to buy or run a water chiller but res temps are not to bad 22 max in summer. I am running live with Hydroguard, tried sterile first grow and it was disastrous.

The advice I am asking is there any way I could convert this system to another type of hydro. I have been thinking flood and drain or aeroponics, anything really. If I can't I am going back to coco DTW. Can't take anymore losses.

Click to expand...

Flood and Drain with Hydroton, is pretty Bullet Proof.

DWC no one needs that headache, and its not as productive, flood and drain is where its at, more oxygen.

in saying that , i moved from hydroton trays to simple potting mix trays ..see below ..( I think you call it MG soil in the USA?), and i do pretty good with less stress on myself and less cost.

Washing out hydroton dust sucks initially , but pump some holes in the bottom of the bag and fill the bag with water so the dust pours out the bottom , that is a start. dont ask the wife to use the bath tub, just do it when shes out.

with flood and drain dont over flood in switch to 12/12 you will get unnecessary stretch, any more than one flood every 4 hours is too much even in a 10cm tray of hydroton. I could flood just 4 times in 24 hours no worries. too many floods equal softer stems.

Run a air stone in the tank for nutrient suspension mixing, agitation at the recirculating pump out let, air feeds beneficial bacteria and actives otherwise insoluble nutrients kicking it back into the system

every system is different so take this with a grain of salt.

you know and feel your grow better than anyone else.

My current on going grow in just a 10-15 cm high tray of basic potting mix, nothing fancy at all, no hydroponics, just basic soil (us horticulturists call it potting mix), 10 days veg from fem seedlings in a tray .



Keeping things simple can work. I did do things the harder way like you, now i do things the easiest way.

one of the 7 laws of success is least resistance , (less effort)

RangiSTaxi said:

Flood and Drain with Hydroton, is pretty Bullet Proof.

DWC no one needs that headache, and its not as productive, flood and drain is where its at, more oxygen.

in saying that , i moved from hydroton trays to simple potting mix trays ..see below ..( I think you call it MG soil in the USA?), and i do pretty good with less stress on myself and less cost.

Washing out hydroton dust sucks initially , but pump some holes in the bottom of the bag and fill the bag with water so the dust pours out the bottom , that is a start. dont ask the wife to use the bath tub, just do it when shes out.

with flood and drain dont over flood in switch to 12/12 you will get unnecessary stretch, any more than one flood every 4 hours is too much even in a 10cm tray of hydroton. I could flood just 4 times in 24 hours no worries. too many floods equal softer stems.

Run a air stone in the tank for nutrient suspension mixing, agitation at the recirculating pump out let, air feeds beneficial bacteria and actives otherwise insoluble nutrients kicking it back into the system

every system is different so take this with a grain of salt.

you know and feel your grow better than anyone else.

My current on going grow in just a 10-15 cm high tray of basic potting mix, nothing fancy at all, no hydroponics, just basic soil (us horticulturists call it potting mix), 10 days veg from fem seedlings in a tray .

View attachment 4405048View attachment 4405051View attachment 4405052

Keeping things simple can work. I did do things the harder way like you, now i do things the easiest way.

one of the 7 laws of success is least resistance , (less effort)

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i dont mind the old ebb and flow i run my dwc at half when they fully kick off so i have at least half the roots exposed to the air

rob333 said:

i dont mind the old ebb and flow i run my dwc at half when they fully kick off so i have at least half the roots exposed to the air

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hey im all for what ever works, if its working for you. awesome! good plan.

zypheruk said:

Your diagram looks fine, but use hydroton in the pots as it will stay a lot more aerated than rockwool and lets you top feed 24/7 or on a timer which ever suits you better. Just have loads a holes in the arse of the pots or use airpots.

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Not a fan of RW as it holds water too long, but, Im not a hydroton either, fan due it breaking down, BUT, if he raises the return pipe ~ 1" off the bottom of each grow container, then most/all the hydroton particles should simply stay on the bottom of each pot

PhatNuggz said:

Not a fan of RW as it holds water too long, but, Im not a hydroton either, fan due it breaking down, BUT, if he raises the return pipe ~ 1" off the bottom of each grow container, then most/all the hydroton particles should simply stay on the bottom of each pot

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hydroton doesn't break down much, but on purchase the dust initially is terrible, big job to rid it before use. but it does tend to stay at the bottom as sediment though, never had clogging issues myself.