Water level ??

Well my seeds just arrived from the U.K. !! I am in the middle of building a grow cabinet and cannot wait to grow some plants.

I have decided to go hydroponic instead of soil. As I understand it growth is a bit faster. Anyway after watching multiple youtube videos it seems that some growers have the net pots just touching the water whereas others have a lower water level and have included a water pump in the reservoir with tubes to pump water into the pots.

Still others have an intermittent misting system (aeroponic?).

I imagine they all have pluses and minuses. I'd prefer either a lower water level with a pump bathing the pots on a continual basis or a higher water level where the bottom of the pots just contacts the water. Any thoughts on which is a preferable method? Are they both considered DWC?

Lastly in some videos growers are very concerned with TDS meters etc. Can i get by with quality nutes and a simple pH tset kit/

Thank you

They are both considered to be DWC but it's really up to you which way you wanna go. I run a recirculating system but I don't top feed my plants using a drip system nor do I have any water lines that run water / solution directly to the net pots. Once the roots hit the nutirent solution in the res you're good to go, just make sure you've got some serious air bubbles in there otherwise your roots will drown. Keep the water level just below the net pot and don't let it get more than half empty. And a TDS meter is essential if you are going to be going the hydro route. I started out with the pH test strips on my first grow and while it came out alright, it was a massive pain in the ass and simply not accurate enough for the task at hand. You need to get yourself a high quality constant read meter like the nutra-dip tri-meter or the blue lab guardian. They've got probes you keep in your res and the meter will give you a constant read of pH, ppm or EC, and temp. Obviously going with high quality nutes is important as you get out of a plant exactly what you put into it, but the quality of the nutes has nothing to do with being able to make sure that they are indeed at the correct levels. For example, I run all Advanced Nutrients pH perfect nutes, and while the pH balancing technology is quite impressive (the nutrient solution automatically corrects pH to optimal levels) if I were to go by their nutrient calculator, my ppm's would be nearly double what they really should be. I'm in 2nd week of flower and I'm running at 900 pmm, and that's running 1/4 to 1/2 strength nutes, if you were to bump that up to full strength you'd be sitting at 1800 ppm and your plants would be DEAD. Anyway, just some food for thought! Get yourself one of those meters and seriously consider a recirculating system, relatively easy to build and maintain and adding nutes / pH up or down is super simple, just add it to your control bucket and let it circulate throughout the system. Good luck.

Drip ring.Works good until roots hit the nutes.
Waterfarm,very good introduction to soiless growing.
Dont know if you have even grown a plant,but the Waterfarm is real easy.
You will need a meter like above poster said,PH N PPM meter.
Beech

Dsa7672022 said:

They are both considered to be DWC but it's really up to you which way you wanna go. I run a recirculating system but I don't top feed my plants using a drip system nor do I have any water lines that run water / solution directly to the net pots. Once the roots hit the nutirent solution in the res you're good to go, just make sure you've got some serious air bubbles in there otherwise your roots will drown. Keep the water level just below the net pot and don't let it get more than half empty. And a TDS meter is essential if you are going to be going the hydro route. I started out with the pH test strips on my first grow and while it came out alright, it was a massive pain in the ass and simply not accurate enough for the task at hand. You need to get yourself a high quality constant read meter like the nutra-dip tri-meter or the blue lab guardian. They've got probes you keep in your res and the meter will give you a constant read of pH, ppm or EC, and temp. Obviously going with high quality nutes is important as you get out of a plant exactly what you put into it, but the quality of the nutes has nothing to do with being able to make sure that they are indeed at the correct levels. For example, I run all Advanced Nutrients pH perfect nutes, and while the pH balancing technology is quite impressive (the nutrient solution automatically corrects pH to optimal levels) if I were to go by their nutrient calculator, my ppm's would be nearly double what they really should be. I'm in 2nd week of flower and I'm running at 900 pmm, and that's running 1/4 to 1/2 strength nutes, if you were to bump that up to full strength you'd be sitting at 1800 ppm and your plants would be DEAD. Anyway, just some food for thought! Get yourself one of those meters and seriously consider a recirculating system, relatively easy to build and maintain and adding nutes / pH up or down is super simple, just add it to your control bucket and let it circulate throughout the system. Good luck.

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Thanks for the input. Question: How do you know what nute level to shoot for if as you said you were to follow the Advanced Nute calculator your plants would be dead. What is your guideline if not the calculator from Advanced?

So here's the thing, there's no hard and fast guideline to follow for what nute level you should be at. Every strain is different and will react differently to nutrient levels. When you are starting out, the first couple weeks from seeds you won't need any nutes. After the plant has a couple sets of true leaves then it's time to start feeding them. Shoot for a low ppm like 200, see how they react. If they start to yellow that means they are deficient and need more nutes, if they start to burn then you gotta dial it back a bit. As the plant grows it will obvioulsy need more food to grow properly. Each week you will bump your nutes up (providing they are not burning obviously). During veg it would be wise to keep your ppms below 800, unless you have a heavy feeder on your hands, but again, totally dependent on what strain you're growing. Be wary of any calculator out there as each growing situation is different and one generalized calcuator simply cannot account for all the factors that go into how much nutrients your plant will need throughout it's life cycle. When you transition into flower, generally your ppms are going to be higher than in veg, the plants are much larger and need large amounts of nutes to form the flowers. As I mentioned before, I'm about midway through the 2nd week of flower and my ppms are at 900. They are absolutely loving this level and that is where I will remain until my plants tell me otherwise. This all being said, the veg cycle is more forgiving than the flower cycle, if you burn a plant during veg you have a long time for the plant to recouperate, if you burn the plant during flower then you've got a serious issue on your hands as both quality and yield will be adversely effected. So to summarize, no nutes for the first two weeks, start a low ppm feeding regimen, gradually increase ppms as your plants necessitate. All it takes is a watchful eye and a little patience, don't get too wrapped up in what people say your nute levels SHOULD be at, you can spend hours researching ppm levels and nutrient calculators, but the best thing you can do for your plants is let THEM be your guide, they'll tell you what they need or what they have too much of, you just gotta know what to look for.

Do you not have a space bar GZZ looks like a long ass text.
Beech

It seems you are new to hydro so I would advise against having a pump in your res. Usually the pump raises temperatures of your water and high temps are the bane of hydro growers. I would suggest simple bubble buckets for your first try. Master that and you can try different techniques.

The water level issue is kinda personal preference, but this is how I do it:

I pop my seeds using the paper towel method and then transplant the cracked seed into rockwool. I put them under my T5 until they stretch out a bit then I transplant them into my 5gal bubble bucket with a 6inch net pot. I'll use 1/4 strength nutes as soon as my second set of leaf begins to poke out. The roots are still making their way down the hydroton towards the water so I will keep the water level right to the bottom of the net pot. The bubbles agitating the water keep the hydroton nice and moist so the young roots don't dry out. As a extra precaution I usually top feed 2 or 3 times a day by hand with just a cup of the res water.

After a few days ill see the taproot poke out of the bottom and I'll lower the res to where the tip is just barely in the water. The bubbles coming up and bursting are usually enough to keep the plant hydrated at this point.

As for having a PH/PPM meter I would highly suggest it. If you are planning on growing for a while it is a great investment that ends up paying for it's self in peace of mind. Personally I no longer use mine because I use the same nutrients and have the PPM's and PH levels at any strength in memory. If I do have a issue with plant health I always have my ppm/ph meter nearby. Those numbers can help you identify problems really fast, plus if you ask for help here people always want to know your levels.

Since you are new to this I would suggest a few things:

First, be as CLEAN as possible. Clean/disinfect everything before you use it and then clean/disinfect it one more time to make sure. I thought I was a clean freak, but I still ended up having issues related to contamination. I use a mild bleach solution.

Second, make sure your temperatures are under control. If you have read any of the help request post on here you will see that most DWC problems stem from res temps. I've suggested to people if they are unable to keep their res temperatures at 71 or below then don't even bother. It's such a pain in the ass to keep things going well at higher temps that it's not worth the effort. Personally I grow DWC in winter and Hempy buckets in Summer due to my temperature related issues. My hempy buckets grow a bit slower, but I don't have the constant struggle due to higher temperatures. If you have unlimited funds then you can get a water chiller or if you have plenty of free time you can use the frozen water bottle method. You can look either up using the search function here.

Third, Listen to your plants. Like the other fella in this thread suggested. Start out with low levels of nutrients and let the plant tell you what it needs. I've seen some strains crave 1600PPM and others that burn when hit with 900PPM. In my experience each plant is different.

Fourth of course is patience. Have a little patience. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Cheers.

If its your first time doing hydro or aero I would say setup a very forgiving flood and drain system. This way no worries. You just set your timer for the floods and just check in and maintain the ph and ppm levels per your nutes charts. It will give you a good idea of what you will need for future grows. Its the easiest and most forgiving really.Just make sure before you start you have the system built and tested. make sure you have a ph meter as it is very very important. If you can a tds or ppm meter is also a good idea to have. Keep res water around 65 degress to 70 degrees F and your good.

Roseman's bubbleponics thread will guide you day x day.
Keep the water level up to the plant not the net pot.Doing that it won't waste
energy growing cord roots.GL

I went hydro first time out the gate, ebb n flow.
now on my 2 nd plant in flower I'm growing it Hempy Style.
One time a Day I add 1 gal water.
I still use PH & PPM meters but it's almost to hands off its so simple.
Now I got to get a Second Hobby!

Dogenzengi said:

I went hydro first time out the gate, ebb n flow.
now on my 2 nd plant in flower I'm growing it Hempy Style.
One time a Day I add 1 gal water.
I still use PH & PPM meters but it's almost to hands off its so simple.
Now I got to get a Second Hobby!

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The first time I tried hempy it almost felt like cheating. After all my original temp problems and slime for the plants to just grow normally was such a breath of fresh air. To be honest I should have just stuck with hempy, but I never like giving up on something that many others do well. Instead of investing in a chiller I just do my DWC grows in the winter and hempy in the summer. Works like a damn charm.

Definitely get yourself a ppm meter. On the canna guide I added all nutes needed and ended up with 800 ppm when it should of been around 300ppm. Don't forget everything you add to your res is increasing the ppms.

Goodluck

nameno said:

Roseman's bubbleponics thread will guide you day x day.
Keep the water level up to the plant not the net pot.Doing that it won't waste
energy growing cord roots.GL

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Rosemans a mod now on Bubbleponics forums.
Beech

SOMEBEECH said:

Rosemans a mod now on Bubbleponics forums.
Beech

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Roseman is the fucking MAN and his tutorial is a must read!