First Time RDWC Setup

[xmarine420]

Hello everyone,
I have grown in soil less media years ago. I stopped for some time and have gotten back into the hobby. This time around I have chosen an RDWC set up. My first post will be a detailed listing of the current setup, following some pictures. I would like any constructive criticism on my setup and any suggestions anyone has.

Veg Room/Clone Room:

(3) 10 Gallon Totes with (5) 3" holes cut into each. Plant capacity in veg room (15)
(1) 30 Gallon reservoir
(1) Pondmaster 02522 250 GPH Magnetic Drive Utility Pump
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pondmaster-02522-Danner-250-GPH-Magnetic-Drive-Utility-Pump/21797870
(1) 600 watt MH with digital ballast, adjustable to 300w, 400w, and 600w
(1) Pondmaster Deep water Air pump
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14256

Each tote is connected with a 1 1/2" drain line with barbed nylon fittings, which in turn is connected to 1 1/2" bulkhead. This was chosen to have the system modular if needed. I did not want to use PVC because of its permanency.

Clone Buckets in Veg Room:

(2) 5 Gallon buckets with (5) 3" holes cut into each. Clone capacity at any given time (10)

These are the common bubble buckets, nothing special.

Details:

1) The seeds that I am using are a variety I have obtained throughout the years.
2) Media : Rockwool and hydroton
3) pH is kept at 5.8 - 5.9
4) Nutrients : General Hydroponics (Flora Grow, Micro, and Bloom) Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus
5) ppm is kept at around 300 - 320 for seedling and light veg growth
6) I am not sure about res temps but the thermometers are coming soon (If I had to guess ~ mid 60's because the totes are in contact with the cold concrete floor.
7) The water pump turns on for 3 hours and is off for 1 hour before turning back on.
The air pump is on 24/7 (Each tote and bubble bucket has one air line each)

 

[xmarine420]

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to mention some other details that are important. I plan to only veg plants until they are about 1 - 1 1/2 ft high. They then will be moved to the adjacent flower room. Clones will be taken prior and the cycle continues. The grow room itself is some what self contained. The main door into the room has a sliding pocket door which slides into itself. There is another sliding pocket door on the flower room. The grow room has no door because I intend to use the air conditioner in the summer months which will require constant cooling long after the flower room lights have gone off. The flower room is completely light exclusionary. The sliding pocket door has given me maximum space potential and works better to keep out light more so than hinged doors I have made in the past. I will have to physically close the flower room door when the lights go off but this is only a minor inconvenience and does not outweigh the positives so far. My water quality is some what good and has ~ 120 -140 ppm on any given day. I allow it to sit for a while before used.

Now that I have outlined the basics of my set up as it stands I have a few concerns I would like some opinions on.

The air pump I currently have : Pondmaster Deep water Air pump
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14256
AP-40watts : 405.8 psi Max volume cubic inch per minute 2900Up to 5,000 gallons

I had intended to use this one for the veg room, flower room, and 2 bubble buckets.
Recently I read 1 watt/gallon and another said 2 watts/gallon.

Veg Room & Bubble buckets: 40 - 44 Gallons Total
Flower Room: ~ 60 Gallons

Question 1) Given that my solution temps are within the mid 60's and temperature is not a limiting factor of dissolved oxygen, is this pump powerful enough to oxygenate 100 Gallons of nutrient solution? If not can it sufficiently operate the veg room solely (40 Gallon)? Is this type of pump adequate to use solely within the flower room (60 Gallons)? I am very pleased with the air pump. It is very quite and seems to push a good volume or air.

Question 2) I plan to do a complete change out on the 10 gallon totes every 2 weeks and the bubble buckets every week. I will see how long I can push this as I gain some experience with hydroponics. I have read all kinds of threads about combating pathogen issues in the nutrient solution. Does anyone currently use a UV light to sterilize their nutrient solution? What model should be purchased?

Again if anyone has taken the time to read these posts and a thought pops in your head on a potential oversight I missed please post the thought.

 

[blackforest]

1. I believe your pondmaster AP-40 is really 40 lpm (liters per minute) and not watts as I see above. A friend has an undercurrent rdwc system and it has about 70 gal and he runs an alita 40 lpm pump, so you can use that as a measurement. I think it would be hard to over do it with an air pump on a hydro system to be honest. Maybe 100 gal is pushing it?

2. You need to either run a sterilized system (h2o2) or run beneficial bacteria (great white, hydroguard, tea). One or the other imo, or else you will propagate pythium. Not sure on the UV thing, I don't know anyone that uses them and I'm here in CO.

Just a note, I run GH nutes in my rdwc system also. Many run the Lucas formula which is just micro and bloom, no gro. Micro has enough iron in it, and many feel gro has too much iron. I recently did a rdwc system myself, can't be happier with the results. https://www.rollitup.org/t/rdwc-build-so-far-so-good.852489/page-3#post-11281568
Good Luck with your grow!

 

[xmarine420]

1. I believe your pondmaster AP-40 is really 40 lpm (liters per minute) and not watts as I see above. A friend has an undercurrent rdwc system and it has about 70 gal and he runs an alita 40 lpm pump, so you can use that as a measurement. I think it would be hard to over do it with an air pump on a hydro system to be honest. Maybe 100 gal is pushing it?

2. You need to either run a sterilized system (h2o2) or run beneficial bacteria (great white, hydroguard, tea). One or the other imo, or else you will propagate pythium. Not sure on the UV thing, I don't know anyone that uses them and I'm here in CO.

Just a note, I run GH nutes in my rdwc system also. Many run the Lucas formula which is just micro and bloom, no gro. Micro has enough iron in it, and many feel gro has too much iron. I recently did a rdwc system myself, can't be happier with the results. https://www.rollitup.org/t/rdwc-build-so-far-so-good.852489/page-3#post-11281568
Good Luck with your grow!

Good to know you are using GH nutrients. So I looked at the Lucas formula and I am going to copy that exactly. Why remake the wheel. I am having some issue with a few of the smaller plants it looks like Manganese deficiency from what I can put together. On my next res change I will be adding the volumes within the Lucas formula so hopefully I will see the symptoms go away.

On the whole growth is somewhat slow from what I remember in comparison to growing in media. There are very faint lighter green areas on some leaves. One plant has some smaller brown-rust color spots on the lowest set of leaves.

Blackforest , would you mind sharing with me the ml/gallon of micro and bloom you use for seedlings and or very young plants? What do you usually keep you pH at for this formula? And last question, what is/was the first nutrient deficiency you detected and obviously corrected?

Cheers ~ !

 

[blackforest]

Good to know you are using GH nutrients. So I looked at the Lucas formula and I am going to copy that exactly. Why remake the wheel. I am having some issue with a few of the smaller plants it looks like Manganese deficiency from what I can put together. On my next res change I will be adding the volumes within the Lucas formula so hopefully I will see the symptoms go away.

On the whole growth is somewhat slow from what I remember in comparison to growing in media. There are very faint lighter green areas on some leaves. One plant has some smaller brown-rust color spots on the lowest set of leaves.

Blackforest , would you mind sharing with me the ml/gallon of micro and bloom you use for seedlings and or very young plants? What do you usually keep you pH at for this formula? And last question, what is/was the first nutrient deficiency you detected and obviously corrected?

Cheers ~ !

For the first week or two, I was running GH 3 part and was doing it according to the chart. When I switched to Lucas, I used the 16ml/gal for bloom and 8ml/gal for micro. I also added 5ml/gal of cal mag (because I use ro water) and 3ml/gal of hydroguard. I would think for seedlings/young plants you could cut the lucas formula in half at least. Once the roots touched the water the plant growth exploded. I always kept my ph 5.5 to 5.8 and the ppm running normal lucas was coming out to about 1300 ppm. I did get some nutrient deficiency on 2 of my girls late in flower. They were little yellow spots on the leaves and we determined it was a micro deficiency. Other than that, it was rock solid. Easy formula to follow.