Droopy leaves 5 gal DWC/First grow

Hello all!

I have a 5 gallon DWC set up with a 6 inch net pot with a bagseed possible lady who is a little over a month old and only about 6-7" tall with droopy leaves. Im using fox farm nutes and have only added Grow Big. I had a case of brown algae yesterday that i took care with H2O2 and that cleaned it right up. Im planning to change the res tomorrow after picking up some aqua shield and cal mag that i will start adding. Using a 12-93 gallon air pump to a decent sized 4 inch air stone.

PH is at 6.0
PPM's- 193
Humidity- 40%
Res Temp- 61 degrees
water level about 1.5-2" below net pot

Grow lab 40 tent temp- 68-70 (lights on) low 60's lights off

any suggestions why my plant looks droopy and sad?

Could be in shock...how much h2o2 did you use?

Thanks for the quick reply! I was a little vague on details i guess, sorry. The leaves were drooping the day before it got brown algae... so before the h2o2 was added. i added only 2oz to my entire res which about 2.5 gallons (ball park). I misted the roots directly too with a very weak solution in a spray bottle.

Forgot to mention lights...
2x 75watt equivalent 5000k CFL
2x 150 watt equivalent 2700k CFL

How severe is the droop? Could be pH issues, 6.0 should be fine (I usually shoot for 5.6 though). Maybe a cold water shock? Are your res temps consistent? Pic's would help as well.

The res was cold yesterday around 53-54 but i put a fish tank heater it and warmed it up to 68 and shut it off. I put my air pump in a small box to create warm air and it is pushing that in the water helping too. Ill have pictures up tomorrow when i do the res change.

The 60 degree res temps should be fine, that's where i try to keep mine between 60 to 65. With those res temps and still having issues with algae, i would look for a light leak.

nick88 said:

With those res temps and still having issues with algae, i would look for a light leak.

Click to expand...

this, cover your buckets! Make sure hydroton is filled nicely in the netpot aswel

Res temp this morning was at 60.1. warming it up with my fish heater. heres a pic of how she looks.

Trust me on this, get rid of the heater. Now, take that as you may but its coming from experience. For veg the plants need more of the elements that are more easily gotten at a lower ph,5.6-5.8.

any ideas for why its still wilting like that?

Something is definately wrong if they are 4 weeks old and 7" tall. Your ppm's should be about 1000 by now for 1 thing. Letting your res drop below 60 is definately not doing you any favors either. You dont have anywhere near the light you should have either. DWC is for big plants and big plants need big light.

You need more light and to ditch the heater. Your res should be fine without the heater unless it is really cold like below 50. Make sure your water level is not too high either, just below the net pot is fine and make sure the net pot is not being completely saturated. Good luck with your grow.
KnB

I'm gonna go with the obvious and say your problem is because of the slime and root rot. Do the roots look ok?

Looks like it could be low oxygenation and it might have caused root rot. Does your res smell foul? Is it cloudy or have blobs of gunk in it?

You said your pump is 12-93 gallon, which is it? Per hour per minute?

The pumps I use put off 5LPM at each nozzle and I feel thats the minimum you should use for DWC. Which is 75 gallon per hour per plant. So if its 93 gallon it should be plenty and then its over saturation of your medium, are you using rockwool?

And this Grow Big, is it the hydro kind? I believe thats the only one that actually needs to be for hydro to be used in a hydro setup.

I'd guess its either the root slime or ur water level is too high, almost drowning the plant and can't uptake oxygen.

BTW, Are you using RO water? Why the cal mag?

That's definitely a lack of oxygenation issue.

Sorry for the necro but I know ppl look these up for similar symptoms. I think it'd be the ppm. Low ppm in dwc can look like overwatering which is what he'd described. Hopefully this guy got things dialed in eventually.

Too much water not enough oxygen which is why you're getting root issues, u need to get more air in there and some silver bullet in there too!