DWC for beginners

Is it me or is dwc not the most simple way to grow mj in general? I think more educated people should hit up the newbie section and really let people just starting out know all the benefits of growing hydroponicly.

GRowing is prolly the most rewarding hobby anyone could ever do in thier spare time, i just dont understand why hydro experience is not more freely offered to people on this site.

I have learned a great deal from the pros and thank all of u for ur input and wisdom1

But lets face it. GRowing in soil is like being behind an old lady in traffic! With all the effort, time, and patience people put into their ops, it should be told that growing hydro style is just as simple as as putting soil in a pot and planting a seed.

Why not tell them to get a five gallon bucket, air pump and air stone with some rock and net pots and put thier seedlings in there. Its like putting a turbo on ur car.I feel like its alot less work than soil as well, all you have to do is set it up and follow simple directions on ur nute bottles. Anyhow im going to try and put together a simple how to do it for dwc in the next couple of days.

Many people have already done this here already i know. but i think im going to post it in the newbie section tho and tryo to drive it home, how easy and and rewarding this style of growing actually is.

If anyone has any info that may help newbies please share it here. once again thanks to this site for all the help and wisdom i have gained from everyone .

respect

I for one would love the addition of that general information. I've learned a "ton" from reading hydro/aero ponic tutorials here and as my first time think I am going to adopt a bubbleponic system.

Here is the picture of what I'm building this weekend.



Basically mine will be a 10 bucket system and will use 4 or 5" single net pots with expanded clay pellets. I'll have one mass air flow pump with dual 5 port manifolds powering a single air-stones in each of the bottoms of the buckets. I'll veg and start in a rockwool cube and once big enough will just set in the net pots and surround.

I've researched all the methods and do think this is the best method.. I have one question though.. I've seen on some buckets where they have a bottom flange with a clear hose running up (example below).





Is that tube coming out of the bottom going up simply for showing the internal buckets water level? With this system there is only bubbling the water in the bucket and occasionally replacing it as it evaporates.. I just wanted to be sure the real function of this outter tube.

Last.. How often do you bubble? on a timer or all the time? Also, how far should the net basket always sit into the water in the bucket that bubbles?


I sincerely appreciate the fact you want to bring mroe awareness to this and I hope the pictures above help someone else trying to better understand a linked bucket system even though it is relatively simple. To a beginner even like me it seemed daunting but having read more and learned here it has been brought into perspective and seems quite easy! I am primarily unsure of the previous net basket depth and bubbling time(s).

Thank you again and look forward to seeing your thread expand

Awesome, Thanks for the support and the pictures!.Im currently putting together a step by step picture tutorial on diy dwc but thse pictures have it all. I think this thread is going to be very helpfull to those just starting out hydro growing.I just think i may have started it in the wrong forum tho! Dunno what i was thinking, maybe to get some of the pros on here to offer up some of thier wisdom and help. I figured i was at the right forum for that i guess.
Anyhow i am going to try to keep my answers short and to the point.
The tube coming out of the bottom of the bucket is nothing more than a water level indicator. With a ten bucket system u are definetely going to want to incorporate that to ur setup.
U are going to want to start ur water level a half inch below the bottom of ur pots, once u have achieved that, mark the indicator with a marker so u can monitor ur levels easier.

The only thing u are going to time are ur lights!

The most important component to dwc is ur air supply!

There are a million variables for this. Only thing u need to remember is without a 24/7 constant air supply ur plants are going to die! Its that simple.

For ur setup i would incorporate 2 pumps, for this simple reason!

If one pump accidentally dies, gets unplugged or whatever, u will always have another supply of air in ur reservoirs.

Run one air hose and stone from each pump to every bucket in ur set-up!

I hope that was helpfull, when i was just getting started and looking for info, there was so much out there and it can be very overwhelming i guess. I tried to keep it to the point. once again thanks for the support and i know there are some pros in here that can or have already explained time and again why air is so important, if anyone has any links to anythiing on that put them in here.

thanks

Thanks for clearing those questions up! I guess we'll keep using this thread until its moved (or if its moved) if there is a more appropriate place for it.

One additional thing.. Since you say to keep the water level about a half inch under the pots (which the roots will eventually grow into the water) what do I do about watering until they reach that point? I've noticed on Stealth Hydroponic bubbleponics systems they have a waterer/dripper system going right into the net basket.. is that necessary for all bubbleponic systems before the roots are long enough to hit the water in the bucket?

the easiest way is to start your plants in rockwool seed plugs and place them in a seed starter unit which consists of, a heating mat,two trays(one for drainage and one to put your rockwool plugs in,and a humidity dome. once your plants get tall enough(about 6inches)you can then place them in your net pots all the way to the bottom and fill with hydroton. you could incorporate a drip system to your tanks but i find its very easy to over water them because between the drippers,the bubblers from below, and the fact that you cant see your rockwool because it is burried in hydroton

Thanks for clearing those questions up! I guess we'll keep using this thread until its moved (or if its moved) if there is a more appropriate place for it.

One additional thing.. Since you say to keep the water level about a half inch under the pots (which the roots will eventually grow into the water) what do I do about watering until they reach that point? I've noticed on Stealth Hydroponic bubbleponics systems they have a waterer/dripper system going right into the net basket.. is that necessary for all bubbleponic systems before the roots are long enough to hit the water in the bucket


Simply NO. This kinda clears up ur air question even further. With 2 stones in ur bucket, the air bubbles force water to the top, which pop and force water and nutes up into ur hydroton! kinda works it self out. By doing so u are also forcing ur root system to grow down to the water and food supply.

U do not want to drown ur plants in water!

Also, I actually keep 3 stones in my buckets to try and achieve maximum oxygen supply to my plants.Once again there are many reasons why u need a rich oxygen supply for ur plants.But keeping it simple, U want ur water as frothy as u can make it!

U cannot give ur plants to much oxygen!

hope this clears up ur question.

Also, I have found that jiffy plugs work the best for seedlings, they are already p/h balanced when u buy them! Using rockwool is great but if u use it u are going to be getting into prebalancing water to specific p/h levels or buying extra chemicals to balance ur waters p/h.Just starting out ,try to keep things as simple as possible i guess. if ur going to use rockwool the previous advice was excelent.

Anyhow hope this helps! im glad to see this thread is catching peoples interest!

Great information fellas, thank you very much. One remaining question I have before I put this whole thing together is how much is not enough in regards to bubbles?

I've found quite a few air stones.. single small ones, 5 inch round , air curtains that are skinny and larger curtains which appear black/rock/sand like and such. I know its there is never "enough" bubbling, but with that being said and ten 5 gallon buckets thats quite a bit of air to push around for 1 or 2 air pumps. I would imagine by T'ing them off and having 10 air stones of being powered that their effectiveness will go down.

I DO intend to have two 100gallon+ air pumps running each stone.. so at the front of each air stone will be a T splitter where each air pump has line line going plugged into it.. this way if one died (as you suggested) the other is still bubbling a little. With them combined I should get a decent amount of action coming out of the air stones.

Sorry to be long winded but my point is this.. i've youtubed and looked on this forum as well as others and never actually see someone with video of inside their res or buckets to see what kind of bubbles are going on down there.

Thanks guys

i use 2 3in round airstones in 1 5gal bucket it works great

Bifta said:

i use 2 3in round airstones in 1 5gal bucket it works great

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response - i've followed your grow as well, very nice work! Where did you get your buckets and net pots? Also, do you run multiple air pumps to the two air stones or do you split them at a T and still use one air pump?

Nice grow bifta.

How many plants did u grow?What was ur yield?Clones or seedlings?

I think ur idea is pretty good caddy for maximizing ur stones t'd and eveything, but if one of ur pumps actually did go out i would guess the forced air flow from one tube to the other would seep water back and flood ur room.
Id stay with one stone per bucket from each pump.
No on the white buckets, u want dark, but if u already have um then tape some black garbage bags around them until u cannot see light penetrating into the bucket at all.lol i seen ur post in a dif thread.

Awesome advice guys!!!!

i am very impressed with the information on this thread

caddy
Always run each bucket with its own pump (if possible) preferably with 2 outlets and 2 stones per bucket (more never hurts!)

the best advice i got from this thread was;
run one stone to each bucket, IF ONE PUMP GOES DOWN THE OTHER TAKES OVER FOR THE TIME BEING!

clever thinking onthedl!

respect

THanks bugone, thats just knowlegde passed down to me from others that made sense, afterall a dwc could not exist without a constant flow of h2o in the reservoir.

amen to that , i have now changed my set up to this method which def makes sense!

cheers

Bubbleponics are nice but IMO Hempey Buckets RULE

Im very glad this thread is getting peeps attention. Guess when i started this thread, it was intended to show peeps just starting out with growing in general, that before they went and wasted there time and effort with soil, a simple and effective alternative to growing in soil.The way for me just starting out had to be DWC for sure. If you have the will,energy and patience to get a pot, put soil in it and wait forever for it to grow than i assure you its just as simple to setup a five gallon bucket with net pots, an air pump and stone and some tap water! Their are prolly thousands of posts regarding dwc and every aspect of dwc on this site.Id like to say thanks to rollitup my self!Its awesome peeps are sharing this knowledge with people just beginning if i can help in any way i will. Grow on in dwc!!

I like the idea of this thread, as i just picked up a 5 gal bucket and net pot lid today from the hydro shop while i was getting my digital ph tester.

thanks for the information, i look forward to where this is goin!

Awesome Best initial investment u will make in hydro!

Here are some pics of a bucket i just put together in an emergency situation for some clones i simply didnt have enuff room for!I know its ghetto completely but lol just shiz laying around the house! lol actually i have used anything i could find around the house. From 1 gallon rubbermaid kool aid jugs with garbage bags around them, orange buckets from home depot with tape or bags or the nice black ones from the local hydro store.

Whe yu transplant them from soil to that bucket with the hydroton rocks...how do you go about doing that? Do you just wash the roots off real good then waeve the roots through the net cups? Then just lightly sprinkle the hydroton rocks around it?

Also, when you first moved your plants to the bucket DWC system...how mcuh nuts did you start them out with? 1/2 stength?

Thanks!
Looking good mang!

I have transplanted almost dead,completely nute burned plants into dwc and brought them back to life fast, by doing exactly what u said. In a bowl of water, until u get the dirt off, rinsing several times. Then placing gently into net pots. No nuts in the water solution if plants been nut burned until the first res change i guess.

Thos clones in my bubbler were actually all done in a simple cup of water in indirect light until i got root formation and then simply put into hydroton with a 2 inch buffer between the water and roots. To force root growth. They are doing awesome!

WOW,, F-n interesting sh1t,, since I have a couple of fish tank setups laying around doing nuthin,, I guess I can use this equip to set up a couple nice systems,, I will get started next week,,, but,,, do you think from start to finish, this is a quicker way than dirt and what would you say are the noticable differences someone like me would like to know about dirt to water growing.... GROWING QUICKER----- STRONGER WEED--- BIGGER OR SMALLER---AMOUNT DIFFERENCES??????