DWC res temperatures

Hola, my first grow failed horribly due to root rot. I found I plant that was suffering from root rot so I pulled it in hopes the funk wouldn't spread. I added hygrozyme and H2O2 to the res and after doing some more research I found that h2o2 kills FF beneficial bacteria...

All you DWC growers how do you keep your res temps below 70? I couldn't for the life of me keep the temp that low, and a few people told me that root rot occurs when the temps are above 70. The only other thing I could think would cause root rot is not enough oxygen from the air pumps, but I was using a 60 gph air pump with to outlets and 2 12" air stones so I don't think that was the problem.

Any tips are appreciated, I know some of you guys know how it feels to lose an entire crop.

either get a chiller, or a few 32 ounce frozen gatorade bottles an put them in your rez has needed peace

Damn I tried ice and it melted to fast. about 3 gatorade bottles an hour.

you gotta keep doing it untill you get your temps at like 65 degrees. or buy a chiller

eff dat I'm gonna do an ebb n flow instead

how big was ur res???

dynamitejack said:

The only other thing I could think would cause root rot is not enough oxygen from the air pumps, but I was using a 60 gph air pump with to outlets and 2 12" air stones so I don't think that was the problem.

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Unfortunately, water loses it's ability to hold dissolved oxygen (or any gas for that matter) very quickly as temperatures go up. You might have plenty of air bubbling into the water, but the water is not going to hold it if it's too warm.

interesting, res usually hangs out around room temp and heat rises so I would say use reflective material on the res and keep the ambient temps lower than higher, HID light gives off a lot of heat that can stay up higher away from the res with air flow. and put the ballast above the reservoir. basically remove heat sources or divert them.

dbo24242 said:

interesting, res usually hangs out around room temp and heat rises so I would say use reflective material on the res and keep the ambient temps lower than higher, HID light gives off a lot of heat that can stay up higher away from the res with air flow. and put the ballast above the reservoir. basically remove heat sources or divert them.

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I had my room setup exactly how you suggested but I still got the rot!

dynamitejack said:

eff dat I'm gonna do an ebb n flow instead

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nah fuck that man, stick with the deep waters homie, nothing but smiles every harvest. dude you just gotta keep them temps chill, my rez stays below 55 at all times and i live in sunny southern california and use 5 hours of natural sunlight durring the 12/12 cycle and i am able to keep it low with frozen water in bottles. gotta do it man and you'll be good. maby you can use less water in your rez to keep them ice bottles lasting longer. i use minimal water and just keep that water happy and your plants are happy. best of luck

ha ha my dad lives in the 805. Changing frozen water bottles is too much work, I might do another dwc grow in the winter.

Instead of using water bottles... why don't you pick up some of those blue "igloo" cooler packs (you know... the blue ones you put in your lunchbox). Buy about 10 of them and freeze them all. Put 5 of them in the reservoir at a time, and cycle them out as needed. You can get an aquarium-style thermometer to put in the middle of the rez on the side to measure your average water temps.

I have been lucky, so far. I've been doing bubble buckets year round in southern Alabama and haven't had any root rot problems (and haven't used ice, either).

Bubble buckets have consistently given me the TIGHT and DENSE buds I expect from cannabis. I've used ebb n flood systems, soil, and buckets, and buckets are the only way I've achieved the tight and dense buds (like when you buy nuggets... but BETTER than commercial!)

I'll watch this post, but I'm no expert. Look up the DIY bubble cloner and how to transplant from that to a 5 gallon (or 3 gal) bucket and go with a SOG-style method. You will NOT regret it, but like I said... I'll keep up with your post and answer any questions that I can.

^

ive tried this with the blue packs, but stopped as i had the problem that they float and danger damaging the plants' roots. i guess you could stick them down somehow, but i couldnt work it out. or maybe it doesnt matter that they float about, but i was too paranoid about it and quite frankly couldnt be bothered to swop them out all the time.

xrayspecs said:

^

ive tried this with the blue packs, but stopped as i had the problem that they float and danger damaging the plants' roots. i guess you could stick them down somehow, but i couldnt work it out. or maybe it doesnt matter that they float about, but i was too paranoid about it and quite frankly couldnt be bothered to swop them out all the time.

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Sorry... I should have also said to tie a fishing line around them tightly and weigh them down with a fishing weight... I've got a buddy that did that and forgot to put the lead weight in a super-small baggie (the size of a gram or so of bud) and he had some problems after about a week... it took us FOREVER to figure out what it was..

I really hope someone on here can help keep you into buckets... I can't figure out why you're having such bad problems...

I use grey buckets from Lowe's (6 bucks each!) with white lids and they work fine for me. My 1000w HPS stays at least two feet away from the lids at all times and they are on carpet and NOT insulated.

An easy way to add more oxygen, although it kills beneficial microbes and bacteria, is to use the brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide. H202, when used properly (read 1TABLESPPON/ 5 gallons) adds PLENTY of oxygen and helps to keep things clean. The only problem with this is that it's pretty impossible to go organic.

A portable A/C unit would keep ambient temperatures down, but would also suck out humidity, so a humidifier would be needed.

A water chiller would cost big bucks but would DEFINITELY pay for itself in one or two harvests.... (I'm the guy that buys big saying "I'll be repayed in a couple of months")

If you decide to switch to another hydro method, forget aeroponics, you would definitely need a water chiller with a magnetic pump running 24/7....

Looks like you might have to go ebb n flood. I had ONE really great harvest going this route, but you have more equipment to run, check, and clean also: water pump and hoses (filter on it, too), air pump and stones, and the return line... and the timer.

One problem I ran into while doing ebb n flood: I bought the timer from Radioshack... the one with the red and green on/off switches... I was limited to two feedings a day until I bought another so I could have more pins. I highly suggest a digital timer with a battery back up that has ONE MINUTE increments. Feed for 15-20 minutes - 6 times a day.

That's how I've done things. I'm still lurking in the shadows like the guy from the D.A.R.E. commercials, but I'm trying to help (that's what he said)!

I ran into the same problem you are having. I was able to add a reservoir and a pump that is outside my grow area, that pumps water to my main root reservoir, I added two more airstones and it has done wonders for temperatures and it also lets me mess with PH, Temps, fertilizers and top off the reservoir when the lights are out. I added about 5 times the amount of water to my system by doing this everything became much more stable, including temperatures.


Good luck.

ok im back already. your right, the frozen bottles are becoming a lot of work. i'd rather fix this temp problem rather than switch to a completley different growing style. so here it is, chillers are kinda pricey, even on ebay. u can get a used little 12 pack fridge for 20 bucks, maby less. you know, the little ones you can fit maby 2 12 packs into? ok, im getting one today, gonna drill 2 holes in it with my water line going into it and then out of it, but i am going to coil the fuck out of my line inside the fridge so there is a lot of waterline stuffed into the fridge. hopefully this works, i dont see why it wouldnt. i am determined to fix this minor problem to continue on with TRUE DWC.

try gallon jugs lol

I think we need some pics..u seem to have gotten lots of info on how to cool your tank..and nothings working?
to much light to close or what??...hard to relize the tank is getting super hot..but the plant is fine!!???
usually its the other way around..

lazy88 said:

I think we need some pics..u seem to have gotten lots of info on how to cool your tank..and nothings working?
to much light to close or what??...hard to relize the tank is getting super hot..but the plant is fine!!???
usually its the other way around..

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I tried frozen water bottles, h202 and hygrozyme. The res temps were around 68-70 degrees the reservoirs were painted and covered with reflective tape and I kept the 600w light about 36 inches above the reservoir.

But I lost the plants about 3 weeks ago, its a shame even after only flowering for 3 weeks I just tried a little bit of the bud that was put off and it was not bad.

I used Elmer's spray adhesive on the top of my res and put mylar down and cut around it so it reflects the light off the top. Baboom boom boom it worked great my temps dropped a couple degrees Celsius right to where they should be. I keep my cooltube about 6-10" from the top of the res right now since my plants are just seedlings. I don't think I'll be having too many hot water problems.