First grow in any form! Chime in if you feel you can help.

Hi all and welcome to my diary! Feel free to chime in and give tips as you see fit. I can take a bashing don't be afraid to speak up. I'm pretty clueless though I have tried reading up on things before I started.

As title says its my first grow, and this is most definite going to be a nerve wrecking ride. It's only been a couple of weeks and I'm already searching all over the Internet looking for solutions to my problems. When I'm not doing that I'm building my growroom. This is pretty exhausting stuff but man - I'm loving it

English is my second language so if it suck a bit you know why.

That's it for now. I'll add some info and pictures at a later point

List of my nutrients etc:

ATA Awa leaves A&B
ATA Awa max A&B
ATA Calmag
ATA Rootfast
B'cuzz bloom stimulator
B'cuzz bloombastic
Botanicare Hydroguard
Cannacure
Vitalink pH up
Vitalink pH down

I use tap water which is 0.07 EC.
Don't know what it contains.

Growsystem:

My to be mother/s are placed in buckets (20L) with one airstone (15cm) in each driven by an air pump giving about 700L per hour to each.

My grow will be RDWC. 5 of the same buckets (4 grow 1 control) and a 80L tub as top up reservoir. Airstone and waterfall in each grow bucket. The airpump are giving only 380L per hour to each of the grow buckets. Hoping the waterfall will make up for it. 13mm (inside diameter) hoses for the waterfalls driven by a 1000L/H waterpump, and 19mm for the gravity drain back to control. I know this is a bit undersized for drain but it's what I got atm. Hope it doesn't clog too often and if so I'll add a second set of return lines further up at the waterline.


Lights:

Platinum leds P300 for mother/s with only veg switch on.

3x 240W Quantum Board 3500k LM301H 660nm epistar + UV & IR for my grow room covering 1x1m - 1.3x1.3m.

I haven't hung up the 3 QBs nor built the RDWC system yet so very open to any suggestions to grow areal and ways to make the RDWC. And do you think the extra return lines at water lvl will work out?

I do like the idea of having my control bucket outside the growroom. It's just a simple wooden plate wall to go through so not much distance added but control gained on what's going on inside without bothering my plants during dark time or whenever.

Lightly panicking!
I noticed just now that there is a biofilm In the water, and some cloudy drops of water on the lid. Can the biofilm just be my hydroguard? Look pictures below for both. Haven't changed the water for about 10 days (when I put them in buckets) maybe it's time? Thought maybe I could go full 14 days before changing but not so sure anymore.



The roots have also been getting a darker colour the past couple days and seems like my little plant is drooping more than before. I've been told the yellowing of the veins is mg deficiency. See below.



If anyone have an idea of what is causing this and solutions I highly appreciate any input! All pictures taken just now.

Some extra info to help diagnosing:
RH 41%
Temperature 22-23c in the room, don't know in the water but prob about the same.

P300 light is about 77cm(30inch) from top canopy. Recommended is 36-40 for seedlings. They are on 24/7

PH were 5.8 but I changed it up to 6.4 for better uptake of magnesium.
EC has rose up to 0.34 from 0.27 after I added calmag.

Ok little update and couple questions at the end.

Since last update two days ago bio-film was still there PLUS there was some sort of foam at the edge of water lvl. Can't tell if the roots got darker. Had the same water for 2 weeks so I changed it today and will start changing weekly I think. The bio-film and foam was slippery. When I lifted my airstones out of the buckets I noticed my airhose was also quite slippery below water lvl and kinda slimy furthest down. Smelled my hand after touching it and it does indeed have an unpleasant smell to it.

I swapped the buckets, hoses and airstones with new ones. I put airstones and hydroguard in the new water yesterday and let it run air through it until today when I mixed nutes and put the plants in them. I forgot to adjust pH before adding hydroguard. Don't know if pH of 7.5 will kill it or if its any use adding hydroguard the day before adding rest but thought it couldn't hurt.

Also spotted new leaf symptoms(see pics at the end).
Some kind of brown spots on both plants(mostly bottom leaves) and some brightning of colour on top leaves on one plant.
The bottom leaves drooping even more than before to the point that it actually touch the stem.

Dropped the light 15cm today, measured it at 60cm above top of plants. Still only veg switch on.

Air temp around 24 Celsius.
RH around 42%

The nutrient solution(1/8 of max rec):
0.5ml/L ATA leaves a+b
0.5ml/L Hydroguard
0.125ml/L Calmag
21-22 drops of Easy pH down
EC 0.30 pH 6.2

So what the hell is going on. I read and read and still really don't know, hoping someone else does:

What is causing the brown spots?

What is causing the brightening of top leaves?

Do I need to worry about the bottom leaves drooping/curling and what is causing this?

Is the slime bad bacteria/algea? And if so, might this be the reason for leaves symptoms?

Just realised they've only been in same water for 12 days not 14. They are 3 weeks old this Friday.

I'm a new grower myself, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I've heard of certain nutrient mixes foaming up in DWC and it being "normal", I've never done it myself, so I can't say with certainty.

On several of your photos, there appear to be small white dots on the surface of the leaves. Do you know if you have a pest problem?

Have you considered growing in a soilless medium? If DWC hydro works best for you, keep at it, but I've had several people tell me growing in hydro has a higher learning curve and can require more work ((not to mention, money)) that needs put in; and to start with something simple like coco coir or perlite, and work your way into the more complex growing methods like aero and hydro. Just a tip, but it could help to deal with less complexity at first.

I appreciate the input even so, thx for ur time

Dont think its my nutrient, as the foam is only in one bucket.

Think the dots is just tiny reflections when I use blitz. Tried looking at them with a magnifying glass and it looks like tiny tiny hair. Without the bright blitz I can't even see them.

I bought all I need to run rdwc so money wise this is my best bet atm. And I really like the growing in water approach even if it will be hard for me in the beginning. I've read countless hours on growing in water and their systems, compared to almost nothing on growing in coco.

PH 6.8 in both when I checked a min ago. Some drops of pH down, pH 6.4 now. Don't know if it's the pen or pH really fluctuating that much, or what would be worst lol.

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Destroyer of chairs said:

List of my nutrients etc:

ATA Awa leaves A&B
ATA Awa max A&B
ATA Calmag
ATA Rootfast
B'cuzz bloom stimulator
B'cuzz bloombastic
Botanicare Hydroguard
Cannacure
Vitalink pH up
Vitalink pH down

I use tap water which is 0.07 EC.
Don't know what it contains.

Click to expand...

You asked for cold, hard opinions, so here's one... you've gone way overboard with nutrients there. A lot of money tossed down the toilet for things that aren't needed.

A & B and in some cases, a bottle of Cal-Mag or equivalent, with the pH Up and Down. That's it. You can use some extra K & P for a couple of weeks in flower for a bit of a boost, but it's not necessarily required.

All the best with your grow. It looks like you've done some investigation, and that's good.

Thx for the input no hard feelings
I knew I didn't need all of what I bought nutrient wise, but wanted to have as much as I could in case of defiencies.
The other stuff I see as preventive for rot and pests, and for a speedy growth.

Thx man I really did but I'm still kinda lost. Any thoughts about my plant symptoms?

Where do you keep your hygrometer?

On top of my buckets.

I'm asking because I was wondering if the light is hitting it and the general temps of the water, the room, the roots, etc

Have you posted in the DWC forum also? https://www.rollitup.org/f/dwc-bubbleponics.92/

When I entered my room today the wall thermostat were 26c and the hygrometer on top of my bucket read 26c. As I don't have a chiller (or thermometer for my water) and suspect high temps, I put my buckets in a tub of cold water to get it down.

The pH were still at 6.4 so that's nice. But considering they have been in 6.2+ range since Monday I worked it down to 6.0, and will probably make it go even lower by the end of the day. Just to make sure all nutrients are available.

Brown spotting still progressing but look like the bright colour on the other stopped. Still there but not progressing. Got some pics for you.

The tub


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2. On last pic my blitz stopped working.

No but I posted on plant problems with a link to my diary.

I'm using leds and don't think the light hitting my white meter would rise temps much.

Little update picture update of symptoms and drooping/wilting.

RH 41%
Room temp 24c
PH 6.0
EC 0.29

So PH is very stable but EC have only changed from 0.30 - 0.29 in 3 days, is this normal at this size? 20L buckets filled with 12L.

1st plant:
Spots still progressing on 2nd node leaves and also affecting 3rd node now. There is also some biofilm and foam in the water again. See below.

Roots are not getting darker or progressing very slowly. Stuff floating in the water.


2nd node


3rd node






2nd plant: very small brown spots but nothing compared to the other. Still some bright areas but kinda healthy looking? Biofilm and foam in the water on this one as well though. See below



I really wanna make some like the heisenberg tea to fight the foam/slime/biofilm. Also wondering if I can train them at this state. Thinking of going 8 colas manifold.

Thoughts?

Oh and did change the pH up and down some, this might increase pH I read just now. Maybe why EC is still at almost same value as when mixed?