Hydro problems

I've been growing using 4" PVC pipe, water sprays in on one side and drains out the other with about 2" of water in the pipe. I had four pipes side by side 8' long with 3 HPS on a light rail and Co2 with great success. Now I supper sized it....I have 4 pipes side by side 19' long with 6 lights and Co2, and now I get a good harvest but not a great one like I did before. I have been reading about DO and I'm thinking maybe the pipes are so long that I don't get good O2 to the roots, if so how do I improve the O2. I use the continual harvest method and I noticed on the new setup there is brown crap in the pipes....must be from the roots. any one have any in put.
Thanks

...what's your res. temps?
....do you use a bubble stone in your res.?
....ever tried peroxide in your res.?

trichlone fiend said:

...what's your res. temps?
....do you use a bubble stone in your res.?
....ever tried peroxide in your res.?

Click to expand...

I haven't used a thermometer but it must be close to the room temp of 80 deg in the day and 70 at night. and yes I use a stone but they seem to get clogged easy, maybe from the nutes. I have heard of using peroxide but never have....I'm not sure if that would help or hurt them

wowsers. I think we need even more info.

Is the water constantly on? How big is your reservoir(s)? Are all the plants bad, or just the ones toward the end?

I'd wager heavy on low DO. You can put airstones in your channels... or introduce nute solution at different intervals...

Get a chiller for an investment like that you can daisy chain to multiple reservoirs.

Well... I'm not sure a chiller would work for 19' of PVC? It will be hard to control the water temp in the tubes during lights on, for a run that long. But usually, a chiller is the way to go, as colder water holds DO better than warmer watter and airtones. Still, I would recommend airtones in your chambers as well.

19' bro! That's long. You know the 8 footers work, maybe you could cut the new setup in half, lol.

You will get better answers with more info. To beat a dead horse
What is wrong with the harvest now, compared with before?

repvip said:

wowsers. I think we need even more info.

Is the water constantly on? How big is your reservoir(s)? Are all the plants bad, or just the ones toward the end?

I'd wager heavy on low DO. You can put airstones in your channels... or introduce nute solution at different intervals...

Get a chiller for an investment like that you can daisy chain to multiple reservoirs.

Click to expand...

yes the water is running all the time. The reservoir is about 25 gal. and it's only about 1/4 full when the pipes are full of water, just incase the power goes off the water wont over flow the reservoir. the plants seem to be all the same...they don't get as frosty with resin as they did before. no I dont have air stones in the pipes, they seem to get clogged up...maybe it's the Nutes. Yes I was thinking about cutting them down to two 8' sections. but first Ill try a venturi to see if I can get more DO into the water. If any one has any ideas feel free to add your two cents.

Thanks