Just saying hello and getting too know new ppl

Things seem a bit dead here in the dwc area. Just say hello and maybe give a little bit of your background in dwc/rdwc and why you started growing.

I'm going to be starting my 3rd rdwc. I struggled with my first two grows and went back to soil for a bit. Getting read to start my 3rd. Hope I figure it out lol

Easier than soil but needs daily checking,i like that, gives me something to do every day.more flowers in hydro. You know allways how much is in the medium and how much she is eating.

Easy to "flush" if you fuck up.plant is allways optimally hydrated.never have the overwater under water.

My first hydro got 8g haha made a few mistakes and i had my first run in a micro box soo it wasnt that horible learned not to feed too much grow is good when you give nutes every day instead give water to lower ppm

I've done a lot of DWC grows since '01 and found it so much easier that playing in the dirt.

The last few years I've migrated to soilless with hydro nutes and a couple years ago began experimenting with organics in my ProMix HP and kinda getting the hang of it now.

My focus has gone from yields to breeding and making seeds both regular and feminized with STS.

I did my DWC in Rubbermaid tubs using AN nutes almost exclusively but did try others here and there. When the pH perfect 3-part came along and I used it for a bit I stuck with that for hydro. Never having to check pH is a blessing and the 3-part doesn't usually cost any more than any other. It's the un-needed supplements that cost an arm and leg. I just used the Big Bud for flowering and not lots of that. Some Epsom Salts and any old calmag. With RO water I'd just top up with RO every 3 days, check the ppm and add small amounts of nutes in the same ratio to keep the ppm in my target range. So damn easy and perfect for a lazy old fart.

My last dozen grows I never changed nutes even once and got as good results as changing a few times during a grow. No need for anyone to change weekly or at all until time to flip then a fresh tub of Bloom nutes at higher ppm for the stretch when they feed up to 4x as much and watch 'em explode. Add extra light and CO2 and you can stand there and watch them grow then bust out in buds. before stretch is over.

Definitely the way to grow on limited funds and a need for speed.

It seems that DWC either does great for you or is total shite. Kinda like me with dirt so I use no real dirt just promix and organic nutes like manures and Gaia Green type stuff. Lot more work than DWC.

Good luck!

Good to hear from you guys lets keep it going

What about you?

My first grow(before actually studying growing) was a joke at best. This was in 2018 and I tried with local dirt, and had no clue what I was doing or when she was done, so I just let her go. When I finally decided to harvest her, I was so leary of what I grew that I didn't even try any. I actually still have what I "harvested"as a reminder of how bad I was and how much I've improved.

I went from disappointed in dirt to 6 individual DWC cells. And loved it. Knowing that there isn't enough chems to burn your girls is rather calming. The Ph maintenance is a PITA, but, I found that if you hang a tea ball filled with crushed eggshells in the turbulence of the bubbler, Ph stabilized around 6.2. A little on the high side, I know, but the girls didn't seem mind.

I've moved on to coco last year and it may be a little slower than DWC, but it's also more forgiving. With moisture retaining tops i can go 2-3 days with out watering and with using #growdots i don't have to mess with feeds and Ph and rez temps. So I'm still technically hydro, but with the amount of microbes I use i may be getting closer to soil. Although I am considering a test run in a hybrid DRZ (dual root zone) system using my old DWC setup. But I have to build my stash back up from "Mite War 1" first.

I did soil for about 5 years. Hated watering and like the idea of rdwc. Bought everything under the sun I thought I would need and still landed flat on my face. I tried doing the Sterile route with uc roots to keep things clean but got algae. Turns out my top of res was the issue. No lid on it so it was opened to the lights. Going to try southern ag gff this time. Still need to clean everything. How would one clean a chiller tho?

Bleach is your friend.
Are you talking about the coils? An air compressor blows dust off beautifully, but do it outside, it makes a mess.

I've just done my first DWC, it was always going to be an experimental/test run as a first timer, theres a lot to learn but once you nail it its easy.

Safe to say I totally did not nail it, but still got great results (I think for a first timer) and know I know a lot more about what to do next time around.
Theres a lot of theory to take on board to start with, and some stuff you cant really learn by reading, you just have to do it and get some practical experience, get a feel for your nute, ph and EC balance.

You can see my progress here https://www.rollitup.org/t/c-vibes-cbd-skunk-haze-dwc.1080949/

For example I leaned heavily on a peroxide product called silver bullet to keep my water clean, but I also learned a hell of a lot so shouldnt need to rely so much next time.

I think its an awsome way of growing and wont go back to soil now.

C-vibes and CBD skunk/haze hybrid in pics below



How would one clean a chiller tho?

I have this chiller https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1035148/Hailea-Hc-100-A.html?page=8#manual

There are air filters on the unit which you can detach and clean like a regular hoover/vacume filter etc, but to clean the internals you pump water (mild peroxide solution to kill any bugs) through it backwards, it doesn't have a pump built in, you use an external pump like this,
so you can just swap the hoses over.

Also be sure to use an inline filter on the inlet as per the diagram above, to prevent any large particles being drawn in during regular operation.

Johiem said:

The Ph maintenance is a PITA

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This is why I love the ph Perfect AN nutes. I NEVER checked or worried about pH using them in DWC and the same using them in pots of ProMix HP.

I used the older version of AN 3-part for years and only had to adjust pH each time I topped up and it was so predictable that I'd only check the pH every 3 top-ups. but at each top-up I'd add 4 or 5 drops of 96% sulphuric acid which would bring it down to around 5.4. 3 days later it would rise to 6.3. That swing in pH is supposed to be good for the plants as it makes various nutrients more available at different pH levels.

OldMedUser said:

My last dozen grows I never changed nutes even once and got as good results as changing a few times during a grow. No need for anyone to change weekly or at all until time to flip then a fresh tub of Bloom nutes at higher ppm for the stretch when they feed up to 4x as much and watch 'em explode. Add extra light and CO2 and you can stand there and watch them grow then bust out in buds. before stretch is over.



Good luck!

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Also this! you don't need to change your rez if you got things dialled in, aside from switching from veg fert to bloom fert.
Its a bit of a balancing act but adding fert will bring PH down, and raise EC/ppm, you can just add plain water to bring ph closer to neutral and lower EC/ppm.

In an emergency you can very carefully add PH up or down chems, depending on your situation, but you shouldn't need to use them as a matter of course, only if things go really sideways.

futurebanjo said:

Also this! you don't need to change your rez if you got things dialled in, aside from switching from veg fert to bloom fert.
Its a bit of a balancing act but adding fert will bring PH down, and raise EC/ppm, you can just add plain water to bring ph closer to neutral and lower EC/ppm.

In an emergency you can very carefully add PH up or down chems, depending on your situation, but you shouldn't need to use them as a matter of course, only if things go really sideways.

Click to expand...

Using the AN pH Perfect nutes I never even had to think about pH. I would allow the ppm to drop some then a week before I wanted to flip boost it up with all 3 nutes and a half dose of Big Bud then add the other half at the flip. For the stretch I'd set my fan control to allow up to 90F, add extra light and burn my DIY alcohol lamp to boost CO2 over 1500 and the plants would just explode. Once the stretch was over then go back to what I was doing at late veg but feed more Lucas Formula style to reduce N.

I rigged up supports on a tub to hold a rectangle of sheep fencing over the tub to run a ScroG and that worked really good doubling my yield from one plant to 8oz of dry bud and about the same in sugar trim from one plant. Could have used a larger screen to get even more. Tied the grow tips to the top of the screen and when they grew out to the edge would let them get a few inches long then carefully turn it around to aim it back in and tie down again with twist ties. I must have vegged for 4 months overlapping branches before flipping so time/yield isn't so great.

The screen hangs on baling wire so it can 'float' as the plant grows in height to prevent upwards pressure on the screen like a solid frame to hold the screen would.





I used a plant that was already growing in a 2L plastic tobacco can. I drilled a bunch of holes in another one and used it as a DIY net pot after cutting a couple inches off the rootball and folding some snow fencing to stuff in the bottom to keep the rootball up and away from the bottom.



Just a couple days after getting it going.



The end.

OldMedUser said:

... This is why I love the ph Perfect AN nutes. I NEVER checked or worried about pH using them in DWC and the same using them in pots of ProMix HP ...

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Until a few minutes ago, I thought that Pro Mix HP stuff you mentioned gave me a very nice root mass.

Nothing like that though.

futurebanjo said:

Also this! you don't need to change your rez if you got things dialled in, aside from switching from veg fert to bloom fert.

Its a bit of a balancing act but adding fert will bring PH down, and raise EC/ppm, you can just add plain water to bring ph closer to neutral and lower EC/ppm.



In an emergency you can very carefully add PH up or down chems, depending on your situation, but you shouldn't need to use them as a matter of course, only if things go really sideways.

Click to expand...

How do you dial a rdwc in? Give it notes ph the water and keep it cool?

StareCase said:

Until a few minutes ago, I thought that Pro Mix HP stuff you mentioned gave me a very nice root mass.

Nothing like that though.

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I'm cheating there tho. I put 4 clones in each of those 5" net pots so 16 plants in one tub. 16 in the other as well. Row on the left has two in each 3.5" net pot.

stiffnuts12 said:

How do you dial a rdwc in? Give it notes ph the water and keep it cool?

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Yeah.. 'dial it in' is probably the wrong way to say it, you realy want to fluctuate within an acceptable range, so ideally when you add more nutes it will bring your PH down, then let ph rise, the plants will be drinking so just adding water will do that untill ph gets to high, by which time EC will be low(er) so you add more nutes and that brings the ph down again, and raises EC..so its's kind of a cycle.

Obviously that's just the feeding aspect of the balancing act, assuming you've got lights, ventilation, humidity under control too.

im liking the thread, i will call it home. im switching over the dwc my next grow and why not ill keep it all updated here. if we dont care? we will learn this thing together, im going with the kiss method with the maxibloom i believe,experiment with a sea of green type setup, 4 5gallon buckets- 3 plants per bucket(each bucket has its own strain) 600w hps, 4x4. all feminised seed from Royal Queen Seeds. strains will be Skunk XL, White Widow, Special Kush1, Critical. stay tuned for updates

OldMedUser said:

... I'm cheating there tho ...

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Like your honesty. But I'm still loving the look of those thick AF roots.

stiffnuts12 said:

I'm going to be starting my 3rd rdwc. I struggled with my first two grows and went back to soil for a bit. Getting read to start my 3rd. Hope I figure it out lol

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Ask anything here , you just might end up with better results than ever.