Need advice on DWC

Facts about setup:

Two 7 gallon DWC bubbler setups under 270 Watt Superagro HPS bulb. Well ventilated at 76 - 77 degrees / 40% RH on 18/6 light cycle. 3 Mandala Satori, 1 Mandala Hashberry started from seeds. Plants first poked their heads up about 2 weeks ago and they've been growing quickly. R/O water with Botanicare supplements (Pro Grow, Liquid Karma, Hydroguard, Cal Mag). Started out with 1/4 recommended dosage for seedlings/clones for first week of growth and everthing was fine. (Ph was in 5.8 - 6.0 range and TDS PPMs were in the 300 range'). Did reservoir change and kicked it up to about 2/3 strength of recommended dosage for vegetative (about 4 days ago when plants got their 4th and 5th sets of leaves). Ph was kept in the 5.8 - 6.0 range and PPMs were brought up to the 850ish level (At recommended dosage it would have been well over 1000, but I've been trying to keep it conservative on nute strength). About 2 - 3 days ago, I started to notice signs of nute toxicity and overwatering with droopy looking plants and leaves showing "The Claw" look. I have since diluted the nutes down to the 650 PPM range and have added 2 more airstones (4 total now, 1 under each plant). The additional airstones perked the plants up temporarily, but a couple have since started looking droopy again. Also, newer and older leaves are getting wrinkly looking and they are curling inward with the claw look.

Any advice? I've tried to be so careful and conservative about not overdoing the nutes and I've been very diligent about Ph, Temp, Ventilation, PPMs, etc

Have you looked at your roots?

Yes, roots look very good. Growing very quickly, bright & white, and they are in direct flow of the airstones. The airstones are on a couple of high power air pumps and are producing tons of bubbles and high water flow in the tanks.

I'm lost, cause whenever mine looked droopy it was either the res was too warm or not enough air.

SmokerE said:

I'm lost, cause whenever mine looked droopy it was either the res was too warm or not enough air.

Click to expand...

Me too! I can't seem to figure it out. What do you think about the claw thing? I don't see how they can be overnuted, but seems like they are.

whats the water temp?

That's one thing I haven't been checking. However, if the ambient air temperature is in the mid - high 70s, I would assume it's about the same.

When I change my res sometimes they droop like that.

I figured out (in my case) that it was time to lower the res fill level. If the roots are coming out of the mesh pot....there's no need to fill until the solution reaches the mesh pot.

Ideally roots should hang from mesh pot and dangle in the water....not be completely submerged.

Try that and see what happens.

BSIv2.0 said:

When I change my res sometimes they droop like that.

I figured out (in my case) that it was time to lower the res fill level. If the roots are coming out of the mesh pot....there's no need to fill until the solution reaches the mesh pot.

Ideally roots should hang from mesh pot and dangle in the water....not be completely submerged.

Try that and see what happens.

Click to expand...

BSI has to be right on this, good call BSI.

That thing is CHUNKY

BSIv2.0 said:

When I change my res sometimes they droop like that.

I figured out (in my case) that it was time to lower the res fill level. If the roots are coming out of the mesh pot....there's no need to fill until the solution reaches the mesh pot.

Ideally roots should hang from mesh pot and dangle in the water....not be completely submerged.

Try that and see what happens.

Click to expand...

You're not going to believe this, but for the first week or so, the fill level was up to the bottom of the mesh pot. When I diluted the nutes down and added the airstone, I also removed about 1 gallon from each tank and the water level has been about 1 - 1.5 inches below the bottom of the mesh pot since.

However, now that they've had a couple of days at lower nutes and more air, the Satoris are looking better, but the Hashberry is looking about the same. The HB is still growing, but is exhibiting a more droopy look still.

Timmy: I know, they ARE chunky. Almost too chunky. Is this because of the strains or the Botanicare supplements? Anyone know?

I've been diluting the nutes down even more since I posted and they're looking a lot better. I'm going flush them with Clearex today and let the system run for a bit. Then I'm going to fill with pure R/O and slowly step the nutes up to the 300 ppm level over the next 24 - 48 hours. Sound good?

Here they are 36 hours since I took the pics at the top of this thread (hard to believe these little bastards are only 2 weeks old):