noob DWC question PLZ help!

I have a grow going in soil however for my next grow Im going to be building one of those DIY 5 gal Bucket DWCs. My question is some of the ones I've seen have a tube along side the bucket some dont , I need to know the purpose of that tube before i can decide weither or not i need it. I assume its for water level purposes but i could be wrong i also have a hunch its used to feed nutrients in but hell IDK lol thats why im asking also if any of you have used DWC is there a potentcy lost vs soil Never mind taste I mainly care about Potentcy. Thanks all

K.I.S.S. it is for checking water level, but absolutely not needed and another area for a leak. all you need is a bucket, air pump, stone, air line, and a 2"+ net pot. i drill a hole in center of lid for plant and another to the side of lid i stick another 2" netpot in with a collar and feed airline through it. when needing to check readings or levels just lift out the airline pot. i also poke 4 holes in large lip on bucket and use pull to length wire tie to secure plant. when changing nutes i have another bucket ready and mix nutes in it, remove lid from old bucket lifting plant and airstone and putting on new bucket.

I have been using dwc for years. I started with home depot bucket and lid. Cut hole in lid big enough for net pot you are using. I use 4". Cut small hole for air line in lid. Even if only 1/4 bucket has bubbles that is enough. No less than 3L pump for 5 gal. Make net half way in water. As roots grow a lot of times my medium doesn't touch water.. just roots. Make sure you cover your medium from light and that also keeps moisture in and lets roots grow everywhere. Now I use a 5 gal lid with bucket built in and drilled hole for air hose and filling if need be with a cordless drill and a 2" hole cutter for metal (the wood bits that look like sharp straight spoon don't cut even). Don't need a hose for water level.. I just lift edge of bucket and get water levels and root porn. Also if you cover the bucket with alluminum foil or anything to block light the roots will grow better and mold can't grow on bottom of res. I have never had mold grow in res without blocking light thought and I used 1000w hps then and 600w now.

imo has no effect on potency.



BEECH

Thanks for all your input and knowledge it deff seems DWC is the way foward people are getting 2 and 3 oz from autoflowers! which is sooo great cause i grow autoflowers so potentcy and yeild are big to me cause thats where autos lack at! but thanks to all

I think I will skip the Level Line on my build however now Im curious when roots get really big and you need to add water or add nutes what is the best way to do this? @superstoner1 i see you use a seperate bucket im thinking of having and whole extra set up that i dont use with no nutes inside of it just to transplant until i sort out water level and ph/nutes in actual plant bucket ...also how often do you uys have to add water and nutes typically?

i change the bucket every 7-10 days and never add to a bucket.

sounds like a great idea

On the home depot buckets there are two rings on the outside toward the top. The lowest ring is about an inch from the very top. I fill to this line. If you watch your ppm's.. you will notice water goes way faster than nutes. As the water level goes down ppm's will go up. I just keep adding ro water until the topped off ppm's is 150-200 lower than it started or the ph starts bouncing around. The ph normally stays at one point. To add nutes I think about how much I need, mix to right ppm and ph then just add that to bucket. You can fix high or low ph this way.. if adding 2 gallons to 3 gallons that is 6.0 ph.. make your 2 gallons around 5.1 ph.. stuff like that. Sometimes the ph never goes off balance and I have even added a couple hundred ppm every so often.. I try to change the water every month. But the way I grow.. the plants end up drinking so fast by month 2 that there is no point in changing new nutes out because you're adding 1/3 to 1/2 your whole res every 2 days. Know what I mean?

If I do add ppm's I add even amount of everything. If my full strength makes 1 gallon 1600ppm.. and I only need to add 200ppm to the 5 gallons.. I will times 200 by how many gallons, so 5 would be 1000ppm. I now know I need 5/8 full strength.. so divide those tsp's and ml's.. add the nutes to about 2 cups of water.. or more if the bucket is not topped off.. then pour it in. mix it. check results. I only recommend not checking your water ph and ppm if you have experimented with your nutes and how much ppm's they give at each dose.

yea thanks alot!! i know i will have to do alot of experimenting and most of all i will have to test after everything since itll be my first time ill probably be checking levels every 3 or 4 hours lol

if your ppm is rising as water level falls the problem you need to correct is having too much nutes to start with. it should stay close.

Canieva said:

I think I will skip the Level Line on my build however now Im curious when roots get really big and you need to add water or add nutes what is the best way to do this? @superstoner1 i see you use a seperate bucket im thinking of having and whole extra set up that i dont use with no nutes inside of it just to transplant until i sort out water level and ph/nutes in actual plant bucket ...also how often do you uys have to add water and nutes typically?

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When my plants hit growth spurt at 2-3 weeks of Flower it can drink as much as a gallon a day.
I add back just h2o,the second time i need to add a gallon i adjust with nutes to my desired level.
Its really not accurate levels because you dont know which and how much of each it has used,but ive done it this way for yrs.


Do complete after half or 10 days



BEECH

Canieva said:

yea thanks alot!! i know i will have to do alot of experimenting and most of all i will have to test after everything since itll be my first time ill probably be checking levels every 3 or 4 hours lol

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Screw using airstones. They are crap magnets and unneeded. Simply weight the end of the air line down. KISS. Good luck on that every 3 or 4 hour thing if it keeps you entertained. You will have fun and be surprised at the growth!!

thanks i might need it i have roomates and its winter thats good cuz now my temps in my room are good well one of my roomates decided to turn the heat on lol i woke up and thought kinda toasty in here then it hit me i jumped outta bed ran to my closet and checked my temp lol like having kids in a way it was funny afterward heart racing i ran thoes 6 feet of distance soo fast lol