Pros and Cons Of DWC?

Miracle Smoke said:

I'm thinking of going to DWC,
but i would like to know a few things.

Is yield substantially higher with DWC than soil?
yes
Will i need to fill/change the water
every day if so how many hours
can it go before i have to fill it up
with more water?
that depends on the size container you use, plant size, and number of plants per container. i like to use big res's, because they are easier to get and keep everything stable, but you can use smaller containers if they fit your space better. i have used a 50 gallon res with 50 small plants (SOG) and had to top off once a week,, ive also used the same res with 12 big plants (4' or so) and had to add water every 3 days.
and i always completely change my water every 2 weeks.
How much water does it use?
see previous answer
Can i get rid of that chemical
taste.
yes just flush and cure
And if you can what are the disadvantages and other
advantages with DWC.
the biggest disadvantage to DWC over soil and most other hydro setups is keeping water temps right. DWCs are very picky about res temps. and IMHO the biggest deciding factor on high yields and happy plants for most DWCs growers. if you cant keep your res temps in the 60's i wouldnt mess with a DWC.

a big advantage to DWCs are the fast growth rate and there really arent to many ways for it to mess up. the only thing that can (and will) go out are the air pumps. just try to keep at least 1 pump for a backup and your set. some people like to use 1 big air pump, but im not much of a fan of that. when you use just 1 if it goes out you have to notice and replace it fairly fast or the plants are goners. in the 50 gallon res i was talking about before i use 4 dual outlet a outlet pumps so if 1 burns out my plants will be fine for days without replacing the pump.
Thank you.

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hope this helps and good luck

wafflehouselover said:

if u go with multi dwc, its best to use a control and res. if the plant is huge and you have a small bucket, you'll have to water every 2-3 days, especially at the near end of flowering cycle. "everything else is good, just make sure that it has enough air bubbles to support the amount of plants you put into the dwc, and the temps will correct itself when you correct the temp of your grow space."

another con is when a plant gets way too big you'll have to support it and its a lil bit annoying when you have to lift the lid to a huge ass plant and watering it, but its doable.

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wafflehouselover said:

Where did you read that from lol.
where did i read what exactly from?
Anyway look in my gallery, that room was at 85 degree throughout the grow with 2 dwc, and not only that the 2 dwc i had 1 264pump in there each to circulate the water(so that pump puts on more heat). not to bad, but could be much better. a few small tweeks and you can replace those beer bottle sized colas with footballs sized lol. So obviously you feel victim to the water chiller company that probably put it out there that your res temp has to be 70- degree. i never said it "had" to be less than 70, i said 70 plus is asking for trouble. and i also said that there are tons or DIY chillers out there, so dont go buy 1 when you can make 1 much cheaper. And i do agree with you that the water in the res will eventually be the same temp as the ambient temperature, but when its nighttime the water cools and when the lights turn on and the room heats up the water temp will take awhile till it get to that temp this is because plastic isn't a heat conductor. it also isnt much of an insulator either. and i said the average ambient temp. if you run 90's in the day and 80's at night your res will average around 85.

70degree? i think fdd would call this BS! i think fdd or any other 1/2 way responsible member of this forum would know enough to not tell some1 thinking about trying a grow technique new to them that everything will be fine when it wont or could be much better with a few small tweeks.

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wafflehouselover said:

well obviously you never grew dwc because algae doesn't grow in the bucket, oh wait its just really known that algae doesn't grow at all if light isn't present.

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Miracle Smoke said:

Alright,
but i plan on growing 4 plants maximum
under a 600w hid and possibly along
with 8 65w cfls for side lighting.

Is this overkill or should i try to fit
atleast 5-6 plants? (my space is 2ft
(width x 5.5ft length)

I don't know about mulitsystem
as i thought about just going
with individual system
for each plant.

Like this

GENERAL HYDROPONICS

Please feel free to
lend out any more information.

Thx

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th3bigbad said:

a 600 watt lamp will reach about a foot down into your canopy. that means good hard nuggs for the first foot then youll get lighter airy buds the closer to the bottom you get. the 600w will get a good 3'x3' footprint on the top of the canopy. so you want to plan your growing style around a 3'x3'x1' (LengthxWidthxDepth into the canopy) harvest. if you grow 4 plants 12' tall you will still only get good bud on the top foot of the plant. or if you grow 20 plants 2' tall your still getting good bud on only the top foot of them.
with the size of the buckets you posted you could grow a 12' tall plant, but your harvest wouldnt be all that great. you could grow alot more smaller plants in something like a 20 gallon rubbermade tote and have a lot better harvest.

unless you want to do a SCROG, then the outcome will change some. but with the long veg time it really wouldnt be worth it IMHO.

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Gygax1974 said:

An ounce per plant isn't unrealistic at all with 4 plants you could get a QP I would think.

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