Putting bubbles in your 'ponics

Ok, here I go
1. You do not need to change your massive res. while growing, just step your nutes every week for your growing period allowing 2 full weeks for a flush.
2. Up your nutes every week by 100-200ppm and during the week fill your res with plain water then add more nutes to get your ppm back to the origional ppm ofthe
week, right in your res
3. change your res two weeks before the end for a flush, just fill everyday and adjust the ph
4. The sunleaves pump is loud as hell but you can use just that one, just but a splitter twice as big as your current one and run those 4' flex lines they are truly
amazing. but your need about 12 of those, not cheap but worth it,
5. Use the floating lid or whatever lid you want, 2" are great if you want to talk a million clones. but they are fine for 2 week veg AND 8-9 week flower, 3" is also good but nothing more because you need to grow in RW longer and thats not what this is, get those roots in the air then water
6. If your nervous about the roots cut the bottom of the net cup a little to make bigger slots but not usually necessary
7. General Hydroponics Dual Diaphragm pump is supreme It is big enough to run 8-12 12" air stones or 8 3'-4' flex wands, flex wands are great for 5 gal buckets
8. cheap air pumps( Wal-mart) and shit are good for about 6 months of constant use then the air bladders rip and they are useless, I can send you a few broken ones if you'd like break down and get a good one off the bat, the cost will only hurt once I promise.
9. You can grow 20-25 with 6 gal of water in 2"cups, works great. or 12 in 3" cups with 5-6 gal of water but bigger the res the more buffer in volume. You can grow 1 in 5 gal of water and only need to check every 3-5 days or 25 that need work daily. Your choice
10. Have fun, this shit is fun to do

The problem with not changing the res weekly is you can adjust the ppms, but ppms are just a small part of the story. Re-setting the res is the only way to know what the nutrient ratio is. Plants can scarf up nutrient A but not much of nutrient B. Then if you just add the full mix to increase ppms you may have too much B and not enough A. Many growers do it both ways with success, this is just my personal rationale.

Plants use a hell of a lot more water than nutes

plus your giving them nutes 2-3 times a week

Is it bad if i grow in an aquarium and theres fish inside ?

This thread is loaded with info! Thanks for creating it Illegal. I was planning on using a water pump in my res and running lines into the net cups until there is soild root growth but after reading all of this I've decided not too. I didn't think the bubbles would create enough water to the newly sprouted seeds. But you're saying the water level in the res is crucial to allowing enough vapor to reach the net pots. I'm gonna take your advice Illegal and do a trial run with a seed-less net pot to decide where my water level should be. I bought a dual outlet air pump from walmart along with two 12" air stones for my res. I hope that creates enough bubbles. If not, I'll just go buy extras. I didn't realize how simple this set up really is. If I'm using distilled water in my res, how much ph fluctuation should I expect? I read somewhere that a dude was having trouble with his ph because he was using tap water...should I or should I not have to worry about the ph level in my res since I'm using a different, cleaner water source?

2012junkie said:

This thread is loaded with info! Thanks for creating it Illegal. I was planning on using a water pump in my res and running lines into the net cups until there is soild root growth but after reading all of this I've decided not too. I didn't think the bubbles would create enough water to the newly sprouted seeds. But you're saying the water level in the res is crucial to allowing enough vapor to reach the net pots. I'm gonna take your advice Illegal and do a trial run with a seed-less net pot to decide where my water level should be. I bought a dual outlet air pump from walmart along with two 12" air stones for my res. I hope that creates enough bubbles. If not, I'll just go buy extras. I didn't realize how simple this set up really is. If I'm using distilled water in my res, how much ph fluctuation should I expect? I read somewhere that a dude was having trouble with his ph because he was using tap water...should I or should I not have to worry about the ph level in my res since I'm using a different, cleaner water source?

Click to expand...

How big is your res? Regardless, you're going to need more than that crappy Walmart pump if you plan on having enough bubble action for this to work. I have the same pump and it is a pile of shit. I wouldn't use it for more than simple oxygenation with a root structure already in the water.

I use tap water and don't have any pH problems. Use proper ph up/down stuff, not vinegar/baking soda nonsense and check regularly and you should be fine.

SickSadLittleWorld said:

How big is your res? Regardless, you're going to need more than that crappy Walmart pump if you plan on having enough bubble action for this to work. I have the same pump and it is a pile of shit. I wouldn't use it for more than simple oxygenation with a root structure already in the water.

I use tap water and don't have any pH problems. Use proper ph up/down stuff, not vinegar/baking soda nonsense and check regularly and you should be fine.

Click to expand...

My res is 14 gallons. I figure thats enough for 6 med to larger plants. It looks like I'm gonna have to upgrade my pump. I suppose I can use the cheap walmart pump for the mean time until I get the new pump. I have the right ph up/down solution so hopefully that doesn't become an issue. I guess I can use tap water afterall. I just want to keep my ph as even as possible because I know thats a critical part of growing.

2012junkie said:

My res is 14 gallons. I figure thats enough for 6 med to larger plants. It looks like I'm gonna have to upgrade my pump. I suppose I can use the cheap walmart pump for the mean time until I get the new pump. I have the right ph up/down solution so hopefully that doesn't become an issue. I guess I can use tap water afterall. I just want to keep my ph as even as possible because I know thats a critical part of growing.

Click to expand...

It's at the start when the bubble action is most critical so I wouldn't plan on using the cheap pump "for now." Set it all up and test it to see if the cube is staying properly wet before germinating! And that really is the key - if the cube stays properly wet, it doesn't matter how it was done. There plenty of ways - drips, pumps and bubbles. With bubbles, you basically have two "controls" - the bubble action and the water level.

As for water, tap water can be fine but know what is in it first. get a report from your water co. Water that is too hard isn't good. I prefer ro water because it removes doubt. On pH don't try to force it. it doesn't have to be as level as you may have been led to believe, in fact it fluctuates naturally. Check it once a day, at the same time of day, and adjust then only.

zigzag6 said:

Is it bad if i grow in an aquarium and theres fish inside ?

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Look up something called aquaponics. The idea is that you pump the water through filters with bacteria that turn the ammonia from the fish poop into nitrates and then nitrites that you then feed to your plants. There are farms that do this and produce a yearly harvest of fish (which can be worth several thousand dollars depending on the fish and the size of the tank), along with monthly crops of hydroponic basil or other leafy greens. You can have much more dense populations of fish since the bacteria are cleaning the water and don't have to shell out for any more N fertilizer to grow basic leafy greens and herbs.

Nice Thread Illegal Smile

abe23 said:

Look up something called aquaponics. The idea is that you pump the water through filters with bacteria that turn the ammonia from the fish poop into nitrates and then nitrites that you then feed to your plants. There are farms that do this and produce a yearly harvest of fish (which can be worth several thousand dollars depending on the fish and the size of the tank), along with monthly crops of hydroponic basil or other leafy greens. You can have much more dense populations of fish since the bacteria are cleaning the water and don't have to shell out for any more N fertilizer to grow basic leafy greens and herbs.

Click to expand...

Something like this ? Basically all i need is a pump , Do i still need to add nutes in the water ?

Dude, cheap umps are fine to use. We all use them. You can run 4 10" air stones off one dual wal mart pump. But the T splitter there too and split right before you get to the stones. I run 12 off of my GH air pump with no problems.

Heres a tip: The plastic bottom stones work but don't stay down, and you can't glue them; So take a plastic hanger and break off everything but the straight side and thread it through the bottom. They will stay in place and You can run a huge grid of bubbles using 4 10" air stones and two hanger sections

Thanks for the write-up, this was a perfect explanation of DWC for me. You also answered a design question I had. The more I learn the more "bubbleponics" sound like a gimmick.

Katakana said:

Thanks for the write-up, this was a perfect explanation of DWC for me. You also answered a design question I had. The more I learn the more "bubbleponics" sound like a gimmick.

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I think bubbleponics is a good word, it just strikes me as a supreme irony that it is used and trademarked for a system that does not rely on bubbles at all, but on a pump and tubes.

zigzag6 said:

Something like this ? Basically all i need is a pump , Do i still need to add nutes in the water ?

Click to expand...

Not quite....

You need some sort of container in between for the bacteria to do their thing. The stuff the fish are pooping into the water is toxic to your plants (and the fish) unless you have the bacteria to convert it into nitrate (which is what the -N portion of your bottled fertilizer is). I would imagine you can put a couple of goldfish in your res without any problems, but it's not aquaponics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

abe23 said:

Not quite....

You need some sort of container in between for the bacteria to do their thing. The stuff the fish are pooping into the water is toxic to your plants (and the fish) unless you have the bacteria to convert it into nitrate (which is what the -N portion of your bottled fertilizer is). I would imagine you can put a couple of goldfish in your res without any problems, but it's not aquaponics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Click to expand...

Ill forget the fish then...

I could cut out a piece of sterofome the same size as the aquarium to it fit in tight make a hole put un a net with those little balls and like 6 10'' airstones.

Is 1.8L/minute good ?

what would be a good pump for about 10 US gallons ?

Dude
IS has been over and over this stuff
Do the basics and learn from there. Dont worry about fish and all the other things
Just a Rubbermaid Tub ,Air Pump and a few Air Stones ,PH test kit TDS meter,Lights and some Nuts
Thats it
Start a small grow and learn when you run into problems then ask
You need to try people cant tell you every thing some things are best by doing it

abe23 said:

Not quite....

You need some sort of container in between for the bacteria to do their thing. The stuff the fish are pooping into the water is toxic to your plants (and the fish) unless you have the bacteria to convert it into nitrate (which is what the -N portion of your bottled fertilizer is). I would imagine you can put a couple of goldfish in your res without any problems, but it's not aquaponics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Click to expand...

I don't agree. If you have ever kept a fish tank, the stuff the fish are pooping out is toxic to them also. It is the bacteria in the tank and the tank filter that convert the ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. If you have a "healthy" fish tank this happens naturally within the tank, no extra tank needed.

This is called the nitrogen cycle for aquariums and is described on many internet sites.

Dude, I'm not advocating that you try this for a first grow. You will have many questions that no one on this or any other forum can answer. In addition learning to grow is a science/art keeping a fish tank is a whole new science/art. You should be able to do them both successfully before trying to combine them. It takes two to three months before the bacteria are "mature" in a new fish tank to complete the nitrogen cycle at a level that will keep up with just a few fish.

If you do go for it, I would love to see it...