Putting bubbles in your 'ponics

+rep illegal. thanks for your help.

Illegal Smile said:

But, the more water the more rootspace.

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As I am continuing on now with my 1st grow, I wonder about that. I have a very deep reservoir, but most of it seems to be a waste of space and water. the roots FLOAT, so what's the point of having more water (a deeper reservoir)?

I don't know if "flush" is the correct term, but the process where you use a cleaner to wash out salts or whatever to clear up nutrient lock-out. How do you do this without a pump / stream of water at the net pot? Is the Bubbling action enough to do this process, or do you pour solution over the net pots by hand to help it along?

Power Towel said:

I don't know if "flush" is the correct term, but the process where you use a cleaner to wash out salts or whatever to clear up nutrient lock-out. How do you do this without a pump / stream of water at the net pot? Is the Bubbling action enough to do this process, or do you pour solution over the net pots by hand to help it along?

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Don't mean to be flip but I never do that. If I thought I needed to I would but I have never seen the need. I just drain the res and refill with this week's nute recipe. At the end I drain and refill with no nutes for one week.

Cissy said:

As I am continuing on now with my 1st grow, I wonder about that. I have a very deep reservoir, but most of it seems to be a waste of space and water. the roots FLOAT, so what's the point of having more water (a deeper reservoir)?

Click to expand...

I think you are right about this. Depth of much more than a foot is not really adding to rootspace. Somewhere in this thread I lamented the fact that the totes I want aren't available. I want them 12-14 in deep but with capacity coming from length and width, in other words more "deck" space. I often say that for a rule of thumb, 1 gal/plant for small plants, 2 for 3-4 ft plants, and 3 for trees. Added to that should be that the dimensions of the water space matters too.

hey illegal smile. in your thread you state that you should hold your hand a few inches above the water and feel bubbles. how many are we talking here? i can feel a bubble here and there but nothing like say a glass of soda

Illegal Smile said:

Don't mean to be flip but I never do that. If I thought I needed to I would but I have never seen the need. I just drain the res and refill with this week's nute recipe. At the end I drain and refill with no nutes for one week.

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That's not flip, it's a great data point. My local hydro store, who don't really "push" things on me, said the cleaner (I think I got clearex or something) was a MUST. But who knows, maybe they don't drain/refill, or use enough bubbles, who knows. Good to know it isn't necessarily a MUST depending on how you do things.

tip top toker said:

hey illegal smile. in your thread you state that you should hold your hand a few inches above the water and feel bubbles. how many are we talking here? i can feel a bubble here and there but nothing like say a glass of soda

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The hand is just a preliminary check. The real test is in loading the netpot with hydroton and a cube but no seed, and leaving it in awhile to see how wet the cube gets. The bottom line is to keep the top of that cube not too wet and not too dry. If not wet enough you increase bubble action with more stones and/or more pump. Or you may be able to do it by increasing the water level.

cool cool. well iv'e got a 600lph pump with 4 outlets, so i can either use that for one tote or both depending. sounds like i'll have to setup a trial and error run with rockwool like you suggest before too long.

still waiting to pick up some black tape

tip top toker said:

cool cool. well iv'e got a 600lph pump with 4 outlets, so i can either use that for one tote or both depending. sounds like i'll have to setup a trial and error run with rockwool like you suggest before too long.

still waiting to pick up some black tape

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What do you need black tape for? Lightproofing your rez? If so I would suggest using a metal repair tape as it is lightproof and really shiny. Black will absorb light thus making the rez warmer, the shiny tape will reflect the light back keeping the rez much cooler
Here is a link: http://www.lowes.com/pd_237722-56131-142334_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3077863&Ntt=metal+repair+tape&N=0&langId=-1&y=0&x=0&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:SearchCatalogDisplay



I have used that exact same stuff to lightproof at least 6 different rez'

Hey illegal, nice thread. Been subd to this for a while now checking in to see what others are up to and what questions they have. I have a few questions for you though. When you are starting the seed you keep the water level about an inch below the basket. What is the next step in moving the water up? When the roots are coming out of the netpot? Then where do you bring the water up to. Also, what size pots do you use? Do you think for a bucket setup it would be a good idea to get those 6in lid basket tops, or use a smaller netpot and put it in a lid for the bucket?

Thanks in advance. I want to get a bucket setup going but have never done hydro before. I would value your advice on my questions.

I put the water level where it needs to be as I said above, but for me and my res and my airstones and my pump, that turns out to be almost 2 inches below the bottom of the netpots. And, as roots come out the bottom and get close to the water, I actuall lower it instead of raising it to make the roots "reach" for the water. Once they are in I keep it at a specified level that is marked on the inside of the res. I Use netpots that are 3 5/8. In a bucket I would still use those, just cut a hole in the lid.

that looks like what i'm after i'd much rather the reservoirs were cool and stick an aquarium heater in if needed, than have to worry about desperately trying to cool it during summer ta man

fuckin illegal smile ur the shit... love this thread... jus read it all the way through and alot of good points are in here... anybody that wants to perfect or learn more for DWC should read this thread. +rep

Illegal Smile said:

I think you are right about this. Depth of much more than a foot is not really adding to rootspace. Somewhere in this thread I lamented the fact that the totes I want aren't available. I want them 12-14 in deep but with capacity coming from length and width, in other words more "deck" space. I often say that for a rule of thumb, 1 gal/plant for small plants, 2 for 3-4 ft plants, and 3 for trees. Added to that should be that the dimensions of the water space matters too.

Click to expand...

Mine is a bit too deep. 15" or so. A huge waste of water, time, nutes, and money. But it's too late to redo the boxes I built. So I was thinking about piling some rocks in there on the bottom. See any potential issues with this? Maybe just 4 or 5 inches high on the bottom, to displace some of that water.

I can get pretty much any kind of rock here for free or close to free. Lava rocks etc.. Or perhaps I could use some of those flat bricks..

Anything wrong with that idea? This would certainly be the easiest fix for me, but I dont want to cause myself some unforseen problems.

ty

Cissy said:

Mine is a bit too deep. 15" or so. A huge waste of water, time, nutes, and money. But it's too late to redo the boxes I built. So I was thinking about piling some rocks in there on the bottom. See any potential issues with this? Maybe just 4 or 5 inches high on the bottom, to displace some of that water.

I can get pretty much any kind of rock here for free or close to free. Lava rocks etc.. Or perhaps I could use some of those flat bricks..

Anything wrong with that idea? This would certainly be the easiest fix for me, but I dont want to cause myself some unforseen problems.

ty

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I've heard of that being done. Just make sure whatever you put in there doesn't leach anything into the water. You can test that by leaving it in water a couple days and checking ppms to see if they go up.

hey illegal, i have mothers in a big tote and a while back they started drooping and when i lifted the lid it smelt like potatoes. was this root rot? they were brownish colored. i did a changeout and a little tlc and they staightened right up. any idea?

donkey.420 said:

hey illegal, i have mothers in a big tote and a while back they started drooping and when i lifted the lid it smelt like potatoes. was this root rot? they were brownish colored. i did a changeout and a little tlc and they staightened right up. any idea?

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Sometimes what you do that works is the best indication of what was wrong to begin with. What else did you do besides changing the res? H2O2? As long as it worked, and apparently quickly, you obviously did the right thing and what know what to look for next time? BTW, did it smell bad?

thank you thank you so much ima try this i am tired of soil crap

yeah it smelt bad. i put h202 in and since this incident i use it as preventive maintenance now. i'm really sold on this set up after seeing how explosive the growth is. thanks for your help.