Question about distilled water, ppm, ph, cal-mag, rez swap.. HELP!

OK. So I have a couple questions about my medical autoflowering DWC grow. My rez is 25-30 gallons (single rez tub)..4 small net pots with small rockwool cubes and hydroton rocks. Using Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Nutrients. Im going to be using distilled water because of purity issues. The tap water around here is the last thing I want to use, as it has way too much junk in it and the ph is all over the place. Can I do a whole grow (about 2 months) without changing the water, and only adding, or "topping off"? I know I need to adjust ph also. Im using old school ph drip dye testing method. When using distilled water, I heard that I have to add cal-mag just like using RO water. Is this a "must" and how often should I add the cal-mag? I am thinking of investing in a ppm meter also, can I do a whole grow without using a ppm meter?

Help is much appreciated!!

I can only say deffinately need a tds meter, it's important to know the ppm's of your resevoir, I'm sure dwc system owners can answer the rest....good luck.

ummm well, ......
i love DWC,
all i use is a ph meter

i have gone about 6 months with my veggies outside without changing out the water.
inside with my maryjane though..... i've gone far as 3 weeks,
i'm sure you could though if you kept mostly clean.

for the calMag stuff, you need to find out how much your baby needs..... it'll be with every nute feeding but at a certain dose, ya know.
start small, if you see any deficiency then you know what to do.
Botanicare pureblend pro is what i use as an additive, its got some good stuff in it.

thats just me though....

hAPPY gROWING

burwoodkush said:

ummm well, ......
i love DWC,
all i use is a ph meter

i have gone about 6 months with my veggies outside without changing out the water.
inside with my maryjane though..... i've gone far as 3 weeks,
i'm sure you could though if you kept mostly clean.

for the calMag stuff, you need to find out how much your baby needs..... it'll be with every nute feeding but at a certain dose, ya know.
start small, if you see any deficiency then you know what to do.
Botanicare pureblend pro is what i use as an additive, its got some good stuff in it.

thats just me though....

hAPPY gROWING

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burwoodkush, do you use straight from the tap or or RO or? And the nutes I have are "organic" so to speak, so I might need hygrozyme to keeps things clean. What type of nutes do you feed with?

thanks for the help keep it comin man!

DeeTee said:

I can only say deffinately need a tds meter, it's important to know the ppm's of your resevoir, I'm sure dwc system owners can answer the rest....good luck.

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thank you! do you know if you have to keep the tds meter in calibration solution like ph meters??

You can use same container but you will need the proper tools to monitor and adjust as necessary. Plants do release toxins as they need too so for going the whole way with the same res seems a bit extreme and you are hurting your chances for a decent harvest.

You get what you put into your grows, seems like you want to put as little in as possible. So.. you will probably get very little in the end.

I would at the minimum swap when you transitional into flower, but I see your start in growing will probably be a short lived one. Good luck, cutting corners and being lazy is not how to grow medical MMJ.

BigBuddahCheese said:

You can use same container but you will need the proper tools to monitor and adjust as necessary. Plants do release toxins as they need too so for going the whole way with the same res seems a bit extreme and you are hurting your chances for a decent harvest.

You get what you put into your grows, seems like you want to put as little in as possible. So.. you will probably get very little in the end.

I would at the minimum swap when you transitional into flower, but I see your start in growing will probably be a short lived one. Good luck, cutting corners and being lazy is not how to grow medical MMJ.

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EXACTLY!!
you wanna grow some crazy space monkey get blasted jane you can test and label and sell.... well then u gonna have to spend much much time and money.
now, if you wanna just grow some fucken weed.... you dont need all the bullshit some people will sell you.
I myself am a little inbetween.......
I first started because I was spending more on bud than I had, plus b4 I got my rec, it was a f'kn pain trying to find a connect ya know. . lol
to make a long story longer,
So a friend and my wallet convinced me to start growing.....
now i thought my bud was guide me threw, he has a little bit of brain, so anyways,
I jumped in. I made sooooo many mistakes,
started multiple seeds in the same pot, not thinking how to seperate after, anyways,
although many many many people say it was stupid and i might as well start over....., my 1st grow
i had to transplant from 3 Gal pots, FFOF by the way, cuz of some crazy nute burn ph problem BS i got myself into,
so i took my babies under the faucet, washed all the dirt off, and set them babies in a DWC
BEST MOVE EVER!!!!
might not much to brag about, but I got about 2.5oz dry avg from those first ones.....mostly cfls too.
my friend kicked in with a T5HO light fixture in the last couple weeks of flower, so i guess he was good for something lol
So anywho..... I kept temps, and this and that, so much my girlfriend started complaining....
so I let the girls go on their own.... not worrying about water temps n such.
I also started hydro veggies, and THOSE I DID NOT CHECK ANYTHING! no ph, no water temps, just add nutes and topped off.
they grew and tasted awsome.
and my buds came out just fine, better than anything I've had, my peeps say the same.
so whether or not its in our heads, f it, i'm doing a dang good job if i do say so myself lol specially for not knowing jack shit about plants in general.
so now...... i just make sure things do not go to any extremes,
anyways...... i just waked n baked so, too much ideas in my head, cant catch them all hahahahaha

HAPPY GROWING TO ALL

thegoodweed said:

burwoodkush, do you use straight from the tap or or RO or? And the nutes I have are "organic" so to speak, so I might need hygrozyme to keeps things clean. What type of nutes do you feed with?

thanks for the help keep it comin man!

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no problem buddy,
I used to use R/O, only reason I do not anymore is because I got tired of hauling f'n water around lol
I use 5 Gal buckets, so i need 4Gal h2o, depending on how many i have going..... thats alot of trips for water.
currently, i fill up a couple of 5 gal buckets and have an airstone running 24/7 with some tap water.
you can find info on your tap water online i'm sure, if call call your city admin., just to make sure you dont need to treat it, or avoid it completely.
funny though, how I do the airstone thing to clear chorine/chloramines...... but the dynagro i use has some in it. hahahahaha??
yeah, i like "organic" myself, ..... just remember to always check the ingredients, the front lable is just the selling point.
hygrozyme is awesome. a friend gave some to me that he came up on,
i read what it was suppose to do, and my roots had some darker color to them, so i used it,
next day my roots turned white as heck, and the plant was more vigoruous than ever.
so i recommend it, just not every feeding, not that it would hurt anything, but your wallet lol.
which brings me to this point.....
i tried all kinds of shiznit because it says its good, and alot of people like them, ..... after trying things out,
I do not spend much, as a matter as little as I could.
for example; i would use like an entire line of something, usually the cheaper brand, depending, price wise they are all pretty similar, cept for AdvNuts.... they crazy expensive!! lol
anyways.., currently use;
dynagro grow and/or bloom for a base,
I'm putting ORKA up against ROCK SUPERCHARGER for my roots,
dynagro protekt for the silicon, ... i HAVE noticed my plants are buffer looking, and I dont need a fan to "sturdy" them up when young.
i use a little pureblend grow as a veg additive, i like the humic acids.
for flowering adds, i like GH floralicious bloom... i will be putting it up against AN super tea bloom in my current grow.
i also use some GH liquidBloom as a bulking thang, I have yet to see much if any difference with this....... it is not very expensive at least lol
i also use hygrozyme, but now only if I see any drastic discoloration of my roots, AND when I transition from veg to flower.
personally, i treat suggested use as a 100% feeding, then adjust accordingly.
depending on how my plants react, i'll push 100% from week 2 of flowering on. sometimes more if they ask me to.
I dont flush anymore, well....what i do is time it to where my last res change will be replaced in about 3 weeks.
So in the last weeks, i'll only top off with water. by that time, the girls after feeding pretty heavy and will go through that in about 1 1/2 weeks, then its just water.
I've been pondering maybe using just a slight bit of hygrozyme in the very last week, .... I'd like to keep the plants green as possible to the end.
I've tried both ways, flush, no flush, .... i do i guess acombo of both. NOBODY complains about my bud having any "chemi" taste.
man.... i've been writing too long... sorry to bore you, need to take another couple of tokes hehehehe
so , ..thats just MY take on things,
you will learn on your own as you go.
do not take anything you read here as a MUST.
you have to take into account your own environment,

"keep it comin man!" be carefull what you ask for..... you just might get it. hahahaha j/k bro

HAPPY GROWING

BigBuddahCheese said:

I see your start in growing will probably be a short lived one. Good luck, cutting corners and being lazy is not how to grow medical MMJ.

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yeah, so...............
before I started growing, I purchased "medical MMJ" for about 2 years from various locations.
what I noticed was the more expensive stuff, was prettier and smelled nicer than the cheaper stuff.
me being poor, i bought the cheaper stuff and it worked just fine, me a heavy smoker mind you.
but I did get loured into buying the top shelf when i had extra cash.
so my point is, many things i have done in growing would be considered cutting corners,
and I understand it is completely biased, but just because of that, doesnt mean it is,
my buds have been much more potent, and about as decent looking as anything I paid for.
do i have a grn thumb?? who the F knows, i dont care.
I still need to get that toke going ehehehehe
but fuck that, short lived or not,

HAPPY GROWING TO EVERYBODY

I grow DWC and I only drain and refill when switching to flowering. During veg I just add a gallon whenever needed and add the appropriate nutes for that gallon of water. When it's time to flower I flush her with straight distilled water for a few days and then switch over to bloom nutes and don't drain again until I'm ready to chop her down. PH meter and TDS meter are a must... You can get cheap ones on amazon for like 15 bucks and they work fine for the most part. I've never had any major issues...

Sounds like you better talk to your parents before you start growing.

BigBuddahCheese said:

You can use same container but you will need the proper tools to monitor and adjust as necessary. Plants do release toxins as they need too so for going the whole way with the same res seems a bit extreme and you are hurting your chances for a decent harvest.

You get what you put into your grows, seems like you want to put as little in as possible. So.. you will probably get very little in the end.

I would at the minimum swap when you transitional into flower, but I see your start in growing will probably be a short lived one. Good luck, cutting corners and being lazy is not how to grow medical MMJ.

Click to expand...

well not exactly.. I have invested a little bit, just looks like I need a tad bit more in other areas, things like tds meter etc..Ive been growing for a couple years give or take, this is my 2nd dwc grow. Im used to growing in soil and I dont usually check ppm only ph.. So far I have bought a xtrasun 1000w ballast with hydrofarm 6 inch cool hood,and a 400w mh I modified from a wharehouse light.. Also picked up a can-fan 8 inch with variable speed controller, (not sure how many cfms).. got a huge ass jug of PH down and botanicare nutes, rockwool, and hydroton. Sometimes things can be a bit more harder to pay for and keep up with when your younger and you dont have the greatest job in the world.... The reason I wouldnt want to change the rez for a while is because if im using distilled water or RO, I would have a ton of back and fourth hauling to do, because I do know dwc systems suck up water and nutes like crazy.

burwoodkush said:

yeah, so...............
before I started growing, I purchased "medical MMJ" for about 2 years from various locations.
what I noticed was the more expensive stuff, was prettier and smelled nicer than the cheaper stuff.
me being poor, i bought the cheaper stuff and it worked just fine, me a heavy smoker mind you.
but I did get loured into buying the top shelf when i had extra cash.
so my point is, many things i have done in growing would be considered cutting corners,
and I understand it is completely biased, but just because of that, doesnt mean it is,
my buds have been much more potent, and about as decent looking as anything I paid for.
do i have a grn thumb?? who the F knows, i dont care.
I still need to get that toke going ehehehehe
but fuck that, short lived or not,

HAPPY GROWING TO EVERYBODY

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I am tired of making trips to the collectives, waste of money....seems most of these shops soon get more and more shady and greedy.. im growing for personal use only, but I do want some killer fuckin medicine because I have very bad manic depressive bi-polar, and I have tried and dont respond well to other types of nasty meds like zoloft, xanax, etc. to name a few..

sudodaemon said:

I grow DWC and I only drain and refill when switching to flowering. During veg I just add a gallon whenever needed and add the appropriate nutes for that gallon of water. When it's time to flower I flush her with straight distilled water for a few days and then switch over to bloom nutes and don't drain again until I'm ready to chop her down. PH meter and TDS meter are a must... You can get cheap ones on amazon for like 15 bucks and they work fine for the most part. I've never had any major issues...

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yeah thats exactly what I was planning on doing, amazon has some good deals.. I will be making sure to pay some good money for a great meter and also buy calibration fluid to extend the life of my meters. They have some cheap'o meters and testers, but the good thing is you can read reviews and stuff to see whats really crackin'..


and I fuggin' HATE how alot of people dont flush properly, on accident or on purpose, You end up taste'n that harsh'ness, as I prefer medicating with a pipe, but sometimes use my vape...

thanks everyone for the replies!!!!

And as for dwc sucking up water and nutes. My last plant, which was a 4.5 ft tree, at its peak it was drinking a gallon of water every 1-2 days.

BigBuddahCheese said:

Sounds like you better talk to your parents before you start growing.

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well if this is to me.. mabey ill send a prayer their way.. they have both passed away already a while back... thanks for informing me anyway.. I dont think this forum is for "kids" anyway.. I came for help and to clarify things a bit more not to get bashed.. Well thanks for the good luck and good vibes "bigbuddahcheese"!!!

BigBuddahCheese said:

Sounds like you better talk to your parents before you start growing.

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class act man!
funny how the more bars i've noticed.... the more of an a$$hole that person is.
that being the case PLEASE dont give me any rep....
cuz i'm not an a$$hole

burwoodkush said:

class act man!
funny how the more bars i've noticed.... the more of an a$$hole that person is.
that being the case PLEASE dont give me any rep....
cuz i'm not an a$$hole

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No you're supporting one by the looks of one, which is your choice. Yet you take the "troll" to defend your thinking vs mine, well now it's on Mr. baggy pants.

One look at his feeble attempt at simple grammar, common sense and ethics you can assume that he is illegal or underage. I am leaning towards both, and you support him!?

No the "more bars" people have the more GOOD information they give out, so maybe when those people speak you should listen to them. I don't think you have that thinking or mental capacity, as society has probably faded those away. Yet with thought, you cast blame that they are "wrong" "trolls" "asshats" or what ever creative adjective you desire to spit out.

We can only hope son. This will be my last reply in this ghetto slang non-informative thread that is 98% of RIU and these trolls wonder "Why?" or cast blame.

Sad.

BigBuddahCheese said:

No you're supporting one by the looks of one, which is your choice. Yet you take the "troll" to defend your thinking vs mine, well now it's on Mr. baggy pants.

One look at his feeble attempt at simple grammar, common sense and ethics you can assume that he is illegal or underage. I am leaning towards both, and you support him!?

No the "more bars" people have the more GOOD information they give out, so maybe when those people speak you should listen to them. I don't think you have that thinking or mental capacity, as society has probably faded those away. Yet with thought, you cast blame that they are "wrong" "trolls" "asshats" or what ever creative adjective you desire to spit out.

We can only hope son. This will be my last reply in this ghetto slang non-informative thread that is 98% of RIU and these trolls wonder "Why?" or cast blame.

Sad.

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im 21 yrs old, and im a legal cali 215 patient, using mmj as an alternative medicine for bi-polar... sorry you feel this way...

thegoodweed said:

thank you! do you know if you have to keep the tds meter in calibration solution like ph meters??

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I don't believe so, basically it measures the elect curent of the solution ( I think ) or the conductivity.