First DWC run, any tips?!

[Trichomefarmer88]

Hey guys, so get right to it. Started my first hydro grow, two 5 gal buckets with 6 inch lid. Using general hydro dual pump with two 6 inch air disk. Clay pebbles. Don't believe I have no light leaking in.. also I have seedling I started in rapid rooter plug, girl scout cookies about three weeks old or so.. also have a bubba kush clone in the other bucket.. I've been reading up on dwc but always down to learn an get new info! I have a bunch of different additives here... But only plan on using general hydro trio on GSC. and maxibloom Lucas on the bubba kush. Also running cal magic, hydro guard, an a little armor si for pH up, an pH down. Running with tap water... I'm using gwe.com feeding for the GSC also an believe I started my seedling out on Nutes t to early... But it's looking good now, clones looking great I think lol.. any tips or pointers would be great! Thanks

[Locrian99]

Not a hydro guy but curious on which breeder your GSC is from.

[Trichomefarmer88]

Same as my pre 98 bubba kush, I get my good seeds from local breeder. Old head that had been growing in my area I guess for thirty years plus! However I have been looking into putting in a order there seedsmen ... But there site has been a little messed up an everything was out of stock.. so figured I'd wait till next run... I also got two og kush going in soil there an orange sour in flower tent.. all my seeds so far have came from old head... But I'm open to look into new breeders if you have any suggestions? I've came across a few on line but most don't deliver to USA

[Locrian99]

i really don’t have any experience with different breeders. I’m in the middle of my first grow from seed. I am happy with how the seeds I purchased from nirvana are growing and 6/6 germinated my first try ever at germinating. Good luck on your hydro I’ll be keeping an eye

[SpaceCat]

I am new to hydro and curious with your grow. So I will keep watching

[alltatup]

Hi farmer88, I'm a hydro grower; I like those big Lowe's buckets! It's super important to make sure there are no light leaks, so it's good you got that covered. That eliminates a lot of the potential to develop root rot.

Questions:
What's your ambient temp at?
What are you keeping the water temp at?
Interesting growth pattern on the clone: the leaves aren't across from each other, but going up in a spiral.

[Trichomefarmer88]

Ok water temps stay between 68 an 72.. mostly 69 f. Ambient temperature is about same try to keep at 70f.An also yes I took about ten clones off my last bubba kush but I took them right as it started to flower.. so all of them look a little off an most grew single leaves... But all good.. I've done same thing before with same patterns. I also cut the bottom few leaves off .. Thought it was a bit off myself but still grows the same as the mother...

[Trichomefarmer88]

pH is 59 right now, ppm in gsc is 550. Ppm bubba kush is 700.. I top feed with cup twice a day.. scoop out the bucket .. is this okay? I usually scoop out a cup an check ph, ppm,temp then pour over..

[alltatup]

Yes, I keep my water temps at 68-69 and have not had a single problem. I had to install chillers to achieve that temp range, but if your environment stays like it is, that sounds ideal.

I read something recently in one of my books about how the leaf patters switches to spiral growth like that in flower instead of leaves opposite each other in veg. Fascinating to see it on your clone!

[DW2]

Howdy Trichomefarmer88, Nice looking set up. I am on my seventh DWC grow, second one using 'nanner'ed' seeds (never have bought any seeds!). I have learned a few things; first, cover the clay pebbles with aluminum foil or something to completely block out the light. Before I started covering the net pots (I use the 3 3/4 inch size), I had brown algae problems on every grow. Second; keep the water temperature between 63° and 68° F, I use ice bottles to keep the temperature down. Third; change out the nutrient water every week and top off at mid week with pH balanced water. It sounds like You are keeping the water well aerated. I have been using the GH MaxiGrow and MaxiBloom with Liquid KoolBloom, Floralicious Plus, Armor Si, DiamondNector, and FloraNector, I use the Florashield (2 - 3 ml/gal) instead of Hydroguard, I have had better results using it. I also wrap the reservoirs (10 gal totes) with bubble wrap for insulation from the temperature and it helps to keep down noise as well.

[Trichomefarmer88]

Thanks everyone, everything sounds good an makes sense.. already made changes.. also I have other clones from same mother older that did the same.. still good plants! In veg closet just got cfl 23watts going in 12 total.. I have the two dwc.. two ogkush seedlings, three soil bubba clones little ones.. two soilsbig bubba clones, an one orange sour clone, also aloe plant...
Flower tent I have bubba kush clone in front two weeks into flower, also one orange sour clone in back three weeks into flower. Running one 6 inch hps tube 600watt an a 600watt led mesizhi inn a three an half by three an half ft tent

[alltatup]

Busy farmer!!! Man, that aloe is phat and loving the company!!

[DW2]

Trichomefarmer88, I see in the most recent photos that You are using clear air line tubing. The clear tubing can refract or act as a conduit thru the clear walls and allow some light into the reservoirs. I would recommend that the clear tubing be replaced with black or brown opaque tubing to reduce any chance of light infiltration, it does not take much light to start the algae growing. It can be found in the drip irrigation section of just about any hardware or garden store (relatively cheap, I paid just under $0.09 per foot). I do not mean to sound 'anal', but every little bit helps.

[Trichomefarmer88]

I actually have read about that an have new tubing on the way threw mail... So far so good, hopefully the tape over the tube helps! Thanks for the tip!!

[Trichomefarmer88]

GSC is still real slow growing.. the bubba is taken off an leaving it behind it seems

[Trichomefarmer88]

Well, today everything starting to look good! Bubba kush clone has few, foot long roots! Looks amazing, there girl scout cookies is starting to shoot out roots.. I believe it took so long cause the bucket was to hot... Ppm's on seedling was 500 an second week 700.. just following feed chart on gwe.com but must of just started to early... Don't really say fresh pH d water for week anywhere lol so anyways it's still looking nice an healthy an believe an pray my home made hydro buckets work... Lol but I'll go take a few pics here soon.. my flower tent is looking awesome! My buds are already huge now with new light compared to past grows.. went from 300watt led an swapped it for 600 hps an still have my 600 watt LED in there as well... Plants love it,! My led pushes about 320 real Watts so running about 920 true Watts in 3 an half by 3 and half forf.. 7 ft tall. So everything going great with all my grows so far, knock on wood, but still love it!

[alltatup]

How did you cool your water down?

[Trichomefarmer88]

My water hasn't went over 70f. But only once with the bubba kush, but I just threw a frozen water bottle in there for a while... Took it down to about 65f. An worked back to 68f. An they have been staying there.. I'm going up to take a pic now for you, see what you think.. thanks btw for all your help alltatup
Also by the buckets of water being to hot, I meant to much nutrients

[alltatup]

Ooooh, ok, cool! Yeah, your water temps sound great. And you're welcome!!

[Trichomefarmer88]

[Trichomefarmer88]

My flower tent... Did last deflation on bubba kush clone, going into week 4 here soon with her so figured one last hair cut... Orange sour clone in back looking good still going into week 5 here.. her mother was a longer flowerer.. so we'll see.. also threw inn a small orange sour clone back beside it's sister..

[Trichomefarmer88]

So everything is still doing good! I just wanted to ask how long people can wait before changing out the bucket? Weekly is recommended, but I've read where people go whole grows only changing the water at different life cycles? Or only two three weeks at a time.. So figure in gonna try getting away with every two weeks.. my plants haven't ate much , so just added fresh ph'd water when needed.. got about another four days now until I'm on second week from a good cleaning.. gonna try every two weeks empty an scrub with h202 see what happens.. Should be fine.. I check it once daily ( pH an ppm) so soon as my flower tent opens up I'll put both buckets in flower tent... Probably about 4 more weeks are so..

[alltatup]

What he said!! Weekly change, but reconsider the scrubbing with H2O2: if you are using any beneficial bacteria, the H2O2 will kill that, so you'll be starting fresh each week trying to colonize good bacteria, microbes, etc.

[DW2]

alltatup, The 'scrubbing' that I do is after the grow is finished. I do not use H2O2 to clean my reservoirs, I first use a water and vinegar mix (50%/50%), allow it to soak over night. Secondly I use dish soap and water to clean out everything, then, finally, I let the reservoir soak (over night, again) with a mixture of bleach and water (1/3 bleach to 2/3 water), then drain and rinse out until there is no trace of the bleach smell. It is a little trouble, but has worked well for me on the last several grows.

[alltatup]

DW2 Ooooooh, ok, cuz I made the mistake on one of my first grows of wiping out the reservoir with H2O2, and then had lots of trouble with my roots!!!

[MajorTom]

I’ve been using Hydroguard on my first small 3 gal reservoir 2 auto grow; but after some comments here planning to change to FloraShield. I sometimes have to wait 2 weeks to change the res out of necessity. So if I use GH full strength (not noticing any nutrient burn so far during beg veg) and only top w ph water the plants get enough nutrients between 7-14 days? What I’m hearing here is that if I do have to go two weeks then work a bit harder to get all of the residue buildup out.

Also if the res is changed every week or even two weeks how is it possible to build up a good bacteria colony w Hydroguard or some other product any way? For this type of setup it seems to me the way to go is eliminate the bad bacteria. What I know about this could fit in a thimble but do find it fascinating and will be making my next change in 5-6 days so I need to get my plan together.

Gratitude.

[DW2]

I use the GH FloraShield (2 - 3 ml/gal) with the nutrient change and in the mid week top off. Have You thought of setting up a gravity feed system to keep the water level steady for the times that You can not be there to change out or top off the system? The Bubbleponics system had a set up with a larger reservoir mounted above the other reservoirs for gravity flow. There was a 'control' reservoir with a float valve in it, as the level went down in the grow reservoirs, the float valve would let water (or nutrient mix) into the control reservoir which was connected to the growing reservoir, maintaining the predetermined water level. This would allow the grow to be unattended for some time (depending on the capacities required and the available space for everything. One would still need to have a method to keep the water temperatures down to correct levels and there would be some buildup without the weekly changes.

[MajorTom]

That’s the backup res setup I’m using plus an ice probe type chiller on a timer; and an auto ph system. I’ve had to play w it all a bit to get all the settings right. I hope it’s all still working and keeping them happy! I just found out I’m gonna be another 2 days away next week bringing the total days away this time to 14. And then I’ll only have about 24 hours to set it all up for the next 10 days... didn’t count on my work being this demanding when I started this but I’m not giving in; I’ve come too far. This takes a lot of dedication for sure. And thanks for the tip on keeping the res buildup cleaned out. Would I just do that w a rag dipped in H202?

[DW2]

MajorTom, the H2O2 will kill off some of the organisms, but will not do much for the residue buildup. Plain old distilled vinegar (used for pickling and canning) is a mild acid and will dissolve and or remove the residue. I let my reservoir soak, over night, with a mixture of 1/3 vinegar to water. You could use the vinegar 'straight' and scrub out the reservoir if You can not spend the time for the soak. I use bleach to sanitize the reservoir after removing the build up and rinse (over night soak) with plain water to remove traces of the bleach.
It sounds like You have the makings of a good system. Keep adjusting and soon You'll have a grow setup that You can 'drop in seeds and pull out the weed!',(lol). Good luck with Your grow.

[Trichomefarmer88]

Makes sense to not even give it a chance to build up or cause any problems.. I was just thinking like mayjortom here an thinking I wanted all that good stuff I'm pouring inn there not too go to waste.. but I will change it tomorrow, in a week an half in an still looks great tonight, no changes in temp or pH,ppm, so I'll give it just a rinse tomorrow an re fill! Thanks for all the advise!

[alltatup]

Sounds good. Somebody should experiment to see if there are differences between weekly and bi-weekly water/nute changes, but I'm not volunteering.

What I do do: As soon as my seeds have germinated, I put the seedling in my hydro grow box with plain pH'd water in the reservoir. When the roots are getting close enough to the water, I replace the water with a low-nute mixture, and I don't change this water for around 2 weeks; I just top off. It's true that baby roots are happiest with the least amount of disturbance possible.

I also have my fresh water/nutes prepared and ready to drain into reservoir before I drain the old water out. The faster I can do it, the happier everyone is.

[MajorTom]

My long changes right now are mainly out of necessity. Maybe when I get a little better at this I’ll volunteer for the study...

[Trichomefarmer88]

Made it yet days shy of two weeks an plants seem ok? I change everything last night so, should be fine! Started using microbe life photo plus in my hydro buckets... Been doing wonderful mixed into my soil nutrients! But thanks for all the help and tips everyone!!

[Trichomefarmer88]

Also need to ask, because I've been looking it up all day an can't find a straight answer!! Why does my girl scout cookie have a hollow main Stem!? I topped it an trying to clone the cut.. but it's hollow?! No other signs or deficiencys... Just got me stuck?!

[alltatup]

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/192866-hollow-stem

We've been discussing this issue!!

[DW2]

The hollow stem is normal, every one of the plants that I have harvested have them. That is the way the water and the nutrients get through the plant.