First Time Grow DWC System, Viparspectra 600w LED

[maner]

Hello all,

First of all im growing for first time (Top fed DWC system) with the infromation that i have learnt from this site thats why i want to thank you all before i start and i want to make a journal about this in here.

Equipments and Nutrients:

• 600w Viparspectra LED light (model: v600)
• 120x60x180 grow tent
• 50 Lt reservoir
• 80mm netpots x2
• Rockwool
• Hydroton
• Airpump: SOBO SB8806
• Waterpump: SOBO WP1000f
• JBL Aeras micro 27cm airstone x2
• General Hydroponics Flora trio series
• Great White Premium Mycorrhizae
• Adwa ad12 pH & Adwa ad31 EC meters

So, i started to germinate seeds on 18th of january, i soaked 2 seeds ( Kilimanjaro and Big Budha Silver Cheese) on 5.8pH water for 45 minutes then i took them to 3 layer bottom paper towel wetten it with the same water i soaked and put 3 layer paper towel top and covered it with stretch film, spiked it with toothpick and waited for days. 2 of the seeds were successfully germinated.

Soaked rockwool cubes in 5.3pH water for 2 hours, drilled them with chopstick 4cm, gently put germinated seeds in them and put them in netpots, connected water pump’s tubes under rockwools and filled net pots with pre wettened hydrotons.

-20 lt purified tap water added to reservoir but it’s ppm was high as base so added 10lt bottled water and mix them so established 455ppm 7.45pH base water
- 10ml (2 tsp) flora trio series added (micro-gro-bloom)
- ½ tsp great white added
- 30ml pH down added
Final rates of res water: 30Lt water solution with 5.95pH , 677ppm (NaCl)
23.6 Celcius, Humidity: 58%

heat and fluctuations are between 22-25 celcius and 30-55% humidity.

I couldnt figure out why humidity range is so wide, even in our city humidity is between 75-95 on these days when i open the tent for fresh air it drops drastically.

[SirSmksAlot]

Your base ppm still seems a bit high. You might want to consider ro water or perhaps a mix of ro and tap water. JMO

[alltatup]

maner Sounds like you are off to a good start, but why is your pH so high? 7.5 is not good for hydroponics--or any other form of growing Cannabis. This might help you: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph

[maner]

those are my base water levels before adding nutrients and ph down, last reservoir levels are 5.95pH and 677ppm (NaCl) which i mentioned already but thanks for warning=)

[alltatup]

Sorry, didn't read carefully enuf!!!

[maner]

Week 2 (28.01.2019)

I bought same box that im using already and prepared water solution in it so it was easier to change the water for now but im not sure how hard it will be when plants are bigger and has more weight.

water solution:
20ml Flora trio (micro-gro-bloom)
5ml Great White Mic.
17,5ml pH down

Final rates (30L):
6.06pH 706ppm (NaCl)


-LED disctance: 97cm - 38.1" (28.01.2019)

-Today i changed the LED distance to 91cm - 35.8" (LED company's recommended distance is 90-100cm)

- Cooling fan added, this week which works for 15 min of every 1 hour daily.
- Cool mist humidifier added, which i turn on when humidity drops below 40%

[BlueBudz]

Hey maner looks like your off to a good start. like SirSmksAlot I also think PPM is to high for this stage. Especially if your not sure what the base 450pp actually contains. I generally don’t add nutrients to the solution until they have established a bit. Just my opinion, hope I can help.

[maner]

guys i came home and checked the ppm and pH of the reservoir, ppm is nearly the same but pH is 8.1! does it change that much? it was 5.95 before i set the new reservoir to its place.
what should i do now? please help asap

[SirSmksAlot]

Do you have ph up and down? If not you'll need to grab some. Start by adding a ml or 2 of ph down and check where you're at.

[maner]

i only have ph down for now, i have taken notes calculations of how much (ml) should i add to reach desired levels. i should stop the water pump and take reservoir away before doing that i guess. thanks for your quick reply, now i will arrange the pH and get back here.

[SirSmksAlot]

Depending on the additives and nutes you're using, it's common to see fluctuations like that. That's why it's important to check every day. I find after 3 days of changing nutes the ph stabilizes

[maner]

pH taken back to 5.55 level

but when i opened the lid of the reservoir there were some brown residue which i dont understand what it is, there were also same residue when i was changing the reservoir on monday, only brown thing that i use is great white but i only pour 5ml and residue seems much more. (you can see it on the picture that i take)

i told that i know how much should i add pH down, but when i added the pH down (10ml) it dropped from it dropped from 8.1 to 5.2 i coulndt figure it out why but i stired the water and that brown residue mixed to the solution back, could only stirring it affect to take pH down?

-roots of kilimanjaro are developing well (7-10cm - 4") but BBSC has no roots yet (day 8), is it normal?

[FlyingDutchPaddy]

i've seen it as well, could be the flora micro thats settling. it is brown of color as well.

is there any water movement in the reservoir?

[SirSmksAlot]

What are your water Temps like?

[maner]

22-23 celcius?

[SirSmksAlot]

Ya that's about where mine is at too. A slightly lower temp would be ideal. I have the same issue with the brown stuff. I use an enzyme with my feedings and that helps. I'm pretty sure it's just used nutrients that cause the build up. As long as your roots aren't getting covered in it, I don't believe it's much of an issue. At least it hasn't been for me anyway

[maner]

should i stir it and let that stuff mixed to the solution or leave it at the bottom till the reservoir change? and its only the second day of the new reservoir can it really be used nutrients?

after using enzyme did it dissapear and what was the enzyme you used?

[SirSmksAlot]

It hasn't disappeared completely but it's helped. I use sensizyme from advanced nutrients. Cooler water helps too. I use frozen water bottles in the resivior a few times a day. Pain in the ass but it's cheaper that a chiller. Do you have air stones in your resivior?

[SirSmksAlot]

Never mind I just looked at your picture again. Some people use h2o2 in their water changes as well. I'm not the biggest fan of that idea simply because I spend money putting benificial bacteria and enzymes into it. It seems silly to kill them all off. But if your plants are healthy I wouldn't be that concerned with it.

[maner]

im using great white to protect and faster developement of roots, do you think that i still need enzymes?

[RagWeedDWC]

I grow dwc also, have never seen it quite like that, usually it is just a sheen, like a rust. If your pump is in the res, make sure to watch the temp, those little suckers can put out some heat.
I agree that the PPM is to high, I normally do not have it reaching that level until roots start touching the top of the water and then start my grow cycle. In general I believe the recommended guidelines for nutrients are only a recommendation.
I would look at using Hydroguard, the smell and brown should start going away. I use 10ml in my tubs (6gal) I usually have good healthy roots (Pics in my journal)
Water is a fickle wench, add nutrients and it becomes a demon. Initially in my grow I had the same problem, but I took the easy way and moved to nutrients that controlled the PH. Even at that I still have a quart of GH Up and Down.
You have a awesome setup, look forward to the grow.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

Hey maner

brown sediment is several things.

• It comes from the micro nutrients (as mentioned above).
  • its quite dark and thick with goodness (almost gritty)
  • if you only shake 1 bottle before use, please shake the micro
• It comes from the hydroton (expanded clay pellets). you have to rinse and rinse and rinse, before you get all the red dust off and rinse
• It comes from your the Great White doing its job
  • generally cleaning up the reservoir. eating, drinking, making baby enzymes, taking out the bad guys, etc
• bucket temperature
  • cool reservoir
    • cool water (physically) can hold more oxygen. more oxygen at the roots makes happy cannabis plants
    • bad enzymes/bacteria prefer warm water (they don't want to stop in a cool res)
  • warm reservoir
    • warm water can't hold enough oxygen for any plants - the plants end up suffocating because they can't get enough oxygen
    • bad for roots
      • think sous vide - slowly cooking tender roots in warm water
    • encourages bad enzymes/bacteria
    • when my buckets are too warm - I have more sediment than usual and/or brown slime
• Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O3)
  • until it has expired, peroxide 'cleans' (oxidizes organic matter until the H2O3 becomes H2O). The good, the bad and the ugly - it also cleans the roots, contributing to the sediment
  • when expired - it is just water (H2O). at the very most - a glass of (strong) peroxide can last 24 hours before becoming water. please, don't drink the peroxide

pH fluctuations
generally - the pH in my buckets drifts down. So, when my pH spikes - I look in the bucket for some physical contaminant.

• It could be anything (leaf and leaf goo is what I find in my res) floating or stuck to the netpot stuck to your air tubing, under the airstone. look everywhere.
  • I once found a leaf that had somehow wedged its stem into the netpot - so it was bobbing in and out of the water.
• It could be to much water in the reservoir
  • water surface shouldn't touch the netpot
  • aeration actually takes too much water onto the hydroton - causing the hydroton in the netpot to be too wet (leave some headroom between bottom of netpot and surface of reservoir)

after a couple of grows, you will understand how pH behaves for you and how to harness it (I am happy to explain how pH behaves for me, and how I try to use it)




Feeding your seedling

• as you can see, the general consensus is you started your nutrient regime, a little early.
• No Biggie. just keep an eye on your leaf tips

• For me - I don't use nutrients (other than CALiMAGic and Armor Si) until I have "roots in the nutes"
  • until roots are in the reservoir - no sense in putting anything else in (spending money, for nothing)
    • and I mean ROOTS (not 1 or 2 little ones, barely touching the surface either a good number of roots, or deep into the reservoir)
  • by the time roots are in the reservoir - she has a couple sets of leaves and is ready for something a little richer than CALiMAGic

You are on track - at the moment, you are experiencing "growing" pains LOL (taking your lumps, inquiring, figuring out how they grow, what works best for them/you)

It takes a lot to really kill one of these plants - so there is time to correct any miss-steps



sorry for the ramble, may or may not be cannabis inspired

[maner]

thank you so much for your broad and informative post, i will change the reservoir tonight and make a week 3 post with photos, one of my plant (BBSC) has some soft white spots on it (maybe because of pH fluctations, cause i didnt check pH in the first whole week unfortunatelly) but Kilimanjaro looks so healthy with good green and so symmetrical leaves.

- i always shake nutrients well before i add them to the reservoir, should i mix nutrients in another bottle (with adding micro first) and then put it in reservoir water?

- i think that brown residue comes from hydrotons according to the infomations you gave because i washed them just before i start like 2-3 minutes.

-pH fluctations: before i start i have measured net pot levels and drew MIN-MAX water levels (you can see the residue picture i sent at the bottom right) according to informations that i learnt from this site (2-4" air gap is it right)

-im very curious, for my next grows, dont you add ANY nutrients (according to nebulas schedule 1/4 dose of flora trio first week) except calimagic and armor si? only pH water??

[RagWeedDWC]

Until the roots are in the water, at best I feed 1/4 strength, but usually just Rapid Start from GH, my reservoir is 6 gal, but I use the recomended dosage for 5 gals (2 teaspoons) and hydroguard. not sure how effective hydroguard is with out any roots, but it seems to help. Once roots go into water, I feed for one week half strength and then go into my feeding schedule.

[LurkingInTheGrass]

maner

Nutrient only goes into water (some nutrients interact badly, when you mix them together, then add water)

Air gap: 1-2" at first. 2-4" later, once the plant matures

I don't use any nutes (except Armor Si and CAliMAGic) until I see roots hanging in the reservoir😁

[SirSmksAlot]

That was very informative! Thanks for that