HYDRO Whats the difference between DWC & RDWC

[Stevepmd]

Hello,
Can someone tell me whats the difference between a DWC system and a recrecirculating DWC system. Is one better than the other?
I also have a question about the reservoir size? Will a bigger reservoir produce a bigger plant?

Thanks

[BudBoy2]

Hello Stevepmd, on a recirculating system your recirculating your nutrients where as just plane DWC your not. Hopefully your at least using a air stone as it helps to keep your nutrients stired up. On which is better i would lean towards the RDWC as it requires less attention once your ph gets stable. Just top off every now and then and your good. And my opinion is the bigger the reservoir the bigger the plant as the roots have more room to grow. Hope this helps!

[Stevepmd]

Yes thank you for that info. So in a recirculating system you dont have to change the water every 10 days just top up water and nutrients.

[DW2]

Howdy Stevepmd, I use a 10 gallon tote (using only six gallons, to leave room for an air gap for the roots). It is based on a Bubbleponics system. It uses a 127GHP submersible water pump with a six outlet DIG distributor with water lines to the bottom of the net pots (six of the 3 3/4 inch size). I use only five of the net pots for plants (the last one is used to hold ice bottle to keep the reservoir temperature down below 70° F). The size of the reservoir does affect the size of the plants, I usually get only two of the plants to full maturity either due to root crowding or the larger plants 'shading out' the smaller ones. This system, along with several air stones) keeps the nutrient solution circulating, although, not as much as a full RDWC system does. I would strongly recommend changing out the nutrient solution no later than every ten gays to two weeks just to help to prevent problems with algae and other unwanted microbes. I change out my six gallon reservoirs every week (and top off at mid week with plain pH'ed water).

[Toker1]

R stands for recirculating. Meaning there is a pump and drain system connecting the plants. Both DWC and RDWC have advantages and disadvantages. You still have to do reservoir changes on both systems.
Well, it’s not necessarily the reservoir size that matters...but if the reservoir can grow larger roots then yes. Larger roots = larger fruits.