HELP- first hydro build and grow

[Gator]

Where?? I had over a thousand, damn those were the days

[DabberDog]

Damn. Called my bluff. Maybe not a thousand. Our local info magazine had ads where someone was offering them for ten cents apiece. Don't know what they were.

[DabberDog]

To ask, again. Do you just have the one bucket?

[Gator]

No,I have two, like I said, the one in the picture is a 5 gallon,I also have a 7 , maybe use it in flower??

[Gator]

I will not give up,I will not lose,I will not be defeated,I will not!!!!!!

[Gator]

I'm going to do an auto flower fot the first run in the bucket, thank you @ going 2 fast

[DabberDog]

My bad. I read your 5/7 gallon post. What I was getting at was this here...
What I don't show in my post is that I have two buckets. I prep one while the other is still bubbling along and transfer the plant. Nute and air stone the water before transfer. I have found that chasing the pH with the plant in the bucket is a pain in the ass. The air stone raises the pH over time. It's not like you set your 6.0, once, and you're good to go.
Get me? I'm trying to 'splain something through a shatter brownie and some seriously caryophyllene, myrcene, and limonene terpened dabs.

[apacin0]

I decided to try my hand at growing in a hydro system,I have black buckets and lids, bottles of nutrients,duel port air pump, pH and TDS meter and the basket,hydroton and rock wool cubes are coming today.heres the deal,I have no clue what I'm doing, but I'm going to build the bucket, I'll definitely be needing advice and guidance, anyone who grows in hydro please help

Nice! I've been thinking about starting a DWC bucket again. I haven't done it since 2020-21. It's what led me to growing in coco.

I've never used rock wool cubes, but I know that they are alkaline initially and need to be pre-soaked with PH'd water first. I used Rapid Rooter starter plugs instead and they worked well.

You're going to want to block all light leaks into the res of the bucket because of algae growth. That clear tube you have should be replaced with black tubing eventually.

Keeping the res temp of the bucket is important, but using beni bacteria is also part of maintaining a healthy root zone. I used Hydroguard and it definitely helped a lot. When I first tried I had a funk start to grow, but cleared with a res change and adding Hydroguard.

Also note that there will be an increase in humidity in the tent, so you'll need plenty of air exchange.

The roots grow super huge pretty fast when you start feeding them well. It's not uncommon for the root mass to grow to the bucket size and the plant on top gets heavy and it will get more challenging to see inside the res by lifting the bucket lid. It becomes a lot of work because of this because they'll drink those buckets dry super fast. This is why people like to do RDWC with 2-3 bucket (one being a controller res to check water height and change solution). All without disturbing the plant and roots by lifting the bucket lid up to check and change nutes.

Those are all the tips I can think of. Good luck! I look forward to seeing your first DWC grow.

[Wayzee]

With your clear hose, you can wrap it black electric tape or duct tape if you can't get hold of the right size hose in black....

[Bluey]

I always have 2 spare clean buckets on hand.

One is used for the new nute solution the other is used to rest the lid with the plant in it for the equipment changeover.

Light leaks will stop any root growth. Make sure you black out everything around the plant completely. No light into bucket at all.