HELP- first hydro build and grow

[Gator]

Wayzeeyeah , I am very excited to get going,I love a challenge, and thank you for the information

[Gator]

Ok,so picture two buckets in a 3 x3, one of them has a plant, and the other one is for changing the solution

[Wayzee]

How many air stones are you planning on using? Also you can fill that basket up with clay balls and put the Rockwool cube and seedling in the clay balls once it's germinated, like transplanting into dirt... if you not already going to do so... The other thing is you want your resivour in the coolest place, if your room is cooler than inside the tent don't put it in the tent you will have trouble with the water getting too warm.

[Gator]

I think I made the tubing long enough to go outside the tent if I need to lower the temperature of the water,I should probably do a practice run first so that I can get a feel of how it's going to work

[Gator]

The bucket is the resivor, it's self contained

[Gator]

It's dwc, not rdwc

[Wayzee]

Ahh yep, I see. Was getting confused with the two bucket bit.. another tip, I plumbed in a drain, tap and hose to my DWC that ran all the way outside so while I was mixing up a new batch of nutes I was draining the old out, saved a bit of time and mucking around.
I did f up a couple of times and forgot to turn off tap before refilling system then wondering wtf happened when I went to check pH later on hahaha

[Gator]

The air stone is 4.2 inch, one in each bucket

[Wayzee]

Im confused again bro, You have 1 bucket 1 plant, and spare bucket for mixing nutes?

[Gator]

Yeah bud,I'm just doing it to try something new,I'm thinking one plant,mix nutes and adjust the pH, switch the plant to the new stuff,,I think I have a headlight with a green filter for doing the change

[Wayzee]

I think I get it now, So you lift the plant out of one pot and put it into the other with the fresh nutes then a week or so later swap it back.. good idea,.! Only thing I can foresee is might run into trouble if you do any kind of training or netting.

[Gator]

No nets,I use lst.clips

[Gator]

See what I mean, seems pretty easy to me, but I tend to overthink shit

[Wayzee]

Yea, gotcha. haha you and me both.

[Gator]

So what do you think, will it work,the only thing I can think of is a full 3 x3 canopy,pita right

[Wayzee]

Yea I can't see why not, give it a run and see what you think, I changed my set up around 3 or 4 times (and blew a few dollars on pumps and an aquarium cooler) before I went to soil. I would be bit worried about moving it around when it's flowered up and got buds hanging off but necessity is the mother of inventions.

[Gator]

Damn right

[YYCannabis]

I’ve been using multiple buckets for DWC for years and i never worry about exposing the roots to light when i transfer the plant from one pail to another.. Don’t get freaked out about a few seconds of light hitting your roots. Every night i simply slide the top over to the side so i can check my nutes and levels. Light gets to my roots for a few minutes at a time and there has never been any die-off from it.

Aerating the water before a nute change is a good idea if you are on municipal water which probably has chlorine based additives to it. Will also make adjusting pH a lot easier and stable. I wouldn’t waste time bubbling it for more than 24 hours before adding nutes. But as was previously suggested, keep the fresh pail of water in a cool place. Or drop an ice pack into it before swapping the plant roots into it.

And always always always use some form of root guard to prevent root rot.

[Bluey]

When Using aeroponics bucket setup for clones, light isn't an issue at changeover either. But they dont get much, maybe a minute or so. No issue.

Seen a few plants fall over in DWC setups when not netting them.

[Gator]

I'm going to do a shakedown cruise with the bucket, I'm thinking I should run it a few days,get a feel for it,no plant, but run the paces like I had a plant

[Ckbrew]

Similar to setting up a new aquarium, get it running well before you introduce your life forms.

[Bluey]

Blocked nozzles and knocking out air hoses for the aerator and light getting through the plugs the cuttings are held in the bucket lid were the issues I had. I didn't bother too much with cleaning things between nute changes. Had a couple of times where I couldn't correct pH at 24hrs but went 48hrs instead.....pH, EC & PPFD is critical for healthy clones. Temps were low 20s C⁰ for both air and nutes..I ignored RH...it doesnt really matter in aeroponics, anywhere from as low as 30 to really high will work fine. Bit different though when trying to grow them out rather than keep them as just small clones which is what I had to do for months.

[Gator]

I started playing with the setup,I have the mix holding at 6.7 pH,

[Wayzee]

That might be a bit high for veg man, id be trying to get it around 5.5-6.
Read up on the website of the nutrients you are using, should have a feed chart with recommended pH levels at each stage. Also different brands have different methods with flushing in between change overs, should be on their website too.
And if you using a trio of base nutes, add the micronutrients to the water first...

[Bluey]

You need to start the mix when seedling/veg at 5.8 and let it rise over about 24 hours then correct it back to 5.8. The rise in pH will happen because of aeration. That gives you an excellent range for nute absorption by the roots. Id keep it the same in flower or just a fraction more as it should rise up a bit past 6.5pH anyway.