HELP- first hydro build and grow

[Gator]

I got the pH down to 5.7 last night and it was 6.1 this morning, I'll check it again after work

[Gator]

Is it normal to have foam in the bucket, it kinda looks like compost tea

[Bluey]

Ah. No to foam.

Try and be accurate with your starting pH. It should rise to somewhere around 6.5 to 6.7

[Gator]

Ok, I should probably empty the bucket and give it a good cleaning then start over

[Gator]

Here's my theory about the foam, nectar for the gods is made from organic material like kelp and bone meal, could the hydro guard be breaking down the organic material and Producing the foam,it has bacteria in it

[Wayzee]

I agree with Bluey, foam is a sign something isn't right, I'd be doing another test without the hydro guard. Like you said it may be reacting with the your nutrients. What are you using for pH adjustment? It could be that also..

[Gator]

Hades down, I just went down to check on the bucket, there's no evidence of the foam,I'm baffled

[Wayzee]

So the foam has gone away by itself?

[Gator]

Like I said,no evidence at all, even the sludge is gone

[Gator]

Ph is 6.9 trying to get it to 5.8

[Wayzee]

Is there 2 air stones in there? Looks like too much turbulence to me ( others please correct me if I'm wrong) that will be messing with pH and water temp and will be knocking the roots around too much causing twisted roots. The foam may have been a non issue, when I had foam it stained the sides my buckets.

[Gator]

Yeah,two 4 inch pucks,I can turn the air pump down

[Bluey]

I dont run a hydroguard in my aeroponics buckets but it is a slightly different setup to DWC. I just change out nutes weekly.

[Gator]

Different how?? This whole project has my imagination going

[Bluey]

Well aeroponics works as so in my setups.

I contain everything but the airpump inside the bucket. A water pump sits in the bucket submerged in the nute mix and a manifold with jets sprayers or misters is fixed into the top of the pump. The pump operates for about 1 minute every 5 to 20 minutes and sprays fine droplets on the roots and into the air inside the bucket.The longer the pump runs the more the nute solution increases in temp. I try and maintain midway b/w 20 to 25⁰C. The airstone sits in the bucket beside the pump and I run that like 5 min on 5 min off, If pH goes too high after 24hrs I will reduce how much it runs over that period.

I sit a 20W LED flood light over the bucket at a height of around 18 to 24" which gives around 90 to 130 PPFD on the clones. Under 70 PPFD will not sustain the life of the plant. RH doesnt effect the clones. EC of nutes 0.3. pH start 5.8. The bucket is sealed but you need a little pressure relief vent so I just dont totally seal the hole for the power cord for the pump.

The above system was developed by NASA and found to be the most efficient and highest yielding system for growing plants in a lab with least loss too. It works at home too and results are pretty much perfect for cloning. Ive revegged in those buckets and had them to about 2'+ tall with very low light and low EC and massive roots ready to transplant into coco. I have used this system to maintain the clones for months without them getting too big either. Just keeping them alive for later use

[Gator]

On the money 😁 😁!!!

[Gator]

5.8 pH I think I got this

[Gator]

Water temperature is 74

[Bluey]

Regarding aeroponics here's a grow I did with aeroponcs included...starts page 3 https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...toperiod/page3

There are many threads on it. Search "aeroponics". Low pressure aeroponics is the correct term for most methods used by me and others here. High pressure aeroponics is more advanced and gives slightly improved results but is more technically challenging and more expensive for pump/s and misters and filters. Some use 2 pumps for a high pressure setup. Misters clog easily. Even with fine sprayers I use I change them all out every few days as they clog quickly.

[Gator]

Damn, just reading the post was difficult, how about we keep the bucket thing going,then we'll talk about getting crazy with the cheese wizz

[ductwizard]

i'm with you bro, that hurt my 8th grade educations feelings just reading it. now i know why i'm an organic dirt farmer