First time grower needs help

[Fimz]

Hey everyone

New to the forum and a first time grower. Hoping I can get some help and assurance I'm on the right track.

This is what I'm working with:

2 Autodlower strains, Northern Lights and White Widdow
6 five gallon RDWC buckets each with their own air stone running 24/7
600 watt LED light, 20 inches above the seedlings
Advanced Nutrients Ph perfect Grow, Micro, Bloom
Used Rockwool for germination and placed the rockwool right in the hydro baskets.
Currently 1 week and a day from placing the plants in the baskets.
After the first week of very small amounts of nutrients, just changed the reservoir and used the suggested amount of nutrients on the Advanced Nutrients containers.
Ph level has fluctuated a bit but I've made sure it hasn't gone out of the 5.5-6.5 range
4x4 Grow room with two small fans circulating air, temperatures never get above 75 degrees.
Humidity remains high but controlled. I did have an issue with mildew but I fought it with a 60/40 water to milk ratio and that seems to be working for now.
Using tap water which is a little on the hard side with a base of 250-300ppm. After adding the nutrients, ppm holds steady at 450-550.


To give some context, the first week I was top feeding with drip rings running constantly but plants began to show signs of overwatering and I had the mildew problem so after the first week I stopped that, added the air stones, changed the res.

My concern is that I've done too much damage already and I'm not getting enough growth. The leaves are curling up and showing signs of browning at the tips and in general don't look very healthy.

I realize it's still only been a week and a couple days, but I'm concerned. Looking for help on whether or not I'm on the right track or need to change it up. Also looking for help diagnosing these seedlings and leaves.

Any help or thoughts would be great!

[Canuck147]

Doesn't need any nutrients at this stage, LET IT GROW.

[intergalactic_harvester]

i top fed with plain water the first week, but some folks feed small from the start. you say you added airstones after you noticed a problem? shoulda had that going the whole time and had no issue.
think of growing in soil. if you water it constantly it will quickly drown. it needs oxygen more than it needs to be wet. thats whats happening here.
the only thing that makes dwc possible is highly oxygenated water. if the water in your feed lines is not oxygenated enough, your plants will drown. if your water or air pumps fail, they will drown soaking in thier pots.
this is from experiencing my own close call very early in my grow! good luck

also just an idea. i put 2 airstones near the intake of my water pumps just to be sure.

[POKEDSMOT]

No nutes. When I germinate in system I use rooters they have all the nutes necessary and add Hydroguard. 1 week after sprouting I top off with 1 gal of 1/4 strength nutes. Then the next week res change and full on seedling strength nutrients.

[Fimz]

Thanks for the replies so far

i knew oxygen was key to hydro and DWC, I just thought the top feeding would cause enough oxygenation. When I noticed consistent drouping, that's when I got the air stones. So there should be no reason why the water doesn't have enough O2 now.

Do you think that's the only reason? Anything else you can think of may be contributing?

Also, from the pictures do you all see major problems or maybe something fixable?

Thanks for the help.

[Canuck147]

Too small to see anything, wait 10 days.