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First grow journal, first grow. 360 L RDWC+150 Wilma, White Widow

Campesino frozen water bottles will do the trick in emergency situations but you’ll be babysitting that reservoir all day checking temps before each feeding and fighting a loosing battle. Plus it takes quite a bit of ice to lower 40-100gallons of water more than a couple degrees. The displacement by the water bottles also can cause issues. I do agree and have personally used water bottles in my reservoirs before but in my opinion after a week of freezing water bottles and changing them back and forth I’d rather spend the 250$ and get the chiller.

Also if you have a large reservoir frozen water is hard. You’ll be freezing gallons of water at a time and that will drastically reduce your freezers inside temperature(making your wife’s ice cream melt, Tisk Tisk;) ) so then you’re stuck buying a chest freezer which is just as much as a chiller and possibly uses more electric than the chiller. (Depending on models)

You can diy a chiller by buying a mini fridge, drilling a hole on each side and running a copper pipe into the fridge from the side then down into a 5 or 3 gallon bucket of water (depending on fridge size) where it coils a bunch then back out of the bucket and out of the other side. When the fridge turns on, it will cool that heat sink (your bucket of water) to like 38 degrees if you set the fridge to it’s Lowest temps. Then you get a small pump. One that pumps 100gph or so. This will insure the water moves slowly through your coil. You plug that pump into a water thermometer outlet. You can get one on amazon for 30$. Then you set that outlet to turn on whenever your temps get above 70degrees Fahrenheit and off when they’ve lowered back to 65.

When your temps rise the outlet will turn the pump on and it will begin pumping water through the tube, into the fridge(that’s always cold), through the heat sink and back out of the fridge back into the reservoir.

Not quite as effective or efficient but will get the job done. And can cost almost nothing if you have an extra mini fridge laying around(like I do).
 
Yes, indeed! It would only be stop-gap and is really easier in my system than it would be in DWC. My Res only holds max 8 gallons and I only need to chill it a few degrees (it never gets above 72 on its own).

Very interesting mini-fridge hack!
 
Oh yeah! Campesino doing everything right like usual;) like always you seem to impress me with your logic. I did not mention a water chiller is worthless if your reservoir is less than 20 gallons really. The water bottle trick is a go to for small reservoirs and highly effective in ones under 10 gallons.
 
Thanks man, but good advice... I wasn't thinking about how much bigger the res you're dealing with is. This is good for me to keep in mind in terms of giving advice to others!
Learn - Grow - Share :)
 
I'll be sure to get an chillar to my next grow, Will spare me from some frosty work and it seems like it Will be easy keeping my temperaturer at optimal level.

My res is about 100 gallons so chilling it with ice dont do much difference. 😏
I'm glad my roots still looks so fine after temperatures of up to 24°C/ 75°F.
 
How should I proceed in my Wilma system ?
Setup 2:

The plants are in beginning of week 4 veg.



I'm thinking about having these in veg at least 5 weeks and introducing them to a scrog net soon and starting LST.
When should I do this ?
Is Scrog the best way to go ?

What can I do about them growing in such a different speed?


I'm thinking about if I should throw the weakest plants and just continue with the strongest, now I have 14 plants in my 120×120 tent.


![/QUOTE]
 
Are all of those plants staying in that room their whole life? Are they all girls?

If so it is going to get crazy crowded - you won't need a scrog, the purpose of a scrog is increasing the horizontal coverage of the canopy of each plant - With that many plants it is not really possible to scrog.
 
Campesino Thanks for the mention.

Hi Dr. Moggs, so as Camp said I run dwc and prefer my water temps to be warmer, 75-78 F is my sweet spot. The thing is plants take up nutrients more efficiently when the water temp is within 5 degrees of the ambient room temperature. The problem becomes supplying the root zone with adequate levels of O2 at higher water temperatures. Water holds progressively less dissolved oxygen as the temperature increases so it’s harder to achieve the appropriate O2 levels when the water temps are higher......harder but not impossible. The main concern with higher water temperatures is Pythium, a bacteria that is associated with root rot. Pythium is an opportunistic bacteria that attacks unhealthy plant roots, it multiplies rapidly and can destroy a root system quickly. The thing is, it doesn’t attack healthy roots, the presence of Pythium in larger numbers is a symptom of a sick root system, not the cause, as is widely believed. Causes of unhealthy root systems can vary from high EC, pH issues, old & or low quality nutrient solution and more commonly inadequate O2 levels in the nutrient solution. Once your roots are sick Pythium will strike regardless of your water temperatures. Pythium is known to be present in all sources of water and can survive at temperatures as low as 50F. The only true way to combat Pythium is to maintain a healthy root system. I am in no way discounting or trying to contradict IslandColas advice about a water chiller and keeping the water cooler, as it’s far easier to manage dissolved Oxygen levels in cooler water.

With that said, it appears as though you have a healthy root system and I would chalk up your recent issues to your pH going out of range, but I have a couple questions regarding your rdwc setup. Are you running airstones in each individual bucket and if so how strong is your air pump? How large are your recirculating supply lines to the buckets and how strong is the pump? Does your system actively circulate the nutrient solution similar to a current culture system or is it a more passive circulation like a top-fed dwc? I ask because I’m curious about your dissolved O2 levels. Your roots indicate that they are getting what they need but adding more could be a lot cheaper than a water chiller if there is room to increase the O2 levels.
 
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Since you have the plants you keep them all and can go with a sea of green. But i wouldnt let them veg much longer. How tall is your tent? A sea of green can make great yields in the long run because of the shorter time in veg. Hard to tell from the pictures of the actual size but they will get alot bigger when you flip to 12/12. Ive had some triple in height. Then again ive had some not get much taller at all. Both still made good yields. If needed if one gets much taller than the others you can super crop it or use lst but in that tight space not much room for lst.

Next time i would probably go with alot less plants unless you decide you like the sea of green. But unless you do clones that may get expensive seed wise.
 
Your science is spot on, all I will add is the higher the temp the higher the risk. You’re just asking for an oops to ruin the whole crop. I applaud your ability to grow in 75-80 degree water, it means you’ve got your shit on lock! ;) I ran a 78 degree reservoir for near 4 weeks at the beginning of my grow. Not saying it can’t be done:)

Aloha!
 
I will add I run warm with my vegetable crops. When grown outdoors it’s almost impossible to keep reservoirs under 75. With proper maintenance and care you can manage. Just every really serious hydro grower will tell you keep your reservoir in the sweet spot. Use a chiller and cover your back door. That’s the only advice I can stand behind especially when giving it to a beginner.

Mad props to Obi-Wan! I would love to see your ladies:)
 
I had 15 seeds over from my first grow so I germinated all of them in the Wilma system.
Yes, I had feminized seeds so all of them are girls :)
And yes, they are suposed to stay there for all their life.
 
Obi-Wan said:
Campesino Thanks for the mention.

With that said, it appears as though you have a healthy root system and I would chalk up your recent issues to your pH going out of range, but I have a couple questions regarding your rdwc setup. Are you running airstones in each individual bucket and if so how strong is your air pump? How large are your recirculating supply lines to the buckets and how strong is the pump? Does your system actively circulate the nutrient solution similar to a current culture system or is it a more passive circulation like a top-fed dwc? I ask because I’m curious about your dissolved O2 levels. Your roots indicate that they are getting what they need but adding more could be a lot cheaper than a water chiller if there is room to increase the O2 levels.
Click to expand...

Thanks Obi-Wan
I have understod the importance with oxygen in my reservoir and have an separat airstone in each pot.
The air-pump pumps 3600 L/h or 60L/min.
The mainlines between the pots are 25 mm in diameter and the returnpipe are 13 mm.
The waterpump pumps 1050 L/H

I am not sure about what you mean with your last question but I'll try to answer it.
My system pumps the water around in the system all the time and it changes water in the pots 2-3 times per hour.
I have built the system my self so I'm open for all type of feedback.

I'll upload an easy design of my setup.

Reading about reservoirs with higher temperatures than what normally is seen as the gold-lock zone was nice, I'll still consider buying an chiller but that feels like an investment for the future.

Do you think I need more oxygen in my water ?
 

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In a Deep Water Culture hydroponic system, it is absolutely crucial to have adequate oxygen levels because roots are submerged. For optimal growth it is recommended to have 1 Litre Per Minute of air pumped into each Gallon of nutrient solution. Therefore a 100 Gallon reservoir would require a 100 LPM air pump for maximum oxygenation.

In every other hydroponic application it is only required to oxygenate the solution enough to prevent it from becoming anaerobic. This means much less air is required. Generally if you have good movement in the solution and the majority of the surface of the solution is broken with bubbles you should be fine. Roughly ¼ – ½ the oxygenation rate of a DWC system should be more than adequate.

It is possible to have too much aeration because the bubbles coming out of the air stone or diffuser create friction. The more friction produced, the more heat produced. So in some cases adding more aeration can be counterproductive.

Water temperatures also affect the amount of oxygen that water can hold. Excessive reservoir temperatures will prevent sufficient oxygen saturation levels. For this reason it is not recommended to exceed 68 Degrees Fahrenheit in your nutrient reservoir.

Source:

https://hydroponics.com/question/how-much-air-is-required-to-aerate-my-nutrient-solution/

Article written by Alex Rea who is Vice President of Homegrown Hydroponics Inc and co-founder of Phytomedical Cannabis Consulting.
 
A chiller is an investment in the future. An investment in your crops future. If you wait till you loose a crop to buy a chiller you’ll only be paying twice the cost because now you’ve lost the crop and start over.
 
@IslandColas
Do I understand your comment correct if i see it as my plants get enough oxygen ?
My pump pumps 60 LPM but the reservoir is in constant movement.

I have noticed that my airpumps become a bit warm after being on 24/7. Now I have them in the coldest place of my room.

All this insight and advice are awesome. This far I have learnt so much and I am thankful for this. I hope to be a Pro-Grower and be able to help other people out but at the same time doing monster grows for my self👍👌

The cheapest chiller in my country is about 700 $ but I found some cheap ones on Amazon for about 250 $.
My next grow will be with an Chiller and with Autos instead of regular and feminized seeds.
 
Thanks Redwasp for your input.
I'll go for the sea of green since I already have all the plants going and no where else to put them. I also understand this to be the best way to continue when you have many plants on a small area.

My tent is 180 cm high. The strain of white widow from green house seeds is know for not growing that tall but growing short and dense.
 
Thanks for the advice ,

Sounds like a high temperature doesn't always result in catastrophs but that will make my grows growing healthier and quicker with an smaller risk of root issues.

My water temperature goes between 68 as lowest and 75 as highest.

Happy growing !
 
I just read the GWE tutorial of SoG.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/sea-of-green

That seems like the best way to go ahead with this tent. I have reservoir change on Thursday and will switch the lights to 12/12 then.

Some of the plants are a bit bigger than what's recommended for the switch in the tutorial but I think it will work well anyways....?
All of my ladies are topped so I guess it will be crowded.

Maby i should throw my weakest two plants and continue with 12 of them. This way I'll be able to place the plants symmetrically:
Almost like this: but like an perfect square on the Wilma System.
X X X X
X.......X
X.......X
X X X X

What do you guys think ?
 
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