Obi-Wan
New member
I thought about posting this on one of my journals but this is probably as good a place as any to post it. Campesino and I have talked about this before and IslandColas has eluded to it in at least one post; As far as growing in hydroponics is concerned, I am a bit unorthodox to say the least, my techniques work for me because I have an understanding of the conditions I have created in my reservoir, it is certainly not the easy, efficient , or recommended way, for a grower that is new to idea of sustaining life in an aqueous environment.
My preference for warmer water comes from my love of aquatics and my experience over the last decade managing a 175 gallon aquarium. I have run it as a fresh water tank as well well as a salt water tank, unfortunately shortly after I started growing I had to shut down the aquarium do to excess power consumption. I am currently saving money to upgrade my household electrical so I can run both simultaneously, but for now my tank sits empty. Anyways.....It should come as no surprise that I treat my reservoirs the same way I treated my aquarium.....I only do partial water changes on a weekly basis........I do this in part because I use beneficial bacteria in my reservoir and IMO and experience, a complete water change would only serve to rob my system of the colony I am trying to build. I build my colony using HydroGuard, Orca, and SLF-100. Most are familiar with HydroGuard from the GWE tutorials. Orca is the hydroponic equivalent of Great White, produced by the same manufacturer. SLF-100 is an enzyme based root innoculent that serves to clear away dead and decaying root particles that would normally attract competing bacterial strains. I normally plan for 2 full reservoir changes in any given grow...the 1st is after transition, so I can reset the nutrient ratios in the reservoir for flowering....the 2nd is when I finalize the leaching period. I say finalize because I lower my EC by .2, at what I consider to be milestone stages during flower, until I reach an EC of 1.0 or 500 PPM, at which point I dip the roots in a solution of 22 mls. of FloraKleen per 5 gallons of water for 10 minutes and then return them to a reservoir of tap water, HydroGuard, and Orca. The final period of leaching lasts for 7 days and I add my beneficial's during this period because I need a healthy root system to assist in water uptake right up until I cut the plants down.
It is my sincere hope that I can contribute to this community in a way that benefits others in the same way that it has benefited me, while understanding that I do things in an unconventional way that may not be easily replicated by others.
My preference for warmer water comes from my love of aquatics and my experience over the last decade managing a 175 gallon aquarium. I have run it as a fresh water tank as well well as a salt water tank, unfortunately shortly after I started growing I had to shut down the aquarium do to excess power consumption. I am currently saving money to upgrade my household electrical so I can run both simultaneously, but for now my tank sits empty. Anyways.....It should come as no surprise that I treat my reservoirs the same way I treated my aquarium.....I only do partial water changes on a weekly basis........I do this in part because I use beneficial bacteria in my reservoir and IMO and experience, a complete water change would only serve to rob my system of the colony I am trying to build. I build my colony using HydroGuard, Orca, and SLF-100. Most are familiar with HydroGuard from the GWE tutorials. Orca is the hydroponic equivalent of Great White, produced by the same manufacturer. SLF-100 is an enzyme based root innoculent that serves to clear away dead and decaying root particles that would normally attract competing bacterial strains. I normally plan for 2 full reservoir changes in any given grow...the 1st is after transition, so I can reset the nutrient ratios in the reservoir for flowering....the 2nd is when I finalize the leaching period. I say finalize because I lower my EC by .2, at what I consider to be milestone stages during flower, until I reach an EC of 1.0 or 500 PPM, at which point I dip the roots in a solution of 22 mls. of FloraKleen per 5 gallons of water for 10 minutes and then return them to a reservoir of tap water, HydroGuard, and Orca. The final period of leaching lasts for 7 days and I add my beneficial's during this period because I need a healthy root system to assist in water uptake right up until I cut the plants down.
It is my sincere hope that I can contribute to this community in a way that benefits others in the same way that it has benefited me, while understanding that I do things in an unconventional way that may not be easily replicated by others.
