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HYDRO Question for experienced hydro growers

bboyfromwayback

bboyfromwayback

New member
I’ve always grown in soil or coco due to a fear of everything that can go south quickly with hydro. However, seeing the size difference in plants grow in a hydro setup on this site has me wanting to try it out, atleast once. I found a article detailing how to build a RDWC setup and I have everything needed except the uniseals and pumps. My only question is, during a power outage, how long can the plants survive without the water/air circulation? This has been the biggest factor keeping me from trying hydro. Any grow issues I may encounter can be corrected but loosing your grow during a power outage can not. Thanks
 
Howdy bboyfromwayback, in the past several years (grows), I have only had a few power outages of more than an hour or two. The only effect, that I have had, was the stress due to the light interruption, As long as the reservoir water stays below 70° F and there is at least an air gap between the bottom of the net pots for the root to get air, the power outage should not do too much harm to the plants. With low power consumption lamps like LEDs and maybe even CFLs, One could add an uninterruptible or back up power supply to maintain the lighting schedule, but it could be pricey depending on the total wattage required (home computer battery back ups only provide a few watts and only for a short time).
 
A couple hours isn’t bad but we sometimes loose power for a day or two during big storm like hurricane season or heavy snow. I have a generator that’ll run the entire house but it doesn’t come on automatically. If natural gas was available in my neighborhood I’d have a backup that comes in itself.
 
It wouldn’t do anything for something higher powered like the lights but for things like a small air pump you can get car jump starters that have a couple 120v plun ins. I live where the power might be out for a day or two also and I use them so we can still get WiFi (as long as cable isn’t down too) and still have a few lights.
 
Coco is hydro and you should see same results as in hydro meaning plants will grow faster and show problems faster. I did dwc in buckets not rdwc so no advice on the R part but it would depend on how large plants are and how large res is. In dwc roots are submerged mostly with airstone. Rdwc some of roots may be submerged but usually not all of roots and a drip comes from top. These setups are more forgiving with no airstones as the plant can breathe though roots not in water. This is how kratky method works. Depending on how much the roots are submerged will depend on how often you would need to put fresh water in.

In my situation i would change out water every day for fresh water if my power was out if plants had large root system. in rdwc since water level is lower than my setup was you may be able get by doing it every other day depending on res temps. It depends on how much root is not in water really imo.
 
Ive read about the Kratky method. The AutoPot system seems to have some similarities. I’m using a soil coco mix now bc I didn’t like watering almost daily in straight coco but the plants did grow faster.
 
I've run RDWC for 5 years now.
I've also encountered power loss for a day from snow during the middle of a grow.
I was concerned that it would kill everything, but they just shrugged it off.
If you had to manage a few days I would look into using a UPS for an air pump on a timer just to oxygenate the solution.
 
That’s a good idea! Glad to know they shrugged off a day without power. A day without lights I can live with but wasn’t sure how’s they’d take a day without air pumps running or water circulating. I’m never gone during a grow, been planning them around vacations and holidays for years. The longest they’d be without power would be if it went out right after I left for work and didn’t cone back on before I got home. Thanks for the input! The loss of power topic hasn’t been covered in any article I’ve ever read concerning hydro. Think I’ll get this system built and see how I enjoy hydro. Although I won’t fully commit for a couple grows lol
 
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