New Grower 1st hydro grow

[Iriee Vibez]

When I did hydro growing, I changed the water each week religiously. I would increase the ppms by 10% with each change to see what the plant loved. When I saw any signs of tip burn, I would decrease back down by 10% and maintain that through the grow. I would also change the water in the top off tank to keep the ratio between main and top off consistent.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

The whole point with the top off tank is to keep the water level in the main bucket at a consistent level. You don’t want major fluctuations, and you definitely don’t want the plant to drink all the water. Ph and ppm would have crazy swings, and you would never be sure what is in the main reservoir. I agree that 5 gallon may be small for a chiller. I am sure you can control temps otherwise, and hydrogaurd really helps the roots take higher temps without root rot and other problems. You should be fine.

 

[Jtrainor87]

The whole point with the top off tank is to keep the water level in the main bucket at a consistent level. You don’t want major fluctuations, and you definitely don’t want the plant to drink all the water. Ph and ppm would have crazy swings, and you would never be sure what is in the main reservoir. I agree that 5 gallon may be small for a chiller. I am sure you can control temps otherwise, and hydrogaurd really helps the roots take higher temps without root rot and other problems. You should be fine.

Lets say for instance mid flower:
The DWC bucket has 3 gallons, which is attached to the control bucket which also has 3 gallons. They will never dip below 3 gallons due to the res feeding the control bucket via a float valve.
IF those buckets are 500ppm originally and shes drinking consistently with the ppms being the same, and I put 250ppm in the res. As the plant drinks and calls for more water from the res its going to drop my ppms down below 500.
Same if the buckets are 500ppm and shes drinking and the ppms are dropping if the rez is putting in lower numbers its going to drop more. So wouldn't I need to check the dwc/control bucket ec each day and adjust the res depending on if the ppms are consistent or fluctuating???


I could use an ice probe chiller in the control bucket outside the tent since its linked to the dwc bucket. That would net me 6 gallons but again I wouldn't know if it would be too strong or not if it ran all the time.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Are you planning on changing water weekly? If so, decreasing the top off tank as suggested will likely result in the ppms being close to or a little under the main bucket starting point. What typically happens in DWC is that as the plant drinks water from the main bucket, the remaining water has a higher ppm than where you started. Before I used the top off tank, I would have to manually top off with plain water to keep the ppms down. It’s not an exact science, and influenced by your environment and setup, but I can almost guarantee that is you put the same strength in the top off tank, by the end of the week when it’s time to change, your ppm in the main tank will be in 700 range, or even higher.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

FYI... I ran an 8 gallon main reservoir with a 5 gallon top off tank. I had my chiller connected to the main reservoir that the plant was in. It was a little overkill for my small reservoir, but it had no problems keeping it at 66 regardless of the temps in my garage cabinet. The first post in this thread shows my DWC setup at the time.

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/iriees-dp-auto-glueberry-grown-in-dwc.69804/

 

[Jtrainor87]

this is what i thought

 

[Iriee Vibez]

this is what i thoughtView attachment 1184821

Yes, that’s not quite right. It is based on an incorrect assumption that if you start off at 3 gallons of water at 500 ppm, and the plant drinks a gallon, the remaining 2 gallons would still be at 500ppm. The truth is the plant actually needs much less nutrients that is in the water, and will use some as it drinks. The remaining 2 gallons in this scenario would be concentrated with ppms much higher than 500 ppms. This is why we play with the strength of the top off reservoir water, so it comes in low enough to decrease the main reservoir nute strength back to or close to 500ppm.

You can always give it a shot to see for yourself. You can adjust DWC quickly by just changing the reservoir. The plants will survive as you dial in your situation. Good luck, man!

 

[Jtrainor87]

going on day 3 seed hasnt cracked yet. i put in a cup with water forna second and it sank so that seems good put her back in a papertowl ziplock over router. hopefully she goes soon

 

[Iriee Vibez]

going on day 3 seed hasnt cracked yet. i put in a cup with water forna second and it sank so that seems good put her back in a papertowl ziplock over router. hopefully she goes soon View attachment 1185579View attachment 1185580View attachment 1185581

Sending good Vibez your way, man! lets get those seeds going!

 

[Jtrainor87]

day 4 no cracking
everytime i open the ziplock i get a weird stinky feet smell, i replaced the paper towel (i thinknitbqas too wet i wrung it out and water came out.) so new paper. towel wrung it wrapped seed back up and placed in tupperwear over router ....if it doesnt pop tonorrow i may drop another seed