Grow Mediums Deep Water Culture Basics - Bubbleponics

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Tyler_Durden88 how many buckets do you want to run? Maybe I should ask how big is your space and how many light fixtures type and actual at the wall watts?

 

[Hypathetical Gardener]

Thanks for the write up. Ill definately be calling on it when i eventually switch from dry amendend organics. I was thinking ph perfect or nftg. Got a preference? and why?

And please god, if this turns the tide to a pissing competition please just remove it.

Think on it:
Would civilization get better or worse if humans focused on what was going well rather than what’s going wrong?

 

[Autotron]

Honestly man you'll pay less just buying buckets, air hose and a good commercial pump. I use black 5gal buckets from home depot for like 4 bucks each. My pumps were around 35 each and tubing is 10 bucks for 100+ feet. I buy 50 4" airstones at a time to save all the back and forth, it costs roughly around 30 bucks for air stones. That's really all you need aside from nutrients and lights

Don't forget to include however many netpots you need.

 

[Free Flow]

Don't forget to include however many netpots you need.

I thought about that the minute I hit post lol

 

[Tyler_Durden88]

@Mañ'O'Green i have two spaces a 2x4x5 grow tent and a 4x4x7 grow tent i have 3 galaxy hydro 300w but they pull 150w and a galaxyhydro400w COB that pulls 230watts all lights are full spectrum. Also i run 400cfm exhaust with the same for forced in fresh air from outside I live out in the sticks so im running off a well not city water. I understand the basics of hydroponics and what i need im more interested in the Nutes. Whats the best brand wich covers the most bases and what to use to keep my water clean and ph right where it needs to be without battling it on a daily basis.

 

[Boradan]

@Mañ'O'Green i have two spaces a 2x4x5 grow tent and a 4x4x7 grow tent i have 3 galaxy hydro 300w but they pull 150w and a galaxyhydro400w COB that pulls 230watts all lights are full spectrum. Also i run 400cfm exhaust with the same for forced in fresh air from outside I live out in the sticks so im running off a well not city water. I understand the basics of hydroponics and what i need im more interested in the Nutes. Whats the best brand wich covers the most bases and what to use to keep my water clean and ph right where it needs to be without battling it on a daily basis.

Don't think of monitoring/adjusting pH as a battle - it is simply a part of growing in hydro.
I am also in the sticks running DWC (mine is RDWC with 4 pots and a single res).
My ppm is 180-ish straight from the tap.
I aerate the water for 1 or 2 days before adding anything to it - this drives the pH up a LOT.
I then use pH down to get the pH stable at about 6.3 to 6.5 before I add my nutrients.
Once these are added, I leave it being aerated for another 12 hours to ensure stability.
I monitor everything (pH, ppm, Water temp, air temp, humidity) once per day and put the numbers into a spreadsheet.

This sounds like a lot of work, but really it isn't.

Filling Storage container and turning on Air pump - 5 minutes, once per week.
24-36 hours later add pH down until you get to the required level, then add your nutrients - 5 minutes, once per week.
After leaving for another 12 hours, check the pH and ppm and adjust as necessary - 5 minutes, once per week.

For the monitoring, it takes 2-5 minutes per day, but I rarely have to change anything (provided my nutrients are the correct strength).
It is good to allow your DWC pH to fluctuate as long as it is between 5.5 and 6.5 (I try to keep 5.7 to 6.3) as that enables all nutrients to get into their sweet spots.

Here are my pH readings from my current grow:

I am currently using the following Nutes and additives:
Mega Crop - covers 90% of the plant needs.
Remo Magnifical - MegaCrop has cal/mag but extra is needed due to me using a COB
Remo Astro Flower - a PK booster for flowering
Atamai Ata Clean for keeping the pipes clean.
Great White Mycorrhizae

pH Up & pH Down (pH up is rarely used)

I only use the Remo Nutrients as I had them left over from my last grow. I will be swapping these to the Greenleaf nutrients versions (Cal + Mag Pro & Sweet candy/Bud Explosion) when the remo nutes run out.

Zero issues with root rot (even though my Res temp is 21-22.5 C)

 

[Rifleman]

....... i need im more interested in the Nutes. Whats the best brand wich covers the most bases and what to use to keep my water clean and ph right where it needs to be without battling it on a daily basis.

I use Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect, and never check pH. Mix on Sunday, add pH adjusted water(5.8) during the week. Then change solution the next Sun, or sooner depending on how much the plant drinks. I use 4 gallons in each bucket, if a plant has absorbed 12 to 16 quarts and it's only Thur, I change solution. Yes it can get confusing with eight buckets, eight strains, and eight different needs for each.....IOW, take notes.

 

[d.t]

How bad would it be to use advance nutrients ph perfect COCO? It gives me a ph of about 6. I got given a dwc kit yesterday and have already gone and set it up. I had a seedling in coco (not an auto) I have used AN coco grow to get the ph to around 6, I’m fairly skint and would quite like to use up these nutrients. Just wondering what prOblems I will get using coco nutrients is it just because of the ph or is there something in the coco nutrients that wouldn’t work in a bucket?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Mañ'O'Green i have two spaces a 2x4x5 grow tent and a 4x4x7 grow tent i have 3 galaxy hydro 300w but they pull 150w and a galaxyhydro400w COB that pulls 230watts all lights are full spectrum. Also i run 400cfm exhaust with the same for forced in fresh air from outside I live out in the sticks so im running off a well not city water. I understand the basics of hydroponics and what i need im more interested in the Nutes. Whats the best brand wich covers the most bases and what to use to keep my water clean and ph right where it needs to be without battling it on a daily basis.

I have run Dyna-Gro, and House & Garden successfully in DWC. It does not matter from a PH standpoint what you use. People that claim they just use PH perfect and do not check the PH are just living in ignorant bliss. Yes it is a good product and it does remain more consistent than other brands but the plants exude chemicals from the roots at different stages in their life cycle that can make huge swings in your PH. You need to check PH everyday and multiple times per day is best. You know your going to be looking at your plants anyhow. I have a BlueLab combo meter in my res now. I service it one a month and check PH/TDS several times a day all you have to do is push a button. To run 35 gallons of nutrients plus 35 gallons of top off ~25% strength will be expensive with AN or H&G. not too bad with Dyna-Gro. Do not be tempted to run nutrients longer than 7 - 10 days to save money. If you do not already understand "Liebig's Law of the Minimum" research it. If you go with the Dyna-Gro add H&G Algen Extract and Mammoth P; I had the best results with this in quality and yield. I am seriously considering a run with MegaCrop which would be CHEAP in comparison even to Dyna-Gro. Several top growers here are using it with excellent results. RDWC makes sense in this size grow. Just make sure to use 2" connecting pipe between the grow bins or risk root clogs. We can talk more about this if you decide to go that way. I had every problem you can imagine with RDWC in a poorly designed system. Really expensive but all of the kinks are worked out in this commercially available system from Current Culture - Under Current. I think it is way overpriced but you can use all of their techniques in a home made unit.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

How bad would it be to use advance nutrients ph perfect COCO? It gives me a ph of about 6. I got given a dwc kit yesterday and have already gone and set it up. I had a seedling in coco (not an auto) I have used AN coco grow to get the ph to around 6, I’m fairly skint and would quite like to use up these nutrients. Just wondering what prOblems I will get using coco nutrients is it just because of the ph or is there something in the coco nutrients that wouldn’t work in a bucket?

Coco nutrients are too high in Calcium for hydro DWC. You will have problems with it.