Grow Mediums Deep Water Culture Basics - Bubbleponics

[d.t]

Ah right cool well there’s been very little growth on top but the roots are growing out so that’s very pleasing to see for the first time. That’s what I think I’m going to really enjoy about dwc, seeing the big fat white healthy roots (unless it goes horribly wrong! But ‘live n learn’ or something like that )

So the tube on the side, is that to connect it to another bucket/reservoir or to empty the bucket?

 

[d.t]

New leaves were coming out bright lime green as the EC has dropped down to 0.5 what with all the ice cubes going in. Had nice bit of rain which has cooled things right down to the point I’m already looking at what res heater to get. I’m really keen on this as it’s got to be way easier to keep as bucket of water at a set temperature than a pot of coco or soil. (It gets f’ing cold in my tent with only LED, I got a tube heater thing but doesn’t do much)

So yeah yesterday fresh mix 10ml of each of the advanced nutrients with 10litess of fresh rain water! ( I recently washed my water butt so it’s clean ish)
forgetting the silver bullet roots this time as I really like the idea of beneficial microbes and had great results in soil and coco so put in 2 grams of the ‘eco thrive biosys tea’ in.
Anyone used this stuff? Sounds pretty good but we shall see. This was all yesterday (photos) il go check in bit see what’s happening.

 

[d.t]

I used this stuff before but only poured straight into coco or soil, never bubbled it for 24 hours +
it’s gone all funky! Big Bubbles and brown, like a potion, I love it, Roots seem to be as well.


I removed the two lower leaves where theres new growth coming through, i know from chillies n other plants it seem to to kick new life into the new growth. Also one leaf was slightly damaged and I read somewhere a damaged leaf can ‘cost’ a plant more resources than it provides as it try’s to send sugars to help repair it or something. So there we go, we shall see. Perhaps I should have just removed one side to see what difference it makes but it’s done now.

Any tips on using microbes?

Btw that 42c temp is from a sensor coming of that thermometer that’s on a heat pad I put on under tray of germinating seeds, it’s not actually that hot in the soil though.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

View attachment 935579 View attachment 935580 View attachment 935571 I used this stuff before but only poured I straight into coco or soil never bubbled it for 24 hours + it’s gone all funky! Big Bubbles and brown like some potion, I love it. Roots seem to be as well.
I removed the two lower leaves where the looks to be new growth, i know from chillies it seem to to kick my life into the new growth. Also one leaf was slightly damaged and pretty sure read somewhere a damaged leaf can ‘cost’ a plant more resources than it provides as it try’s to send sugars to help repair it or something. So there we go, we shall see. Perhaps I should have just removed one side to see what difference it makes but it’s done now.

Any tips on using microbes?

There seems to be a thick film on top holding the bubbles? That tea may be reducing the oxygenation of the water. That combined with high temperatures is going to bring troubles. Don't use ice cubes. Freeze a soda bottle and use that way. Rain water is full of all kind of pollutants I highly recommend you do not use it in your reservoir. Just use tap water. If your municipality uses chloramines (chlorine AND ammonia) for sanitation you can add vitamin C to your aeration to neutralize it before using. If they just use chlorine the aeration will dissipate it in short order. If your starting PPMs are over 200 dilute the tap water with distilled water or RO water to get it under 200 PPM.

 

[d.t]

Ok cheers for the advise, I don’t think the rain water would be too bad here it’s not like a city, I live on a peninsula so surrounded by coastline. I’d have thought air pollution is very low but I will stop using it. There’s definitely something strange about it whether it’s the microbes or perhaps the rain water. Il bubble some tap water with the microbes and see what that does. My tap water has an ec of about 0.14 so that’s pretty good to use. I didn’t like the idea of a frozen bottle in case the bottle touched the roots.

 

[d.t]

There seems to be a thick film on top holding the bubbles? That tea may be reducing the oxygenation of the water. That combined with high temperatures is going to bring troubles. Don't use ice cubes. Freeze a soda bottle and use that way. Rain water is full of all kind of pollutants I highly recommend you do not use it in your reservoir. Just use tap water. If your municipality uses chloramines (chlorine AND ammonia) for sanitation you can add vitamin C to your aeration to neutralize it before using. If they just use chlorine the aeration will dissipate it in short order. If your starting PPMs are over 200 dilute the tap water with distilled water or RO water to get it under 200 PPM.

Ah it is chlormine not just chlorine, so leaving tap water out for 24 hours was pointless?

I heard when watering garden plants it’s not so bad as the top few inches of soil act as a filter and the microbes bounce back quickly but I guess in hydro it’s a bigger deal. So vitamin c.. Interesting il look into that.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Ok cheers for the advise, I don’t think the rain water would be too bad here it’s not like a city, I live on a peninsula so surrounded by coastline. I’d have thought air pollution is very low but I will stop using it. There’s definitely something strange about it whether it’s the microbes or perhaps the rain water. Il bubble some tap water with the microbes and see what that does. My tap water has an ec of about 0.14 so that’s pretty good to use. I didn’t like the idea of a frozen bottle in case the bottle touched the roots.

Uhmm........ ice cubes touch the roots. I have done this without problem. You are looking for ascorbic acid vitamin C. The store brand is usually the cheapest without other stuff added in. 50mg per gallon will treat water with 3.8 PPM of chloramines.

 

[d.t]

Haha silly me yes right you are of course, temperatures are right down now so don’t need to worry about that any more, it’s steady 20c in there now. Il be surprised if it gets that hot again this summer, that was an exceptional heat wave, they say not like that since ‘76.

Is there a simple test for chlorine/ chloramine to see how strong it is or if it’s all gone?

 

[d.t]

I think I should buy an R.o machine then I know it’s 100% good, do you use r.o water?
is a smaller cheaper one like this still decent enough? It’s much cheaper than other models
https://www.onestopgrowshop.co.uk/p...itres-hour-reverse-osmosis-system?taxon_id=96

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I think I should buy an R.o machine then I know it’s 100% good, do you use r.o water?
is a smaller cheaper one like this still decent enough? It’s much cheaper than other models
https://www.onestopgrowshop.co.uk/p...itres-hour-reverse-osmosis-system?taxon_id=96

No I use tap water. I am on a water meter and RO wastes to much water. Then you need to run nutrients that are designed for RO like AN which is also expensive or add Cal-Mag in addition to your regular nutrients. My tap water is 140 PPMs and the city uses just chlorine so it dissipates fast.

Haha silly me yes right you are of course, temperatures are right down now so don’t need to worry about that any more, it’s steady 20c in there now. Il be surprised if it gets that hot again this summer, that was an exceptional heat wave, they say not like that since ‘76.

Is there a simple test for chlorine/ chloramine to see how strong it is or if it’s all gone?

We have had 24 days in a row over 100°F - 38°C with no end in sight .