Indoor Have I got enough bubbles?

[big_buddha]

[video=youtube;UABI8eC20hA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UABI8eC20hA&context=C485c71cADvjVQa1PpcFNY2WCkoJSsO-EEjHp8_EWqPLsjT5L-dBk=[/video]

what do you think guys? Im preparing for my first attempt at DWC. Have I got enough air going to those buckets? (60l/min pump running 3 buckets). Looks pretty bubbly to me?

 

[SeNiOr-FuN-gHi]

20l/min/bucket is probably chillin what kinda air stones you using?

 

[big_buddha]

6" ones from growell iirc. anyone know someplace in the UK that sells the micropore diffusers? They look awesome. I think I have enough bubbles but people say the finer the bubbles the better the results? I've seen some guy growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the same pots on youtube with far less bubbles. Just wanna make sure I have this setup as sweet as possible before adding seedlings...

 

[Bobble]

Based upon my limited experience, I'd say plenty.

 

[insert name here]

bubblicious!!!!

 

[big_buddha]

Thanks guys i thought it looked pretty good. ive now rigged things up so that the air pump is outside of the tent (was a little too warm feeling for my liking) and now sits above the grow tent. piping is longer but bubbles to me seem even better now that the air pump is situated a lot higher than the airstones

 

[big_buddha]

Pump has been running for about 20 hours now and im noticing that the air in the tent kinda smells like a swimming pool or a locker room. Is this because of chlorine being released from the tap water? Starting PH was 7.8, after a day or two of being sat in buckets my pen reported a drop to 7.1 ph. When i turned the bubbles on and added a dose of nutes last night i expected the pH to have dropped further. However earlier today it was showing as back up to 7.8 on 2 buckets and 7.4 on the third. The nutes I added were half strength canna start and quarter strength canna rhizotonic. I only added such low doses as its my first time playing with DWC and wanna get a feel for how big the swings in pH/EC can be. My ec pen however is reporting 0.1 on the display which seems far too low?? Im starting to think I should re-calibrate the pens in case theyve lost accuracy whilst in storage since factory calibration. Annoyingly tho due to the easter holiday its the worst time to realise id forgot to put calibration fluids on my shopping list over the past cpl weeks. D'oh!

I really had hoped to start germinating my Think Different beanz tonight now that im happy with the tent setup, cabling etc. Do you thiink its safe to germinate by placing root riot cubes into the hydroton of the bubblers or should I germinate on a dry tray just in the root riot cubes under my T5 (basically sat on a plate on top of a bucket)?

 

[big_buddha]

all 3 buckets now reporting pH 8 Two of them are at an EC of 0.4 and one is still reading as 0.1 - any ideas why my pH is so high? is this a simple case of needing calibration or am I overlooking something.

 

[Mr Piggy]

If you're using tap water that could be due to chloramine. That's a super nasty chemical made from ammonia bonded to chlorine. It won't dissapate and I just read in another thread that it apparently raises ph as well. If you want to get rid of it Andy suggested a chemical called... uh... amquel? Yeah, that's it. I'm not a hydro guy (I will soon, I swear! I really wanna give it a shot!) but I would think if you're going hydro you should have ph up and down on hand?

 

[big_buddha]

yeah im gonna grab some ph up/down today. I just recalibrated my pH pen using the small amount of calibration fluid they ship with it. It was only reading high by about 0.2 so now my buckets seem to be back to about 7.8 for the time being still too high but im sure I will have it dialed in by the time my seeds have sprouted