Grow Mediums How to make your own mini DWC set up

[sharkherra]

Are you're buckets food grade anddo you think this matters?

 

[DWCocha]

Are you're buckets food grade anddo you think this matters?

Hi :Sharing One:i doubt there food grade ?...& dont think it matters ,but thats just my opinion ... if you think the plastic is important ,go with food grade bro

heres a MishMash auto @ day 40 that was started in these buckets & transferred at sex into a full size Oxypot :Sharing One:

 

[TheJesus]

Is there a guide for what to add to the water and how tio mix up your soultiin. I want to try dwc but cant find good material on how to mix ec etc.

 

[DWCocha]

Is there a guide for what to add to the water and how tio mix up your soultiin. I want to try dwc but cant find good material on how to mix ec etc.

I dont think theres a specific guide to follow TJ ...or much other info on mixing up nutes for that matter (unless you search certain growers threads ect) ?. Im making up fresh resies right now so will take pics & post how I go about it ,either in here or make another thread maybe ?. Give me a few days to sort it out & check back brotha :Sharing One:

 

[sharkherra]

Im making up fresh resies right now so will take pics & post how I go about it ,either in here or make another thread maybe ?

Interested!

 

[molegrower]

Is there a guide for what to add to the water and how tio mix up your soultiin. I want to try dwc but cant find good material on how to mix ec etc.

I just follow the charts that come with my nutes.. example
Basically I started by adding 1ml at a time till the ppms were in a range.. then phed the water.. after a while you will know how much of what ups your res. If adding anything else.. like cal/mag, humic,mycro do all that first.. then take your ppm reading and add nutes from there.. then ph.. hope that helps

 

[pop22]

Is there a guide for what to add to the water and how tio mix up your solution. I want to try dwc but cant find good material on how to mix ec etc.

What's most confusing is there are 999 different brands and formulas, and you can end up spending way too much money on nutes if your a begginer. I, for my DWC grow, decided to follow the KISS principle, I kept it simple. I'm using only 2 products unless I have a reason to add something else. I'm using General Hydroponics Maxi Grow, and all in one powdered formula, and its co-product Maxibloom. Nothing else if I can help it. as far as how much to use? I think too many people way over do it on nutes in DWC. I've been following a pro grower on youtube. He never excedes 650 ppms on his nutes. He grows 1lb.+ per plant on a regular basis in DWC under 1 600 watt Metal Halide lamp! he often exceeds that amount.

So my formula was, no nutes till the first leaves developed. My water has some minerals in it ( tap water dechlorinated ). When the leaves were developed, I added enough Maxi grow to bring the ppms to about 240, roughly quarter strengh. they plants, no mater what age, can only consume so much nutes, its almost impossible t under feed them with the right nutrient product. when the second set of leaves appeared, i raised to level of nutrients to 400 ppms. all I can say is, my girls are doing fine! I'm going to raaise the ppms to 600 today as the fourth set of leaves are appearing and they are starting to develop side branches. I'll beposting new pics shortly.

Anyway, this is only my theory on DWC, I'm sure others have different approaches that will work fine too! I just wanted the simplest approach for my first grow.

:Sharing One:

 

[molegrower]

I agree with pop.. Always try and keep things simple.. my last set im not going over 900ppms. Using iconic nutes.. three bottles. Grow/pk booster/bloom.. my first set are at 1400.. they are trees.. way to big for me and my needs.. in the end . You got to watch the plants.. in hydro they will let you know what's up.. real quick

 

[Joe420]

sup dudes ?

few people are liking the idea of trying hydro for the 1st time ....I need some small buckets to sex regular auto's & then transfer to full size DWC buckets once the best girl has been selected .So I made a simple 3 bucket system for a 66% chance of a girl. There up & running now (almost complete :stylez rasta smoke & seem to be working great so far ,so thought id show you how to make them pretty cheap & easily : . Don't have to use 3 ...1 ,2 ,4 or however many you want will work... I just like the #3 (1st time DWC grow id recommend just trying the 1 first !).

All the stuff is easy & cheap to find & buy at local shops or online

you will need ....

3 x 5L black buckets with lids . £10.00

3 x 5" net pots .These are the standard size for the 20L buckets I will transfer too...(you can use any size) £4.50

3 x airstones . (some attach to a 4mm line ,others to 4mm & 8mm ) £3

1 x 8mm black braided hose line . £5.00 for 5M

1 x airpump with 8mm attachment (im using an old hailea V-30 -=30lpm into all 3 buckets) . £35

2 x 8mm inline taps .( 3 may be better for perfect bubble distribution im now finding £7.50

2 x 8mm T-piece connectors (& probably 1x 8mm straight connector for the pump connection ?) £2

some mylar & silver tape ,£5 (optional but good to keep res temps steady)

some clay pebbles / hydrotron .( 3L should do 3 buckets) £5

3 x 1" rockwool or root riot cubes (root riots are better imo) £1


TOTAL COST = £77 (but you don't have to get a pump as powerful & maybe save £15 ) this is a rough estimate & you may be able to do this a lot cheaper ?

ASSEMBLY ...you will need a pocket knife & something to cut a neat (ish) round hole : I used old leaf trimmers !


Put the net pot upside down on the lid & score around it ...cut out a hole smaller by a few MM in the lid so the net pot sits nicely & can be removed easily.

make a 8mm hole in the side of the bucket high up for the airline to fit through (4MM if you have a smaller pump with 4mm line ect ,but for this demo im using 8mm )

now sit your bucket(s) where you intend to keep them growing ( as close or far apart as you like ) ... sit your pump where you want to have that (a cool spot outside the grow room is a good idea if temps are an issue on a regular basis) .

Now take you air line & measure from the pump to the 1st bucket & cut the 1st piece to the length you need .

If using more than 1 bucket you put a T-piece on the end of that ... then cut the other pieces of airline to size ,fit the rest of the connectors & taps where you want them.(this will be different for every grow room but will take a bit of space so if using small cabs ect make sure it all fits ok & resize if needed)

Now take it all apart & clad with the mylar & tape if like ?

Thas about it ...your almost good to grow !... germinate how you like into the 1" cubes... get the 1" cubes into the buckets once they sprout & if you follow a few basic DWC seedling guidelines with PH ,ec , temps . your good to go (i'll go into getting babys started later in the thread)

Heres pics of how I made them ... really easy

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Ok thats them pretty much ready to rock & the last pic shows the pebbles soaking in PH 5.5 water after a good soak & rinse in boiling & lots of cold water to get all the dust & stuff off ...now this water will stay nice & clear ...24hrs the pebbles should be good to drain & dry out & wont be sending your PH (& you ) crazy :dance2:

notice I have no tap on the last bucket in the line ??? thought i could control the air flow with just two but will be getting a third one soon & can just tweak all the taps until the bubbles look even in all buckets . (slight design error

Its good to run the system with some plain water 1st .... throw the lid & net pot (still empty ) on & measure how much water you need (I like to be around an inch above the base of the pot) .That takes around 3L which is great ...I mix 9L or nutes for all 3 buckets ... after this test & setting the taps right ect you've given your air stones a blast out & there cleaner for the proper run now !

more pics of them up and running ...

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To get the levels right I had an empty net pot in 1 bucket ...put in water to the level I wanted (1" above base) & then put about 2" of pebbles in the net pot . Gently place cube on that & fill with more pebbles ... once the stem gets a bit stronger & shes stretched an inch or two you can fill the net pots to the max trying to block all the light you can (I still cover the edges with something to be sure ) .

48 hrs later there where roots showing out the base of the net pots

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So im happy they work !.. up to this point I only had PH5.5 water in the buckets but once I saw a root, that got changed for the 1st res of nutes & I call that day 1 ....

heres how they look 3 days later on day 4 (today ) Im happy its working & after the 16oz comp can say you could grow a nice auto in just 1 of these ...but the option to move any one of these reg babys on sex to a full size DWC with no stress is also great for me .... Id have to run 3 x 30lpm pumps & use 45L of nutes to do this in normal size buckets so they will pay for themselves after a few sexed girls get transferred in big buckets :thumbs:

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will update how these get on from time to time

:tiphat: Stay stoned my AFN brothers & sisters

How do you go about draining these buckets n changing out the water?

 

[DWCocha]

How do you go about draining these buckets n changing out the water?

quick answer is a spare bucket :thumbs:,these are all separate buckets but made for 3 of the same strain/seed .So I mix one container of nutes for all 3 the day before res change .. then turn off the pump ,sit plant A in spare bucket ,clean & refill with fresh nutes ,replace the air stone & plant A ... repeat !!! .A ball ache but saved on nutes for sexing reg auto's :Sharing One: