Proper temps are the single most important factor in successful growing in hydro. Sure Max oxygen can keep root rot at bay, but growing in hydro is all about being dialed in for best results. You are playing with fire if your temps are consistently in the 80's. I have been growing for over 20 years, the first 8 were DWC. Derek is right about Max oxygen, but if you have a single problem with a pump or excessive temps for a single day you could ruin your crop. Sure you can run 600 watts of cobs in a 4x4...but for any decent grower 200-300 is plenty in that amount of space. Many times the buds directly under the cobs are not the best on the plant. I have a Sour Stomper that is in between cobs and it is EXTREMELY FROSTY and just as or more healthy than the ones directly under the lights. Cobs are different, less is more sometimes. I have multiple gardens, some with cobs, some with 600 watt HPS and some with 1000 watt HPS. My cobs are further away from plants under HPS. I see no point in trying to cram all of that light in a 4x4. There is a point of diminishing returns, you are just adding more heat really and wasting energy. Buy a bigger tent if you have the space. You will yield more and you can do more plants if you want to. Good luck
There are several here that have tested this theory to be true and there to be a direct correlation in the relationship between pythium and increase O2, there is simply not enough water that is still to have the root rot take hold.
@HotBunz grows some of the best DWC around and his temps get crazy high, I can assure you that temperature rapidly decreases in importance when you add much more air, the only reason you really want the temps low is to prevent root rot. There is really no adverse affects to having your rez water be in the 80's as long as there is no threat of pythium. There is a slight difference in pH at different temps but it is negligible, and if using advanced nutes it doesn't matter anyway.
One thing
@slowandeasy is completely right about though is that things happen much faster in DWC than in say soil, so if something fails you have less time to fix it. But that is also one of the reasons I love growin in DWC, because problems get fixed so much faster. In soil if I have a deficiency it can be days even a week or more to see if I remedied the problem, in DWC usually in 8 hours I can tell if I have made the right move and if not guess what dump the res and start anew(something that is MUCH harder to do if at all possible with soil) But this is just a paradigm thing, I am in no way bashing on SlowandEasy, just sayin that then things I say about DWC and air are based in lots of empirical data and hands on experimentation over the last 10 years or so exclusively. Lol I am different SandE I went the opposite way I grew my first couple of times in soil then went to DWC and never went back. Right now this is the first time since probably 2005 or so that I have actually grown in soil
I have personally never seen a single day ruin a crop unless there is something realllllllly wrong, like a fire. A pump going out is something that probably wont happen, these eco air's run forever. If it did you have two and your plant will not die while you get a fix. I can assure you this
@MoreBerry you have the backing of some real pros who love growing more than anything in life just about, we are not going to let your plant die. Conversely we are going to help you grow one of the biggest baddest, frostiest autos ever. Have faith my friend, we will guide you to the promised land.
Also one thing to keep in mind
@slowandeasy is that you made mention in your response that "but for any decent grower 200-300 is plenty in that amount of space" and this dude has a 10 galloon rez trying to grow a monster. With all due respect we are not just decent growers here, I have my degree in botany and a over decade of practical experience, I am one of the best cannabis growers on the planet. So with that being said, if you are trying to do something extraordinary, out of the box and above the fray, you have to think that way. One of the biggest things I see with what I am tryin to accomplish(establishing the commercial viability of autoflowering cannabis), is that we bushy ole growers are very set in our ways and sometimes it takes damn near divine intervention for us to change our way of thinking that something we have been doing or done for a long time successfully can be improved upon. Trying to convince commercial photoperiod growers this is the way to grow is tough, but it does not deter me. I know what I know lol.
@MoreBerry we got your back my dude, you have already made the investment in time, money and effort. We wont let cha fail
