Grow Mediums Sage plunges into DWC

[Sage]

Roots are looking crisp mate! :smoking:
How many L/day does your ROunit produce? It might be that you have to weak preasure in your house pipes. You can order a booster pump for your RO from most salt water aquarium shops.

This is a good point - I just went and checked the manufacturers website and it says 225l a day. Seeing as I barely got 20 litres out of it in a day it could well be my pressures too low... I'll look into a pump, thanks mate

 

[PickleRick]

This is a good point - I just went and checked the manufacturers website and it says 225l a day. Seeing as I barely got 20 litres out of it in a day it could well be my pressures too low... I'll look into a pump, thanks mate

No problemo!
My unit is 380L/day if memory serves, and I get 20L/hour.

 

[Be4u]

Agreed

 

[Be4u]

Sorry, I guess I don't know how to quote but I was agreeing about checking the roots. Just do it once a week or two. If problems arise it's slow and easily correctable. Lifting your lid and making the plant wobble around leads to leaning in the future not to mention shifting the media, that can damage roots.

Just think of what I had to deal with before aquashield came about....sheese I had a million stunted grows, leaning plants from constantly checking the roots. But the good thing it's it's a weed, weeds are driven to live. Roots regrow easy.

 

[Be4u]

Oh, did you check to make sure your discard and water lines are backwards? I doubt your water pressure is that low because of the disguard you mentioned. But the sentiment around here is "throw some money at the problem".

This is all my opinion. Just ignore me if you don't like what I say.

 

[Sage]

Oh, did you check to make sure your discard and water lines are backwards? I doubt your water pressure is that low because of the disguard you mentioned. But the sentiment around here is "throw some money at the problem".

This is all my opinion. Just ignore me if you don't like what I say.

Lines are fine, but the water pressure here is on the low side anyway. I took the filter somewhere else today with higher pressure and it was a little faster but the ratio is pretty terrible though, it came out 1 litre RO to 5.5 waste.... for a 20l reservoir that's 110 liters down the drain! Tap water's looking like the only way to go...

 

[Be4u]

Somethings wrong with your RO system and buying something to increase the pressure will not change the ratio.

How long did it take to produce the 6.5l total? That's around a gallon and a half? Should be less than 5 minutes, 10 with real low pressure I suppose.

I'm trying to think....did you TDS water going in, water going out the waste and water going out the good hose?

Yeah screw it, just use tap.

 

[Sage]

Day 10

I got worried about light getting into the res through the stones so fashioned a little collar, she seems to like it.

The question is, when do I start feeding her, will she show me, or do I need to be more proactive? So far all she's got in the bucket is 2ml/l hydrogaurd and 2ml/l Velokelp.

 

[MedGrower]

Day 10

I got worried about light getting into the res through the stones so fashioned a little collar, she seems to like it.

View attachment 819067 View attachment 819068

The question is, when do I start feeding her, will she show me, or do I need to be more proactive? So far all she's got in the bucket is 2ml/l hydrogaurd and 2ml/l Velokelp.

Hey Sage! Looking super nice so far!

I don't think you need to worry about the light going through the hydro stones but its ok to that collar too as long as it wont trap much moisture below it. Stagnant moisture can become a breeding ground of some nasty stuff and you know.. just keep an eye on it a little.

For the beginning, you did the first week really good. I think 2ml of VeloKelp was all that was needed. For the next couple of week the plant won't make an impact to the reservoir yet so you could just simply measure how she is feeding by comparing daily readings. Now the name of the game is to give her more nutrients progressively. Around this time I'd already feed her 0.75 ml per litre of Remo MagNifiCal, Micro and Grow along with 1.5ml per litre of VeloKelp. Week after that I would bump all to 1ml per litre and keep it there until I see the plant making an impact to the reservoir and take it from there.

Oh.. And since you are using mostly RO water and powerful COB -lights I would strongly recommend to be very proactive in using MagNifiCal to avoid any and all Mg / Ca -issues at the beginning. This is because when something like Ca -deficiency takes hold, it is hard to get rid of at times. Better to not let it get there.

All the best

 

[Sage]

Thanks Medgrower, this is amazing info. I really feel in safe hands on this hydro adventure!