10 Gallons per plant: do I really need to swap the res every 7 days?

[4u2envy]

Haha yeah man i have a tendency to ramble a little. I'll have to check that out. Would love to learn the secret to not dumping so

Haha yeah man i have a tendency to ramble a little. I'll have to check that out. Would love to learn the secret to not dumping so much water. If such a secret in fact exists

Dwc aint the secret, maybe larger rdwc is. Combined whit #balls#
8)

 

[Michael Hunt]

Dwc aint the secret, maybe larger rdwc is. Combined whit #balls#
8)

Haha if only it was! I dont think RDWC is the answer either. Unfortunately Not sure what #balls# or mudballs are?

 

[Enjoil]

The clay balls are called hydroton or expanded clay pebbles... they are nice cuz you can rinse em off and reuse them.

 

[4u2envy]

The clay balls are called hydroton or expanded clay pebbles... they are nice cuz you can rinse em off and reuse them.

No, this clayballs aint the same

 

[4u2envy]

Natürliche Teichpflege: EM für einen gesunden Teich

Fördern Sie ein gesundes Ökosystem im Teich mit natürlicher EM-Pflege. 🦆 Weniger Algen, klares Wasser. 💧▶ Erfahren Sie mehr!

www.multikraft.com

 

[4u2envy]

Natürliche Teichpflege: EM für einen gesunden Teich

Fördern Sie ein gesundes Ökosystem im Teich mit natürlicher EM-Pflege. 🦆 Weniger Algen, klares Wasser. 💧▶ Erfahren Sie mehr!

www.multikraft.com

U ref to this?

 

[4u2envy]

This one

 

[Enjoil]

I’m

No, this clayballs aint the same

I’m not hip. My bad.
I did my first dwc without a ppm pen. Feed general hydroponics 3 part w calmag and liquid koolbloom. Kept the res clean with hydroguard and when that ran out photosynthesis plus. And I never emptied the res once in flower.... just topped off with water/ nutrient solution when it would get low. This was a pain in the butt but the plant grew like crazy and did well despite me half assing it. I know if I had had a pen and feed her properly and knew when she wanted to eat,not when I thought she wanted to, she would of been even better... it’s up to you though how often you do it. Knowing what I know now I would not do things like that.
What’s Hunter S. Thompson say? “If there’s anything worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” I think that’s someone else’s quote but I was really high when I watched that movie.. all ten times....

 

[Delps8]

105 gallon system here, im not planning to do any changes, only topup whit full strentgh of what they drinks. But im a pretty fresh grower, so better if some one else give you advice

105 gallons - how many plants?

 

[4u2envy]

105 gallons - how many plants?

8 plants

 

[4u2envy]

I’m

I’m not hip. My bad.
I did my first dwc without a ppm pen. Feed general hydroponics 3 part w calmag and liquid koolbloom. Kept the res clean with hydroguard and when that ran out photosynthesis plus. And I never emptied the res once in flower.... just topped off with water/ nutrient solution when it would get low. This was a pain in the butt but the plant grew like crazy and did well despite me half assing it. I know if I had had a pen and feed her properly and knew when she wanted to eat,not when I thought she wanted to, she would of been even better... it’s up to you though how often you do it. Knowing what I know now I would not do things like that.
What’s Hunter S. Thompson say? “If there’s anything worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” I think that’s someone else’s quote but I was really high when I watched that movie..

To much water for me to change once a week, im hoping the volume helps, if the ph start to swing its maybe time to swap all out?

 

[Delps8]

For me, dumping 105 gallon whit ph perfect line is a big no. Algea aint building up, salts can though. Im using em one clayballs, that shoud prevent that issue, first try , time will tell

8 plants

Eight plants in 105 gallons is 13 gals/plant. That's ballpark the same as my setup. I'll try a couple of weeks and see how things go.

 

[Sativa1970]

The 7 day clean is a very conservative schedule that guarantees to res will not ever cause a problem. The longer you wait, the more you have to monitor and more risk. I use a simple DWC with a aquarium pumps and stones. each plant has its own reservoir.I clone/seed start in 1 gallon, veg in 4 gallon and flower in 10 gallon.I clean and refill every 30ish days cause it matches my grow cycle.30 days of seedling,30 days of veg,30 days early flower,30 days late flower,2 weeks of finish and flush. Light tight and O2 stops algae.Keep a close eye on your temps,water clarity,PH and ec. If they start swinging out of control or the plant shows deficiency that is a sign you may need a fresh mix.

 

[Enjoil]

The 7 day clean is a very conservative schedule that guarantees to res will not ever cause a problem. The longer you wait, the more you have to monitor and more risk. I use a simple DWC with a aquarium pumps and stones. each plant has its own reservoir.I clone/seed start in 1 gallon, veg in 4 gallon and flower in 10 gallon.I clean and refill every 30ish days cause it matches my grow cycle.30 days of seedling,30 days of veg,30 days early flower,30 days late flower,2 weeks of finish and flush. Light tight and O2 stops algae.Keep a close eye on your temps,water clarity,PH and ec. If they start swinging out of control or the plant shows deficiency that is a sign you may need a fresh mix.

Hey @Sativa1970 are you keeping a journal?

 

[Sativa1970]

Keep planning one at the beginning of each new cycle to show it isn't expensive or complicated to get good results.I have maybe $200 in my room from building walls to buying seeds.I take pics and document all the readings for my own records but I don't know if I would have the time to keep up with a journal on here too. Just started laughing buddha and lambsbread clones from mothers so maybe this is a good time to try.

 

[Delps8]

The 7 day clean is a very conservative schedule that guarantees to res will not ever cause a problem. The longer you wait, the more you have to monitor and more risk. I use a simple DWC with a aquarium pumps and stones. each plant has its own reservoir.I clone/seed start in 1 gallon, veg in 4 gallon and flower in 10 gallon.I clean and refill every 30ish days cause it matches my grow cycle.30 days of seedling,30 days of veg,30 days early flower,30 days late flower,2 weeks of finish and flush. Light tight and O2 stops algae.Keep a close eye on your temps,water clarity,PH and ec. If they start swinging out of control or the plant shows deficiency that is a sign you may need a fresh mix.

"The 7 day clean is a very conservative schedule that guarantees to res will not ever cause a problem. "
Great way to put it.

"I clean and refill every 30ish days cause it matches my grow cycle…" - interesting to break it out that way. That certainly does simplify things.

"Light tight and O2 stops algae" - Yup. The res is a SuperPonics 12 XL but I'm not sure if the top is lightproof. I can check the tent for being light tight by standing in it. It would be a bit cramped to get inside the res, however. I put cardboard on top of the res last time.
O2 - air pump, with a spare (tested). The water temps (5 gallon bucket in the tent) have been 66º for the last couple of weeks but I have Hydroguard and the water chiller ready to go.

"your temps,water clarity,PH " - Check. Bluelab is up and running and roots should be white/tan.

"If they start swinging out of control or the plant shows deficiency that is a sign you may need a fresh mix."
I can deal with that. I'm used to planning and then executing the plan but I'm dealing with plants so I've got to adjust my mindset.

Thanks for the feedback.

The seeds have been germinating for three days so it's time to fill the res and get ready to put the kids in the pool!

 

[Rexer]

There are ways of having a reservoir that is continuously topped off. I wouldn't recommend it until you have a lot of experience. Everytime you reset that reservoir your plants get a nice boost and you get to address any issues. The longer you wait, the more the issues build and the harder it can be to correct (lockouts and deficiencies for example).

Are you running sterile or organics (bennies)?

If you want to cut costs down, what nutes are you using?

Edit- I see your using hyrdroguard, Bennie. Mega crop, and Lucas Formula are two cheap ways for decent results. MC will give some issues, keep some cal mag handy for whatever line up you pick.

 

[Enjoil]

Keep planning one at the beginning of each new cycle to show it isn't expensive or complicated to get good results.I have maybe $200 in my room from building walls to buying seeds.I take pics and document all the readings for my own records but I don't know if I would have the time to keep up with a journal on here too. Just started laughing buddha and lambsbread clones from mothers so maybe this is a good time to try.

Yeah , I hung around for over a year before I finally started a journal. It’s a little thrown together but it’s a start and it’s going to be way easier to get some help if I run into any problems. Mmmm lambs bread! That’s Jamaican right? I remember some lambs bread around 2007. I always thought that was a weird name.

 

[wilson2]

I can only speak from personal experience since i am on my 3rd DWC grow. But i doubt you'll be able to keep even 100+ gallons PH stable through out the life of an entire grow. Let alone 30-40gallons. No matter what nute line you use, I'm willing to bet none of them stay stable indefinitely.

What will likely happen (again, my amateur opinion). You will be fine with normal top offs for the first 7-10 days maybe longer. Eventually you will get a ph swing, up or down, and it will probably be big. It will likely require a good bit of buffer solution to get it back into a safe range. In turn raising your PPM. This will most likely happen a few times at least throughout a grow. If your newer, count on it happening more frequently. By the end, you'll have so much PH solution in there that you wont know how much is actual nutrients and how much is buffer. Its a whole lot easier to keep track of the amount of food in your bins if you are starting with a base line every 7-10 days.

If you were running a "drain to waste" style system then you could probably get away with never draining and refilling the res since the old water is either being used by the plants or, drained off. In recirculating, you are playing with every mistake you've made until you drain the system and refill.

Lets not even mention those "stoner mistakes" we all make from time to time. Grabbing the wrong bottle of something and adding ENTIRELY too much of it before realizing your mistake. Best to play it safe and refresh. If wasting too much water is an issue, maybe downsize the containers a bit.

Since nobody touched on the actual act of draining I'll add something there as well. You can hand pump it out using a siphon ball and hose like the ones used on outboard boat motors, i have a "liquid transfer pump" with a large handle. Or you could get a small sump style pump to drop in and suck it all out. I use gravity to drain through a hose attached to a fitting at the bottom of the res. You can also use a shop vac to suck out what can be pumped. I use mine to suck the water out of all the drain and feed lines as well when changing water. Takes all of 5 minutes and then just gotta drain the vacuum later.

Sorry all for the long rant.

been doing rdwc for yrs and I pretty much agree with michael. I use to do 14 day changes, which I still do while the plants are small and vegging, and I too thought I was wasting money, but since converting to 7 day changes the yield is better the plants are healthier. I top up with part a+b during the week to maintain my desired ec. and rely on the weekly change to maintain the other additives. My ph is a lot more stable as well. I run 4 *18gall tubs, I for my res and 3 for 1 plant each. I hold 30 gall of nutrients in the system which works out to 10 gallons a plant. wilson

 

[Delps8]

Rexer:
"There are ways of having a reservoir that is continuously topped off. I wouldn't recommend it until you have a lot of experience. Everytime you reset that reservoir your plants get a nice boost and you get to address any issues. The longer you wait, the more the issues build and the harder it can be to correct (lockouts and deficiencies for example)."
Understood. I won't let things get out of hand.

"Are you running sterile or organics (bennies)?"
Sterile with Hydroguard on deck.


"If you want to cut costs down, what nutes are you using?

Edit- I see your using hydroguard, Bennie. Mega crop, and Lucas Formula are two cheap ways for decent results. MC will give some issues, keep some cal mag handy for whatever line up you pick."
Definite yes on the CalMag - I'm using RO. My nutes are Botanicare Kind. I did Fox Farms for my other/first grow (2017) but decided on Botanicare for this because I wanted KISS this time. All chemicals are Botanicare except for pH up and down.
I read up on MC but it didn't set quite right with me. Can't say why. Maybe I wanted something more "mainstream". The cost thing was a whinge brought on by the thought of schelping all of that water around every 7 days. A trip to a local weed store helped me get my perspective back about the cost of nutes.