5 Gallon DWC - 1st Attempt

[midasone]

Good stuff Midasone! I've been reading a lot of journals on here. I was actually able to find out I needed to put my lights closer. Will have to find cheap measuring tape from walmart couldn't find one anywhere in the garage. Day 3 of seedling stage minimal growth. I'll post up a progress photo this weekend. What nutes do you use for your dwc midasone?

Iv'e used Blue Planet, Skunklabs and Floranova grow and bloom. I love the FloraNova nute due to the price. It was much cheaper and easier to use than BP and SL. I love having one part nutrients. It makes my rez changes faster. Plus I didn't have to ph at all. The only problem i noticed with FNB is during flower my plant leaves would get very dark green. Like the plants were recieving to much nitrogen. I recently started using Botanicare Pure Blend Pro it also a one part grow and bloom nutrient.I think this will be my nute of choice for the near future.

 

[Faint05]

I can finally read my PPM

This cool mist humidifier is awesome, works good and compact size.

Slowly but surely they go.

 

[Faint05]

Finally got some roots popped out of the bottom. Going to calibrate this PPM tester and get familiar with it and start with nutes.

 

[DocBuddin]

I personally thing AN are at over priced. Your ph is fine to fluctuate. You want it to float to allow the plants to properly absorb your nutes. I allow mine to float from 5.5-6.5 as the bible supports.
You deff want to wAsh hydrocorn I forgot sometimes as well.

Ppm meter is something you need to have. What's your ppm on your water before nutes?

Water chiller is deff a good investment. I use a 1/4hp in my setup. My res stays at 68F

 

[LEDBud]

An is fool proof and affordable enough considering it self adjusts the PH.

I know it works excellent , I use it , in Canada it cost $15 for a liter of bloom or grow and $20 for the micro.

$50 for a lot no need for a ph pen , or a ppm pen , just use it at 1/2 strength then your good to grow with no fussing / fucking around with PH and ppm.

its stupid easy to grow successfully with

 

[DocBuddin]

And how about the supplement? Also an is not the only nutrient line that does that. Technaflora is also the same in regards to ph and will be spot on at a 6.01 ph

 

[LEDBud]

They do have pricey supplements some of which are in the grow /bloom / micro already.

Bud Factor X is one over priced supplement I do not buy. The Bud Candy is cheap enough , I buy it , the Nirvanna is cheap enough I buy it and the Sensizym is cheap , I buy it.

I use Terpinator in place of bud Factor x ,

 

[DocBuddin]

I mean yes AN is specifically designed for marijuana. Just like every other nute line they just to state its but for it to be ph perfect is just them hyping up their line. Your plants are naturally suppose to fluctuate ph to be capable of absorbing everything. I run an Aeroponics system that sometimes has up to 65 gallons of water in it. Aeroponics is also very sensitive to change but ph is never a big concern for me. If you want an absolute ph perfect system you can do this on any line by simply installing a ph doser. Nothing against AN but they are prob great for guys not in hydro or aero. But I can't justify having to spend $500-$1000 per cycle of growing for my setup.

 

[LEDBud]

I like the idea of having the ph shift around like you stated , it makes perfect sense.

PH perfect chelates allow the minerals to be absorbed at ph 5.8

its designed for the hobbyist but plenty of smaller less talented medi /grower suppliers use it as it is both fool proof and effective.

I will look into Technaflora , thanks for the tip.

 

[Faint05]

Yesterday I changed both the res. Both had root growth so I added under 1/4 of nutes. Now both of my seedlings seem to be sad. I'll provide more info after I get off work. But here are photos of my sicklings.

 

[DocBuddin]

1/4 strength of what schedule? Seedling or veg? What is your PPM? Are you running RO?

Water Temp? Ph?

 

[Faint05]

Thanks DocBuddin for the fast reply. I will provide the exact numbers when I get home from work. What I can remember off the top of my head is under a 1/4 of both of the Veg fox farm nutes. (Posted a picture of the nutes I currently have) PH water 5.8 and one table spoon of Epsom. The PPM i will have to check my logs from my home computer. The water temp is 68degrees. The schedule is 18/6.

Thanks again.

 

[Faint05]

I changed the res water for both of my plants. Before the res change the PPM was 225, The PH has risen to 7.0, the res water temp was at 68 degrees. The tent temp was at 73 and humidity 69.

I just changed the res to 5.8 PH water, PPM 154,didn't add any nutes. Took the ice packs out of the totes now the res water temp is at 70. Tent humidity at 70 and tent temp 73 degrees as always. I picked up some cal mag at the local hydro shop just to have some on hand. Ill post some pics of their condition. Also today I'm making the decision on which lights to get. If I order today should be here by this weekend.

 

[Faint05]

 

[Faint05]

Quick update after res change. The plants have seem to be in the same condition. When I got home the PH had raised to 7.0 in both the reservoirs. Put some PH down to 5.8. There are no nutes in either reservoirs, just PH water. While there wasn't much visible plant growth , when I went to lower the PH I did notice more roots coming out of both net pots. The roots that were hanging out before were longer.

I went with the ViparSpectra Reflector-Series 300W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum. Seen a few things I was doing wrong after reading some journals so lets see if I can get these plants healthy again.

 

[Faint05]

 

[Frenchy672]

[I've read, not experienced yet in dwc myself] that high fluctuation in pH (more than 1 whole number) could be pretty stressful. obviously better to catch it and fix it asap, but most times I've seen people with high pH or or ppm they usually flush it and start with a soild base again. are you using pH tap water? again, just noting what I've read and noticed from others. lookin good brotha.

 

[midasone]

Love the led.(supplement cal-mag with leds) Where did you get it? I always had problems after every res change no matter how careful or perfect I would try to make the new res. I would ph the water perfect and give about 500 ppm nutrients. Soon as I changed buckets the plants would turn to shite.I don't know if you are using tap water or not but if so let the water sit out about two days before using it. The mistake I was making was not allowing the chlorine in the tap water to dissipate before I changed my res. Nutrients don't really matter. The plants don't care what name is on the bottle. They only require proper nutrition, and most brands have the same ingredients.

 

[Faint05]

I am using tap water. I forgot about that and I've read it a couple of times on here. I will get a back up container to let sit outside in the sun covered for a couple of days before the res change. Thanks for the input midasone, thats probably what is making my plants look like crap. I got the GH CaMg+ from the local hydro shop and LEDs on amazon. It had good reviews and the people that did have problems said the warranty service wasn't a hassle at all and thats pretty much what I was looking for. I'll still end up getting a mars at some point when I learn more and feel confident enought to start a perpetual setup.

Since the last pics, I changed the res again,
PPM to 300
ph 5.8
It has been steady increase in PH from 5.8 to 6.5 the last couple of days. The PPM hasn't dropped much but the water level has went down. So I'm guessing the plants were thirsty and haven't ate much? Any how enough with the typing and on to the visuals.
Time to burn.

 

[Faint05]