How do you drain your reservoir?

[doopie]

Okay, so I'm about to have my first grow and I'm still debating between coco & DWC.

I mainly read the ------------ ------------ How-To.

The one thing I'm (really) confused about, is changing the water. In the tutorial they propose all sort of different techniques to drain the water. Like using different sorts of pumps or siphon it.

But what about the most obvious method of simply taking the reservoir and spilling it out in the bath tub? They don't mention it, so maybe I'm missing something here??

Also, how often do you replace the water? Once a week?

 

[GreatLife4All]

The one thing I'm (really) confused about, is changing the water. In the tutorial they propose all sort of different techniques to drain the water. Like using different sorts of pumps or siphon it.

But what about the most obvious method of simply taking the reservoir and spilling it out in the bath tub? They don't mention it, so maybe I'm missing something here??

Most people don't really want to carry the reservoir to the bathtub would be my guess. My reservoir is 25 gallons - just not possible to carry.

Also, how often do you replace the water? Once a week?

This depends on your experience... As a beginner, you should run at least one grow where you drain and clean your reservoir every week. You then refill with new nutrient solution. If you run low of solution during the week, simply top off with pH corrected water. This is very simple, it works well, and is the way that you should introduce yourself to DWC or hydro. If you are careful with mixing nutrients, you only really need a pH meter to succeed using this method.

In order to run more than a week, you need experience with diseases, nutes and plants. The problem is that the plants consume most of the "mobile" elements within a day or two. A second problem is that the longer you run between cleaning - the higher the likelihood of disease. The third issue is nutrient imbalance... too much of a good thing can be bad. After you have run a couple of grows changing weekly and know how the plants grow, you can then try and top off with nutrient solution (Good starting point - dilute to 75% of normal strength and adjust pH .2 below desired level) rather than ph corrected water. Doing this and watching both your PPMs and pH on a daily basis will allow changing the water every two weeks. If done correctly, you will get better growth from your plants using this system.

I have done every possible routine in changing nutrients. Really, I have.

Over the past six months I have built a system of reservoirs and floats that allow everything to automatically adjust based on metrics that i have gathered. I now only change my water 3 times during flowering... at the end of transition... at the end of bloom... and at the end of aggressive bloom. But I also have a reservoir attached to a float... know how to set the ppms so that it stays constant over a long period of time... and I know enough about pH that I can keep it constant using the pH of my refill solution. I also know and understand diseases - i used "dirty" water to fill my system and suffered thru my first instance of root rot, It was very educational - I nearly threw away the plants... but ended up with a huge yield. Very proud of myself on that one to be honest. I now use amendments (Food grade 35% H2O2 and Dutch Master Root Zone) that lower the risk of the root rot resurfacing. But H2O2 is dangerous to use with live plants and a thriving bacterial colony... you must be careful to avoid damage.

So my solution can run for greater than a month with no changes and without any damage to plants.

 

[doopie]

Thank you very much, GreatLife4All.

I'm only looking for a 5 gallons reservoir, because I only want to grow 2-3 plants. So carrying should be alright, especially since the bath tub is very close...

Your setup sounds amazing and changing it only 3 times is very impressive. Something to aspire But once a week, will be fine for me.

So let's say I won't be home for one week, will it just work by itself?

 

[GreatLife4All]

Thank you very much, GreatLife4All.

No problem my friend!

So let's say I won't be home for one week, will it just work by itself?

I used to travel on business all the time and that is what got me into using reservoirs and refill solutions originally. I could be gone for two weeks and not have to worry about my plants. And yes, with proper preparation, it will just work by itself.

Place your light up high - this is not a time to optimize growth. The worst thing is to come home and your house burned down because a plant caught on fire. Second worst is to have a nice cola when you leave and a piece of nasty dried hard plant material right up next to the light when you return.

What you need to do is use an extra reservoir and a float valve (for example, Float Valve - 1/4" for HydroLogic Stealth-RO & Small Boy). The cheapest way is to elevate your extra reservoir above the highest level of the bucket (whatever your plants are in) - and allow it to gravity feed in through the float valve. I use an old milk crate that I bought for a dollar at an auction. Perfect height and very strong.

If you monitor your plants, you should be able to determine the daily pH and nutrient fluctuations. You can also monitor and determine your daily use of water (which generally increases every day through a plants life). If your plants are using 2 liters a day... and you are going to be gone for 5 days... then your refill reservoir needs to hold a minimum of 10 liters.

The easiest way to determine nutrient content of your refill solution is to use a formulation that is 75% of the normal strength. Theoretically, this will cause the nutrients to fall over time... but at a very slow rate. Avoid any additives that have bacteria or fungus in them - add them directly to the growth reservoir.

In a hydro system, the normal case is that the pH rises throughout the day. In general, you need to adjust the level of the pH down on a daily basis. We can use this fact to determine the pH of our refill solution. You can set the pH of the refill solution to something like .5 below the level of the growth reservoir. Wait 24 hrs and check the pH of the growth chamber. If it is the same... you are done. If it is too high, then you need to drop the pH of the refill solution. If it is too low, then you need to raise the pH of the refill solution. After a couple of days, you should be able to get your system "tuned in" so that the pH stays constant.

At that point, your PPMs will drop ever so slightly over time and your pH will remain constant. And then you are ready to travel...

 

[doopie]

No problem my friend!



I used to travel on business all the time and that is what got me into using reservoirs and refill solutions originally. I could be gone for two weeks and not have to worry about my plants. And yes, with proper preparation, it will just work by itself.

Good to know, Im not the only with that problem And two weeks would be amazing.

Place your light up high - this is not a time to optimize growth. The worst thing is to come home and your house burned down because a plant caught on fire.

This is my worst fear. Is that a realistic danger?

I'm considering getting only CFLs. At 40W do they get hot enough for a plant to catch fire, if she grows into it?

The problem with CFLs and leaving them for a longer time is probably that I can't hang them so far away, as they need to be real close to the plant, no?

What you need to do is use an extra reservoir and a float valve (for example, Float Valve - 1/4" for HydroLogic Stealth-RO & Small Boy - Amazon). The cheapest way is to elevate your extra reservoir above the highest level of the bucket (whatever your plants are in) - and allow it to gravity feed in through the float valve. I use an old milk crate that I bought for a dollar at an auction. Perfect height and very strong.

Great advice!

Again thank you so much for your help!

 

[GreatLife4All]

I would run a HID light. It will allow you to position it farther away and not decrease yield so much.

I don't think it is possible to dry down a plant and start a fire in a week. The more likely scenario is number two - you ruin the top cola. But you will quickly get a feeling for how fast a plant is growing. There is only one real danger period and that is the second and third week (typically) of the transition or stretch. At any other time, growth is not aggressive enough to be a real problem with a HID light.