DWC with no problems ever!

Lord Hydros

New Member
This is what works for me. Feel free to comment and rip me to shreds if you feel the urge. Friendly debate is fun and I won't take it personal. First, I mix my own nutes. Why? Because it costs about 1/10th of buying them pre-mixed and farmers have done this for thousands of years so why wouldn't I? This is from the diy section but I copied it to show you:

DIY Lucas Formula - Hydro
Generic (but probably exactly the same as the real one) Grow Formula:

994.73 grams of Yara Liva Solution Grade calcium nitrate
30.86 gram of 11% DTPA Fe
14.54 grams of 13% EDTA Mn
3.78 grams of 15% EDTA Zn
2.52 grams of 15% EDTA Cu
2.22 grams of Boric Acid or 1.79 grams of Solubor
.06 grams of Ammonium Molybdate tetrahydrate
Top up to 1 gallon with RO/DI water or
Top up to 2 gallons with RO/DI water and then use twice as much as I will explain after

Generic Bloom Formula:

998 grams of Haifa Monopotassium Phosphate MKP (0-52-34)
667 grams of Epsom Salt (MgSo4 7H20)
Top up to 1 gallon RO/DI or
Top up to 2 gallons RO/DI and use twice as much
Real Ninjas keep the Epsom and the MKP in separate solution containers so that they might have the 2 components separate in case of one of these elements being deficient because of actual deficiency and not because of a lockout due to some other reason.

Each of these solutions are stirred for about an hour.
It's better to make them into a 2 gallon solution so you eliminate the chance of salts crashing out of solution due to the 1 gallon solutions going past the point of water solubility if the storage area where you keep the nutes gets a little too cold.You also don't need to mix the nutes prior to use if they are 2x diluted as suggested as long as the storage area is at least 40f.

When you use these nutes at the same dose as Lucas GH (if you made a 1x solution, 2x as much if you made the 1/2 strength [2 gallon] solution) you end up with a pH of around 5.4 (using the 8G-16B ratio ie Lucas ratio) and and same EC as Lucas GH. Some people like this low pH. If you don't like that low of a pH just add .833 ml per gallon of 5% potassium hydroxide solution to get it to around 5.8-5.9pH. First add grow, then bloom then pH it.

I use 20 gallon rubbermaid bins with 2-8" round air stones in each container. 18 containers in the room. 9 of the containers have 2-8" round air stones (1.1 cfm total air output between the 2 air stones) and the other 9 containers have no air stones and are just used to hold water for water changes. The 18-20 gallon rubbermaid brute bins are arranged in 3 rows of 6. each plant holding container has no connected plumbing and is its own stand alone reservoir that gets top off water automatically from an ro filter. Each container has its own level sensor .
I drill out the top of the container to allow for insertion of a 3" mpt pvc sch 40 adapter ( that is my "net pot"). I use a hole saw to cut a 1" thick premium neoprene foam sheet disc to be inserted into the 3" adapter. I pop a hole in that disc and slice the dic from center to side to allow the plant to grow free in the disc all while being held just as secure as a 5 gallon container of hydroton (minus the media, this is a true hydro system absolutely no media except for when I start a seedling.
There is a 1" pvc pipe in each container that is connected to a vacuum and a solenoid valve. This allows a timed sequence to dewater the container and fill it afterwards with Lucas water (RO + the aforementioned nute schedule) by means of little giant pump and timers and relays. I don't change water. That's what electrical controls are for.
I germ the seed in a sealed mason jar with a bit of moist paper towel floating on top of water in a sauce pot heated by a 50 or 25 watt submersible aquarium heater, seadling heat mat and controlled by a Ranco temperature controller set to 78f.
After 3 days, I open the jar and put the seed in a jiffy pellet ( this is the only media that I ever use and only in thios seedling stage). That jiffy pellet is inserted into the middle hole of the 1" neoprene foam disc that is inserted into the 3" mpt adapter that was inserted into the top of the rubbermaid bin that has 2-8" round airstones inserted into the water to pop tiny bubbles onto the bottom of the jiffy pellet to keep the seedling moist. It doesn't keep it too moist. It works just fine. The water is set to .4 ec with diy cal mag and RO water. All in one of those individual (non-recirculating) containers that have no side wall penetrations. No risk of catastrophic floods due to root clogs.

The seedling enjoys 6.0ph/.4ec water (around 75f sometimes 78f, seedlings love warm water) until the 10th day. Then the ec goes to 1.2 and no higher for another 17 days. That 1.2 ec is achieved by not changing the original water (you leave that cal mag soup in there) and simply use the lucas ratio to raise it to 1.2 ec/6.0 pH. You might need 5 mL's of 5% potassium hydroxide solution (you make it yourself, it's cheap and easy) to get that second stage pH to 6.0.

On the 28th day I raise ( don't change the water yet) the water to 1.45 ec and adjust pH to 6.0 with a few mL's of 5% potassium hydroxide solution. There are no water changes for these vegged mother plants ever. I simply top up nutes and pH adjuster once every seven to ten days and I let my auto top off replace water automatically when needed from the RO filter.

After 2 months they show pre-flowers, I take cuttings. I place the cuttings in .3 ec water at 6.0 pH. the .3 ec is achieved through DIY cal mag. They root in about 8 days. I raise the ec to .8. I let them veg there for another week.
I pull them out of the veg cloner and I give them a 20 gallon rubbermaid brute to share with 2 other plants. In that shared veg container, they are kept at 1.2 ec/6.0 pH for 1 week, then 1.45 ec/6.0 pH for another week. 2 weeks of veg in the 3 plant container and 1 week of veg in the cloner. Don't go too long or else each plants roots tangle with the other and its hard to untangle to move to the flowering room.

After the veg I put them in the flowering room. I use my diy Lucas like this: I dilute the MKP to 1/2 strength and it is kept in a separate container from the epsom salt solution which I also dilute to 1/2 strength. I do the same 1/2 strength dilution with the grow formula. This prevents the nutes from crashing out of solution, and you no longer need to pre-stir the nutes as long as you keep them around room temperature. At 1/2 strength my lucas water is achieved by adding (from my diy formula) 400 ml of MKP solution, 200 ml of MgS04 7H2O solution, 200 ml of diy Grow and 10 ml of 5% potassium hydroxide solution to a tub of well agitated (via airstones) RO water.

The flowering tubs (also 20 gallon rubbermaid bins, because they are true flat bottom containers that do not require any additional support and are virtually indestructible and the best value ever at 20 bucks a pop!!) also have the 3" mpt adapter instead of a net pot. You put the well vegged plant in that flowering room with a screen above the bin (around 12-18 inches above depending on how much you lst). You put up to 4 well vegged plants in one 3" mpt adapter and you use Atrains method of preliminary bending. All 4 plants point NE,NW,SW and SE from each other. You walk out of the room and never break the seal or go back inside until harvest time. You change the water once a week. I don't have to change it (my machines do that). I just have an acrylic viewing window to watch them bloom.
I also use a temperature controller that keep the temps ultra perfect all the time but thats for another thread in due time. If you are a high volume producer you were supposed to get hot and horny from what you just read. If not, you probably just don't believe its that easy. :thanks:
 
Naw that's the point of DWC. It is super easy any one can do it even if you know nothing about hydro or horticulture. In fact you see posts on here all the time by super successful growers who clearly don't understand what they are doing. We have many people on here who get great first grows in DWC. It is honestly really hard to screw it up if you have a good set of lights, ventilation, decent pH pen and EC pen. I got well over a pound on my first DWC in a single tote 25 gallon system with 4 plants. I screwed up a lot and still got really nice product.

If you look through the journals you will find lots of successful DWC grows from newbs. It is the whole reason to do DWC...it is almost fool proof...almost.

Good post though I hope more people go the route of DIY. I do a lot myself. There is no need to spend money on expensive nutes. The only real difference is the marketing.

Any decent grower can get outstanding results with any product line...there is really not much difference if you understand the labels.

When I do soil I do a similar things with organic compost so I don't have to do anything but add water.
 
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