Building a perpetual RDWC flower room

[Rodrigo]

Hi, everyone!!

I've been out of the game for a couple of years (life, right?) but I'm starting my grow again, this time I'm going all in. I'm turning the entire room into a grow instead of having tents in it (white vinyl over the walls, AC, the works!)

So, to the issue...

What I want to do is build a RDWC system that'd allow me to harvest every 3-4 weeks. The plan is simple enough; I'm gonna veg 2 plants at a time for about 3-4 weeks and then move them to the flower room where I'll have the aforementioned RDWC system.

This system will consist of 6 buckets (plus res and everything else). So the plan is to veg 2 plants every 3-4 weeks and move them to flower, where they'll spend between 9-11 weeks flowering. (for simplicity purposes, let's assume a fixed 9 weeks flowering period and 3 weeks veg period.)
So, since I'll have 6 buckets in flower, every pair will have plants flowering on different stages; by the end of week 6, I should have:
2 plants on the 7th week of flower
2 plants on the 4th week of flower
2 plants on the 1st week of flower
2 seeds being planted

This will allow me to harvest 2 plants every 3 weeks (I'm not a commercial grower, this is only for personal consumption). Pretty neat!

So the problem I'm facing is with the clean up, I've been looking information about how to clean the system WHILE IT IS BEING USED and failed, apparently nobody runs the system this way.
Every video or information I've come across shows how to clean the system after you've harvested (which I know how to do). But what I want to know is IF the system can be cleaned while there's still plants being flowered.

What I was thinking was, after I harvest the 2 plants, clean those buckets by running clean water through the system (not recirculating it, but instead having clean water running through while the dirty water is pumped out) and scrub it clean, then move the next two plants (those that'd be in their last 3 weeks) to the clean buckets, and repeat the process down the line. After all the buckets and Res are clean, fill it up with clean water and nutes.

I don't plan on using chemicals for cleaning, obviously, since I'll have live plants in the system, so no sterilizing, just cleaning.
Naturally, this all goes to hell if I have any disease/condition/infestation going on. So far I never had root issues or infections in a system. (I've been growing hydro for years; drip for veg and ebb & flood for flower) and a couple of times I've had to deal with bugs (totally manageable)

I use Advanced Nutrients' Iguana Grow and Bloom plus Big Bud and Overdrive.

So any ideas, thoughts, comments, recommendations, etc are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot and Happy Growing!!

 

[Old Salt]

I don't know about Advanced Nutrients, but General Hydroponics has three formulations for flower, transition, early flowering, and final ripening. If you flush, that will add another formulation.

If that is true for Advanced Nutrients, you'll need several independent RDWC systems in your flower room. That would solve your problem, as you'd just clean the system used for your last harvest.

If you go with a single system, quick disconnects and valves would let you remove parts of the system for cleaning/disinfection.

 

[Rodrigo]

Thank you for your reply.

Advanced Nutrients does not have a 3-stage flowering formulation. The nutes I use (Iguana Bloom) are used from day 1 of flowering until you flush (as far as I understand, flushing is not really that necessary in hydro but I do it for about a week anyway), Big Bud and Overdrive are used only for a couple of weeks.
Anyway, disregard nute formulation.
Also, I did think about building the system in such a way that I can remove parts for cleaning, but that’d mean too many valves and parts, so not an option.

I just want to know if someone out there runs a similat setup or know if I’ll be ok cleaning the sustem while it’s being used.

 

[Old Salt]

You've tickled my curiosity bone, so I'm subbed in.

I'll mention that I was thinking cam-lock connectors on the return lines, with watts connectors for the feed, in case that's of use to anyone else.

 

[Pahval]

Hey man, nice idea, how did it go? Did you find any solution? I am having same problem with my design, i want to eliminate mechanical cleaning for as long as 6 months, and i also, couldnt find any valuable info... Only thing i know, is that h202 used regularly doesnt hurt plants, but wont help with salt buildup... And that bleach helps with scrubbing tanks, but i dont want to spray my plants roots with that... And as im designing semi recirculating dwc (rdwc until 10%-ish of food is left, then to waste collection for my garden), im wondering if automating rinsing with ro water daily would prevent salt buildup... Im not afraid of root rot as i would use water chiller... Do you have any toughts about it? Peace...

 

[DukeO]

If you use z7 water treatment there is no need to wash anything. I have not washed anything for over six years now. Not the buckets, hydroton or air-stones. z7 breaks down the salts and keeps everything clean. I do DWC buckets and not RDWC but it is the same. Just pump some of the water over the hydroton every now and then. When a plant is done I just pick it and pour the hydroton in a bucket till I reload it for the next run and it all looks like new. There is never a need to use h202 or bleach when using z7. Root rot is a thing of the past for me and there is no salt build up on anything.

 

[Pahval]

If you use z7 water treatment there is no need to wash anything. I have not washed anything for over six years now. Not the buckets, hydroton or air-stones. z7 breaks down the salts and keeps everything clean. I do DWC buckets and not RDWC but it is the same. Just pump some of the water over the hydroton every now and then. When a plant is done I just pick it and pour the hydroton in a bucket till I reload it for the next run and it all looks like new. There is never a need to use h202 or bleach when using z7. Root rot is a thing of the past for me and there is no salt build up on anything.

I didnt knew there was this product, thanks, ill look into it! peace...

 

[JamesBong502]

If you use z7 water treatment there is no need to wash anything. I have not washed anything for over six years now. Not the buckets, hydroton or air-stones. z7 breaks down the salts and keeps everything clean. I do DWC buckets and not RDWC but it is the same. Just pump some of the water over the hydroton every now and then. When a plant is done I just pick it and pour the hydroton in a bucket till I reload it for the next run and it all looks like new. There is never a need to use h202 or bleach when using z7. Root rot is a thing of the past for me and there is no salt build up on anything.

I can back this up, my first time in DWC and I had some root issues. Use z7(z9 if you’re in Canada) last on res change and again mid-week between changes. Haven’t had an issue since, I’ve even started adding it to my plain water reservoir as it gets oxygen for a few days.
The price looks steep but at .5ml/gallon it goes a long way.

 

[Pahval]

Hmm, im in europe, so i cant get that product, but ive researched that product and what people say about it, one denier of it said it contains saponins and enzymes, it seems empty chelates like saponin are good for attaching to nutrients and removing them from surfaces, they can be found in products like florakleen (GH is available in EU) and i can get enzymes in products like cannazyme and hydgozyme for dead plant material, and from what ive read, cannazyme also has desert plant extracts inside, so i assume its yucca from which saponines are derived... ive never tought about getting empty chelates to remove excess nutrients from tank walls and roots, i always tought it should be some abrasive or oxydative chemical... tnx for your input! peace...