Cannabis 1's DIY DWC & RDWC

GT, ill be using Hydroton for my medium. Correction on the clones I'm waiting for, they're Ice Bomb not THC bomb.
C1, props on both tents!, i like that 5 gallon setup for veg, might have to steal another idea from you guys haha and those plants are monsters!! Ill definitely be checking out everything else you guys got going on, on this site for sure.

Just curious as to what you guys are running for nutes? Ill be running GH with the Lucas Formula, actually ill just you the specs of my grow.

RDWC, Same setup as you C1
9.5 x 5 tent
2 - 600watt lights, one cheesy APOLLO and one Raptor XXXL hood with a Nanolux ballast
Medium - Hydroton
Strain - IceBomb
Nutes - GH FloraMICRO/FloraBLOOM maybe some Kool Bloom
Ill be vegging in 5 gallon bubble buckets for 6 weeks then transfer into system to flower.
-Question, do you think ill be able to veg that long in 5 gallon buckets?
I will be running CO2 bags a week into flower for the remaining time
Also going to do my best to keep the environment on point, 75*-79*f daytime, mid 60s night time.
Humidity during flower Ill be shooting for around 30-35%
Do you think ill be alright without a water chiller if I'm using H2o2 or something along those lines?
 
Haha thanks guys! The bigger bush is seriously 5x5x4! Biggest beast I've grown so far. The other is 3x3x3. It was only vegged for a month compared to the sour diesel that had 40 days of veg.

Johnny, the hydro clay will work fine. Just make sure to use rockwool to start them.

I am using the Technaflora line of nutrients with great success so far. I think no matter what you use, as long as you follow the directions and advice here, you will be ok.

You should be able to veg your ladies out In the 5 gallon buckets no problem. I have seen Gt keep his Ww in a bucket from birth to death, and i have done close to the same with my current set up.

With the temps and water...... Those temps will be fine. That's right about where my temps are at. 78 in the day and 69 at night.

I love using my water chiller, so I'm going to say get one. But if your able to keep your temps down and keep the water at 70 or so then you should be ok. Just use some Aquashield and it will protect your roots against a bunch of diseases and rot.
 
JohnnyPots said:
GT, ill be using Hydroton for my medium. Correction on the clones I'm waiting for, they're Ice Bomb not THC bomb.
C1, props on both tents!, i like that 5 gallon setup for veg, might have to steal another idea from you guys haha and those plants are monsters!! Ill definitely be checking out everything else you guys got going on, on this site for sure.

Just curious as to what you guys are running for nutes? Ill be running GH with the Lucas Formula, actually ill just you the specs of my grow.

RDWC, Same setup as you C1
9.5 x 5 tent
2 - 600watt lights, one cheesy APOLLO and one Raptor XXXL hood with a Nanolux ballast
Medium - Hydroton
Strain - IceBomb
Nutes - GH FloraMICRO/FloraBLOOM maybe some Kool Bloom
Ill be vegging in 5 gallon bubble buckets for 6 weeks then transfer into system to flower.
-Question, do you think ill be able to veg that long in 5 gallon buckets?
I will be running CO2 bags a week into flower for the remaining time
Also going to do my best to keep the environment on point, 75*-79*f daytime, mid 60s night time.
Humidity during flower Ill be shooting for around 30-35%
Do you think ill be alright without a water chiller if I'm using H2o2 or something along those lines?
Click to expand...

A few questions if i may...

>>> 2 - 600watt lights, one cheesy APOLLO and one Raptor XXXL hood with a Nanolux ballast

What is your other ballast?

>>> Medium - Hydroton

Can i sugguest using rockwool instead? Rockwool wicks nutrient solution into the root zone, whereas hydroton does not and can pinch and damage roots. Hydroton doesn't retain any moisture and just leeches salt buildup to the clay pebbles.

>>> Ill be running GH with the Lucas Formula

And why are you using the Lucas Formula? is it because you dont want to buy a third bottle of nutrients? Or because you read the articles on it and think that feeding your plants the same amount of fertilizer throughout their life cycle is beneficial (it isn't!) Plants require (especially cannabis) higher levels of certain elements at different stages of life. The reason that fertilizer brands make complete 3-part fertilizer regiments, is because the plants DO in fact require the elements that are found in the bottle that Lucas leaves out.

GH 3-part flora series is a very inexpensive fertilizer line, and is widely available across the world. The TechnaFlora line that Cannabis 1 is using is a local based company here in BC (local for me anyways) and is in fact a bit on the pricey side. They do however, make some really good synthetic fertilizers and i would highly suggest them after you've gotten a couple grows under your belt and want to spend money on a bit pricier brand.

>>> Question, do you think ill be able to veg that long in 5 gallon buckets?

Like C 1 said, i actually just harvested a White Widow from GreenHouse Seeds that i grew from seedling to harvest in a 5gal bucket with an airstone. Grew it for just over 7 months too! The quality of the product was not as good as the same genetics grown out in a recirculating top feed system with 6x daily irrigation. I highly suggest that method over DWC and RDWC!!

>>> I will be running CO2 bags a week into flower for the remaining time

Dont bother.. Co2 isn't needed at all. When people start growing, they think they need every bell and whistle to make it work.. K.I.S.S!! Keep it simple and you will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest with minimal work. C1 isn't using co2.. and look at those beasts in the RDWC!!

Especially when growing in a tent that isn't a completely sealed room, running co2 is actually a waste of money as the co2 can easily escape through the cracks in the tent and you drain your bottle before you see any results. And if you have to run your exhaust fan constantly to maintain a certain temp in the tent, you will just be exhausting your co2 anyways, so whats the point? save your money and buy a better ballast! (Or a second one if you dont have one. I didn't read you having a second one!)

>>> Also going to do my best to keep the environment on point, 75*-79*f daytime, mid 60s night time.
Humidity during flower Ill be shooting for around 30-35%

Those temps look nice, but i'm going to tell you right now.. you will initially have troubles battling heat in your tent until you figure out the perfect way to duct the heat from the room the tent sits in. Dont get too worked up if your temps are out of your goal range at first.

>>> Do you think ill be alright without a water chiller if I'm using H2o2 or something along those lines?

It really depends on what your room temps are at. Remember that water will eventually warm up to room temperature. To battle high water temps, i run a 12,600BTU portable AC during lights on in my 2 grow rooms that takes the exhausted air from my lights, which vents directly into my veg tent for added heat, then the AC which sits in the opposite corner my heat intake, sucks up the excess heat, and turns it into cool air to distribute between my 2 grow rooms.

I've never ran a water chiller, and i doubt i ever will.. I use Aquashield in conjunction with other products to brew a microbial tea that i apply one to two times a week to keep pythium and root issues at bay.
Make sure you run a live environment, not a sterile one, and you wont ever run into root issues!



So guys, i was drilling my holes for the RDWC last night, and sure enough on my very last hole i had to drill ( on the control res) the drill twisted in my hand a bit and i messed up the damn hole! so now i need to go get a new garbage can for the control res!!

just my luck!!
 
I agree with everything ya said Gt.
I originally had CO2 running in my garden but realized that it was not needed. Like gt said, you only need it if your room will be sealed with no air exchanges. Then you would need to supplement for the fresh air. If your running an air exchange, which circulates the air once every 1-5 minutes, you will be fine.

Ditto on the rockwool. Use your hydro clay as a top layer but everything from the roots down will benefit more in the Rockwool

And take GT's advice on the nutes and tea... without the correct levels of nutes in every stage of growth, you inviting poor growth rates, disease, malnutrition, and even death depending on which of the fore mentioned problems you have.
And that is your luck lol. I had to replace my res once also. I ripped the pipe and uniseal out so hard that it tore the bin. Ah well, comes with fabricating and tuning a homemade system. ..
 
I just got back home with the new garbage bin.. i'm gona drill it right now and start cutting my 2" PVC.

should have it all dry fit in an hour or so!

Got a new journal up on the Pink Kush clones buddy, come stop by! Glad to see you active on the forum again! It's lonely without TheCapn here anymore!
 
Awesome, I can't wait to see it! I'll head over to your new journal right now...
 
Great info guys! GT, my other light is an APOLLO cool tube with an APOLLO ballast, it was a gift from m girlfriend last christmas for my first from in a 3X3 tent, the reason for using Hydroton is because i have 2 50l bags of that stuff already cleaned out (have a CAP EbbNGro i was going to run but never got the opportunity to do so. I can still and will most likely run rock wool and have Hydroton for the top layer like C1 said.

Yes, GT. I thought it looked easy enough and I have also seen grow journals with great results running the lucas formula in a RDWC system with Co2, Not sure if you guys are on -----.com or not, but type in 'Snypes RDWC' in the google search bar and it should pop up. You guys seem really on point with these systems and since I copied you there Im gonna sick it out and take in all the info you guys give me. Scratching the co2 idea and hopefully ill make it out of work in time to get by the hydro store to pick up a gallon of GH Grow.

As for the environment in my tent, I got it pretty down, I've ran this same setup about 6 months ago minus the RDWC system and the environment was on point, not to mention i have a 3 x 3 setup in the room where ill be putting my 9.5 x 5 and temps are dialed in for that, i have a single 600 watt in there set to 300watt for some clones of some type of Kush my buddy gave me a couple days ago. still waiting on the Ice Bomb for the system though.

As for heat, I don't think ill have to much trouble because the room I've chosen to use doesn't have working heat in it anyways and I pretty much control the temp of my grow room by how much i keep the door open (usually crack the door open about 5 inches or so and it will stay around 77-80 durning the day. Night time shouldn't be to bad either, as I will be running lights on 6p - 6a so technically my night cycle will be durning the day so all ill have to do is keep the door cracked open and the room usually stay around 61-64 degrees when lights aren't running.

GT, you said something about running aqua shield and microbial tea once or twice a week. Is the "tea" you're talking about your Modified heisenberg Tea? Ill have to look more into microbial teas after work as Im already running behind to respond to you guys haha and shitty to here about your control rez, might have to find another 13 gallon garage can thats a little bit thicker!

Uni seals should be here in the next coupe of days! Question, what size hole saw should i get the make the cuts for the PVC pipe and uni seals? ill be running the same 2inch pvc piping.

Thanks for all the advice Guys!
 
Great brother! Its good to know you have a few grows under your belt. We can skip over the beginner stuff an dive right into some more experienced things.

It sounds like you have everything together just fine. Like any new system, it takes a little time to get familiar with it. I can tell ya that with my old system, the ph would steadily rise and I would correct accordingly. Now with the new system, its the opposite. It will lower in ph for a day or 2, then stabilize where I set it.

Its small stuff that will take some practice to dial in, but its also the small stuff that gives your massive harvests!!!

And yes, that is GT's Modified heisenberg Tea. Aquashield is a compost solution you add to the tea, or can use alone. It is a must protecting the root zone and allowing good microbial life.

For a 2 Inch Uniseal, you need to drill a 3 Inch hole. Good luck Johnny!!
 
So, i broke one of my totes trying to insert the 2" PVC.. i literally pushed the whole seal through the 3" hole and cracked the tote where the hole was.. so its off to Rona for a new tote in about 20 mins!!

just my luck too!!

I actually had all the pieces put together, i just had the wrong pieces in the wrong holes, so i pulled them out, and tried to put the right ones in the right holes, and i broke my tote!!
 
Awesome, thanks C1! Really excited about this up coming grow and with all the good info I'm getting on her I think it should go pretty good. I didn't get to make it to the hydro store today but ill be sure to get by there tomorrow to pick up some GH Grow Aqua shield an I might possibly grab products for GT's Tea.

GT, sorry to hear about your bucket, hoping I won't be doing the same thing. Question, how much of that tea would you add to a 40 gallon system? And great videos btw!
 
Botanicare has changed the name and formula of Aquashield to Hydroguard and now uses a specific strain of the Bacillus bacterium, Bacillus Amoyloliquefaciens which is a more effective strain of the bacteria.

I would suggest using it in the same method, in a tea only, and use the max suggested dosage.

For the tea, i would not add it to the reservoir at all, brew the ingredients by using a high powered air pump and stone in a bucket for a minimum of 36-48 hours before use, and pour 4oz directly on the base of the stalk on younger plants and 8oz on mature plant. When its ready for use, you will see a disgusting thick foam on the top of the water.. take a spoon (I use a 1L pitcher) and swish the water around to mix the foam into the tea. Then, you have about 48 hours to use it, before the microbes die off and is useless.

If you dont use it all, pour the rest onto your house plants, your backyard lawn and garden, or onto your neighbors property and watch him wonder why all his plants are growing like crazy!!
 
I'm actually just finished up eating some chinese food and am heading out to get my tote and finish up this damn RDWC!! it will be dry fit tonight and tested for leaks before it gets stored away until we and C1 are ready for our side by side!
 
Sweet, thanks GT! Hope everything went smoothly with the dry fitting of your system last night. Hoping to get all the cuts made for my system today, then ill just be waiting on the uni seals and clones!
 
JohnnyPots said:
Sweet, thanks GT! Hope everything went smoothly with the dry fitting of your system last night. Hoping to get all the cuts made for my system today, then ill just be waiting on the uni seals and clones!
Click to expand...

hows your system coming Johnny?

I'm just editing the video on my system.. Its complete (except for adding my 2" unions and my drain feature) and leak proof! Runs like a dream. If you've followed what we've done and have gotten the same stuff we are using for the RDWC, then let me make a suggestion.

Get a bigger water pump than we are using.. The Mag Drive 7 pump is great, and moves enough water, but theres hardly any visible water movement in the totes, and i was hoping to see some serious whirlpools. The Mag drive 7 pump works just fine, dont get me wrong, its more than enough for the system, but if you think you are going to see raging whirlpools in each tote where you will have a plant, you are going to be disappointed.

Also, if you are going to be doing a hyrdo run, make sure you have your plant in Rockwool (i know you said you had hydroton. use this as the bottom and top layer, and get yourself some rockwool grow cubes if you can, like we use, to have your roots in.) The Rockwool will wick moisture and nutrients, whereas the hydroton will just collect salt build up and will have your pH fluctuating like crazy!

Cant wait to see it!
 
Hey GT, Uni Seals didn't come in until yesterday, took today off from work so i could build the system! Awesome to hear about your system!!! Bummed to hear about the Mag Drive 7, as this is the one I bought. Might just have to make one run with it before an upgrade.

As for the Rockwool, I'm definitely going to take your advice on that and use rock wool with hydroton as the top layer. Ill keep you posted later on, hopefully with some pics of the system up and running.
 
JohnnyPots said:
Bummed to hear about the Mag Drive 7, as this is the one I bought. Might just have to make one run with it before an upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thats what i'm doing.. going to see how this pump does in the trial run.. C1's pump seems to be working just fine and he's got some monsters in his RDWC.

I was just hoping to see some crazy water movement inside the totes but i know its there!
 
Yo cannabis 1 that is a great set up went out today to pick everything up could not find the un-seals till this afternoon on line so if you could send me a pm with the complete list of all the pumps, also do you need a water chiller.
 
Hey Canniguy. Im sure you will love the system. I actually upgraded the flowering system to a 1200 GPH Pump. Its the MagDrive 12. Google it, and im sure you can find one for around $115. I do recommend having a water chiller. With the amount of water flowing, and Oxygen being pumped in by the air stones, the water temp rises very quick. My buddy GT swears he doesn't need one, but I have a feeling once he gets summer time temps up in BC, he will need it. At the very least, it gives you peace of mind. Plus, at harvest time, you can start dropping the temp of the water and get some crazy purple buds!
 
Some great info here. Its making me antsy to get going with my alien system. Yet I know I need a chiller first which really winds me up. I'm here soaking up the info for the future though :)
 

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