Cleaning after each feeding

[dbuddah5420]

Im using dwc for the first time. I'll be using 12- 15 3 1/2 gallon buckets, gravity feed so no water pumps. The thing I am wondering is how to clean my system after every feeding. Is it necessary that I clean each bucket every time? And if so are there any suggestions?

 

[JJ Bones]

What did you mean by gravity feed? Typically DWC doesn't use water pumps anyway, unless it's RDWC

I would say it really depends on your nutrients, if you use good hydro nutrients it won't get too messy. It's important to change the water out every week to two weeks.

 

[dbuddah5420]

Gravity feed meaning I but my res about three feet above my buckets so it flows to the first bucket via float valve as needed by plants. I'm a dwc first time user so if this does not make since I would take suggestions. I am using house and garden nutes recommended by my grow store. Just wondering if it is necessary to clean and wipe down every bucket every time I change the water so it doesn't mess with my ppms. Thanks!

 

[JJ Bones]

Now I understand, so when you need to refill your buckets it's a gravity feed to all of them. That's good.

If you're using Aqua Flakes, which I'm sure you are, then you should be fine. It is one of the cleanest nutrients for hydroponics and will not be messy.

 

[Concrete Seed]

If its a gravity feed, then its not "DWC", its "Fertigation-Hydroponics" aka "Drip system" or "Top-Feed" methods. (All of which are good.) Deep water culture is a nutrient-filled res that is filled with the root-mass of the plant. These roots remain alive & thrive because their are several air-stones being ran by air-pumps at the bottom of the res. The high-amount of O2 from the air-stones means the roots feed extremely quickly and thus, growth is fast and vigorous.

You are running a Gravity-Fed Ebb&Flow system. You can get away with using a soil-less mix with this setup unlike traditional Ebb&Flow setups where you'd only be able to run a Hydro mix like Hydroton/clay-pebbles to avoid tube clogging, etc...

Hope this helps man,
Concrete-Seed
CHEERS!!!

 

[Bassman59]

Concrete, you likely got his description confused. It definitely is a form of DWC. He's not flowing any nutrient out of the system, but through gravity, his main res keeps the water levels at a given height in his buckets.

Not sure why anyone would use Aqua Flakes. Especially when there is Blue Planet Nutrients, a sponsor right here at 420mag that makes his nutrient specifically for our plants, and is active in giving tons of free support to the growers here at 420mag. I can promise you House & Garden will never do that unless it becomes federally legal in all 50 states. Medical or not, House and Garden aint gonna give ya support.

On to the op's Question: Mostly, it's going to depend on how often you change out nutrients and what the water temps are. I use a chiller and recirculate. So I don't get bad crap growing in my system and as such, don't clean my system until after I harvest each grow. I change out basically as I change the nutrient mix ppm in different phases, or about every two weeks. Using a regimen of Hygrozyme type products is a help too. But imho, water temps are going to be a major factor in the cleanliness of the entire system. Kept below 68f, and you're golden.