New to thread and DWC - Have some questions!

[DWCHP420]

First off, hello to everyone! I am very new to growing in general and have been reading about DWC with a friend for awhile now. I am very interested to learn, always have been.

So I finally went out (1week, 2days ago) and got x2 5gal buckets (dark blue color) w/pump and x2 airstones.. I'm using hydraton as a medium, have no drip system feeding the top and no chiller.. witch as you all know sucks cause keeping the temp lower than 75 all the time is hard. But I do use frozen water bottles to cool them when I can to TRY and help.

I'm using Advanced Nutrients. My first week I used Part A/B Sensi-Grow- 20mil ea, Voodoo Juice- 20mil, B-52- 20mil, CarboLoad- 8mil, Sensyzyme- 20mil. My water was way up on the net pot first 3days when I first started then was told to lower it to an inch below the netpot, so I did.

After first week I did water changes (using only about 3gal instead of 4gals) and just used ph'd 5.7/100ppm water and 18mil of Senyzyme. I have noticed that my roots are growing out more and there is one long one with what appears to be algae (looks like snot on it) Noticed my PH was really high and water like 77degrees. Seems to climb in temp/ph rather fast and can't figure out why. I heard using hydrogen-peroxide in small amounts in resivior will help clean roots and growth if you run a high water temp? if so.. how much would I use for my 5gal buckets?

Few further questions I have are.. where should my water level be at all times? When I clean my buckets what should I use/do? I also have cut-outs of Mylar around the black lids ontop to reflect more light up. (not sure if thats ok to do?)

Any information you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your time.

 

[DWCHP420]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

Algae seems to be gettin a lil worse.. its on the one longest root, anyone know a good way to go about curing this? I just did a water change few days ago with sensyzyme.

Also where should my water level be at all times? Should I be topping it off everyday?

 

[oldman60]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

I got algae in my tank the first time I tried hydro. Once it has taken hold it's hard to stop. My advise is to disinfect and start over.

The solution was simple. Paint your bucket and lid black. Two or three coats will keep the light out. Haven't had any algae since.
I top off as needed adding the appropriate amount of nutes per gallon. I drain and refill every 7 to 10 days.

 

[DWCHP420]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

The buckets I use are dark blue and lids are covered w/mylar. I dont think light is getting in at all. And I use ice packs to cool the water as much as possible.

 

[oldman60]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

I was told algae needs light to grow. Painting did the trick for me. Put a flashlight against the bucket and look inside. I bet you will see it.
Milar will let some light through too. My temps always run around 80.

Hope you get it worked out.

 

[DWCHP420]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

Looks like this..

Kind of a brownish snotty substance.. Going to tape buckets black in a few days hopefully also.

 

[DWCHP420]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

Hmm maybe i need to refer to a different site or webpage. Peace

 

[tismedude]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

In dwc you need to use hygrozyme or some sort of good bacteria with each tub change this keeps your root system healthy.It also promotes growth in your plant.You also need humic acid to aid in uptake of nutes I have used both diamond nector and dark energy they both work well.Dark energy seems to be my favorite but it is expensive. I hope this helps.

 

[azcruiser]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

Get some good black buckets, spend the extra nickle and get the heavy duty ones.

 

[Ruhaa]

I'm a DWC guy my self. Yes get black buckets and some lids that have a 6inch pot. Y can buy them at any grow store.There only a few buck!!! Well worth the money. Not sure the size sonte your using ,but i use a 4inch stone by Eco.Those only ru a couple bucks to.
I also us Advance Nuts.. to,but i went with the mirco grow and bloom, and for veg cycle make sure and use vodo and B-52.
with the 5 gallon bucket i only use 4 gallons of water,but thats with my 6inch poted lid.I have my ph at 6.1 i found that work best.Advance also has a feeding schedule calculator check it out!!!! Oh ya I also dilute my ph down in water before adding.Why you might ask the myth is that it will break down the nuts. Once i figure out how to apply my profile i would like you to see it.
One more thing beware of salt build up one the side of the bucket. This only will cause more problems with yellow leafs. something I just ran in too.

Good luck.
Ruhaa
P.s i was looking at your top of the bucket take off the mylar that might be the cause of it heating up the water.And i wasn't sure on what size pot your using but if small not enough hydostone in it the light could be getting though. I strongly urge you to get those lids.

 

[DWCHP420]

Cool guys thanks for replying. Is it natural for roots to have brown sticking to them? Looks like the nutrients I added is sticking to them? Is this normal/good?

 

[Ruhaa]

Mine do the same thing. Just try to keep water temp down the best you can ,like a frozen water bottle. And flush once a week. That seems to work for me. I think it's the dye in nutrients, I could be wrong. But just keep look out for any sign of problems. I should take a pix of the onces i have in budding now but i have tied the branches down abit for more light. There in there last 21\2weeks left on them.

 

[StonerJ]

You can use all of the additives you want to try to inhibit or control algae, if you don't keep your water temp down, it won't last. You need to get your reservoir temp down. Try frozen water bottles, insulation around your bucket, etc. Check your water temp everyday and keep a bottle of frozen bottled water on a string handy. If your reservoir temps are above 70, put a frozen bottle in, that should bring it down for the next 18-24 hrs. The next day, pull out the now thawed bottle, check the temp, and have another frozen bottle handy if you need it. I used to to do this all of the time with two frozen bottles of water until I got a chiller. Now, my temps are a constant 68 degrees and algae is now a distant memory no matter what the pH may drift to. The pH stays relatively constant and the entire solution is much more stable.

Temperature is absolutely critical in a DWC (or any hydro system for that matter). It's also considerably cheaper than buying more chemicals and additives to control algae. Simply keep your water temp down and you won't need to worry about algae.

 

[Bassman59]

I know stoner J means well, and is mostly accurate, but don't put frozen bottles inside your buckets. Once the roots hit that floating ice jug they will freeze and break off. Dead roots is bad bad bad. Instead, put the buckets into a larger bucket with water in said bucket and add the ice jugs to that. Thus making an ice water bath for your dwc buckets.

68 degrees is the magic number. If you can keep the water below 68 you will not have root rot which is what you're getting with that brown snot shit on the roots.

In the end, a chiller and turning your dwc into rdwc (recirculating) takes water temp worries completely out of the picture. I love dwc but once I added a chiller and turned it into rdwc it was like night and day the difference it makes.

Example of ice water bath setup:

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

I had an issue with algea growth, which will lead to root rot. Simple solution. I started putting 2mL of 28% h202, you can buy at hydro shop, per gallon of water. Every time I topped off with ph water, I added 2mL per gallon in the water I added to res. Every few days, I added more h202 for the whole res, about 1mL per gallon.

After 7 days or less, I did a res change, and added 2mL of h202 again.

My res stays clear, clean, fresh, roots grow big, plants grow big. h202 also adds more oxygen to the water as it evaporates, which is also why you need to add more in every few days, on top of the 2ml per gallon you add to the top off water.

 

[Bassman59]

Cooler water, sub 68f will prevent algae. DWC likes cool water.

 

[Kushmaster216]

Re: New to thread and DWC.. Have some questions!

What's up man I'm a newer dwc grower as well you can take a look at my journal if u would like.. It's call blue dream and og kush first grow dwc anyway I have had light issues as well I live in a apartment n can't just start spray painting n stuff so I tried putting my bucket in a bucket then put old black tees around them followed by white towels n that didn't work.. I had root rot my roots were shocked n were not growing I opened the lid one day n they were black I had to gently spray them with ph water n clean them as good as possibly.... I then started putting peroxicde in my water. A guy on here have me the tip to help kill bacteria.. I mix 3% peroxicde at 2 tsp a gallon he said 3 tsp but I always go under the told amount to be on the safe side n that helped alot.. Also using dark colored nutes is also not good i use to use sugar daddy awesome blossom n thrive alive in the bottles directions then cut way way way back in any dark nutes n that helped alot... Here is what works n makes the difference... Aluminum foil homie... Wrat that bucket your using (I'm using the same buckets from lowes mine are blue as well) in the foil on the out side n use some masking tape... Make them nice n tight so it does rip... Also on your lids n over your plant the poke holes through the top so you can also top water feed them... It will help alot... Also if u have problems with temp don't put froozen bottles in the res your killing roots... Get a tot your buckets will fit in n put them in the tote then fill tote just about 1/4 way with water n put ur froozen. Bottles in there they will cool your res longer n no root damage let me know if you want some pics ill send some