Please help tweak my Deep water system!

[Revshot]

ok so i have been prowling around this board reading a lot of great information and im ready to make the move from soil to hydroponic!

i chose to go with a deep water system as it seems to be the simpliest and best method for me.

so basically i built a box. it measures 4x8 i plan to have 32 plants at 12" space intervals. the box is 18" deep and lined with pool liner. i have 2 55 gallon drums that will act as an auto top off system(in conjunction with a float switch)

under every plant will be a 6" round airstone to provide maximum oxygen.

i have a few questions past this part...
with this design the water level will always be 18" deep. some people have told me NOT to keep the plants roots submerged 24/7 and others have told me as long as the air stone is pumpin air at the roots its prefectly fine.

ill be using a TDS meter to measure my nutes.

im having some trouble in finding out how often should i replace the water in the system? what water should i be replacing it with? the total water volume is about 350 gallons so using a garden hose will likely be my water source. (r/o unit would KILL my water bill) should i use any water treatments like what you use if you were to use tap water in a fish tank?

thanks for much for your reply's! ill post some pics if anyone is confused as what im trying to explain here

i realise most people prefer to keep several plants in many smaller containers but in the long run this seems much easier to just "pull the plug" on 32 plants have the tray drain into the drain then refill it back up with water stored in pre-ready ph balanced drums.

 

[BigDaddy35]

I've wondered about the water treatment solutions too. It says it removes chlorine and chloramine also. This would save me alot of money on going and getting RO water every week. Hope someone chimes in with an answer

 

[Vaporeyes]

DWC means the roots will be submerged 24-7, as long as your stones and pumps are working your all good...

Res change- opinion vary to every week or two and some people only swap once or twice through bloom. as long as your monitoring your ph and ppm youll be fine..prob 2 weeks if this is a new system for you.

have you checked your tap water ppm yet?

so your going to have a 4x8 with 32 plants? sog? going to be tight if not...ive run something similar and have 9 to a 4x4....

 

[Revshot]

DWC means the roots will be submerged 24-7, as long as your stones and pumps are working your all good...

Res change- opinion vary to every week or two and some people only swap once or twice through bloom. as long as your monitoring your ph and ppm youll be fine..prob 2 weeks if this is a new system for you.

have you checked your tap water ppm yet?

so your going to have a 4x8 with 32 plants? sog? going to be tight if not...ive run something similar and have 9 to a 4x4....

the average grow i have been reading about seems to be 1 plant for every 3-4 gallons of water, my set up will have 1 plant for 10+ gallons of water, im hoping that this will help me stretch out my water changes greaty as it will be HUGE on savin money on nutes. i have a TDS meter and a drop in PH monitor as well. it wont be a SOG but possibly may after a few crops
my tap water is 8.0ph. and my tds i belive were 200ish.
i planned on using vinigar to lower the ph.

im hoping with all that space for the roots to grow everywhere these plants are going to expload!

 

[Revshot]

I've wondered about the water treatment solutions too. It says it removes chlorine and chloramine also. This would save me alot of money on going and getting RO water every week. Hope someone chimes in with an answer

i have been in the fish hobby for a long long time and this stuff does work and its super potent/cheap. it also neutralizes heavy metals in the water too. i just wasnt sure if if was nessicary to treat tap water

 

[Revshot]

do you guys think that a 4x8x18 body of water and a 5" air "puck" under each plant (32 plants spaced every 12") will be enough bubbles? i really really dont want root rot!

 

[Trunk5]

not to intrude it sounds like you got a good handle on what your doing, but may i sugest getting the flexible air stones over the solid pucks. ive used the pucks and after a grow they are clogged and a pain to clean if you plan to reuse them. i use the 2 footers but they also come in 3 and 4 foot as well.

 

[Revshot]

not to intrude it sounds like you got a good handle on what your doing, but may i sugest getting the flexible air stones over the solid pucks. ive used the pucks and after a grow they are clogged and a pain to clean if you plan to reuse them. i use the 2 footers but they also come in 3 and 4 foot as well.

by no means is it an intrusion! this is a discussion board and everyones opinion espically of those who have been there done that count!

 

[PetFlora]

Check out my journal. I think it will help you to understand there is a much more efficient way to grow plants. I can't even comprehend the money needed to fertilize 350 gallons.

 

[Wabbits]

I have to agree with Flora not necessarily on the need to switch to Aero but that exchanging and fertilizing 350 gallons will be expensive and problematic.

A great many of the Hydro grows on this and other forums people drain and replenish the system approximately weekly having more water/per plant might allow you to push that back slightly but it will still be a huge amounts of water and nutes.

I'm having a hard time visualizing the design you have indicated that the box is 18" deep and that the water will be kept at that level in most systems I have seen there is a gap between the bottom of the net cup and the water level of a few inches of air.

 

[PetFlora]

The only way to substantially reduce the amount of nutrients is to use a high pressure aero system where you will use ~1 teaspoon per gallon

 

[TorturedSoul]

i planned on using vinigar to lower the ph.

Use real horticultural pH-down - a little bit goes a long way and the ingredients are used by the plants as part of their nutrients (unlike vinegar). If you use a good nutrient set, as you get to know it you can use a small amount of "bloom" component to act as pH down - as the plants use that part of the nutrients, the pH rises slowly; using those nutrients to bring the pH back in line will help you extend the time between reservoir changes. (Not a minor consideration when you're dealing with a ~350-gallon reservoir, lol.)

If you cannot stand the expense (and waste) of an RO filtration system, install a good whole-house cartridge-type filter on your main line. Although not as good as reverse osmosis, they work well, are pretty cheap, and do not "use water to filter water." Filtering your water removes (much of) the potentially harmful things that might be in it, dechlorinates the water, and will probably help your pH (and pH-stability in the mixed reservoir).

 

[Revshot]

thanks for the tips guys, im going to stick with my 350 gallon resevoir. after talking to my local hydro store and seeing there set ups he demonstrated that as long as the roots stay wet, theres no reel need to keep them 100% submerged in water. he suggested when they roots get long enough slowly drop the water level in the res to aprox 40% of what it was when the clones went in. so that would leave me with aprox 130 gallons or so of water to fill with nutes. plus the space the roots will take up. as well im going to go with Dutch Nutrient Formula for my nutes he is selling me all the nutes i need (5 gallon buckets) for $200. so with these new factors my set up keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.

 

[Revshot]

exchanging and fertilizing 350 gallons will be expensive and problematic.

A great many of the Hydro grows on this and other forums people drain and replenish the system approximately weekly having more water/per plant might allow you to push that back slightly but it will still be a huge amounts of water and nutes.

I'm having a hard time visualizing the design you have indicated that the box is 18" deep and that the water will be kept at that level in most systems I have seen there is a gap between the bottom of the net cup and the water level of a few inches of air.

picture a 4'x8'x18" deep box lined with pool liner and 32 plants sitting on top.
the drain and re fill is all but automatic. i have a 2" drain pipe plumbed in at the bottom of the tank(tank is 8" off the ground) and in another room i have 3 55 gallon drums with water in reserve,(ph balanced, nute rich) also plumbed directly to the res.

so basically when its water change time, i open the drain plug, water drains into the sump of the house, then i shut the drain valve off and open the fresh water valve and let that fill the res up.
i did water change test yesterday and the whole process took about 15 min, way easier then changing out 32 5 gallon buckets!

 

[Revshot]

Sounds like a crazy setup! I would love to see pictures!

when my clones arive in less then 2 weeks ill be starting a journal for sure