Got most materials in stock. Got seeds coming from Herbies and reading my ass off. One thing that stands out is; DWC is not very forgiving when it comes to PH values and temps. The problems that occur when these parameters are not met seem to be pretty profound and the problems and posts to 420 start coming in. As they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; I've decided to run a sterile res using a preventative douse of H202 from the very beginning. Knowing that any organic nutes will not be effective; please advise the best nutes to use when following this regiment. Thanks Guys!!
Going to be running a sterile res for 1st grow.
- Thread starter tucker99
- Start date
OldMedUser
Formerly Known as LabRat
High tucker99
I just happen to have a bit of experience in such a way to run DWC. About 40+ tubs worth.
The biggest deal is nute temps. If you can't keep them down to 70F or a bit lower you stand a good chance of running into root rot. Using peroxide is a great way to keep things safe in the rez but as you mentioned not for organic nutes or beneficial bacterial supplements.
I ran mine for over 10 years using AN 3-part basic nutes and 35% food grade peroxide. I used 1/2 ml per liter of water from the very start with the same every few days and had nute temps up to 80F without ever seeing any rot. In case of slimed roots 4X that amount can be used for a few treatments safely.
Root rot can kill everything in a day so you have to check them often. A chiller is the best option and one can be made from a water cooler which is what I now use. Took the guts out of the top of the cooler and using a small fountain pump ran 3/8" clear plastic tubing up into the water tank with about 10' of it coiled up in there. I also used straight auto anti-freeze in there instead of water as it doesn't evaporate like water and has better heat transfer. Also wrapped the tub with wall insulation held on with baling wire. The white kind instead of the pink stuff. A timer that works in 15 min increments is used on the chiller to keep the nutes from getting too cold but the pump is run continuously. I had the nutes freeze in the tubing doing it the other way around. I also packed the insulation around the well in the cooler to help keep the heat out. The fountain pump is in the bottom of the tub with the tubing running up to the chill tank then back into the tub.
Since making the DIY chiller I have switched nutes to Sensi Grow for veg and Connoisseur for flowering. Killer combo and the pH Perfect makes worrying about pH a thing of the past. Great growth in hydro or using ProMix HP in pots. I don't use peroxide with these as they have a lot of amino acids and chelated minerals that may be adversely affected. Plus with cooler temps, 65 - 68F, root rot shouldn't/hasn't been a problem.
The only other supplements I use are Rhino Skin from the start at half strength and not often, some Techniflora Cal/Mag,(cheaper), Big Bud and OverDrive. When I still used peroxide I would wait 24 hours after adding it before putting in the Big Bud or OverDrive which I just added to some top-up water and dumped in.
If you can get the pH Perfect AN nutes then all you need is a TDS pen to tell you how much nutes are in your water. Then you can just add small amounts of nutes as you go along rather than dump perfectly good nutes once a week like the feeding charts tell you too. Makes them richer and you poorer!
And only use RO or distilled water if you want a problem free grow.
L8r
I just happen to have a bit of experience in such a way to run DWC. About 40+ tubs worth.
The biggest deal is nute temps. If you can't keep them down to 70F or a bit lower you stand a good chance of running into root rot. Using peroxide is a great way to keep things safe in the rez but as you mentioned not for organic nutes or beneficial bacterial supplements.
I ran mine for over 10 years using AN 3-part basic nutes and 35% food grade peroxide. I used 1/2 ml per liter of water from the very start with the same every few days and had nute temps up to 80F without ever seeing any rot. In case of slimed roots 4X that amount can be used for a few treatments safely.
Root rot can kill everything in a day so you have to check them often. A chiller is the best option and one can be made from a water cooler which is what I now use. Took the guts out of the top of the cooler and using a small fountain pump ran 3/8" clear plastic tubing up into the water tank with about 10' of it coiled up in there. I also used straight auto anti-freeze in there instead of water as it doesn't evaporate like water and has better heat transfer. Also wrapped the tub with wall insulation held on with baling wire. The white kind instead of the pink stuff. A timer that works in 15 min increments is used on the chiller to keep the nutes from getting too cold but the pump is run continuously. I had the nutes freeze in the tubing doing it the other way around. I also packed the insulation around the well in the cooler to help keep the heat out. The fountain pump is in the bottom of the tub with the tubing running up to the chill tank then back into the tub.
Since making the DIY chiller I have switched nutes to Sensi Grow for veg and Connoisseur for flowering. Killer combo and the pH Perfect makes worrying about pH a thing of the past. Great growth in hydro or using ProMix HP in pots. I don't use peroxide with these as they have a lot of amino acids and chelated minerals that may be adversely affected. Plus with cooler temps, 65 - 68F, root rot shouldn't/hasn't been a problem.
The only other supplements I use are Rhino Skin from the start at half strength and not often, some Techniflora Cal/Mag,(cheaper), Big Bud and OverDrive. When I still used peroxide I would wait 24 hours after adding it before putting in the Big Bud or OverDrive which I just added to some top-up water and dumped in.
If you can get the pH Perfect AN nutes then all you need is a TDS pen to tell you how much nutes are in your water. Then you can just add small amounts of nutes as you go along rather than dump perfectly good nutes once a week like the feeding charts tell you too. Makes them richer and you poorer!
And only use RO or distilled water if you want a problem free grow.
L8r
- Thread starter
- #3
Thank you for the reply Sir. Wow! is that 40-tubs at the same time or 40-consecutive grows? Great info and everything sinks in. But, what I don't get is if H202 was working for you; what is the advantage of using the chiller along with the organic nutes? Is there an appreciable difference in the health of the plants and is the harvest that much greater? Thanks tucker
DukeO
Well-Known Member
H202 kills the good and the bad,and the bad comes back faster then the good...
I tired it for a while. I have high temps(80f) and bad water. Not a good combo. H202 was very hit or miss for me.
I tried all kinds of stuff and it all was hit or miss. Some plants would make it though fine and some would get root rot and it was hard to keep everything real clean.
Then I bought a cloner that came with a sample of z7 water treatment and that stuff changed everything. My buckets are always spotless now.
I would not even try DWC above 75f without it. My air stones are 1.5 years old and they look and work like new. I have never seen or even felt any slime.
I use GH 3part and z7 and never H202 or bleach or anything like that anymore.
I wish I could run RDWC with a chiller. But that is not in the cards for me right now.
If you run into issues with high temps in DWC. Then I would highly recommend z7. I have no connection to them.
I tired it for a while. I have high temps(80f) and bad water. Not a good combo. H202 was very hit or miss for me.
I tried all kinds of stuff and it all was hit or miss. Some plants would make it though fine and some would get root rot and it was hard to keep everything real clean.
Then I bought a cloner that came with a sample of z7 water treatment and that stuff changed everything. My buckets are always spotless now.
I would not even try DWC above 75f without it. My air stones are 1.5 years old and they look and work like new. I have never seen or even felt any slime.
I use GH 3part and z7 and never H202 or bleach or anything like that anymore.
I wish I could run RDWC with a chiller. But that is not in the cards for me right now.
If you run into issues with high temps in DWC. Then I would highly recommend z7. I have no connection to them.
