Club Quantum Board

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907guy

Well-Known Member
I've completely changed my grow style from DWC to top drip/recirculating in rockwool. I've only ever grown in DWC (quite successfully) however keeping water temps down is tough and the posibility of a power outage and losing everything in a matter of hours has left me looking for other methods. I have had some trouble getting things dialed in (everything was changed with this new setup including going to DIY QB boards from manufactured burple). They are starting to pick back up again, I've stunted them a few times trying to figure how what is too much or not enough water and light. 4 White Widdow's from seed and 3 OG Kush from clone.

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wietefras

wietefras

Well-Known Member
@907guy , How would you lose your plants in a matter of hours from a power outage when gowing in DWC? I've had plants for more than a month in a DWC bucket without power (apart from the lights and vent of course) without problem.
 
9

907guy

Well-Known Member
wietefras said:
@907guy , How would you lose your plants in a matter of hours from a power outage when gowing in DWC? I've had plants for more than a month in a DWC bucket without power (apart from the lights and vent of course) without problem.
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Stephenj37826 said:
Air pump failure?
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Exactly, air pump failure, plants drown fast. With top drip, if the power fails for what ever reason I can simply hand water, they will dry out after a day or two so if power fails and I am gone for more than that then there will be problems. However I remotely monitor my temps and RH so if I do have a power outage while I am gone I should lose connection to my sensors.
 
9

907guy

Well-Known Member
wietefras said:
No, on purpose. "Kratky" method.
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I have seen that method however with basically stagnate water I would think keeping it cool would be an even greater concern, also you would have to be carefully with maintaining water levels (too high and you will drown them). I would also be curious as to growth rates (do you see the same growth rates with the Kratky method as you do with standard air stones?). I loved the growth rate of DWC, everything about that grow method is awesome, like I said it is the only other way I have grown and have been very successfully with it. I am just trying to move towards a more fail safe method with similar or comparable growth rates. So far my growth rates have been way down but that is completely my fault in getting this new system figured out.

Also on another note, I can easily move plants around, take them in and out, have several strains in my tent and water them from the same reservoir. Things not so easily done with DWC. If you water from the same reservoir you are doing recirculating system and there's no way you are moving them in and out and around.
 
wietefras

wietefras

Well-Known Member
True, that Kratky method (without air-pumps) is only suitable for cooler temperatures. 20C in my case. Wouldn't do that in summer.

Still, the point is, your plants don't "drown" in DWC in a matter of hours. It will take days if not weeks for them to die from air-pump failure. That's the big difference between NFT or aeroponics to DWC. With NFT or aeroponics the roots run dry when the waterpumps fail. That will kill plants quickly yes.
 
kmog33

kmog33

Well-Known Member
wietefras said:
True, that Kratky method (without air-pumps) is only suitable for cooler temperatures. 20C in my case. Wouldn't do that in summer.

Still, the point is, your plants don't "drown" in DWC in a matter of hours. It will take days if not weeks for them to die from air-pump failure. That's the big difference between NFT or aeroponics to DWC. With NFT or aeroponics the roots run dry when the waterpumps fail. That will kill plants quickly yes.
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I would say you have 1-2 days after a pump goes out depending on the strain, some will die in a few hours, and it's extremely size dependant. A little plant can probably go amonth in a bucket before it dies, where a huge plant with established root system will drown fast as the o2 to h2o ratio to the roots is much worse than with the smaller plant.

How full your buckets are will also have an affect.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
wietefras

wietefras

Well-Known Member
The plants I had for a month without bubbles did have a large root system. No problems whatsoever. Roots were perfectly white too. It was more of an experiment really to see how long they would last. It ended when the plants got too big for the tent.

Seriously Google "Kratky method". People grow huge plants with no air stones at all.

 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
There is a guy who does Kratky grows in a greenhouse. Temps over 90F. He does Bato buckets too in the greenhouse.

here:

907guy said:
I have seen that method however with basically stagnate water I would think keeping it cool would be an even greater concern, also you would have to be carefully with maintaining water levels (too high and you will drown them). I would also be curious as to growth rates (do you see the same growth rates with the Kratky method as you do with standard air stones?). I loved the growth rate of DWC, everything about that grow method is awesome, like I said it is the only other way I have grown and have been very successfully with it. I am just trying to move towards a more fail safe method with similar or comparable growth rates. So far my growth rates have been way down but that is completely my fault in getting this new system figured out.

Also on another note, I can easily move plants around, take them in and out, have several strains in my tent and water them from the same reservoir. Things not so easily done with DWC. If you water from the same reservoir you are doing recirculating system and there's no way you are moving them in and out and around.
Click to expand...
 
Humple

Humple

Well-Known Member
I'm a noob in every way (and that includes posting in this forum), so please be patient with me, folks - I have a cab with two 23"w/20"d/48"h grow chambers. I have a 250w HID in the left chamber, and was planning on the same setup for the right side, but then I found myself tumbling down the LED rabbit hole. Any chance the 135w QB kit from HLG could compete with a 250w HPS, yield-wise? I know yield depends on a hell of a lot more than the lights, but assuming all variables are the same, how do you think they would compare? I know just enough about LEDs to know that you shouldn't make a watt-for-watt comparison with other types of lighting, but my knowledge doesn't go much further than that.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Humple said:
I'm a noob in every way (and that includes posting in this forum), so please be patient with me, folks - I have a cab with two 23"w/20"d/48"h grow chambers. I have a 250w HID in the left chamber, and was planning on the same setup for the right side, but then I found myself tumbling down the LED rabbit hole. Any chance the 135w QB kit from HLG could compete with a 250w HPS, yield-wise? I know yield depends on a hell of a lot more than the lights, but assuming all variables are the same, how do you think they would compare? I know just enough about LEDs to know that you shouldn't make a watt-for-watt comparison with other types of lighting, but my knowledge doesn't go much further than that.
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Short answer; 'all signs point to yes'
 
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