First time 6 site RDWC 60 gallon problems

[Cold$moke]

I like your UC system. I try to duplicate the 'river' flow of the UC with a slight elevation difference between the buckets and the rez. Like you, once I figured out the correct volume to maintain the level in the buckets it's pretty much fill and top off as needed. I just switched over to the Southern Ag on this rez change so we'll see if it gets funky...

Please let.me know as i want.to use it as a cheaper more concentrated alternative. .

Thanks i like my rdwc i spent about a lifetime worth of looking at every rdwc set up and i cant find any like mine. and i tried to just really make sure there wasnt going to be any dead spots.

Mine doesnt take any adjustments it runs pretty much all even without using any of the ball valves . The manifold i made distributes very evenly without having to use them

I was actually like shit i didnt need them lol

 

[kingtitan]

I like your UC system. I try to duplicate the 'river' flow of the UC with a slight elevation difference between the buckets and the rez. Like you, once I figured out the correct volume to maintain the level in the buckets it's pretty much fill and top off as needed. I just switched over to the Southern Ag on this rez change so we'll see if it gets funky...

How much did you add? I finished my system change out. saw that the air stones were getting covered in this slimy stuff too but i did do a complete clean/strilization or anything. I probably changed out 80% water volume. I have literally added 1 drop with an eye dropper to my 60 gal system.

 

[kingtitan]

@rkymtnman maybe you have any idea or if the steps I have taken will help?
@JSB99 I have built my system similar to yours as a guide.
@OldMedUser Any help you can offer with this?

Update on water prameters after change.

RO 2ppm
GH CalMagic 175ppm
Mega Crop 285ppm
Solution Total ~460ppm
PH 5.5
Temp- low 63f - high 69f
Southern AG GF 1 drop stirred in a cup and then added.

 

[newguy123]

You cannot use both beneficial bacteria and a sterilizing agent as the sterilizing agent will kill the beneficial bacteria creating a brown slime.

 

[JSB99]

@rkymtnman maybe you have any idea or if the steps I have taken will help?
@JSB99 I have built my system similar to yours as a guide.
@OldMedUser Any help you can offer with this?

Update on water prameters after change.

RO 2ppm
GH CalMagic 175ppm
Mega Crop 285ppm
Solution Total ~460ppm
PH 5.5
Temp- low 63f - high 69f
Southern AG GF 1 drop stirred in a cup and then added.

You don't need to use CalMagic with RDWC. That's usually needed with Coco coir. By adding calcium and magnesium, you are increasing your TDS with too much of those. You'll end up with a high amount of CalMag, and less of the other nutes, when you reach your desired TDS.

I really like GH Maxigro and Maxibloom! Very easy to use! No mixing!

 

[JSB99]

@rkymtnman maybe you have any idea or if the steps I have taken will help?
@JSB99 I have built my system similar to yours as a guide.

Post some pics! I'd love to see your setup!

 

[rkymtnman]

Southern AG GF 1 drop stirred in a cup and then added.

I prefer to use more of the southern ag. it's cheap enough where a bottle lasts 2 to 3 grows for me.

for my waterfarms ( 2gal res), i use 5mL per gallon at the beginning to give a max dose. then i do 1mL once a week as a maintenance dose.

if you are using h2o2, i'd recommend the max dose and then a week later the same. and don't use the h2o2 anymore.

 

[rkymtnman]

@kingtitan
on second thought, i just noticed your res is 60 gal. with a res that big and in order to save a ton of money, i would go with a sterile res instead. i used to use HTH pool shock with great results. a 1LB bag lasts forever, is super cheap too. only thing you need is a scale accurate to 0.01 grams in order to measure it out so you don't give too much.

0.10 grams per 10 gal water is 1ppm chlorine. i used 3 ppm to be on the safe side. so 0.30 g per 10 gal. up to 5ppm is safe for plants and humans

 

[Cold$moke]

Thats why i think he should just.mix it to replicate hydrogaurd it would go much further im

But i have not personally tried it yet

 

[kingtitan]

Post some pics! I'd love to see your setup!

Will do! as soon as i can get a break from trying to figure this out!

@kingtitan
on second thought, i just noticed your res is 60 gal. with a res that big and in order to save a ton of money, i would go with a sterile res instead. i used to use HTH pool shock with great results. a 1LB bag lasts forever, is super cheap too. only thing you need is a scale accurate to 0.01 grams in order to measure it out so you don't give too much.

0.10 grams per 10 gal water is 1ppm chlorine. i used 3 ppm to be on the safe side. so 0.30 g per 10 gal. up to 5ppm is safe for plants and humans

I bought a hot tub a couple years ago so I have all of that stuff. Maybe I should create another batch of RO, remove all plants and pool shock the whole system with just tap water for an hour and start over. I could try soaking the net pots in H2o2 but I am not sure how long? what about 2ppm of chlorine? i keep my hot tub at about 3-5ppm (Bromine not Chlorine as that has odor we dont like)

 

[kingtitan]

You don't need to use CalMagic with RDWC. That's usually needed with Coco coir. By adding calcium and magnesium, you are increasing your TDS with too much of those. You'll end up with a high amount of CalMag, and less of the other nutes, when you reach your desired TDS.

I really like GH Maxigro and Maxibloom! Very easy to use! No mixing!

Doing reading her for the last months I was getting the impression in the Mega Crop threads that adding calmag to RO water may be a good idea? I think it was @HydroRed that were investigating PH crashes?

 

[HydroRed]

Doing reading her for the last months I was getting the impression in the Mega Crop threads that adding calmag to RO water may be a good idea? I think it was @HydroRed that were investigating PH crashes?

It was @rkymtnman that was doing the ph test with the MegaCrop. I think they figured it out, but supplementing Cal/mg to RO water is often required at some point with certain nutrients. Since the RO is devoid of cal/mg unlike tap water, some nutrients may not be fortified with enough to get by without supplementals specially during heavy flower. @ChaosHunter supplements with MegaCrop with very good results. Sometimes it can be the lights you use too. Under Cob LED's I notice the need for cal/mag supplement no matter what nute I used.

 

[kingtitan]

just checked res the res smells like pond already just from adding that 1 drop. not sure how the root on that one plant looks but i will have to check when lights come on later tonight.

 

[rkymtnman]

just checked res the res smells like pond already just from adding that 1 drop. not sure how the root on that one plant looks but i will have to check when lights come on later tonight.

i think your issue is using h2o2 along with the southern ag. you killed off all the good bacteria (and bad too) and now you need to hit them with a large dose to repopulate.

but in the long run, after your bottle is empty, i'd go sterile with hth, liquid bleach, dutchmaster zone, uc roots, etc. for a 60 gal system

 

[HydroRed]

X2 on sterile. Easy peasy for real.

 

[JSB99]

Doing reading her for the last months I was getting the impression in the Mega Crop threads that adding calmag to RO water may be a good idea? I think it was @HydroRed that were investigating PH crashes?

Haven't heard that, but then again, it's not anything I've researched, so what do I know LOL!

 

[rkymtnman]

X2 on sterile. Easy peasy for real.

you do h2o2, correct? have you ever compared/contrasted it to chlorine?

 

[Cold$moke]

just checked res the res smells like pond already just from adding that 1 drop. not sure how the root on that one plant looks but i will have to check when lights come on later tonight.

Are you sure its the southern ag your smelling and not the root rot?

 

[kingtitan]

you do h2o2, correct? have you ever compared/contrasted it to chlorine?

I have not. This is my absolute first run of anything pure hydro. I have been doing Promix HP all these years but looking at @JSB99's setup I got exited and started putting together a RDWC over the last couple months.

Should i sterilize tonight and tomorrow, skip RO water and use tap water + megacrop only? maybe cut off the slime roots (the roots themselfvs look fine after a was off of the slime but it keeps coming back to that one tap root.

I have been talking to Heisenberg about his tea, cant find any of the stuff other than earth worm castings and he says it will work with just EWC, but then I am going the other direction with bennies. I think I want to go without the bennies!

I'm so spent over the last week with this, almost feel like giving up and pulling this whole setup out and trying to transplant into soil pots!

 

[Cold$moke]

Just saying i tried going sterile with bleach when i switched to salts but the only ones to have problems where the ones with bleach

Not saying i was even using it right at 4 to 8 drops a gallon every 3 days.

But since i stopped the bleach and added the hydroguard they have taken back off