Wow - THAT much ph & ppm drift overnight???

[Homie Da Clown]

Your gonna have some problems with your drip ring that high. You need to push it all the way down so that it is half covered with hydroton to keep it from splashing on the seedling.. then when they get grown up some you can put lil plates or mats on them. Mine our made for it with black on the bottom, and white on the top to refract light.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

sure is! So do you run the water in the waterfarm constantly?

Yes - water runs through 100% of the time. I have (2) 4” airstones i. The DWC and (1) 2” airstone in the waterfarm.

This is my first grow so I’m still trying to get everything JUST RIGHT. Read till my eyes bled for like 2 months before I even bought anything just so I could be at least somewhat knowledgeable before diving in the deep end with no life jacket *lol*

 

[Nafydad420]

Yes - water runs through 100% of the time. I have (2) 4” airstones i. The DWC and (1) 2” airstone in the waterfarm.

This is my first grow so I’m still trying to get everything JUST RIGHT. Read till my eyes bled for like 2 months before I even bought anything just so I could be at least somewhat knowledgeable before diving in the deep end with no life jacket *lol*

you also could have waited a bit longer to drop them in dwc. from what i see, its either your hydroton or you didnt wait long enough to adjust your PH after mixing nutrients. im no pro though

 

[Homie Da Clown]

Yes - water runs through 100% of the time. I have (2) 4” airstones i. The DWC and (1) 2” airstone in the waterfarm.

This is my first grow so I’m still trying to get everything JUST RIGHT. Read till my eyes bled for like 2 months before I even bought anything just so I could be at least somewhat knowledgeable before diving in the deep end with no life jacket *lol*

We all did! Ive read enuf to be valedictorian if we were still in high school, and this was general studies..
Its fine letting it run 24/7 but you do need to move that drip wand down like I stated above..

 

[Homie Da Clown]

you also could have waited a bit longer to drop them in dwc. from what i see, its either your hydroton or you didnt wait long enough to adjust your PH after mixing nutrients. im no pro though

Ive done both.. This was my first dwc run ever and I about killed this thing for the first 3 weeks. It was in a powergrower. The waterfarms big brother. It was an auto that produced 5 ounces of over dried hay smelling proud as a mfer herb a newb ninja ever set eyes upon...
lmao...

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Thanks all . Looks like I’m going to go mix up a fresh batch of nutrient solution and give it a while to simmer. While the brew is simmering, I’ll RE-rinse they hydroton (again!) and let THAT sit for a bit (should I use distilled/ph’d water for that?). I also want to change how my airlines are running - not happy with them all helter skelter. And later tomight hubby is going to help me install an access hole in the DWC lid and an access tube in the WaterFarm to make taking nutrient samples and refilling easier - cuz this aint gonna cut it when I have to do this at 4am before I go to work.

 

[Homie Da Clown]

Thanks all . Looks like I’m going to go mix up a fresh batch of nutrient solution and give it a while to simmer. While the brew is simmering, I’ll RE-rinse they hydroton (again!) and let THAT sit for a bit (should I use distilled/ph’d water for that?). I also want to change how my airlines are running - not happy with them all helter skelter. And later tomight hubby is going to help me install an access hole in the DWC lid and an access tube in the WaterFarm to make taking nutrient samples and refilling easier - cuz this aint gonna cut it when I have to do this at 4am before I go to work.

We should always use RO water but you can rinse the hydroton with tap water.
Now with that seedling in there, its imperative that you dont jack with the roots. They are very little and fragile right now, and we need to get you on to week 2 growth. I say, lets remake the waterfarm bucket, with your nutes at same ph/ec u had.
And then while your doing that, I write you out a little advice post about ph/ec testing and addback in the future.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

We should always use RO water but you can rinse the hydroton with tap water.
Now with that seedling in there, its imperative that you dont jack with the roots. They are very little and fragile right now, and we need to get you on to week 2 growth. I say, lets remake the waterfarm bucket, with your nutes at same ph/ec u had.
And then while your doing that, I write you out a little advice post about ph/ec testing and addback in the future.

Unfortunately, the only way for me to rinse the hydroton is to remove that little seedling. To be ho eat I dont think she’s going to make it anyway - her two first leaves are still super tiny and raised stright up. And they look dry too, as you can see here:


Her sister - on the other hand - looks pretty ok:

 

[Homie Da Clown]

You should make it recirculating. You can buy a GH waterfarm recirculating kit.. amazon General-Hydroponics-WaterFarm-Circulating-Upgrade kit

This will allow you to have a 3 rd bucket with no plant in it. All the buckets will circulate. That means, that the bucket with no plant, called a control bucket, is where you check ph and ec and temp. This is also where you add back nutes or adjust ph. You can have that control bucket in the tent or out of it. Totally your choice! Out side the tent you can check ph/ec even during lights out Plus it wont get heated up by your grow light.

And we need to talk about what your using for protection? Lol,, for the plants!!! lol for pythuim

 

[Homie Da Clown]

Unfortunately, the only way for me to rinse the hydroton is to remove that little seedling. To be ho eat I dont think she’s going to make it anyway - her two first leaves are still super tiny and raised stright up. And they look dry too.

Well dont worry about rinsing then! We dont give up on the little girls in my house hold As a father of 4 girls, we are girl power around here lol!
We will nurse her along... I stay with you to we get her dropping roots... She dont need much right now! So just pour a solo cup of solution around the plant 3 to 5 x a day.

NOTE. : Dont dump it on the rapid rooter, dump in in a circle around the rooter in the hydroton

 

[Nafydad420]

That recirculating kit looks great.. I'll probably do that next grow because run too far in right now lol

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

You should make it recirculating. You can buy a GH waterfarm recirculating kit.. amazon General-Hydroponics-WaterFarm-Circulating-Upgrade kit

This will allow you to have a 3 rd bucket with no plant in it. All the buckets will circulate. That means, that the bucket with no plant, called a control bucket, is where you check ph and ec and temp. This is also where you add back nutes or adjust ph. You can have that control bucket in the tent or out of it. Totally your choice! Out side the tent you can check ph/ec even during lights out Plus it wont get heated up by your grow light.

And we need to talk about what your using for protection? Lol,, for the plants!!! lol for pythuim

I really cant add a third bucket at the moment .. space, even outside the tent, is very limited right now. Besides, if I schlep one more bucket of water in to stand on the hardwood floor, hubby might just blow a gasket.

I had originally gotten both the DWC and the WaterFarm just to compare how each did for a grow of the same strain.

 

[Nafydad420]

I don't have the recirculating kit. But I do have a hand manual pump that I use to change res and to add nutes. Might look into something like that for the future

 

[Nafydad420]

Also I did the same thing. Bought both kits. I ended up dropping the drip ring.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Well dont worry about rinsing then! NOTE. : Dont dump it on the rapid rooter, dump in in a circle around the rooter in the hydroton

No way I’d drown that rapid rooter like that... definitely in a circle around it.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Also I did the same thing. Bought both kits. I ended up dropping the drip ring.

To be honest I LIKE the drip ring ... I think if both plants were in a system with that drip ring from day 1 they probably would be further along than they are now :-/

Hell, I’d like to merge the two systems somehow. I think there is too much hydroton to deal with in the WaterFarm against such a small reservoir. But the DWC bucket could benefit from a SLIGHTLY larger net pot lid and the addition of the drip ring. Not to mention both need an access port at the TOP to pull samples from and to add water/nutrients.

 

[Nafydad420]

Honestly that drip ring is useless at this stage of life. It almost always over waters seedlings that young. My seedlings got like 5mls water every 2 hours. With a drip ring, you don't even know. It's WAY more than that though.

 

[Nafydad420]

There is a lot of debate also if the ring is even useful after a certain point.

 

[Nafydad420]

Here are mine when I transferred to dwc.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

There is a lot of debate also if the ring is even useful after a certain point.

Well supposedly the drip ring later on isn't needed for FEEDING/WATERING the plant. The way I read it is that it adds oxygen to the water - which isnt really an issue if you’re using air stones