Who grows DWC without a chiller?

SnidleyBluntash

SnidleyBluntash

Well-Known Member
I have my air pump on the window cill and the window slightly open, the pump gets cold and blows this cold air into the water, keeping the temp low. I also am on a cold basement cement floor so that really helps.
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
Captain_Cream_Pie said:
Temps have been over 28C and currently is 23C and I haven't had too many issues (Sub-tropical Australia). Plants are looking great and will be read for harvest soon. I have had to change nutrient once but it was probably due for a change in water. The EC of our tap water is 15 and I use only nutes.
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How do you control the PH as it drifts? What was the reason you did decide to do a complete water change? I definitely want to try this at some point!
 
C

Captain_Cream_Pie

Member
Alctrz8849 said:
How do you control the PH as it drifts? What was the reason you did decide to do a complete water change? I definitely want to try this at some point!
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PH is a bit of a problem. It keeps drifting up, probably because it is using the nutes a certain way. Just about every second day it will drift past 7 and I have to put some PH down liquid in to force PH lower. Interesting that the Gorilla Auto is in a 40 litre tub and is a lot slower PH drift. The NL XXL is in a standard 20 litre container and has far greater drift.
This is my first DWC grow, my first Auto grow and I have enjoyed this DIY project. Haven't grown my own hydroponics for over 25 years and have learned a lot from this forum. My only observation is how much people fuss over what is usually a very hardy durable plant.
 
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Captain_Cream_Pie

Member
I did the water change on the NL XXL because the leaves were drooping a bit. Just placed the top lid with the plant into an empty bucket and removed the container. It had a bit of a smell so I cleaned it out and started a fresh. Did the other container as a precaution as well.

You read through the comments on Rollitup and all these soil guys have this deficiency or that. The great thing about DWC is if you make a mistake, clean out the container and start afresh. It truly is an easy grow.

BTW the first water replacement was between part strength and full strength nutes when it went from seedling to veg growing plant. I didn't have an EC meter back then and could not judge nute strength.
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
Captain_Cream_Pie said:
I did the water change on the NL XXL because the leaves were drooping a bit. Just placed the top lid with the plant into an empty bucket and removed the container. It had a bit of a smell so I cleaned it out and started a fresh. Did the other container as a precaution as well.

You read through the comments on Rollitup and all these soil guys have this deficiency or that. The great thing about DWC is if you make a mistake, clean out the container and start afresh. It truly is an easy grow.

BTW the first water replacement was between part strength and full strength nutes when it went from seedling to veg growing plant. I didn't have an EC meter back then and could not judge nute strength.
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I love DWC, just makes sense to me but I have a small background in hydroponics from high school! We had a tomato greenhouse along with a flower greenhouse and one for lettuce also grown on a pond with Styrofoam as the medium to float on the water.

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In my current grow here, I change out water ever 7 or 8 days and start with fresh nutes. Plants seem to be loving it and the adjustments but if I can save water and just top off I might. I think I would need to change my nutrient ratio to do so though. I'll need to experiment with it!
 
Aapoo

Aapoo

Well-Known Member
Aapoo said:
Haha now I can annoy you with pesky questions about your grow! See? Things come full circle, right?
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Your in....AZ? Do you have much tech to get it that way? Controllers, humidifiers bla bla bla.... Sorry if I'm being lazy and not scouring your posts for data that may be covered
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
Aapoo said:
Your in....AZ? Do you have much tech to get it that way? Controllers, humidifiers bla bla bla.... Sorry if I'm being lazy and not scouring your posts for data that may be covered
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Yep, in AZ and I do have what I consider some tech but I want more! As of now the DWC is really just a couple of 48qt coolers with holes cut in them and 6 air stones each and a pump to run them. Couple of fans though I just added a 15,000BTU AC unit to the outroom that the tent is in to help control temps. This wasn't 100% necessary, but it certainly impacted the plants positively I'd say! I don't even recirculate water, though next grow will be RDWC just to make water changes easier and to increase water capacity. Outside of that I have my Fluence Spydr 2P light, humidifier and dehumidifier as needed and my PPM and PH meter. Highly useful but I'd like to upgrade to a monitored system. I think that about covers it. I've always gotten killer roots with this simple setup!20210508_134241.jpg20210508_134208.jpg
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
Aapoo said:
Haha now I can annoy you with pesky questions about your grow! See? Things come full circle, right?
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Won't bug me, I am constantly doing research or poking around on here trying to learn something new! Currently fixated on finding a cheap but quality PPFD meter so I can measure and determine if I need to dim my lights before I notice any light burn!
 
P

plumsmooth

Well-Known Member
Rahz said:
Old thread, but I've done both.

Pythium (70% of root rot cases) grows just fine at 65F.
Water at 75-80F can hold enough oxygen to keep the plants healthy.

Chiller is unnecessary.
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I wonder how much just extra bubblers air stone diffusers can help as the bubbles make contact on the way up with the roots?
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
plumsmooth said:
I wonder how much just extra bubblers air stone diffusers can help as the bubbles make contact on the way up with the roots?
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The bubbles aren't going to contact all parts of the roots.

I know someone who runs "sterile". They're very careful about sanitation, sealed room, clean clothes, clean hands etc. They've never had pythium but they do get slime build up. From what I'm not sure but it's never ruined their grows. Still, it's that greasy slime that's hard to clean off the containers.

I've had really good success since I started using beneficial microbes. Not 100% success but no pythium to speak of and the roots usually come out pristine. That being said, I don't think using bennies is a good reason to not take the other precautions. It may generally protect against pythium but there are obviously other detrimental microbes that can still thrive with roots that have been inoculated.

In the past I have used the bennies in veg and maybe one dose when transferred to the flower chamber. I'm thinking it's a good idea to at least give them the extra dose when transferring to the flower chamber and to also continue adding bennies til the half way point of flower. I'm running an experiment with different bennie schedules but it will be a while before I come to any conclusions.
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
CanadianKushSmoker said:
I've been reading conflicting reports everywhere. Some people say that a chiller is 100% necessary as well as reservoir temps of 68°.
Then other people say they grow without issues without a chiller and rez temps into the 80s.

So my question is simple.

Is a chiller 100% necessary?

I need people with experience to answer.

Thanks.
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I don't have a chiller. Not saying it wouldn't make it less worrisome just no budget for one yet.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Rahz said:
The bubbles aren't going to contact all parts of the roots.

I know someone who runs "sterile". They're very careful about sanitation, sealed room, clean clothes, clean hands etc. They've never had pythium but they do get slime build up. From what I'm not sure but it's never ruined their grows. Still, it's that greasy slime that's hard to clean off the containers.

I've had really good success since I started using beneficial microbes. Not 100% success but no pythium to speak of and the roots usually come out pristine. That being said, I don't think using bennies is a good reason to not take the other precautions. It may generally protect against pythium but there are obviously other detrimental microbes that can still thrive with roots that have been inoculated.

In the past I have used the bennies in veg and maybe one dose when transferred to the flower chamber. I'm thinking it's a good idea to at least give them the extra dose when transferring to the flower chamber and to also continue adding bennies til the half way point of flower. I'm running an experiment with different bennie schedules but it will be a while before I come to any conclusions.
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what brand of bennies? i'm trying a new one this grow but i've used southern ag for a few years now
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
I've been using Recharge going on a year now. I use Azos for cloning and switch to Recharge once there are some roots. Recharge is not suitable for cuttings.
 
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