My first attempt at DWC failed.

[Blue_Focus]

Jumping in with both feet. Read everything I could find. But I started before I was ready. I didn't know that you don't use organics in the water.

I also used tap water that was ran through a carbon filter first. I had to use a lot of PH down to bring it down and it would climb every day.

The water turned brown and stunk like sewage. My roots were brown and gooie. My baby hat turned a bright yellow no matter what I tried.

So I started over. This time I used RO water and Masterblend. I put 10 gallons of RO in a tub and mixed in Masterblend and the PH was perfect.

Only time will tell if she lives. I did trim off the dead roots and I put a dropper to feed the nutrient water from the top until new roots develop.

First photo is before and second is after. She's getting her color back and is growing again.

 

[2WorldsFrog]

Hydroponics is fun when you get it figured out. Stick with it, you'll get there.

 

[Spiderfarmerled]

good luck!

 

[futurebanjo]

good luck!

Yes run sterile, for sure until you get that dialled in - I'm not planning on changing from sterile any time soon, as it intrduces too many new variables to try and understand and difficult to measure, in my opinion.

- also water temperature - it needs to stay low enough to discourage any growth in the water but not so cold it affects the roots, about 18-20c is what you should aim for.

Also how much water capacity is in your system - more volume of water should result in more stable PH levels.

 

[OneHitDone]

Jumping in with both feet. Read everything I could find. But I started before I was ready. I didn't know that you don't use organics in the water.

I also used tap water that was ran through a carbon filter first. I had to use a lot of PH down to bring it down and it would climb every day.

The water turned brown and stunk like sewage. My roots were brown and gooie. My baby hat turned a bright yellow no matter what I tried.

So I started over. This time I used RO water and Masterblend. I put 10 gallons of RO in a tub and mixed in Masterblend and the PH was perfect.

Only time will tell if she lives. I did trim off the dead roots and I put a dropper to feed the nutrient water from the top until new roots develop.

First photo is before and second is after. She's getting her color back and is growing again.

Unless your tap water is super hard or high ppm dirty it probably isn't the issue. I would blame the organics.
After playing with dirt for a few years I am back to where my heart is - full hydro.
I use filtered tap water in my grow (less than 100ppm).
Buckets on the left don't even have air stones in them. They are Kratky buckets that I added a watering system to so they maintain a lower level of water after the plants initially drank them down. ✌

 

[Old Newbee]

That's one hell of a grow room. Good job one hit.

 

[Blue_Focus]

Unless your tap water is super hard or high ppm dirty it probably isn't the issue. I would blame the organics.
After playing with dirt for a few years I am back to where my heart is - full hydro.
I use filtered tap water in my grow (less than 100ppm).
Buckets on the left don't even have air stones in them. They are Kratky buckets that I added a watering system to so they maintain a lower level of water after the plants initially drank them down. ✌

View attachment 5449566

I solved my problem. I bought a new tub and put in 10 gallons of RO and used Masterblend formula. She came back to life and is doing great.

 

[Blue_Focus]

Unless your tap water is super hard or high ppm dirty it probably isn't the issue. I would blame the organics.
After playing with dirt for a few years I am back to where my heart is - full hydro.
I use filtered tap water in my grow (less than 100ppm).
Buckets on the left don't even have air stones in them. They are Kratky buckets that I added a watering system to so they maintain a lower level of water after the plants initially drank them down. ✌

View attachment 5449566

My tap water is around 26 hardness and after running through a 5 micron carbon filter I'm getting around 350+ ppm.

 

[Blue_Focus]

This how it's doing. Still alive.

 

[Old Newbee]

Your roots are looking real good blue. Like banjo said water temp is something to keep eye on. If it gets too warm you will run into root problems also air pump and stones. I got 2-2x4 air stones in each one of my 5 gal buckets just in case one gets plugged up or gets all tangled up in my roots. Im on my 1st dwc grow so I still have a lot to learn but there are a lot of good growers on here with much experience willing to help when needed. I've got a lot of help on here just reading a lot of posts. Here's a couple pics from the 19th day 50. The one with the dark leaves is a mephisto wedding and it is getting very frosted. The other is a mephisto alien triangle.

 

[Blue_Focus]

Well she was looking great until I ran out of water. So I refilled the tub and waited. All the upper parts died. But the lower survived. She looked hopeless but has sprung back and is doing great.

I didn't have any RO left so I used carbon filtered tap water.

I've also added a RO float to my tub. It won't run out of water now.

 

[Delps8]

Well she was looking great until I ran out of water. So I refilled the tub and waited. All the upper parts died. But the lower survived. She looked hopeless but has sprung back and is doing great.

I didn't have any RO left so I used carbon filtered tap water.

I've also added a RO float to my tub. It won't run out of water now.

Sorry to hear about the water problem but glad that you're fixing things!

Hydro has "a lot of moving parts" but, once it's set up, it's close to idiot proof*. While I did manage to poison one of my grows*, it took about two years (6± grows) to get to the point where I can spend < 10 mins a day in the tent.


*About a month into my Spring 2024 grow, the plant wasn't growing well and it looked like the area that was closest to the humidifier was…stunted.
I had been getting algae in the humidifier so I added "a little" H2O2. And a little more. And a little more. You know how it ends, right?
No algae in Hugh but mucked up the plant.

Spring 2024
View attachment 5455782


Fall 2024 (no H2O2) (I foolishly tried to grow two plants instead of one)