Hydroponics HELP

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

I have a 10 Gallon Hydro. I only fill it up half way so 5 gallons of nut water. With this my pH always jump I can lower it to 5.5 and in the matter of a day it goes back up to 7-7.5. Also my res water warms up alot quicker. What I wanna know is if I get a bigger Hydro like 20-25 gallons will this solve my pH problem? What is a better size?

 

[superstoner1]

bigger is much better when talking res size. and res size depends on grow. i use 50gal res's and love it. ph and ppm swings are never an issue. a good jump for you would be the black and yellow 27gal tuff boxes at lowes. walmart has a great, heavy duty bin, smartbin, that is 50gal for $46. try to break the warm spells of your res by using ice bottles every day or two. stretches of warm water is when you have issues.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Great thanks Im going to strip my hydro down and put all the parts on a bigger one.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

bigger is much better when talking res size. and res size depends on grow. i use 50gal res's and love it. ph and ppm swings are never an issue. a good jump for you would be the black and yellow 27gal tuff boxes at lowes. walmart has a great, heavy duty bin, smartbin, that is 50gal for $46. try to break the warm spells of your res by using ice bottles every day or two. stretches of warm water is when you have issues.

Also im doing 2 plants per res im gonna go get a 25-30 gallon one tomorrow. Do that sound like a good idea? Also the bigger the res means the more nutrients you have to use correct?

 

[drgreentm]

Yes that means you will have to add more nutes to get to your strength, but not to worry as your soups will last longer with just adding fresh water back. A 27 gal tuff box is the way to go they last forever and don't bow under pressure of water when full about 15 bucks at home depot and worth every penny.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Yes that means you will have to add more nutes to get to your strength, but not to worry as your soups will last longer with just adding fresh water back. A 27 gal tuff box is the way to go they last forever and don't bow under pressure of water when full about 15 bucks at home depot and worth every penny.

What do you mean by soups will last longer? Also when the plants get bigger and start drinking more when I add water back in res do i have to add more nutrients or wait untill I change the res water?

 

[drgreentm]

By soups I mean the solution or nutrient mix, and by last longer I mean you will be able to get away with using those mixes for a longer period of time. When adding back only add back plain ph corrected water because you will notice as your plants drink and the water goes down the nutes will get stronger. Take a ppm reading of the nutes before and after the water add back then you will see the real amount the plants have used.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Lol Another question sorry im a newbie. How far do I fill my res? I was told by my buddy to fill it till half of the Net pots are covered with water. Then I was told by one of my brother friends to fill it till the water is barley touching the bottom of the net pots that way the roots will make it out of the net pots quicker...

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

By soups I mean the solution or nutrient mix, and by last longer I mean you will be able to get away with using those mixes for a longer period of time. When adding back only add back plain ph corrected water because you will notice as your plants drink and the water goes down the nutes will get stronger. Take a ppm reading of the nutes before and after the water add back then you will see the real amount the plants have used.

Thanks for the info real useful. Also by last longer how much longer we talking? I normally change my res water every 7days.

 

[drgreentm]

Lol Another question sorry im a newbie. How far do I fill my res? I was told by my buddy to fill it till half of the Net pots are covered with water. Then I was told by one of my brother friends to fill it till the water is barley touching the bottom of the net pots that way the roots will make it out of the net pots quicker...

Your brothers friend is spot on, water level very close to the net pot but not quite touching this will force the plant to seek water rather than sitting in it already.

Thanks for the info real useful. Also by last longer how much longer we talking? I normally change my res water every 7days.

Well I don't know for sure but I can safely say a 27 gal tote for 2 plants with normal add backs and you can rest assured your water changes can be at least every 14 days. I run 40 gal in my ebb and grow for 6 plants 4 weeks with add backs and it works fine.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Your brothers friend is spot on, water level very close to the net pot but not quite touching this will force the plant to seek water rather than sitting in it already.

Ok but doing that how will you water the plant at first if the water is not in the net pot? I put seed in 1 inch rockwool then when they show signs of life i Put rockwool in net pot full of Hydroton Clay rocks.

 

[drgreentm]

Ok but doing that how will you water the plant at first if the water is not in the net pot? I put seed in 1 inch rockwool then when they show signs of life i Put rockwool in net pot full of Hydroton Clay rocks.

Well with a good amount of bubbles they will be fine, when the bubbles pop they splash water up onto the lower layer of clay rocks then the water is wicked up a little further so it's just moist enough to keep the roots from drying out. What size net pots are they? Also the longer you let the plant root into the 1" cube the quicker they will take off in the system I like a decent amount of root in the cube before planting in DWC.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Well with a good amount of bubbles they will be fine, when the bubbles pop they splash water up onto the lower layer of clay rocks then the water is wicked up a little further so it's just moist enough to keep the roots from drying out. What size net pots are they? Also the longer you let the plant root into the 1" cube the quicker they will take off in the system I like a decent amount of root in the cube before planting in DWC.

My net pots are 6 inches. Do you soak your rockwool overnight first with pH perfect water? Also do you let your seedling rockwool sit out and just keep wetting it or do you keep it in a doom?

 

[drgreentm]

Yes I always pre soak the cubes in ph adjusted water I can tell you from experience that my plants would get very yellow and had a low survival rate if I didn't pre soak. Also I keep in a dome until roots ate established to my likings.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Yes I always pre soak the cubes in ph adjusted water I can tell you from experience that my plants would get very yellow and had a low survival rate if I didn't pre soak. Also I keep in a dome until roots ate established to my likings.

Thanks man for Alot of help... One last question what do you pre soak your rockwool in? Like say I pre soak my rockwool to a ph water of 6.5 in a bowl since the bowl is a small space wont the ph rise very quickly and screw things up?

 

[mike91sr]

I pre-soak mine in 5.0 water. It usually rises to ~6.5, so I resoak in 5.5 and it doesnt rise above 6.0.

Different companies may be slightly different too

 

[drgreentm]

I pre-soak mine in 5.0 water. It usually rises to ~6.5, so I resoak in 5.5 and it doesnt rise above 6.0.

Different companies may be slightly different too

yup exactly what i do, i use a tote fill with ph 5 water put cubes in. in about 15 min the ph will rise quite a bit dump water put new ph 5.5 water and soak for another 15 min ph should be good at that point.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

yup exactly what i do, i use a tote fill with ph 5 water put cubes in. in about 15 min the ph will rise quite a bit dump water put new ph 5.5 water and soak for another 15 min ph should be good at that point.

I was told you had to pre soak for 24hrs.

 

[drgreentm]

I never soak that long if you want you can but all your trying to do is balance the ph in the cube so once you can put it in 5.5 water and the ph doesn't ride much in the water that means the cubes are ph'd just fine.

 

[LoRd MeGaTR0N31]

Ok thanks man all your info really helps...