DWC beginner advice

growjoe420

growjoe420

Member
Hello I am new to growing and decided to start big with a RDWC system, 25 total gallons for 4 plants. I have done a lot of reading but I’m looking to talk to other hydro growers for tips and advice. My plants are currently 3-4 weeks into Veg.

I’m growing in a 5x7 room with 4 Blue Cheese plants (from clones) underneath a Bestva DC series 2000W LED light. I have a good air flow in the room with multiple fans and a 6 inch AC infinity exaughst fan and an open vent for intake. Room temp fluctuates 68-75 degrees, 45-55% humidity. Water temp is 68-70 degrees I’ve been trying to keep it under 70. No light is touching any of the nutrient solution. Every bucket and the reservoir have large air stones in it, great aeration. The water flow between buckets is good and fast, buckets are top fed. Using GH 3 part flora series for nutes, rapid start, floralicious and light calmag (I use well water).

The ladies seem to be doing great so far. I’m looking for tips on how to improve my system or to hear about some problems that other more experienced growers have had with RDWC or any hydro setup. Also if anyone out there has grown Blue Cheese and has any strain specific tips that would be great too. Let me know what you think, thanks for reading I know I ramble
 
fragileassassin

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
Welcome! You've come to the right place. I am one of many active RDWC growers on here and am always down to share my experiences.
Chat a bit to get a few posts and youll be able to upload pictures.

Going to hit you with the hard news first. Your light is 390w and wont be very effective flowering an area anywhere near what they advertise. When you want a bigger yield, this is going to be the first thing you want to upgrade.

Ill just throw all of the questions I have at you at once, the more info we have the better we can help dial things in and prevent future issues.
is that a 7F daytime range or a typical day/night split?
are you running any kind of beneficial bacteria like hydroguard or anything to sterilize like h2o2?
how many gph of air do you have going to each site?
What are you doing for water temp control?
Are you doing anything to monitor ppm or EC?
How has your PH been sitting?
Also interested in the feed setup overall but that can probably be addressed easy with a picture when you can post them.
 
growjoe420

growjoe420

Member
thanks for the reply I like talking and learning with other growers as I am very new. I will try to answer all questions.
I was worried that the light would be insufficient as I suspected the listed coverage area for the Bestva light was greatly exaggerated after looking at the PAR charts. But it says something like a 7.5’x7.5’ coverage area, my plants are currently in a 2’x2’ square and I’m hoping they will fill a 4’x4’ SCROG net in flower. I have Mylar on the walls and ceiling, it seems very bright in there for a true 390W light, I hope to pull an ok yield but I definitely want to upgrade the lighting first.
I have been running 18/6 light schedule, resting midnight-6.
I am not running anything like hydrogaurd tho I am familiar with the product, I was under the impression it was something that you added if you see signs of root rot. I do not know much about other beneficial bacterias as you say
My air pump is 950 gph, using 5 lines so I guess 950/5 is 190 GPH going through each stone (4” Vivosun cylinder stones). The top feed in the buckets adds some bubbling on the surface as well. The buckets look like they’re full of boiling water
Water temp control isn’t hard, I live in Michigan it is single digits here right now. Sitting on the colder concrete floor helps, occasionally I put a frozen bottle of water into the reservoir and I manage to keep it around 68 degrees
I am monitoring ph and Ppm religiously. I have been loosely following a feed schedule from GH website for the flora series in a recirculating system. I believe the desired Pom range for mid-late veg is 950-1400. I’ve been keeping my solution at 12-1300. I’ve been told Blue cheese girls are hungry ladies so I haven’t been afraid to feed them what’s recommended. They seem to drink the water faster than nutes or evaporation because the ppm’s slowly rise so I top it off with fresh cold PH’d well water every few days. PH stays very stable I keep it at 5.8-6.0 letting it rise and drop slightly. Only need to adjust it every couple of days, more frequently after a fresh nutrient change.
I would be happy to show some pics of my system I’m pretty proud of it so far for a DIY project it seems to be working very well as far as flow rate and easy control. I would love to have more space eventually for a large recirculating system.
 
E

etownpaul

Active Member
Sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on your system.

Honestly if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you are happy with your growth after 4 weeks veg you are doing something right, keep it up.

The only thing concerning I see is the lack of sterilizer or bennies. You want to stay ahead of root rot, don't wait until it shows up an then become reactive. I'm battling my first ever case of root rot after about 12 hydro grows and I wish I had been more proactive before the rot showed up. At this point I'd rather have hemorrhoids than root rot, that's how much of a pain in the arse this has been.

Also your nute levels seem pretty high, but if your plants are happy and aren't burning don't worry about it. Nutrient companies want to sell you more nutrients, so they basically give you a nutrient schedule with the max amount of nutrients that your plants can take without killing them. Most people use 1/3 to 1/2 of recommended dosage. Keep that in mind for the next run.
 
ounevinsmoke

ounevinsmoke

Well-Known Member
growjoe420 said:
I am monitoring ph and Ppm religiously. I have been loosely following a feed schedule from GH website for the flora series in a recirculating system. I believe the desired Pom range for mid-late veg is 950-1400. I’ve been keeping my solution at 12-1300. I’ve been told Blue cheese girls are hungry ladies so I haven’t been afraid to feed them what’s recommended. They seem to drink the water faster than nutes or evaporation because the ppm’s slowly rise so I top it off with fresh cold PH’d well water every few days.
Click to expand...
Besides your light strength this is where I would focus. If your plants are not eating all those Nutes why put them in there? I would decrease the concentration of nutes so they are not drinking so much water but eating and drinking water when needed. IMO

Your plants could very well love the high Nutes so if you think its working for you by all means continue, but with 25 gallons to feed off of I doubt they will be deficient in any one nutrient with that big a reservoir with a lower concentration.
 
fragileassassin

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
growjoe420 said:
thanks for the reply I like talking and learning with other growers as I am very new. I will try to answer all questions.
I was worried that the light would be insufficient as I suspected the listed coverage area for the Bestva light was greatly exaggerated after looking at the PAR charts. But it says something like a 7.5’x7.5’ coverage area, my plants are currently in a 2’x2’ square and I’m hoping they will fill a 4’x4’ SCROG net in flower. I have Mylar on the walls and ceiling, it seems very bright in there for a true 390W light, I hope to pull an ok yield but I definitely want to upgrade the lighting first.
I have been running 18/6 light schedule, resting midnight-6.
I am not running anything like hydrogaurd tho I am familiar with the product, I was under the impression it was something that you added if you see signs of root rot. I do not know much about other beneficial bacterias as you say
My air pump is 950 gph, using 5 lines so I guess 950/5 is 190 GPH going through each stone (4” Vivosun cylinder stones). The top feed in the buckets adds some bubbling on the surface as well. The buckets look like they’re full of boiling water
Water temp control isn’t hard, I live in Michigan it is single digits here right now. Sitting on the colder concrete floor helps, occasionally I put a frozen bottle of water into the reservoir and I manage to keep it around 68 degrees
I am monitoring ph and Ppm religiously. I have been loosely following a feed schedule from GH website for the flora series in a recirculating system. I believe the desired Pom range for mid-late veg is 950-1400. I’ve been keeping my solution at 12-1300. I’ve been told Blue cheese girls are hungry ladies so I haven’t been afraid to feed them what’s recommended. They seem to drink the water faster than nutes or evaporation because the ppm’s slowly rise so I top it off with fresh cold PH’d well water every few days. PH stays very stable I keep it at 5.8-6.0 letting it rise and drop slightly. Only need to adjust it every couple of days, more frequently after a fresh nutrient change.
I would be happy to show some pics of my system I’m pretty proud of it so far for a DIY project it seems to be working very well as far as flow rate and easy control. I would love to have more space eventually for a large recirculating system.
Click to expand...
I dont know why I never commented back on this. Sounds like you have a fairly good handle on things so far.
That light should do ok for a small area.
Recommended feeding charts from the company are usually like 2x what you really want to use. Your ppm is rising because you are over feeding them. Look up some trio feeding schedules. Something like the one I have attached is what youll want to do. My veg tops out at 8-900ppm
Stones are on the low end if it was just them, with the top feed though youre fine. Just something to keep in mind.
Most of us run something to sanitize or a beneficial bacteria as a preventative. Better to not get rot than to have to be reactive if it happens.
Would love some pics when you can post them.
 

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growjoe420

growjoe420

Member
Thank you all for the replies I have had a busy week or two and haven’t been able to respond, working a lot and had to fix a leak problem in my res. All is good now and tight, no leaks. Plants are looking very healthy although their growth seems a bit slow. So for $30 I got a couple of LED ligh strips to put down the sides of my grow room, assuming another 100W of light or so. Seems to be helping a lot. I also did a water change today and cut the nutes in half. For 24-25 gal system I used:
12 tsp Calmag
24 tsp Floramicro
24 tsp FloraGro
12 tsp florabloom
2.5 tsp Floralicious
6 tsp Rapidstart root enhancer
In the next day or two I will be adding some hydrogaurd
Water is right at 1000 ppm, I plan to add some hydrogaurd and cold water soon.
Plants seem to be loving it, I also have a friend who is loaning me a 900W viparspectra soon I will use it to flower along with my Bestva.
I will add some pics soon and update on my ladies progress, thank you
 
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