First DWC grow with top feed lines!

kolect

kolect

Member
Equipment:
  • 2' x 4' tent
  • ViparSpectra P2000 200W Full Spectrum LED
  • AC Infinity Cloudline T4 Inline Fan
  • 17 GAL reservoir with six 3" net pots (only using 5 net pots and 10 gal of water)
  • 12 GAL top off reservoir connected to main res via float valve (not using until plants mature)
  • Air pump connected to 3 air stones (2 in main res, 1 in overflow res)
  • Water pump connected to 5 top feed lines AND a hose that allows me to quickly drain the reservoir
Plants:
  • 2 Northern Lights (from seed)
  • 2 Dutch Treat (from seed)
  • 1 mint clipping (seriously, haha)
Plants are currently in seedling stage with 2-3 nodes. One is looking a little bit droopy, but that may be because I accidentally used 20X the amount of Southern AG (SAG) than I should have last week (hydro guard alternative). Just swapped the reservoir water out last night with freshly mixed nutrients + the proper proportion of SAG (0.5 ML / 10 GAL).

Currently using GH Flora Trio + CalMag with PPMs @ ~320 and PH @ 5.8-6.0 range

Temperature in tent is between ~70-~75 degrees F depending on when the light is on (16/8 cycle currently - planning to switch to 18/6 in veg)

Humidity is around 55%-60%

Any thoughts on the setup and nutrient strategy would be appreciated!

Picture of setup:
http://imgur.com/a/3fBFNLF
 

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GnarlyNuggs

Member
Hey man. Any setup will do and it all depends on you as an individual. If you ever watch Mr Canuck’s grow videos on youtube, the man would grow some gnarly stuff out of a 180 watt light setup in his bedroom closet. More importantly, as long as you control temps, air flow, humidity, ph and ppm then you’re good. As far as the nutrients go, sometimes less is more. You’ll know when they need more nutrients or more water based on the ppm and ph fluctuations. And watch the leaves for any signs of nute burn. Good luck on your grow and peace brother!
 
kolect

kolect

Member
GnarlyNuggs said:
Hey man. Any setup will do and it all depends on you as an individual. If you ever watch Mr Canuck’s grow videos on youtube, the man would grow some gnarly stuff out of a 180 watt light setup in his bedroom closet. More importantly, as long as you control temps, air flow, humidity, ph and ppm then you’re good. As far as the nutrients go, sometimes less is more. You’ll know when they need more nutrients or more water based on the ppm and ph fluctuations. And watch the leaves for any signs of nute burn. Good luck on your grow and peace brother!
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Thanks for the tips. Definitely plan to keep a close eye on PH, PPMs, temp and humidity. Always good to inspect the plants too! Part of what drew me to this type of set up was to build a somewhat autonomous rig. I like the idea of using an auto top-off res. I figure once I really get my nutes in check, I should be able to leave these ladies for up to a week every now and then, without worry.
 
kolect

kolect

Member
Rounding my second week since placing these seedlings into the hydro system. They seem to be growing pretty well, though I've noticed the PH has been dropping the last couple of days. Been adding about a ML of PH up each day to keep within range. I'm thinking this could be because my PPMs are too high for the stage they're in? Currently at ~390 after adding all nutrients.

Color in first picture was taken with a low res monitoring cam, so excuse the inaccurate color. None of the plants are yellow.

Roots from all 4 plants have reached the water level in the reservoir, so top feed can probably be discontinued at this point. The roots are nice and white, looking healthy.

http://imgur.com/a/AZIy4Qz
 
D

Delps8

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
I'm thinking this could be because my PPMs are too high for the stage they're in? Currently at ~390 after adding all nutrients.
http://imgur.com/a/AZIy4Qz
Click to expand...
Try dropping your PPM 5% or 10%. I've just finished finding the right nute level in a 4 Gorilla Glue auto flower grow. Everything was fine till I got to preflower when I bumped the PPM from 510 to 540. I didn't know how to deal with it so I went 10% as a time from 540 to 750 and then back down until I landed on 490. The res (35 gallons) is very stable and predictable.

These charts were very helpful to me ( call them "Wonder Chart" and "Son of Wonder Chart").
PH-and-EC-fluctuations-in-Hydroponics.pngWonder Chart.png
 
kolect

kolect

Member
Delps8 said:
Try dropping your PPM 5% or 10%. I've just finished finding the right nute level in a 4 Gorilla Glue auto flower grow. Everything was fine till I got to preflower when I bumped the PPM from 510 to 540. I didn't know how to deal with it so I went 10% as a time from 540 to 750 and then back down until I landed on 490. The res (35 gallons) is very stable and predictable.

These charts were very helpful to me ( call them "Wonder Chart" and "Son of Wonder Chart").
View attachment 4909450View attachment 4909451
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info @Delps8 !! It's been exactly 7 days since I changed the res. That and the fact that my EC seems to be relatively static along with a dropping PH all point to changing the res. I'll take your advice (and the chart) and lower my EC a bit.

Speaking of EC, I use tap that has been left to air out to let the chlorine evaporate. EC is around 20/25 PPM (pretty low for tap I think!). Any thoughts on whether CalMag is necessary if I'm using tap that should already have some trace elements? If so, what do you think is a good ratio per gal?

Plants all have their 4th node emerging at this point.
 
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kolect

kolect

Member
Quick update from 4 days after last photo. After a lot of debate, I decided to bump the EC up instead of down because although by PH was dropping, so was my EC, which indicated that my plants were eating.

Refilled my res and increased PPMs to 493 using an equal 2ML / gal combo of CalMag, Micro, Grow & Bloom along with .5ML / 10 gal Sag solution. That's roughly a 40% increase from where the PPMs were sitting before the change. PPMs have already dropped down to 481 since last night and plants seem to be responding well. They have filled out quite a bit since my last update! PH is sitting at 5.96 at the moment.

Latest photo below:

http://imgur.com/jSpwjTK
 
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D

Delps8

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
Quick update from 4 days after last photo. After a lot of debate, I decided to bump the EC up instead of down because although by PH was dropping, so was my EC, which indicated that my plants were eating.

Refilled my res and increased PPMs to 493 using an equal 2ML / gal combo of CalMag, Micro, Grow & Bloom along with .5ML / 10 gal Sag solution. That's roughly a 40% increase from where the PPMs were sitting before the change. PPMs have already dropped down to 481 since last night and plants seem to be responding well. They have filled out quite a bit since my last update! PH is sitting at 5.96 at the moment.

Latest photo below:

http://imgur.com/jSpwjTK
Click to expand...
It sometimes takes a while to get a handle on what's happening — "OK, that was a change but what's the trend?"
It sounds like you're really on top of things and the pictures are the living proof!
Good to see that.


Re. CalMag - 20± PPM is very low for tap water. Congrats. I wouldn't not add CalMag since you're in hydro.

From my last nute mix printout, when I added CalMag at standard levels (2 cc/gallon?), that added 190 PPM. That could well be off by a few % because I was dealing with only 8 ml but it I wouldn't worry about the extra 20 PPM.
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
Nice set up man. I had a very similar set up and top fed till roots hit soup. I had 3 girls and regreted it cause they were to crowded. I use 35ppm water to start with and if I don't add calmag I get purple stems.
 
kolect

kolect

Member
Delps8 said:
It sometimes takes a while to get a handle on what's happening — "OK, that was a change but what's the trend?"

It sounds like you're really on top of things and the pictures are the living proof!

Good to see that.

Re. CalMag - 20± PPM is very low for tap water. Congrats. I wouldn't not add CalMag since you're in hydro.

From my last nute mix printout, when I added CalMag at standard levels (2 cc/gallon?), that added 190 PPM. That could well be off by a few % because I was dealing with only 8 ml but it I wouldn't worry about the extra 20 PPM.
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@Delps8, very true! Definitely important to try not reacting to single events, but instead focusing on identifying trends. Well put. What makes the growing process tricky is the plant's needs are constantly changing as they get bigger! But I guess that's what's part of the fun, haha

Bucsfan80 said:
Nice set up man. I had a very similar set up and top fed till roots hit soup. I had 3 girls and regreted it cause they were to crowded. I use 35ppm water to start with and if I don't add calmag I get purple stems.
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Thanks @Bucsfan80! Good point about getting crowded.. I currently have 4 plants going, so I'm definitely going to have to re-assess who stays and who goes at some point. The Northern Lights are the stronger ones at the moment. One of the Dutch Treat's is for sure the runt of the pack.

I'm thinking I'll prob end up killing the DT runt, and transplanting one of the NL girls into a separate hydro bucket outside of the tent - maybe outside on my deck! This way I can have one of each stain in the optimal tent conditions and let them fill out as much as possible.

Of course that assumes that both NL plants end up being girls. They aren't feminized so it could go either way..

We shall see!
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
@Delps8, very true! Definitely important to try not reacting to single events, but instead focusing on identifying trends. Well put. What makes the growing process tricky is the plant's needs are constantly changing as they get bigger! But I guess that's what's part of the fun, haha



Thanks @Bucsfan80! Good point about getting crowded.. I currently have 4 plants going, so I'm definitely going to have to re-assess who stays and who goes at some point. The Northern Lights are the stronger ones at the moment. One of the Dutch Treat's is for sure the runt of the pack.

I'm thinking I'll prob end up killing the DT runt, and transplanting one of the NL girls into a separate hydro bucket outside of the tent - maybe outside on my deck! This way I can have one of each stain in the optimal tent conditions and let them fill out as much as possible.

Of course that assumes that both NL plants end up being girls. They aren't feminized so it could go either way..

We shall see!
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is this your first grow or just first dwc?
 
kolect

kolect

Member
Bucsfan80 said:
is this your first grow or just first dwc?
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well I had one soil grow like 12 years ago. Plants were healthy, but I wasn't using nutrients or powerful enough lighting, so didn't produce much yield. Think I used like a 50 watt HPS at the time, haha. It was still fun though!

So this is my first fully planned grow and definitely my first time with hydroponics. Gotta admit, I'm impressed with how fast they can grow in this medium. Pretty wild!
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
well I had one soil grow like 12 years ago. Plants were healthy, but I wasn't using nutrients or powerful enough lighting, so didn't produce much yield. Think I used like a 50 watt HPS at the time, haha. It was still fun though!

So this is my first fully planned grow and definitely my first time with hydroponics. Gotta admit, I'm impressed with how fast they can grow in this medium. Pretty wild!
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It's a very awesome thing to watch them grow so fast. Every day you can see new growth I love it! This is just my second
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
No doubt! What's your setup like this time around (e.g., grow area, medium / # of plants)?
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Well I thought I had it all figured out lol. Got a 15 gallon barrel and painted a couple coats then wrapped in mylar and I had nothing but problems. I'm not sure what the problem was but serious root issues. Water temp was low 60s plenty of air bubbles and pretty sure no light leaks but no matter what I did the roots suffered. So in a last ditch effort I switched to a 5 gallon bucket and she is fn huge now. So 5 gallon bucket with two four inch air stones and hydroton for medium and gh trio nutes. Just one plant this time. Last grow had three and 2 white rhino and 1 SkywalkerOG. Learned it wasn't good to have different strains in same rez either cause they liked different nute ratio
 
kolect

kolect

Member
Bucsfan80 said:
Well I thought I had it all figured out lol. Got a 15 gallon barrel and painted a couple coats then wrapped in mylar and I had nothing but problems. I'm not sure what the problem was but serious root issues. Water temp was low 60s plenty of air bubbles and pretty sure no light leaks but no matter what I did the roots suffered. So in a last ditch effort I switched to a 5 gallon bucket and she is fn huge now. So 5 gallon bucket with two four inch air stones and hydroton for medium and gh trio nutes. Just one plant this time. Last grow had three and 2 white rhino and 1 SkywalkerOG. Learned it wasn't good to have different strains in same rez either cause they liked different nute ratio
Click to expand...
Yeah...! I’m realizing that now too. My Northern Lights are clearly more hungry for nutes than the Dutch Treats, though one seems to be keeping up decently. Def something I’ll keep in mind for next time.

Glad to hear your setup is working better now.
 
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kolect

kolect

Member
Bucsfan80 said:
Nice set up man. I had a very similar set up and top fed till roots hit soup. I had 3 girls and regreted it cause they were to crowded. I use 35ppm water to start with and if I don't add calmag I get purple stems.
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BTW, I saw you said 3 girls were too crowded for your space. Were you also working in a 2' x 4' tent?
 
Bucsfan80

Bucsfan80

Well-Known Member
kolect said:
BTW, I saw you said 3 girls were too crowded for your space. Were you also working in a 2' x 4' tent?
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No more like a 4x4. They spread wall to wall. That was them around chop time. They had a bit more room around the edge but I was more talking crowding in the middle where all 3 met up
 

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kolect

kolect

Member
Bucsfan80 said:
No more like a 4x4. They spread wall to wall. That was them around chop time. They had a bit more room around the edge but I was more talking crowding in the middle where all 3 met up
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wow, that's wild.. well hopefully some LST and topping will help me keep things under control. I moved the runt of my 4 plants out into the backyard in a 5 gal bubble bucket and now I have 3 plants in the tent. 2 are non feminized, so I may end up with less than 3 in there depending on how things play out.
 
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