how hard is it to grow in DWC?

DWC is actually proven to be one of the best hydroponic methods for a few reasons. If a pump fails they are still living in still water that is being oxygenated and will survive until you get the system recirculating again.

Exactly how is the water still being oxygenated if the air pump has failed? Is your pump hooked up to a stationary bike or something??

A 1/4 Horse Power Eco Plus water chiller is only 600 bucks and taxes which is well worth every penny.

and it's also consuming an additional 480 watts...

Also if you freeze two liter pop bottles full of water you can drop them in your rez and change em out daily if you only have 1 or 2 buckets that works great.

Yeah that sounds great in theory, but who in the hell wants to constantly freeze, put in, and take out a bunch of friggin' water bottles all day long? lol, no thanks.

I "Highly" recommend DWC...

Sure you do.
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Click to expand...

Ok smartass I suppose I should have been more clear, for some. Water pumps often fail weather it be temporary or permanently thanks to things as simple as a tiny piece of Hydroton rock or manufactures defaults. A power outage is one thing, you should have a generator or solar power handy to keep simple things like pumps running during an outage. The reason you will still have oxygen in your system is because your air pump will still be working and just before the water pump died it should have been recirculating the system which also adds lots of DO ( dissolved oxygen). Even assuming the air pump failed at the same time which is highly doubtful water will hold its oxygen for up to 48 hours. Yes the 1/4 Hp EcoPlus water chiller takes 480watts of power when used which is not that bad to grow massive healthy plants with NO root rot ever, also if its not your first dwc grow you should know to put thermal insulation around the buckets and cover lids from the light, a/c units, air cooled lights etc, these all help a lot with the power consumption of your chiller because it does not have to run over time to keep the water cool (or even very much).

Also consuming an additional 480watts?!!... If your investing on growing for yourself or patients, illegal or legal they are GREAT reasons to do things RIGHT... If your doing DWC you've made the step in the right direction and chose to do a more complex hydroponic method, so dont cut corners or you'll be stuck with a nasty slim ball for roots and a plant that looks like a 12yr old grew. Water needs to sit around 15 C for dissolved oxygen to reach its highest, oxygen doesnt hold in warm water. Thats why when it gets too warm pathogens grow and root rot occures, yaaack.. Do it right and DWC will AMAZE you.

And for closet guys or some smaller guys on here that do not have huge reservoirs to cool freezing 4 frozen pop bottles is an awesome way to cool the water!, you kidding? you pop two in there and it lasts the day, take the two out, back in the freezer and pop the other two frozen ones in. Trust me, many growers care immensely about their girls, much like myself and freezing a few pop bottles and having less room for crap like Delicio pizzas is minor compared to some of the things ive done for my girls!

Some DWC grows of mine.
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/451297-cropalotopots-dwc-grows-vol-1-a.html
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/451413-cropolotopots-dwc-grow-vol-2-a.html

Hydroton rock/ air infused table.
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/275991-3600-watt-dutch-tables-jamaican.html
 
You can find aquarium chillers for around $150. The one I have is rated at 50 watts and runs intermittently so power/heat shouldn't be an issue. Insulating the reservoir would further reduce power consumption though I haven't bothered with it so far.

I built a grow closet on casters housing a Pioneer VIII Jr. Total cost was around 800 including chiller, lights, filter, duct fan, air pumps, etc. Cab stays around 90F while reservoir stays at 72.
 
DWC is a paaaaaaaaaaaaaain to set up. but once its going, its pretty easy to maintain and the payoff is worth it.

i used a huge rubbermaid container, made holes for the net pots, and placed a plastic screen inside the reservoir (the container) that was an inch or 2 below the net pots to catch all the roots and keep them above the water line, to deter root rot.
 
I really appreciate to you for deciding about growing plant with you new techniques and method. I suggest you to use Hydroponics gardening as it is faster and nutrition way of growing plant. You can find more information about it from internet.
 
nick17gar said:
DWC is a paaaaaaaaaaaaaain to set up. but once its going, its pretty easy to maintain and the payoff is worth it.

i used a huge rubbermaid container, made holes for the net pots, and placed a plastic screen inside the reservoir (the container) that was an inch or 2 below the net pots to catch all the roots and keep them above the water line, to deter root rot.
Click to expand...


pain in the ass to set up...?? try perpetual nft then
 
I thought my diy dwc setup was pretty easy being a novice hobbyist ;p I haven't really gotten into thick veg and flowering yet, I suspect once massive root balls begin to grow in the res I will learn the joys of fighting root rot and algea. I researched DWC, NFT, ebb n flow, drip feeding, and aeroponics before choosing a setup, and dwc seemed like the easiest and cheapest way to go (for a DIY setup at least). Plus it's just badass to take pics of massive root balls and post them on the forums and be like.... now what?
 
DWC is much harder than people portray it to be..it sounded cheap and simple...til I tried it when I was starting out...Best way to avoid issues when starting is to start with soil, or coco and then work up from there.
 
Well I think for someone starting out, any hydro is going to be difficult compared to dropping a bean in pot of dirt and watering a few times a week.
 
DWC is super easy: ph/ppm just like soil, except easier to monitor/change. Water temps and aeration are your only unique setup concerns, and once you figure that out you dont even have to think about it. Use a preventative like h2o2 or bennie tea to prevent rot/slime problems.

To the people claiming its not easy: What makes it hard? What problems COULDNT you easily fix?
 
I have no idea what my problems were, but the plants always looked like shit..yellowing here, dropping there, curled this time or whatever..there was always an issue...with soil or coco I have very few issues and am happy with the work required and what not...
 
I have a DIY spraying cloner bucket and I can leave the rooted clones in there for however long I need to and they look great...so I can even manage hydro with a sprayer of some sort...but I guess I just didn't have a high enough rated air pump, but do have a high enough rated water pump? Either way DWC sucked for me...

But essentially DWC with a submersible pump and sprayers spraying the water about gives me healthy plants...but I only use it to clone...I have just been lazy and not taken the clones out, but they look great...way better than any plant I ever had in DWC... Just needed more water moving about than the DWC could provide for me or some such thing...or perhaps I was just starting growing last time I tried hydro, but now I know what I am doing...
I'm not too worried about it though honestly...I see my DWC failed attempts as a part of the past...it doesn't keep me up at night.
 
It's just a matter of covering the bases.

Water temps: Either use a chiller or an AC unit to indirectly cool the water. I've had good results keeping the water temp at 72, though you can go colder.
Bubblers: The bubbler I use is a 2 tube unit rated for up to 93 gallons. Plenty of oxygenation for 6 gallons of solution in a 13 gallon tub.
Hygrozyme: Friend highly recommended this product. It supposedly breaks down organic matter into a form the plant can use and lessens the chance of bacterial contamination.

I've also read it's best not to use organic nutrient formulas in DWC.

I get nice healthy plants from my DWC.
 
DWC is the bomb IF you can keep your rez temps where they need to be. This issue does not get brought up enough in topics like these. You MUST be able to control temps and ph or shit can get out of control, and ruined, incredibly fast. On the other hand if you can dial these issues in then the growth rates you'll get from hydro are spectacular. But if you live in a warm weather state and have issues with temps in the home, then DWC is not for you.

For me personally I love coco. Hydro-like growth rates, none of the problems. Coco, and hempy grows, are so simple a caveman can do it. And you can do it anywhere, regardless of climate.
 
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