I gotta lose those waterfalls. HELP!
- Thread starter myke
- Start date
Might be slight phosphate deficiency from higher ph. I wouldn't be to worried it's often genetic and if it's more red it's usually light exposed stems mostly. The cooler the temps the more stable anthocyanins are. It's not abnormal IMO. The plants are looking better and that's what matters. Micro managing will give ya more problems so I wouldn't change anything. I keep my ph between 5.6-6 never above. I think you have things about as good as they need to be. Make sure you have good airflow. Once you add back the volume of the res then do a complete res change to keep nutrient ratios in check.
Looking good.... Adding a bit more ph up will help get ya to 0.2 in 24 hours. It looks to be eating up the K a bit which will increase the availability of nitrogen. Keep the same ppm just add a small amount of ph up or can do a res reset. How much ph up did ya do last time I think like 5 ml total? If so add 1-2ml
No no that's to much to add...
Sounds good
Sdh777
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure about the yellowish spots as I’ve not seen that before?
I just looked at the photo of your system & it’s hard to tell, but I can only see 1 undercurrent hose from each bucket. IMO, it essential to optimize undercurrent flows to deliver DO efficiently to an increasingly dense root mass, particularly when using waterfalls as your single source of DO. Although air stones have their own issues, they do create movement & circulation to the roots more effectively than waterfalls. I’m not dissing waterfalls at all...I use waterfalls & fluming, then I add air stones once the root mass becomes more substantial.
RDWC can be a pain the ass, but once you’ve got your system dialed in, it’s arguably the most effectively grow method.
I just took pictures of these 2 plants that both started from seed on the same day, between 3 & 4 weeks ago. One plant is growing in RDWC, the other in Ebb & Flow. I have 4 plants in each system & the plants in the RDWC are easily twice as big. The 2 plants on the front end of the Ebb & Flow are a bit younger as I had to replace 2 seeds that were struggling in early germination, so ignore them...
I just looked at the photo of your system & it’s hard to tell, but I can only see 1 undercurrent hose from each bucket. IMO, it essential to optimize undercurrent flows to deliver DO efficiently to an increasingly dense root mass, particularly when using waterfalls as your single source of DO. Although air stones have their own issues, they do create movement & circulation to the roots more effectively than waterfalls. I’m not dissing waterfalls at all...I use waterfalls & fluming, then I add air stones once the root mass becomes more substantial.
RDWC can be a pain the ass, but once you’ve got your system dialed in, it’s arguably the most effectively grow method.
I just took pictures of these 2 plants that both started from seed on the same day, between 3 & 4 weeks ago. One plant is growing in RDWC, the other in Ebb & Flow. I have 4 plants in each system & the plants in the RDWC are easily twice as big. The 2 plants on the front end of the Ebb & Flow are a bit younger as I had to replace 2 seeds that were struggling in early germination, so ignore them...
Sdh777
Well-Known Member
I’m always tweaking shit to improve my systems. I just recently switched my waterfall spigots to sprinkler heads in each grow site. It seems to improve agitation & it mists the roots suspended in air...it seems to be working well. I also have 2 waterfalls in my control station; one from the RDWC pump & one from the chiller pump. It may be overkill, but I know one thing for sure...my plants are not gonna fail from drowning. Lol
Last week I created a Mylar bra skirt that I can easily add & remove from my buckets & today I’m building a perpetual humidifier that I never have to refill.
Last week I created a Mylar bra skirt that I can easily add & remove from my buckets & today I’m building a perpetual humidifier that I never have to refill.
I don't use bloom nutes and I use a 1 part fert. There is now need imo the needs of the plants don't change as much as nutrient companies would like us to believe. Stick to the veg nutes... Late in flowering lower the ppm like the last week or 2. Stay low on P you are already adding some K in the form of potassium bicarbonate so no need to do anything. Maybe a slight bump in mag sulfate the last 3 weeks.
Sdh777
Well-Known Member
How often do you do water exchanges Aqua Man?
How often do I recommend or how often do I do.... Completely different. I run a live system with an aquarium filter and seed with hydrogaurd and denitrifying bacteria. This round I'm also using hygrozyme at 1ml per litre. So I don't change more than 50% of my water at a time. Generally speaking 25-50% a week depending on growth stage. Typically I don't do my first water change for 3weeks to a month depending on what I see from the plants. This is to preserve my bacteria populations
Now nobody really runs thier system like that so I recommend doing a water change once you have added back the volume equal to your system. This could range from a few days to a couple weeks or longer depending on the system
Sdh777
Well-Known Member
I also use hydrogaurd. My RDWC is auto-filled by an external 25 gal reservoir that is also treated with hydrogaurd & a small water pump for circulation & fluming. I typically do complete water exchanges every 2 weeks, but I’d rather do partial exchanges as you described. I think I’ll give that a try. Thanks!
Sounds like a good plan. The reason for the aquarium filter is the bacteria in hydrogaurd more so do not reproduce well in complete aquious solution. Denitrifying bacteria also to a point. Using a HOB filter with foam media gives a perfect environment for this... Once it's seeded you don't need to keep adding. If we had a substrate it would be even more beneficial but I won't go into all the factors on it. Basically highly oxygenated with lots of surface area that is constantly in contact with water equals ideal conditions for bacteria to thrive. You can actually test the effectiveness of your denitrifying bacteria with a simple ammonia,nitrite,nitrate test kit.
