My very first attempt at hydroponics/DWC.

This is my first attempt at doing hydroponics of any sort and I'm using the DWC method. I'll be posting my progress to this thread rather than a journal cause I'll collect it all into one entry when I'm finished and just have a single journal entry for the entire grow.

Any and all comments and questions are welcome. I am still learning though so go easy on me. I'm also on a limited budget so I don't have a ph meter yet or some of the other proper ingredients. I've had to make substitutions for some things due to the lack of a hydroponics store in my area but I think they're working out nicely. I'm already at day 5 now and everything seems to be going fine. My plant is growing at expected rates and everything.

Day: 1 Jun - 25 - 2010
Nutes: None except a cap full of superthrive
Water PH: Unknown till I find a ph tester.
Lights: 2x 100w replacement 2700k cfl's (1750 lumens each) and 2x 100w replacement 6500k cfl's (1600 lumens each)

I started my DWC system today. It was a bit of a hassle getting all the materials cause I don't have a hydroponics store in my area. I don't have access to rockwool cubes or hydroton or any other hydroponic growing medium. I had to resort to using expanded shale and jiffy pellets.

Here's my setup.

1x 5 gallon bucket with lid. A hole is cut into the lid.
1x 3" pot with holes cut into it using a razor blade since I couldn't find any net pots.
1x air pump powerful enough for a 40 - 60 gallon fish tank.
1x 5" air stone
Some expanded shale to replace hydroton
Some jiffy pellets to replace rockwool

I am unsure how well this shale and jiffy pellet combo will work but it's an interesting experiment. I have no nutes except some superthrive. I used a cap full of superthrive for 5 gallons of water. I'll clean out the water reservoir next week and will put some nutrients in then.

I accidentally cut the holes in the pot a bit larger than intended so the shale can easily fall through. I bought some fiberglass window screen material and cut a small square out of it. That is lining the pot to keep the shale in.

I have one 5 inch air stone in the bottom of the bucket but it doesn't seem like it's enough. I'll buy another one soon and that should be perfect.

Day: 5 Jun - 30 - 2010
Nutes: Miracle Grow for tomato plants. (powder form 1/2 strength) and a cap full of superthrive.
Water PH: Unknown
Lights: 3x 100w replacement 2700k cfl's (1750 lumens each) and 1x 100w replacement 6500k cfl (1600 lumens)

I decided to clean my bucket out a couple days early today cause I got a drill from a friend and wanted to drill holes in the side for the air hoses rather than run them through the same hole as the pot. It's a good thing I decided to clean it early too cause it was super slimy inside and the water was kinda gross looking. I'm unsure whether the slimy feeling is from the superthrive I put in there or if it's the beginning of algae. I hope it's just an effect of the superthrive, but it could very well be algae cause I had some light getting into the reservoir because of the air hose placement. This shouldn't be a problem any more though due to my new air hose holes.

While I had the lid open and everything I added a 2nd five inch air stone just for good measure. I have a bunch of little bitty air stones that I'll be adding in as soon as I get more black air hose. The walmart here doesn't sell them in black so I have to drive to the next town and get them from the pet store. As soon as I get more hose I'll put a bunch of T-valves in the existing hose and put little air stone buds all over the place. I don't really think this is necessary or anything but it won't hurt one bit. The air pump is designed for a much larger reservoir so I think there is plenty air pressure to handle this.