New to hydro...roots in the water??

Thx for all the advice guys! I'm gonna post more tomorrow after I get home from work and get in there to finish the tote if I have any more questions. If not I will be posting soon of my 1st sprouts in the veg tote. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

**Update**
Ok..Ph has been adjusted to between 5.0-6.0. I can't say for sure where it's at cuz the results sticker only read up to 6.0 but the color in the tube was noticably lighter than the shade noted for 6.0. My ph n ppm testers haven't arrived yet..... It took a shit ton of vinegar to undo what I did last night but I got it. I'll try it one more time in the flower tote and if it's this much of a pain in the ass again I'm just investing in ph adjusters. The seedlings are in the veg tote. I have attached pics.


20 gallon black tote with 14" air bar and ufo led

light Led lights on and off


3.5" net pots filled with hydroton..


So there they are!!

Nice setup, and those seedlings seem to be doing pretty well. Lights could probably be a little closer (not as much heat being put off by LEDS, and the closer the light the more energy the plants will get) but you are giving them a good environment to grow in, so you start to see some pretty good growth before too long. + rep on the first step of a long journey.

Thx Homegrown..
I did move the lights down to about 7.5" from the plants. I do have new leaf growth for a total of 6 leaves now. However I think there may be a problem. My 1st born's leaf tips are turning dark yellow, maybe orange and both plants have red dots all over the leaves. Someone suggested a nutrient deficiency. They are only a week old, they shouldn't need nutrients yet. The younger one seems to be doing ok, all green leaves but does have red dots. It's stem is blood red, almost purple.The younger one does seem to be sagging or drooping at the stem. Maybe I put em in veg too soon... HELP!!


Oldest 1, 7 days old Germinated in 3 days, grew quickly and great root network

Clearly unhappy, flippin me off... lost a leaf, looks like it was burned?


The baby, 5 days old, germinated in 5 days, has remained about half the size of the older sibling, not as good of a root system

hey queenbee, the grow is lookibng good so far. I too grow with DWC although mine is of the aerospring variety i guess you could say. I have a 20 gallon tote that has 3 sprayers on it, so when the plants are still seedlings you dont have to have the water all the way up to the top they get sprayed every three minutes and it keeps the roots nice and wet. One thing you might have an issue with is water drainiage once your plants get really big, I have 4 girls 13 days into flower that i let veg for almost 6 weeks and the root mass that i have in the tote is UNBELEIVABLE it prolly coats the bottom of my tote a good foot.

I dont see any pvc pipe for sprayers on your setup like mine has so when you do get big plants its gonna be a pain trying to change out nutes with a huge root ball. My setup i run on a pump and i have a cap that i unscrew and when i run the pump it pumps all the water in a bucket and i just go and dump that and then re attach the cap and add more water and nutes then adjust my Ph. When i first used this type of setup a few years ago i tried to take the pants out and discard the water by just dumping the whole tot in the tub and it cause major problems cause my plants were so top heavy, you'd like to disturb your babies as least as possible during the whole grow cycle and especially during flowering. I just wanted to present that issue to you cause you WILL run across it trust me.

I too use GH products although i run the FloraNova setup but i also use liquid and dry koolbloom during flowering. Koolbloom is VERY VERY concentrated and powerful stuff, so make sure when you use it yo uonly use 1/2 strength of the liquid and when it comes time to use the dry you only do 1/4 strenght or it will hermie your ladies for sure. When used right though it koolbloom PACKS ON the flowers boy and ripens them up nice ad fast. View attachment 1120463I will be continuing to follow your grow and please let me know if you have any problems with your system as i may be ablView attachment 1120462e to help you troubleshoot your way through an issue. Heres a few pics of my ladies, 4 feminized ICE seeds from nirvana.View attachment 1120461

View attachment 1120466And this is a pic of what my system looks like, see the nozzle on the right hand side that i pump my water out of. I also am flowering them under 600w HPS

Nice grow QB !!

Two things, if you dont mind :

1) Get those ph and ppm meters. My 3 ChemDog's are 10 days old and at 300 ppm as of last night. I start my seed in 100 ppm water in my Igloo coolers. Once the tap root shows, into the rooter plug and into the net pot/hydroton.

2) Get more air stones in that tote. You will need more oxygen flowing for those roots, plus they will drown/cover up that air stone eventually anyway. PetCo store and online, sells a 4 port adjustable air flow Air Pump that comes with 4 -78 inch tubes, 4 small air stones and 4 check valves for $27 ! So for $40, you can have that pump and 3 more 14 inch stones.

How are you draining your tote ?
I use a drill pump. Connect the pump to a standard drill and some water hose, and you're set.
Check the pics. One is sold by Lowes and the other by Home Depot and cost around $15 each.

Now, go check my thread and grow. New pics posted ! lol

For an air pump it's hard to beat this unit, 950gph at $35. For draining the res, the drill pumps are okay, but this small pump is only $10 and much easier to manage. I am still on a quest to find the best air stones. I thought I would do well with the 4ft micropore flex tubes, but they are crap. I always end up going back to the cheap pet store stones.

Thx for all the info and the post mrider! This tote doesn't have a drainage system set up on it yet. I got all my shit & got too excited and had to start those 1st seeds But I did buy a couple 1/2" brass sillcock valves that were meant to be installed 1st. But I'm thinkin that those might be to heavy..so I was looking into other options. A couple have been given to me by replies here. I did pick up a fishtank gravel pump as a back up plan. But I tested it..not good results. Took too long for my tastes. So for this time I'm just going to transfer them into another tote that will have the drainage system installed. Then when I empty and clean this tote I'll put the system on it too. Speaking of flushing how often do you do yours? I've read and heard a lot of different...opinions, we'll call em.. Some say a week, others say 2 weeks. Some say once a month until flower stage then once a week. Others have said that unless there is a major change in the water or solution or a problem with the plants they only flush once, when going from veg to flower.

queenbee420 said:

Thx for all the info and the post mrider! This tote doesn't have a drainage system set up on it yet. I got all my shit & got too excited and had to start those 1st seeds But I did buy a couple 1/2" brass sillcock valves that were meant to be installed 1st. But I'm thinkin that those might be to heavy..so I was looking into other options. A couple have been given to me by replies here. I did pick up a fishtank gravel pump as a back up plan. But I tested it..not good results. Took too long for my tastes. So for this time I'm just going to transfer them into another tote that will have the drainage system installed. Then when I empty and clean this tote I'll put the system on it too. Speaking of flushing how often do you do yours? I've read and heard a lot of different...opinions, we'll call em.. Some say a week, others say 2 weeks. Some say once a month until flower stage then once a week. Others have said that unless there is a major change in the water or solution or a problem with the plants they only flush once, when going from veg to flower.

Click to expand...

Grab a spare water pump like is in your tote put a piece of tubing on it and drop it in the tote to drain, I've found 400 gph to be minimum even though sprayer heads are rated at like 15 gph. one thing I'm noticing that is missing on your tote is a filter, your sprayer heads will be clogging a lot. I really cant stress how easy the hinged lid on the totes I use makes things for me.

mrider7129 said:

View attachment 1120466And this is a pic of what my system looks like, see the nozzle on the right hand side that i pump my water out of. I also am flowering them under 600w HPS

Click to expand...

You can't actually finish 4 plants in that tote can you? my first attempt was with a 37 gallon tote that I tried to make 3 site, I must have been high, I couldn't finish two in it.

dbkick said:

one thing I'm noticing that is missing on your tote is a filter, your sprayer heads will be clogging a lot. .

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I don't have a filter or sprayer heads. My net pot sits right in the water, bout an inch from the top. I have an air bar in the bottom of the tote creating oxygen.

Flo Grow said:

Nice grow QB !!

Two things, if you dont mind :

1) Get those ph and ppm meters. My 3 ChemDog's are 10 days old and at 300 ppm as of last night. I start my seed in 100 ppm water in my Igloo coolers. Once the tap root shows, into the rooter plug and into the net pot/hydroton.

2) Get more air stones in that tote. You will need more oxygen flowing for those roots, plus they will drown/cover up that air stone eventually anyway. PetCo store and online, sells a 4 port adjustable air flow Air Pump that comes with 4 -78 inch tubes, 4 small air stones and 4 check valves for $27 ! So for $40, you can have that pump and 3 more 14 inch stones.

How are you draining your tote ?
I use a drill pump. Connect the pump to a standard drill and some water hose, and you're set.
Check the pics. One is sold by Lowes and the other by Home Depot and cost around $15 each.

Now, go check my thread and grow. New pics posted ! lol

Click to expand...

Thx for the reply Flo Grow! Advice is always welcome. It's how I learn..

My meters did arrive in the mail today. Just have to calibrate them and test em out. When I was putting the tote together I did contemplate putting 2 14" bars in but I figured one would be enough for the 2 seedlings I had in there. Do I need more than 2? At max the tote will have 5 plants in it. That's if I can.. They won't be in this one long anyway since I don't have a drain system for it. Unless I pick up a pump, which I will definitely look into. Much easier than the drain valve I planned to install. Sometimes I come up with stuff when I'm medicated and I don't always look at the obvious

Is it normal that my 1 plant's leaf tips are orange? I'm not thinkin that it is... They also have red specks on them, even the green ones..???? Overwatering? Someone said a nute deficiency. It's too early to feed them, isn't it?

Heisenberg said:

For an air pump it's hard to beat this unit, 950gph at $35. For draining the res, the drill pumps are okay, but this small pump is only $10 and much easier to manage. I am still on a quest to find the best air stones. I thought I would do well with the 4ft micropore flex tubes, but they are crap. I always end up going back to the cheap pet store stones.

Click to expand...

That is a nice pump , I just paid much more for the same brand/type pump but its 1740 gph.
Sorry QB I had you mistaken for someone in another thread I've been following, first chance you get move away from dwc and get into aerospring which has similarities with dwc but I'm doing both atm and did my first grow, its pretty much proven to me aerospring works much better , of course its much more difficult to build a unit, not to mention its a lot more expensive but well worth the money and labor. That drill pump doesn't look any fun at all :/ haha, you can buy a small pump at any hydro store and put a tube on it, drop it in your res and pump into a bucket, you can get a submersible pump for 20 bux or so. one like in the photo. the filter and fittings all come from home depot.

oh yea you can, i've finished 6 in them before with a lil crowding but no adverse affects. Thats why i only did 4 this time cause i wanted to give them extra space. im only working with a regular sized bedroom closet but my girls fill up the apce very nicely and the walls keep all the plants up right when they start to fall over because of bud weight.

mrider7129 said:

oh yea you can, i've finished 6 in them before with a lil crowding but no adverse affects. Thats why i only did 4 this time cause i wanted to give them extra space. im only working with a regular sized bedroom closet but my girls fill up the apce very nicely and the walls keep all the plants up right when they start to fall over because of bud weight.

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And what kind of yield are you talking from those 6 plants? how long did you veg? I'm serious, I couldn't have done two plants in a 37 gallon tote.

Hey queenB no prob with the help, I know how frustrating it can he just starting out and not knowing all you should know. As far as the flushing of the water. I change my nutrient solution every 2 weeks, inbetween those two weeks I just top my tote off with fresh ph balanced water. Alot of people whenthey use dwc think once the plants start usuing up water that they need to add more mutes as well. Only add fresh nutes every two weeks, your plants will let you know if they aren't getting enought nutes. I do this every 2 weeks through out the whole grow cycle.

As far as a "real" flush goes, I start flush about 10 days from harvest with just fresh water and GH flora Kleen. And my plants seem to love it

dbkick said:

And what kind of yield are you talking from those 6 plants? how long did you veg? I'm serious, I couldn't have done two plants in a 37 gallon tote.

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17ozs and I vegged those for 3 weeks. What issues did you have that didn't let you finish?

mrider7129 said:

17ozs and I vegged those for 3 weeks. What issues did you have that didn't let you finish?

Click to expand...

My shit got way too big.

dbkick said:

My shit got way too big.

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Oh ok. Yea they can grow pretty big in the totes but that leads to huge buds as well. My growspace s 4x4x8 so mine never really yave the issue of outgrowing the space. How big was your growspace? How long did veg before the flip? If you have height issues with the tote try and flower really small, like 6or8 inchesb they will still grow plenty big if you flower that soon but shouldn't outgrow your space.

It's been a couple of days since I posted. My closet is my veg room while the actual bedroom is the flower room. I removed the doors and double hung black plastic where the doors were. I pull the bottom flap up like a tent to get in. I have also blacked off the window in the flower room. It usually runs about 3-4 degrees cooler in the closet than outside n it's been in the 90s the last couple of days so it's been running hot in the veg room. I added the oscillating fan. I started it out on low because the plants are so small but it didn't do much of anything except move the hot air around. It is now on med and I have the door open so the ac from the vent right outside the door goes in there. This is bringin down the temp slowly and there's already a 15% humidity difference. I figured out that 2 much vinegar in my water was the reason my leaves were turning orange. So I filled another clean tote with water and let it sit 24 hrs and ph'ed it. This time with GH's ph kit. It took quite a bit (more than it should've) of ph down to get it where I needed it. All was good...or so I thought. I rechecked ph the next day, nothing. Water is clear even after adding the dye. My water has no ph at all!!! I apparently didn't let it settle long enough b4 taking readings the 1st time I ph'ed it. I can't get my digital ph meter to balance. The #'s never stop moving so I can calibrate it. I have a milwaukee on it's way. It's too hard to work with 18+ gallons of water. I have no problem ph'ing a smaller container like a bucket. That and I can't get the top to stay on no matter how much duct tape I use. The sides are bowing out too much so the lid pops off and takes the tape with it. My pots don't sit in the water when the lid pops off. I work 8 1/2 hrs a day, that's 8 1/2 hrs my babies aren't getting water. And it's a pain in the ass for water changes. I did go out n buy a submersible pump so I could drain them, but it would still take me a # of trips to the bathtub with 5 gallon buckets of water. I'm 5'1 with a bad back hence the green card So I've decided to switch to 5 gallon buckets instead runnin 1 plant/bucket. Pickin up 4 buckets tonite and 3 clones wed. I'll have a juicy fruit, tutti frutti and a mystery lady. My son and I are having craft time later this evening after dinner. We will be spray painting the buckets black to get them ready. I'm going to then transfer my 2 babies into a bucket and get em outta that tote. The tote sounded good in theory but it's become more of a pain in the ass than anything. Now I know, that's how ya learn I guess. Next time I do anything with totes, if I do anything with totes again, it will be an ebb n flow set up. Which this originally started out to be but got trimmed way back in the creative process. I got a lil impatient and wanted to get started. I'm paying for it now. I'll keep updating as I go..

1 quick question before I go.. What makes the leaves curl under?