Questions for the hydro people.

[GoodShit97]

I think I want to try my hand at DWC.
So i figured i should start this thread and see if its actually something id be able to do.
What are must haves to be successful?
What do i need to have at the bare minimum to do this, im on a tight budget so i cant really afford a bunch of stuff.

I can get Fox Farm hydroponic grow big from my father in law next time he comes down. He has RW cubes i could get a few of too.

But i have no clue what i should and should not get. I havent even looked online yet i figured this would be my first stop and see if im actually going to want to do this lol.


Also, if i chose to go through with it, which one of you hydro gurus is willing to walk a complete idiot through this?

 

[Aqua Man]

Just waterfall, no airstones?

In that system yes because i was injecting 90%+ concentrated o2 into a Venturi. Without that i do suggest air stones

 

[GoodShit97]

In that system yes because i was injecting 90%+ concentrated o2 into a Venturi. Without that i do suggest air stones

Eventually i want to be doing that, but i gotta get started first before i go venturing off into something that deep.

 

[Aqua Man]

Eventually i want to be doing that, but i gotta get started first before i go venturing off into something that deep.

Yeah the only people i know doing this is moe and I. Came up with the idea almost 2 years ago. Ill make a post tonight on how its done for those interested

 

[GoodShit97]

Yeah the only people i know doing this is moe and I. Came up with the idea almost 2 years ago. Ill make a post tonight on how its done for those interested

Yeah i followed Moes thread at the farm on it, it was super interesting to me. I need to get into an actual house so i can build my room.

 

[tobh]

so that one site system is pushing the solution from the epicenter res to the plant site, and the solution flows back to the epicenter via the big pipe. this is normal for RDWC. I've seen systems that go the other way but i haven't seen anyone run them that long due to a variety of issues, predominantly related to roots clogging all the pipes in short order. let me speak from experience with that -- there's nothing worse than clogged pipes at week three of flower.

venturis are fairly easy to understand. carburetors work on the same principal. the concept is you have something in a fluid motion passing past a small orifice, which creates a negative pressure and pulls additional "something" from that orifice. in carburetors, it's fuel whereas in hydroponics, it's air. venturis are much more efficient at oxygenating water than airstones but I won't get into the whys or hows here as it'll just add to the mass of confusion. there are also caveats that one has to be aware of, so it's yet another situation where compromise is required with compensating controls in place to deal with those compromises.

all that being said, i would definitely recommend not being impulsive and diving in until you feel absolutely confident you understand what you're going to do and why. mistakes can be costly, and while you can get around buying the "real" buckets by using heavy duty totes instead (like @Aqua Man's setup) you don't want to fuck around with generic or non-uniseal bulkheads, cheap pumps, etc.

better to do it as close to correct as you can the first time than flood your domicile, have a pump burn out and ruin your crop, or simply get pissed off and quit because the setup is more janky than you know you could've built it to begin with. once you're up and swimming, though, i think you'll realize from your perspective right now it's VERY easy to overthink it.

 

[ZombieRider]

There is of course the most budget of all and i always hate recommending these nutrients because ppl try to fuck with em.

PH perfect no ph meter needed and you just add it to the proper concentration ut do not try to adjust PH or add a bunch of other shit like buffers etc.

If you simply add and do your changeouts it works

Is PH Perfect the one from AN?

 

[Aqua Man]

Is PH Perfect the one from AN?

Yeah not a fan of them but it does work if you dont fuck with it

 

[ZombieRider]

Yeah not a fan of them but it does work if you dont fuck with it

luckily for me GH flora trio gives me good PH with my well water. So PH perfect is best for people with varying ph like RDWC but maybe not as necessary with DTW?

 

[Aqua Man]

luckily for me GH flora trio gives me good PH with my well water. So PH perfect is best for people with varying ph like RDWC but maybe not as necessary with DTW?

It all depends on your source water and nutrients some people may not need to adjust PH at all.

 

[Zen_seeker]

I really wanted to try this when I was younger. It was the way of the future. Vertical white tubes with a plant every 12”.

That and Sea Quest(?) promised we’d be living under water in domes by now.

Maybe after I use up all the soil I bought. I do a solo every other grow anyway. I have the bigger rectangular bucket already I use for tap water storage.

I wouldn’t even think to try without the people here to guide me. Seems much easier to get lost in BS and grow store gimmicks.

At least here I get an excellent chance of getting it right the first time.

 

[GoodShit97]

I really wanted to try this when I was younger. It was the way of the future. Vertical white tubes with a plant every 12”.

That and Sea Quest(?) promised we’d be living under water in domes by now.

Maybe after I use up all the soil I bought. I do a solo every other grow anyway. I have the bigger rectangular bucket already I use for tap water storage.

I wouldn’t even think to try without the people here to guide me. Seems much easier to get lost in BS and grow store gimmicks.

At least here I get an excellent chance of getting it right the first time.

Ha, the more and more i think about it, the more i just wanna stay in soil...
Im no way smart enough to understand all the hoopla of hydro.
Dont even understand why half of what needs to be added, gets added so i think its better left to the smarter folk.

 

[Rootsruler]

I really wanted to try this when I was younger. It was the way of the future. Vertical white tubes with a plant every 12”.

That and Sea Quest(?) promised we’d be living under water in domes by now.

Maybe after I use up all the soil I bought. I do a solo every other grow anyway. I have the bigger rectangular bucket already I use for tap water storage.

I wouldn’t even think to try without the people here to guide me. Seems much easier to get lost in BS and grow store gimmicks.

At least here I get an excellent chance of getting it right the first time.

I had a friend that setup in his patio with a setup like that. He had no idea what he was doing. He bought some square tubing, drilled holes with a hole saw every 12 or so inches, leaned them at an angle and had them dumping into plastic pans. The pans had pumps that would pump the solution to the top of the tubes and then let them gravity feed down. Worked great until he got busted. He didn't think about the smell so once they started flowering he had to do something quick so he grabbed a bunch of rolls of pallet wrap and wrapped his patio. Didn't work.