lets see...lots of questions here...
I feel the best type of RDWC is Aero. Be careful... everyone calls things RDWC that are not Recirculating the nutes from the bottom of the res to the top...when I searched on Google just now for Aeroponic RDWC I found a bunch of wrong images for Undercurrent and top drip systems. I think the misinformation will never stop. RDWC means Recirculating DWC which strictly means the res is re-circulated such that the water at the bottom is reinserted
at the top of the res. A top drip is one type of RDWC. But an undercurrent system is NOT RDWC. Aeroponics is spraying a mist at the root zone. If the pump is at the bottom of the res where all the heavy nutes sink to then it is an RDWC. Undercurrent systems recirculate the nutes through the bottom of the res. But strictly speaking in terms of the facts and the history and the definitions of what words actually mean in Hydroponics...Re-circulation is reintroducing nutrient rich bottom water to the
top of the res. And the only reason I always go off about this is because it matters when diagnosing and talking about issues. An Undercurrent system works very differently with nute uptake and many other things than an RDWC. Talking about one does not have diddly to do with the other...with the exception of Ph.
It took me a while to find it but here is a diagram I found on google images of a real Aero RDWC.
now you could gang some buckets together and have an external res for that and still mist it from bottom res water and you get RDWC aero.
ugh....I feel like a broken record...not your fault. If you really care here is a thread where I dropped a Youtube video that explains it on page 2.
Rdwc nutes questions
Okay the second question "Risk pulling the roots out of the cubes?" I think we are miscommunication. No do not remove the the cubes or try to remove the plants from them. I was saying the Spouts not Sprouts. Move the drip system so it is watering the clay not the cube. The cube will get enough water wicking it out of the clay. Preferably at this point relocate them inside the lid with a sprayer so they moisten the air roots every few hours. That is overkill. You can get by as is just turn it way down. You want it infrequent enough that the cubes almost completely dry out. You want the roots to have to grow out looking for water. If water is too easy to find then there will be reduced root growth. A little stress is good for plants and people. When you lift weights you break down your muscles and they rebuild bigger to make up for the loss and prepare for the future. Same with plants. There is good types of stress that makes plants stronger and drying out the basket will get bigger stronger fatter better roots...as long as they don't get too dry. That cube means you basically don't need to water them.
If the air stones are bubbling the water such that it is misting the bottom of the pots the the clay will wick up the water just fine. If not get better air stones or pump. You can also have the res run up into the basket in the beginning until the roots appear but a decent air stone should mean this is unnecessary. Of special note....DWC, in all of its forms, is a lazy way of running hydro. It only works because of the air stones otherwise the roots die. All other forms of hydro require a bit more work but leave the roots in the air mostly and wet them occasionally. The more air you put into a DWC the better your results will be...don't be too lazy. Undercurrent systems
are awesome because of the aeration of the water and really that is about it.
#4... Yes if you think it isn't too much trouble recirculating outside of the basket is way better. The issue is you want the heavy nutes which settle on the bottom to be evenly distributed throughout the res. It really isn't that big a deal once the roots get going and if you have good air stones creating constant turbulence. Many many growers including some friends of mine don't recirculate at all and rely on the turbulence from the airs tones...they use good air stones. Recirculating was developed by the Aero guys before people were into DWC. DWC is the result of realizing that Aero is great but a good airstone (which you must have) and you don't need to recirculate.
#5.. DING DING DING...winner winner chicken dinner. The PPM is relative to your situation and you monitor it based on what your starting point is and based on what you add. Your starting point best be a good staring point. You use good water and mix it up and measure it then introduce it to the res. and measure it. As you top off you measure the res first, measure the top off bucket, add and remeasure the res. With time you will get the idea. I don't think your plants will be using any nutes for at least a week if not longer. All the stuff you put in there is basically wasted. If you used organic nutes that go bad in 10 days you would need to flush it and all that money was wasted. Since you are using chemical nutes you can probably sit on it and just top off Ph'd water for a while.
I will be around...you can PM me if I don't catch your next question.
