First time grow please help dwc

[Kushmaster216]

Ok I'm gunna give a quick run through of what I have done up to this time... I got a blue dream clone and og kush clones from a friend.. I started the og in soil then switched to dwc. My og luch just got switched to 12:12 for about a week now. The blue dream is still a little guy n is begging in a little grow box.. The og is in my closet...

Specs:

Light-600 watt hps optilume
Nutes- b.c. Nutes kit I got from local hydro store
5 gaL bucket with 2 12" airstone
2 30 gal pumps
2 gal bucket
2 cfl 42 watt 2800 lumens each
Small fan n air purifier
Temp-75 80
Water temp both buckets between 65 to 75
I veged the og for about 3 or 4 months not to sure in exacted date but I begged it a while
Ph between 5.5 n 6.5 I drop it down n let it build a few days then drop back down.
Water is from tap n let sit out for 2 days
Blue dreams light cycle is 18:6
I do not have a ppm meter I still need to get one I don't have to much money to keep spending every payday

The og is very droopy and I also don't no how often to keep switching and adding nute I do not want to change water res every week so I can give them some time to grow n not be messed with all the time.
I will be adding pics here soon

 

[Kushmaster216]

There are some pics of the grow anyone please help I'm new at this And I'm really trying to turn this into a hobby n grow quality so if anyone has any information or tips please help me out thanks!

 

[FrankFoster]

The "down curl" toxic salt buildup.
You are PH fluxing it to much.

Get online and get the most basic water info from your resource. They will give average ppm.. go with it.
Then only add the necessary nutes to give her a 600ppm max. Cut back the fertilizer you put in there.

Most likely the water out of the tap is running 350 ppm at 7.5 or so.
the ph down accounts for 50ppm. then you have maybe a few drips of your chems in 5 gallons.
My buddy used to do like 3.5cc/gal fertilizer. so 3 tablespoons nutes in 5 gallons max....

Everything looks good but you are absolutely salting her to death.

Once you make up a RES, add nothing more to it. I bet the ph goes to 8 within 6 hours of water change..... its the carbon-related ppm in the tap water that causes this.

 

[Kushmaster216]

I bring the ph down every could days it stays pretty stable but what do u mean as I'm salter her cause my water or cause the nutes. I'm going to change the water n put the min nutes level in like you said

 

[FrankFoster]

salts = too much e/c.
Salting her, toxic salt buildup.

 

[Kushmaster216]

How am I salting to much? Or I should say I don't understand what I'm doing that is causing salt build up can u break down what I'm doing wrong a little bit

 

[FrankFoster]

You add nutes to the res tank once when replacing water.
After that if you add more into the same water, you are adding too much nutes(salts).

If you test the ppm you would find you are going over the EC that is permit-able in this endeavor.
You said it yourself, you don't know when or how much to add. (only add nutes upon fresh water reset......

 

[Kola320]

This is what I do I don't own a ppm meter . Get you water to around 6 at the high side with nutes mixed in.. I do the lucas formula and works well for me it 8 ml of micro to gallon, to 16 ml to gallon of bloom.stay on the ph or you'll get lock out problems. I only add a 1/4 of nutes for the first 4 days and and a 1/4 next 4 days for the first week. then change water out second week i go 1/2 strength. it's easy to get nute burn. Thats for the micro side the bloom is easy as pie slowly build up to full strength nutes don't always go by the labels start slow. it will get easier as you go just gotta give it time pretty soon you will know your plants better and what they want .

 

[Leftwich]

Roots are looking a bit brown.

Changing reservoir out more often is better than less often. In DWC I dump and refill every 2 - 3 days, if I go longer I see signs of nutritional imbalance.

Run to waste always gives best results, but is impractical with DWC.

 

[SnaFu]

Too bad no one suggested beneficial microbes with this plant. Would have bounced back in a couple days, even by the second root pic.