Trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips

[GigaGrew]

ok im torn betweed two coices, both of which i want to feed using a drip system.

1st option is to create a circular vertical rockwool slab grow with the bulb in the middle

2nd option is flood and drain style mutli story tables with light movers.

my grow is currently based on fastbud2 strain, short and very fast. 6wks from seed.

i am VERY nervous about maintaining my nutrient tank.

first question, is it possible to set up a 6 week res using drain to waste but at efficiently as possible, and what controls wold be needed for the res ie does it stay stable long enough. bubbled of course.

if thats not easy to do
is there any way to monitior whats in the water of is it just reliance on ppm and ec and hope the blend is correct.


in an ideal world someone could tell me what equipent i would need to make either of these grows self maintaining for 6 weeks. surely in this day and age we can plant and go if your set up has supplies, water and power.

the reason i think drain to waste is best is so that i dont have to worry about toxic build ups. i really want to be able to leave a grow unit do its own thing for weeks at a time.


any help and guidance is greatly appreciated. im wading through the help stuff, but you know how it is. eyes can only take so much non summaried information in

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Ya going to need the name of your water company & enter that into your interent browser or google etc & pull up some info on em.


Going to take a little bit of research/effort to find the required details which may turn up in PDF file or some techincal part of their website & i'm pretty sure you will find exactly whats in your water supply with it

Tap water will have a base EC/PPM value this will have to be included into total EC/PPM when nutrients are added.


Also different countrys have a slightly different measurement of PPM for some strange reason this may complicate things when advise is given !

Americae, Europe & i believe Austriala use differnet PPM values from each other its worth a little bit of home work on that one & this may effect country of origin of where your PPM pen was made due to values/measurement used !



A friend was asking about a self maintained system some few weeks ago & i must admit that a run to waste system did cross my mind !

Size of res tank is the question plus volume of water used every feed/watering is the question ? a flow rate valve from pump to drippers is one way to control water used over a period of time & more likely would want to adjust EC/PPM level of res tank every week or two depending on stage of growth.


I would even run test on how stable PH was in res tank to see if it alters over time before commnecing with such a project.

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

thanks fuzzy.
i appologise, i forgot to mention that im probably going to get a water distiller. i think it makes sense to start with a clean slate and only provide what is needed by the plant.

yes thats the big question. do things like ppm and PH stay stable when the tank is just sat there in the dark bubbling away.

probably going to start with a flood table till i get confident then ill switch to the vertical box

im sure ppm will stay fairly stable. if i make my solution say 20% too weak then this might work out quite nice with evaporation.
but PH is the big one.

or maybe its possible and nescisary to leave your rez unPHed and ph correction happens between leaving the rez and hitting the pots with a premix res and ph dripper /shrug

is there a list anywhere of the individual nute requirements?

like i read somewhere that our plants like 1ppm copper only and 100ppm is fatally toxic.

or maybe its just best using pre made A and B type products and having limited control but increased simplicity.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

I'm not total aware of individual nutrient requirements this may varie from one species of plant to another tho & that it may well be difficult to source such individual nutrients for a tailor made nutrient feed.

An A & B hydroponic nutrient solution is far by the easyer option & if going down the RO water option a calcium & magnesium supplement would be on the cards for over all plant health, i would more than likely suggest the canna range of nutrients ya pay a bit more for em but lots of peeps like canna & always pops up in conversation amongest close friends


I'm sure PPM will hold stable in a res tank with a run to waste system, questionable about evapouration tho altering PPM over time ?... i would suspect a small adjustment.

Not totally sure about PH level ? seems that i've seen various stuff about liquid PH up/down being unstable over a sort period of time which could be related to the use of nutrients & water in res tanks in recycling/recirculating systems ! which may require daily monitoring for optimal results...

I do understand that their is a dry powder PH down/up aviable which appears to be more stable than the liquid forms from what i hear... ?


I would even go as far as PMing some hydroponic growers such as Cultivator as he is certianly into his hydroponics & active on the forums about the matter to see if he cares to share some thoughts & wisdom on the subject !



P.s even ol fuzzy interested in some hydroponic advise

 

[JJ Bones]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Are you asking for a hydroponic setup that you can let run for 6 weeks without ever checking on it?

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

not exactly.

im trying to work out how long it CAN be left unattended in the first instance and then yes later i would like to be able to monitor and hopefully adjust remotely and not visit unless intervention was needed.


EDIT: i was, but now im not sure what im doing. i looked at blue planet line up and decided a plant will need at least 3 tables for a perpetual.

seedling, veg growth and flowering all need different nute mix's, so i think its better to have a seedling table with cfl blue in small rockwool cubes, insert them into large blocks on the vegging table using MH and then move those blocks over to a flowering table at maturity.

my idea of lots of mini grows set in different areas doesnt seem viable. looks like real efficiency gains are made from centralisation...so its back to factory principles.

 

[reparboon]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

i was thinking about this as well.. a self sustained flower room.. my idea was get a 55 or 100 gallon tank. connect drip emitters to the bottom of the tank, while having the tank higher than the table so its gravity fed. 55 gallons should last close to 3 months. and just run a constant 50-75% strength nutes. you could also collect rain water from outside run a hose to the lower tank with a reverse shut valve(so the inside tank doesnt overfill) almost like a gravity fed gorilla grow that you never go check.. damn i wish i could find a hollow tree a 55 gallon tank would fit in! happy growing peace

 

[JJ Bones]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

I would say DWC would be the easiest to wake away from.

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

would the rez in a dwc be even less stable than a standard res as its nutes are changing constantly?

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

i found this on a normal gardening hydroponics site

This provides a continuous supply of water droplets that maintain a damp but not water logged growing medium. This being necessary to maintain an appropriate ratio of oxygen and water along with the nutrients the plant needs. People call this drain to waste because once the nutrient solution is applied to the roots it’s gone, you won’t be getting it back. In some systems you may have a catch pan that collects excess runoff but this should be discarded. One factor that makes drain to waste appealing is that you could mix a large tank of nutrients with all the variables dialed into your liking and you can leave it for an extended time. The pH and nutrient content won’t change on it’s own, for example. Drain to waste kits are generally cheap, fairly simple and are good to start with if you have only a limited number of plants. This is an example of tomato plants growing in rockwool slabs, common in commercial hydroponic operations. Once the nutrients have drained into the slab of rockwool the used nutrients will need to be replaced with a fresh batch at some point in the future.

if the nutrients and PH stay stable then its a win!

only problem i have with that is ive mixed nutes in a 30 litre bucket before and PH's came back an hour later and the PH had risen.

i dont know if thats just because it hadnt settled yet or because it had a bubbler or exposed to light or...?

 

[JJ Bones]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

You can go with pH perfect advanced.

I say dwc because it's less mechanics involved, less things to go wrong due to hardware.

 

[WizHigh]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Why not just grow in all rockwool or coco? Thats hydro still. You just hand water nutrients threw out the day

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Why not just grow in all rockwool or coco? Thats hydro still. You just hand water nutrients threw out the day

haha your funny wiz. =p
i did say rockwool. but im not watering hundreds of plants several times a day friend, ill be going drip system.

thanks JJ, your right about mechanical failure. my problem with dwc is having to swap out the water. if im doing that i would still like to use a drain style table with a flow away so i may as well just use drip feed from a big rez as i use less overall liquid.

However that PH perfect stuff has taken me back a little...why on earth arnt all nutrients ph perfect then. sounds like exactly the kind of bandwagon you would want to jump on asap.

 

[WizHigh]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Thats what ill be using in my new journal. An automatic feeding system. Since it will be scrogged im not trying to climb under anything just to water all of those plants.

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

haha same! if i have my way ill fill up a rez, watch the pretty light slide back and forth all day, then empty the drain bucket before sleep.
who needs more work than that!

im thinking that 1 seedling table can feed 4 veg tables and then 4 flower tables or maybe 5 if they still grow a lot in the last 3rd of their life. so thats what im working towards. trying to make each table go for 2 weeks and then with so many tables i can link all the waste drains into 1 and pump it away.

it may even be viable to make up a giant rez in the attic which is set to seedling nutes and can feed all tables, but the veg and flower tables have secondary tanks to buffer it, i can top up these tanks to what should be veg and bloom nutes, but if im delayed for some reason they still have baby food on 24 hour tap to prevent any serious deficiencies...dunno really just thinking out loud

 

[WizHigh]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Your goin to need a serious water pump for that

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Your goin to need a serious water pump for that

wont need any pumps. the cold water to the house is up in the attic and higher than my rez would be. there is also power for a RO filter everything else can be gravity fed untill such time as the waste output is too high for me to empty buckets all the time

 

[WizHigh]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

Yea that's going to suck. You mine as well attach hoses to the trays which lead to some sort of drain. That's constant attention. Unless you use a huge drum to catch the water depending on the sizes of the tables. Your going to be one strong guy after that grow lol

Unless you use a recycling method!

 

[GigaGrew]

Re: trying to switch to hydro could use a few pro tips.

funny you should mention recycling. im in the middle of converting my garden to a communal fruit patch (justifies all my growing habits publically). if i install some sort of wick system into the ground to spead it out better, i could just drip feed my intire front garden with my waste.