Turbo Bucket's Take On RADDWC: Grow Room Build-Up

Yea these are all DTW Coco or promix depending on the run. I use z7 in the rez currently as an enzyme additive but I'm considering changing it.

I've been having "calcification, hard water deposits forming in the rez and someone on here mentioned they thought z7 caused that problem for them.

I've run without z7 before so I'll try it again for awhile and see if it changes.
 
It sure can be that, but it deposits over time and not over one res duration? You can wash the tank and flush the system around with citric acid and hot water if you have the possibility too... not with plants in that cleaning cycle though.... ;)
 
Correct over time the insides of the reservoir will end up with hard water scale on it. Doesn't pop up over night, slowly accumulates over time. Heaviest at the bottom of the rez where it has water the most frequently.

I've been using the z7 to try and keep the rez clean but since omitting the weekly compost tea the goopies have been kept at Bay. I've also noticed a couple of plants showing the beginnings of calcium deficiency as they start trying to fill in the buds.
In the past I have not needed to supplement calcium because of my source water and the healthy dose in the foliage-pro. I want to figure out if it's a water chemistry deal or if it's from the lighting upgrade increasing needed nutrition.
 
You run a closed circuit dwc which recirculate through the res?

The source water is it from a well? The properties of well water can fluctuate over time as well as surface water depending on how the reservoir feeding your well behaves under a year cycle. Fall periods represent more acids and can cause your well to lose calcium. If you have city tapwater they control this fluctuation chemicaly. I'm speaking of personal experience running both surface and well water plants.
 
No not a rdwc. Soilless DTW now. No water culture no recirculating. Irrigation cycles use 15 gallons per day per tent. So the rez gets filled and emptied every day or every other day.

It's well water and I have heard that aquifers change seasonally but I was not sure what kind of effect it would have. Our water is hard, 7grains hardness, but otherwise clean no excess iron or anything else.

The deposits accumulate much faster when I only have one tent running and the water sits in the rez longer. So it's a product of evaporation the z7 does contain a surfactant (which is part of it's appeal) so it could increase the rate of evaporation.

My incoming pH and tds have remained pretty constant although pH was a little bit higher this summer usually around 6.8- 6.9 this summer it was up to 7.1

Maybe I need to start keeping a calcium supplement around again and add it when they need it.
 
Ah ok!

Yeah sound like that z7 is doing something with that water of yours. A stable water is what we want as growers, I never got my plain tap water to work with these higher dosages I'm running now with my Autopot feeding so I use 50% RO when mixing the rez.

Do you have any filter between the rez and your pots? I installed one a few weeks ago, its just a diesel filter from BOSCH but it keeps the worst parts away from my sensitive aqua valves which controls the level in the pot tray. I get some flake build up over time in my res as well but its from the Canna hydro nutes. All in all you shouldn't have to clean the rez once a week but I guess you are pushing it. One other thing that can change things is if you go down a size in hose from the res, it gets up the flow of water through it and it helps against build ups of this kind.

:hippy:
 
Yes the pumps have prefilters and I have an inline filter between the pump and the first ball valve. And the drip manifolds have a screen in them as well.

I usually only pull and clean the rez once a month, maybe, typically do it when there's one tent running so every 4-6 weeks.
 
Sounds about my run time before cleaning also. I don't think we can get it any better than this, sediments and flocking is hard to cope with but we also need it for the plants. But I know what you mean, I had a small flood in my tent before I fit the filter it was caused by a malfunctioning valve on one of my trays that wouldn't close due to residues on a rubber seal. So its always best to schedule cleaning stuff like that once in a while to keep the risk down of accidents. But as always it has to happen once before you get the hang of it... :)
 
Tent #1
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Tent #2 reloaded with some blueberry, OG Kush, and strawberry banana
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This is the most uneven bunch of plants I've ever tried to run together so we'll see how it goes. The really crazy part is they all come from seed started within a week maybe two weeks of each other.
 
Been smoking some of this white strawberry skunk and it tastes uncannily similar to the fruit punch I have. A couple of the plants showed some similarly odd shaped fan leaves between the strains. It would be interesting to see how closely related they are.
 
Maybe they are related? For some reason I fell in to the cheese bowl my self and the Holy Punch I've been growing taste very much that same cheese but very different than just Cheese. :)

It's so nice when u hit that strain that instantly feels right, know that feeling so well. :yahoo:
 
I haven't noticed signs of it in seedling so maybe the foliage-pro has enough for that. They say it should have enough to go the full cycle and for most plants it does. Just trying to make em better if I can.
I'm pretty sure a small supplement of it for the littles won't be enough to mess anything up though.
 
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