How To: DWC

Hi, I'm in the 1st week of my DWC flowering stage and am using Ionic Bloom and Koolbloom nutes, and I was wonder (as I did earlier in chat) should I use full nutes or go 3/4 there recommended strength on the bottle.

dantesinferno said:

Hi, I'm in the 1st week of my DWC flowering stage and am using Ionic Bloom and Koolbloom nutes, and I was wonder (as I did earlier in chat) should I use full nutes or go 3/4 there recommended strength on the bottle.

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Preferably follow the full feeding chart instead of what just one bottle reads.. Do a google search with your nute brand and feeding chart.

Also if you had 2+ weeks of veg you should be able to do full strength with additives, if not then you might want to dose down.

I am fixing to ask a newbtastic question. How many times do you drop your water level to 1/2" below the roots? I obsess on details and this is one nobody seems to elaborate on other that "they grow... drop it and inch". At what point to you let your roots grow into the water? Trying to figure all this madness out before I get going. I'm going to run DWC right from the get go. I'm going to practice on a tomato and a pepper plant in my grow setup before I sprout my Snow White though.

Have any of you ever used a wood air diffuser instead of a standard aquarium stone? The use them in salt water aquarium air driven protein skimmers. They produce super fine bubbles. Tons more bubble/water interface. I have a ton of these type "air stones" and am thinking about putting them to use.

Also, I am contemplating a way to rig a airlift tube up to the top of my net cups to water from the top down as well. Set on a timer to kick on for 30 minutes twice per light period. I am going to be using coco nuggets as a medium and from what I gather it next to impossible to over water them. Sort of a top feed/ D2W recirc sort of setup.

WyoGrow said:

I am fixing to ask a newbtastic question. How many times do you drop your water level to 1/2" below the roots? I obsess on details and this is one nobody seems to elaborate on other that "they grow... drop it and inch". At what point to you let your roots grow into the water? Trying to figure all this madness out before I get going. I'm going to run DWC right from the get go. I'm going to practice on a tomato and a pepper plant in my grow setup before I sprout my Snow White though.

Have any of you ever used a wood air diffuser instead of a standard aquarium stone? The use them in salt water aquarium air driven protein skimmers. They produce super fine bubbles. Tons more bubble/water interface. I have a ton of these type "air stones" and am thinking about putting them to use.

Also, I am contemplating a way to rig a airlift tube up to the top of my net cups to water from the top down as well. Set on a timer to kick on for 30 minutes twice per light period. I am going to be using coco nuggets as a medium and from what I gather it next to impossible to over water them. Sort of a top feed/ D2W recirc sort of setup.

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If you look at one of my posts a page or 2 back, I got a pretty solid explanation about raising/lowering the water level to help establish root systems. That was from a rep working for Current Culture, one of the major undercurrent system manufacturers. The reason I put off building my undercurrent is the complexity that goes into them is pretty extensive, so their words shouldn't just be taken with a grain of salt, IMO.

The only problem I see with different stones, and I've gotten into a huge argument on this forum about this before, is that smaller bubbles are NOT beneficial in DWC systems. The higher resistance will decrease total airflow, and I assure you (the thread I was arguing in was an experiment that proved this, even though the OP was denying it) that unless you are running a very shallow system with a high surface area, there was no need for micropore diffusers. The extra surface area makes no difference, it allows for a faster rate of dissolution but doesn't change the solubility, meaning it doesn't dissolve oxygen into the already-saturated water, and in fact ends up allowing less undissolved oxygen to pass over the root systems. The difference between solubility and rate of dissolution is what prevents micropores from benefiting us. In dwc, DO is not your only goal. After it maxes out around 8-9ppm, you can continue to add airflow and see benefits, even though the dissolved oxygen doesn't increase because its saturated. But more air is always good. So I'm not a fan of micropore diffusers, but I have no clue about the whole wood thing.

The same quote I mentioned for the water level was actually a response in regards to drippers, mostly for the purpose of establishing root systems, but it applies anyway. I just harvested a bunch of Tahoe OG's from some waterfarms that I modified, and to be honest I turned the drip ring off for half the plants when I put them into flower. No difference after a week or so, I ended up turning them all off.

Just had a good wake and bake, let me know if my ramblings are confusing.

OK.. I'll look again. Sometimes I get lazy on long threads and just glance at comments until a key word catches my attention and then read more deliberately. I really do try to look for the answers to my questions first to avoid asking the same question for the billionth time.

Is the goal of the airstone as much about water movement as it is O2 saturation? If that's the case then bigger bubbles definitely move more water. From what I gather the rule of thumb is move as much air as you can w/o tearing the roots up. May have to run a side by side grow of clones off the same mother to see if there is a noticeable difference. I've been keeping aquariums since childhood. Even made supplemental income breeding fancy guppies... don't laugh. I have oodles of air equipment, stones, pumps.... miles of tubing. Just going to use up what I have.

No worries, I'm the same way. I just didnt feel like looking back and reposting the same info twice.

Yes, to an extent more water movement is good. Hence undercurrent systems' efficacy. But in those, a water pump is used to move and aerate, airstones are added to provide oxygen well beyond DO limits. In traditional dwc, more water movement is good, but bigger bubbles only make it appear that there is more movement, because they cause more disturbance when they break the surface with larger force. In reality, the actual movement within the solution below the surface will be fairly similar between big/small bubbles. More airflow total obvious is what will change it.

Though, from what I understand, many of the microdiffusers actually cause the bubbles to converge into larger ones, negating their purpose and compounding their weaknesses. I cant remember the name of the term though.

Either way, just make sure you have powerful enough pumps and you should have no problems. IMO minimum airflow should be 5lpm/gal. So a 5gal bucket with 4gal of solution should have >20lpm. More is definitely better here.

Drop the water level after you don't need to top feed, maybe every couple of weeks in veg the first month

Void, you're the man! Lots of great info in here. Mad props ma dude

pasha718 said:

Void, you're the man! Lots of great info in here. Mad props ma dude

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Thanks brother all about the love and knowledge and truth

Sorry I checked out for awhile after my top drip question. Alot of mixed answers on the subject. Like stated, big plus for a seedling in a big net pot. I myself, use a 8 inch so top drip is very nice. Another thing I like about the setup is that I make my drip system myself using 1/2 inch cpvc and a very small pump. Pumps up, tee's into a square, and tee's into a single piece that spills back into the bucket. Small holes drilled into the pipe.

I can break loose the connections on the ring to clean it, and also helps me pump out the old nutes without removing the plant and roots out of the bucket. This really helps when the girls get big and removal is a pain. Flushing is a breeze because I just keep giving her water and the pump removes it.

I'm not saying the plants are going to be bigger and better doing this, but it does help me out tons on simple things like that. After using the homemade top drip, I would have a hard time not using it. I did grow a chiesel with top drip alone with no air stones and she turned out just fine.

first off hello everyone.ok i have been growing in soil indoors and outdoors for years and i decided to try a dwc grow to see how much diff there is ok now my prob is its not using any water its growing good and its got one hell of a root ball going but in the month and a half it has not used maybe a cup of water whats up with that

are you adding water everyday when you ph like I do? I add a cup a day at least, and it takes 2-3 months before they start drinking noticeably daily.

i check the ph daily it stays right around 6.0 but it did get up to like 7. something and i have took it out to clean to bucket like 4 times in a month and a half but as long as the temp and the ph. is ok i dont add water it just stays at the same level i foegot to say it started off as a clone

Hello guys, first off I want to thank everyone here, this has been a great thread and I have learned alot. This is my first DWC indoor and being located in a third world county sure does not help me acquire the needed equip I need. Heres my dilemma: NO NET POTS

10 bucket 600w. 3 week veg. Seeds are currently germinating and will be placed into rockwool cubes after 12-24 hours in distilled water to hydrate quicker

My answer: Skimmer basket from pool filter system a shown in pics. Measurement are as follows and pictures are included.(i will obviously be buying new ones, there are few diff sizes available also)

Diameter: 18cm OR 7.1"
Height: 8cm OR 3.1"
bottom diameter: 11.5cm OR 4.5"

Holes of the skimmer basket range from .2 to .4cm. Wil these be big enough?

Is this a viable sub to a net pot? Any better alternatives out there in a limited market? Even thought of using a pasta drain bowl(i know right...)

My buckets: ice cream containers from a local ice cream shop. (i will be duct taping these as they are a foggy white)

10L OR 2.63 Gallon
Diameter: 22cm OR 8.7"
Height: 29cm OR 11.4"

I will be cutting a circle in the lids in order to place the skimmer baskets or ALT into these.

Also since no hydroton I have purchased some expanded clay rocks also shown.

ANY and all advice/comments/critics are welcomed. THANK YOU!






Last two pics are of the bottom of my buckets

Any net/mesh cups can be used and worked onto a bucket lid

Perhaps a 3 gal. bucket with small holes drilled in the bottom ? Will require more stone. Years ago I used red brick broken in small pices. somethink to kick around..

Thanks for the reply guys:

This is my first time working with rockwool. I soaked the cubes for 30 or so minutes and I had to keep pushing them down as none of the ever sank. I held my hand on top of them to completely submerge them. As i placed each seed i also then re submerged for another minute or two before placing on the tray. Is this normal? I opened on in half and noticed is was also dry inside. I also placed a heating pad on the low setting below the tray. Also going the no Dome route. What do you guys think of this? It is in my closet with no light. All help welcomed! thank you!


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Here is my 600w room with a RockLock (bigger one) and a bag seed from a dank nugget. Just transplanted on Friday!

dont ever soak your rockwool.. rw is easily over watered and should only be rinsed instead

VoidObject said:

dont ever soak your rockwool.. rw is easily over watered and should only be rinsed instead

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you dont run into ph issues not soaking?