Hydro setup

Aqua Man said:

If you are using distilled you will need to reconstitute it. But you may not have to even use it. Google your local water report. Your local water likely contains adequate cal-mag and micro nutrients. So if you go 100% distilled you will need to add cal-mag and micro's like iron, manganese etc. Prob the best option if you have hard water is to mix it with R/O and not fully replace it (in my opinion).



I run at 68F you may need to buy a chiller to achieve this.


Great looking roots!!! Yeah some prefer sterile, I prefer to go with a bacteria but the 2 methods should not be mixed. There are reasons why some don't have success. I come from an aquatic background and have a lot of experience using beneficial bacteria to aid in growing aquatic plants. They are easily kept happy but can easily be killed off if you don't understand them. I mean personally i think the directions for hydrogaurd are made for marketing purposes and the culture of water changes in DWC would have to change in order to see more success. When you change out all the water at once you are destroying the environment and often killing off the beneficial bacteria then you need to re introduce them (aka buy more product) I think we are going to start seeing more and more use as hydro growers learn about it but I won't go on about it. 65-68F would definitely be a big reason for your success.

Bottom line if it works don't change it and you obviously are quite successful with what your doing.

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snoeman032 said:

So would the smaller pump keep the water cooler or warmer?

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snoeman032 said:

So what kind of water would you recommend?maybe spring water from the store?

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Aqua Man said:

They produce very minimal heat as they are very low wattage. The influence would come more from where the air is drawn from. Inside your tent with higher temps it may raise your water temp depending on volume 1-2F (This is an absolute guess on the amount). Airpump outside on the porch in winter at 40F will likely drop you temps.


I would use tap if you can depending on water report i would mix tap and R/O.

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Aqua Man said:

Not bad at all. I personally would go 50/50 if you already have an R/O unit but you could go straight tap. 50/50 gives you a little more breathing room and still will contain enough micro's that you shouldn't need to add anything other than regular nutes.

Just for reference if you bought your tds meter locally it should be 500ppm scale

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Mellow old School said:

You will love the power of hydroponics, once you go hydro you won´t go back....

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Aqua Man said:

Your not actually putting increased levels of DO into the water you are simply replenishing. The gas exchange happens at the surface from agitation so as long as you are getting decent surface agitation you are good to go. Most ppl think small bubbles will dissolve more O2 in the water as they rise. This is not true O2 is very hard to dissolve into water in relation to other gasses like Co2 so until some O2 is depleted your not likely to be adding much if any to the water. The reason smaller bubbles provide more gas exchange is the amount of surface agitation they provide. They are also gentler on the root systems. Either will be adequate but cooler water will provide a larger buffer to be honest the difference in water temp and size of air stone would probably have more impact as long as you have enough volume to run the airstone effectively.

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snoeman032 said:

Ok I was planning on trying a hydro setup but my question is if it’s sitting in a bucket of nute water when do you add more nutes? And If you ever change that water out?

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Dr. Who said:

Nobody has told you about the old school 33% rule?

A simple way to run a hydro system that is not thin film run to waste.... The idea that you have to dump and refill at some point is true. When has several answers and many "know it all's" saying things like "I never do. Just keep adding back." Yeah, sure - Don't try that!

You fill your res (DWC or RDWC or Flood) with your 100% strength nutrient mix of choice. You record how much that is.
As the res begins to lower, and you have to add back more,,,Add back a 33% nutrient solution!

Simple to make - Make a gallon of your 100% and add 2 gallons of water and pH this. You now have a 33% nutrient solution..

Use THIS 33% to add back to fill the res. Now as you keep filling the res back to your original "full" level. Keep a record of how much you add back. Once this add back amount reaches the same amount you used to fill the res. Don't add back, dump and refill that res with 100% nutrient solution and start the whole thing over again.

Same thing in bloom...This is an old school, tried and true method to do add backs and know when to dump and refill. The 33% is safe and won't burn or harm your plants. Simply adding back 100% solutions,,,,will in time.......Your not just dumping old nutrient when you dump but, waste material and compounds from the plant that can be seen by increasing ppm rates in the res.

As you gain experience. You can begin to play with your details to attempt to get more from your plant.... But, this works pretty damn good...

Please...Never use distilled water. NEVER EVER USE DISTILLED WATER TO POP BEANS!

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Aqua Man said:

Good info for a starting point, best used with a sterile method, I have never tried this but it has merit, is simple and works.

I use my own method for RDWC and i think its far superior to what is common place in hydro at this time and extremely simple as well as fool proof but does benefit from some extra equipment and requires more testing and adjusting.

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Dr. Who said:

It works for RDWC.... But, RDWC is started at what? About half the normal concentrations ratio wise..... You are right, it is more demanding to learn but, I feel the pay off is better then the others too.
If I was to go back to hydro. It would be RDWC and starting at my old RDWC notes too... Not going to happen at my age though...

You post well, very well! Welcome to RIU!

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kiwipaulie said:

I don't change my res in rdwc or dwc, I almost let the plants drink it all and then top up with fresh nute mix .

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Aqua Man said:

You must have your shit really dialed in but I wouldn't recommend that practice.

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kiwipaulie said:

I don't change my res in rdwc or dwc, I almost let the plants drink it all and then top up with fresh nute mix .

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RStone77 said:

Yeah, I basically do the same with Kratky. Never had any issues - plants keep drinking/feeding until there's nothing left. Personally, I never understood why people were swapping their nutrient water out every week. I think people just like shit to do LOL

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