New into DWC, a few questions. (hydro)

kisiel

Member
Hello everybody, I've been reading about DWC on a lot of websites with guides, forums and many more for a long time, I already gathered most of necessary stuff, and I have a few questions to a pro growers.
1. I am about to grow the Pure AK from Female Seeds since I got not too tall box and this plant is short enaugh.
2. I am just afraid that the 600w MH/HPS will create too much heat in my box ( I have a fan but what u guys think?)
3. I am also woundering if I could main-lining my Pure AK's?

4. I dont have a RO, and I think will use bottled water its quite cheap but it still has 300ppm in it, it does have cal/mag in it but isnt it too big numer for seediling if i will want to add some nutes ? ( i want to make my 1st grow witout ro yet)

5. I will need to chill the water in my bucket with frozen bottles I think I can make it since the Pure AKs should flower fast and might make it (will it be a lot of work on this part? )

Here is a list of the setup:
- box that is 80cm/80cm/160cm
- ballast with timer for 400 to 660w
- 600w mh and hps
- hesi hydro nutritions
- ph / tds ec meter

6. How much yield could I get from one seed ? https://www.zamnesia.com/female-seeds/3448-pure-ak-feminized.html

Big thanks for answering.
 
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Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Your 600w will be hot AF if you do not vent with a ducted exhaust. You absolutely need an exhaust fan to pull some of the heat out unless you plan to A/C your grow area. May as well add a filter to get rid of smell while you are at it.
I grow in organic soil now but ran a dwc with success for a couple years. Wait until you do a couple grows to try & mainline; learn to walk first then run. Training plants for yield is the advanced class...
You don't need RO or bottled water in a hydro setup. Tap water should be fine as you are giving nutrients unless you live in a fracking zone or something. Wait until your plants are a full 3 weeks old from seed before adding nutrients and half strength or less is fine. You'll find what ppm is best for each stage of growth as you go along. The plants will tell you by their color of you need to add more or back off.
You can add frozen water bottles which will help but I found that it's better to change out your res every 10 days & use hygrozyme or similar additive to keep bacteria at bay. H2o2 hydrogen peroxide helps as well but only as a temp fix. DWC is a breeding ground for bad bacteria & that's why you will need to be vigilant in checking ph. If you cannot seem to keep the ph from falling you've got bacteria & you need to clean out everything including air hoses that can get clogged white white mucus. Wipe everything down wth bleach inside your res at every res change.
Expect an average yield of 2-6 Oz under a 600w depending upon how you train them and how long your vegged them for; there are too many variables to estimate yield from a single seed.
 

bryan oconner

Well-Known Member
your brand new . why dwc ? why not master a soil grow first ? dwc water temps have to be cool lot of opinions mine is suggested 62 f to 65 f steady. or will you throw a ice bottle in every 6 or 12 hours but if it gets to cold your done to . lot of people that run dwc systems I know run a mini split ac unit to cool the entire room steady 65f . some opt to run water chillers a 500 or 5000 investment . what nutrients will you use ? ph is critical chance root rot stem slime . why do you want to go dwc ?
 

kisiel

Member
Past few months i've been reading a lot informations all about Dwc mostly been focused on hydro, because It grows the fastest from all, I dont know much about soil or coco also been preparing for the hydro dwc, I have Hesi Hydro nutrients (http://www.hesinutrients.com/hesi-hydro-grow-chart.pdf) it seemed to me very simple as so I though that I could give a shot and if I manage to handle water temp I can be successful.
Im not sure yet how long will it all grow from seed to harvest time, and how much will water temp rise and fall

What about Led Lights are they generate a lot of heat?
 
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Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
600 watts in a tent is a lot, without very good ventilation. I would have.used LED, like around 300 watts, which would be great, and you can get one for around $250 (sell the stuff you have) Low heat and lower wattage (save money), with great light output, especially for a tent
Remember to aerate the shit out of the water, if you do, you will not have to worry that much about water temp. Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, but by adding bubbles to it with a nice airstone, you will be given the roots all they need.
Good luck, you will need it (lol)
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Trying to chill your nutes with frozen bottle of water is a major PITA. I made a chiller from an old water cooler. Took the plastic bits out of the cooling tank and use a fountain pump in my DWC tub to circulate nutes up to the tank thru a 12' coil of 3/8" tubing and back to the tub. Wrapped a thick blanket of white wall insulation around the tub and had to put the cooler on a timer as it damn near froze my tub. Not freezing but with 15 min on every hour and the cooler dialed down as low as it will go keeping the nutes at 65F is dead easy. Plants just love it. I'm pretty sure it would work to keep an 8 station RDWC cooled enough with all the pails and rez insulated like I did the tub.

If you are only going to do one plant I'd suggest DWC ScroG. Double your yield but as a new grower getting one to harvest successfully is your first priority for sure.

Good luck!

:peace:
 

kisiel

Member
So by buying Led Lights I will eliminate water temperature problems completely in hydro grow?, would I be able to leave the plants for some time ?
And what if I will stay with 600 mh/hps?
(im more convinced to buy thoes led's but idk yet)
 
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Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
No you can still have heat issues even with LEDs. The led you link to would be good for a single plant. I still think hid lamps give the most bang for the buck but I do use a few cheapo LEDs as side lighting which works great to expand the footprint of my 600w.
You can do dwc to start out with it is fairly simple way to go & will teach you to do hydro especially if you've already got the right equipment. After you get comfy with dwc try building an r-dwc or aero rail setup which imo is easier to maintain than a single bucket dwc. Then again you cannot get simpler than growing a plant in a soil pot which us why many begin that way but doing organics right requires some basic earth science knowledge better acquired through research and experience. You gotta start somewhere though and dwc could try your patience as it did mine. But at the same time help you to understand pH and ppms which are related as your nutrients will buffer the pH right before your very eyes. Good luck and happy growing!!!
 

Rooster802

Active Member
If your a lazy grower, run beneficial bacteria in your DWC. I failed every time I tried sterilizers, plants are living organic material... sterilizing is much more difficult (for me anyway). But 1ml of Southern AG Garden Friendly Fungicide (or anything similar) every day into your bucket will cover a multitude of sins. Buckets get a little hot because you left for a few days on a trip and nobody switched the ice bottles? No problem. PH gets a little out of whack? No problem. And the peeps on here will tell you $70 Mars LEDs are shit and you can't grow with them... but I just harvested 5 oz dry off a mostly unpruned DWC bucket grow under cheap LED lights in a tent. I'm sure cheap lights aren't as good, but for the personal/hobby grower they work just fine. And if you want a better one, that will be OK too. This is easy man, don't let the people on here convince you otherwise. Give your plants healthy bacteria, lots of it, no matter your growing medium and everything else is going to fall into place. This has been my experience and I hope your mileage is similar.
 
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