What do i need with AN 3 series for RDWC

Ok 930 og i def see your point on that and i have been training plants for years in soil so i believe in a strong low stress training regimens so I’m sure i will get pretty large plants out of these two buckets and those will be very hard to open up to check with any pens lol. Speaking of how in the fuck am i going to get a full res change on them when i have them fully grown out and netted ? I bought a handheld water pump that will pull out 95% of water from just sucking it out of water res. (Leaving whatever lies beneath the actual drain plugs that connect the three res if that makes sense) would it be ok in the ending weeks when growth is to big to just drain all water i can with pump from water res then add water to the lil bit in each res that is left ?
i will def keep those post updated through out my grow so you can see what the ten inch pots do etc. and i will be getting those meters you suggested i appreciate that. And yes i will be double checking the ph of course as no company is totally honest anymore lol.

tangerine - unfortunately i have already purchased the voodoo juice for 80 bucks lol so i will be using it this grow for sure. But on top of my rdwc system I’m also running a single bucket dwc to document the numberson each and see how i feel about each application going forward. I have read on the bigger bud so thanks for the input i will probably grab that now that someone has seconded the quality of the product.
Pardon me for being a total newbie on hydro but I’m not afraid to admit my lack of knowledge and I’m a fucking sponge right now. So when you say AN goes on the 700 scale when adding Nutes what are you referring to ?
thanks for all input and time spent helping my learning ass out lol i know it will help me in making so many mistakes some “bad ass “. “Know it alls” will go through lol
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Typically a rdwc system has a large tote for the res. Outside of room on cold cement floor. Water changes ppm reading are all easy to do. Your 10” net pot is fine a little bit but makes no difference.
Build a two tote system. Say 15 gal in the tent. 25 as the res. 1.5” hose between the two at the bottom this is return line. Feed line can be any dark coloured rubber hose 1/2”. Feeds from res to plant tote. Very simple and cheap.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
The 700 scale is a reference to how the meter converts to EC. There’s .5 .64 and .7. So the world goes by EC. So 1 EC is 500 ppm on the .5 scale or 700 on the .7 scale. You need to find out which meter you have. By some 1000 ppm calibration solution and you’ll find out what u have.
 
Myke well i already spent a bunch of time and money on building my system. So i will run with it for now. And it fits the walk in closet i am using to try out this system and getting to know it. I have two other large locations i have big tent setups with soil going so when i get it down i def will do something around the way you are talking. For now i use a large ac in this closet so water tempe stay around 66-72 f just because the room stays cool with ac. I also am using mars hydro tsw 2000 so no heat to worry about at all. ( this is my first run with hydro and led lights just seeing if electric bill is worth the change) so this bucket system seems to fit my setup for now i included a pic of three buckets as well as my single dwc buckets the plants in background are just a friends autos im finishing up for him since they had to move places in middle of his grow so i will have the entire room in 3-4 weeks!
dope right now i just have the cheap dual pen readers off of amazon but idef will get that tester kit. And as OG suggested I’ll prob buy those monitors that i can keep in my res all the time and just watch it without opening.
These last 3-4 weeks preparing has been a mountain of information to intake and i enjoy learning so keep it coming for real man i am so excited about this sugar breath seed i got from Humboldt seeds it looks amazing and so colorful !
 

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Do you think i should add longer hose connections in between my buckets though i have a lot of extra of that black hose i bought ? Was thinking the plants may get way to big and too close since i do feel I’m pretty good/aggressive in low stress training my girls ! I usually get a ton of bud sites out of each plant !
 

93OG

Well-Known Member
It’s best to get as much of the old out of balance bacteria infested solution out before adding new. I’ve used a pump before, installed drains in the bottom of the buckets, used a shop vac. With the 6” pots I could slide the lid over enough to pump/ vac out the old stuff. For a while I had the buckets on a 4” platform with flush mounted drains in the bottom of the buckets with a inline pump and a valve. Worked really well. Don’t know why I stopped doing that. I use 27 gal totes with 15 gallons of solution in them.
I agree myke about the 1 1/2 drains. Don’t want roots clogging things.
 

Tangerine_

Well-Known Member
Ok 930 og i def see your point on that and i have been training plants for years in soil so i believe in a strong low stress training regimens so I’m sure i will get pretty large plants out of these two buckets and those will be very hard to open up to check with any pens lol. Speaking of how in the fuck am i going to get a full res change on them when i have them fully grown out and netted ? I bought a handheld water pump that will pull out 95% of water from just sucking it out of water res. (Leaving whatever lies beneath the actual drain plugs that connect the three res if that makes sense) would it be ok in the ending weeks when growth is to big to just drain all water i can with pump from water res then add water to the lil bit in each res that is left ?
i will def keep those post updated through out my grow so you can see what the ten inch pots do etc. and i will be getting those meters you suggested i appreciate that. And yes i will be double checking the ph of course as no company is totally honest anymore lol.

tangerine - unfortunately i have already purchased the voodoo juice for 80 bucks lol so i will be using it this grow for sure. But on top of my rdwc system I’m also running a single bucket dwc to document the numberson each and see how i feel about each application going forward. I have read on the bigger bud so thanks for the input i will probably grab that now that someone has seconded the quality of the product.
Pardon me for being a total newbie on hydro but I’m not afraid to admit my lack of knowledge and I’m a fucking sponge right now. So when you say AN goes on the 700 scale when adding Nutes what are you referring to ?
thanks for all input and time spent helping my learning ass out lol i know it will help me in making so many mistakes some “bad ass “. “Know it alls” will go through lol
Here's a link I had saved for the ODA lab results. Skim thru each one and you'll quickly see how the "guaranteed analysis" for many of our gardening products, can wildly vary.
They completed these test a while ago so its possible AN has stepped up their game but I doubt it and even if they have, to charge that kind of money for a beneficial bacteria is just fucking wrong. I dont want to turn your thread into another AN bashing fest so I'll just leave you this link to look over. And like I said, AN base nutes are fine. They have similar ratios to most other bases on the market.
But, when inoculating with microbes, it pays to shop around. Just as a comparison, check out the numbers for Bontanicares Hydroguard. The label guarantees 10000 cfu/ml while analysis showed 33000 cfu/ml! Its nice to see a product lives up to its label. I'd definitely use the Voodoo Juice. You paid good money for it, but if you really want the benefits of those microbes, go with Hydro Guard or Southern AG.
 
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93OG

Well-Known Member
You can lengthen the hose now or at a res change in the future it’s easy enough. I second the southern ag recommendation I’ve been meaning to give it a try but haven’t yet. A lot of people like it.
Don’t stress too much man with your dirt experience you’ll do well. It’s all about reading your plants. One of the nice things about hydro is if you have an issue you can fix it fast. If you make the right correction for what ever problem you’ll see improvement in hours in most cases.
i look forward to seeing your grow progress best of luck brother
 
Ok ok ok so here as you can see i already grabbed the hydro gaurd first thing but i was under the impression that voodoo juice is like a “root steroid” where hydro guard is to just stop root rot. So if I’m using hydro gaurd should i not use the voodoo juice the first two weeks of veg and bloom ?
And i have the hose to extend them right now so should i do that? I just was worried about pump not turning water through as well if i made them long is all? But if I’m going to extend them I’ll just do it before my seeds pop up in my Rockwool. So let a mfer know lol yes or nah lol and how long should i make them ?

93OG yeah as you can see i have the water level indicator on the res and i have a platform I’ve built to put them on so plannedon using that to drain the majority of water out during full res change. It will leave literally 4-6 cups of water throughout the entire system. Obviously perfection is best i know. But I’m kind of at my limit of add ons etc for my first run as i feel like my brain may explode if i press it with anymore responsibilities lol jk jk. But would like to just run with that the way it is. So do you think that lil but left over will be bad? I can use the long hand held pump to remove almost all of it besides tiny bit. If not how in the fuck will i be able to get my plants out of buckets when they are full grown? Any advice without adding more pumps or drains ? And once i get the whole system down through this grow i will be making a much larger system for my 10x10 gorilla tents at my main locations so them i will def have much bigger line hoses like the 1.5 as well as pumps for drainage.
I really look forward to this learning experience and the difference in yield etc from soil to hydro for sure and I’m learning so much i appreciate all this dam help !
 

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93OG

Well-Known Member
I would say that 95% of the time you’ll be fine with a few cups of old left over. It’s when there’s extra stress on the system like excessive heat or your air pump breaks or you get a bug infestation that the little things can screw you extra hard. Go ahead and extend the hoses now if you prefer then you can see how the system works with the longer hoses before your plants are big. If you pan to veg for 3-4 weeks I would make the hoses about 2’ maybe 2 1/2 feet. Longer veg, maybe 6” more per additional week. I thought voodoo juice was a beneficial bacteria. I only had one bottle of it back in the day and can’t remember too clearly. I do remember I used it as a substitute for hydroguard and it worked for that. And if memory serves it didn’t add any ppms to the res or maybe just a couple. I don’t see a reason you couldn’t run them both at the same time.
 

93OG

Well-Known Member
Here's a link I had saved for the ODA lab results. Skim thru each one and you'll quickly see how the "guaranteed analysis" for many of our gardening products, can wildly vary.
They completed these test a while ago so its possible AN has stepped up their game but I doubt it and even if they have, to charge that kind of money for a beneficial bacteria is just fucking wrong. I dont want to turn your thread into another AN bashing fest so I'll just leave you this link to look over. And like I said, AN base nutes are fine. They have similar ratios to most other bases on the market.
But, when inoculating with microbes, it pays to shop around. Just as a comparison, check out the numbers for Bontanicares Hydroguard. The label guarantees 10000 cfu/ml while analysis showed 33000 cfu/ml! Its nice to see a product lives up to its label. I'd definitely use the Voodoo Juice. You paid good money for it, but if you really want the benefits of those microbes, go with Hydro Guard or Southern AG.
Great link, thank you!
 
Yeah i read in it weeks ago but i remember them selling it in articles and videos i watched of other growers using it as a “root steroid” but i also Remember them using the verbiage of benefical
Bacteria as well so I’ll do some research on it for sure. And yeah i have been thinking about adding space and i got a bigger pump just in case i added more res to the system so it will be fine.
One last question
Should i put a third air stone in the main res or will that mess with pump ? And does it make any difference since i have two big circle stones in each plant res ?
 

Just Be

Well-Known Member
I use nothing but their Sensi Bloom (and their cal/mag) for both veg and flowering with excellent results. A bottle of both A and B gets me through four single plant grows. I also use 29 percent H202 every three or four days. It doesn't get much easier or cheaper.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Yeah i read in it weeks ago but i remember them selling it in articles and videos i watched of other growers using it as a “root steroid” but i also Remember them using the verbiage of benefical
Bacteria as well so I’ll do some research on it for sure. And yeah i have been thinking about adding space and i got a bigger pump just in case i added more res to the system so it will be fine.
One last question
Should i put a third air stone in the main res or will that mess with pump ? And does it make any difference since i have two big circle stones in each plant res ?
when you run out of hydroguard, get a bottle of southern ag garden friendly fungicide. same strain of bacteria but a million times more concentrated.
 

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
Hell yeah thanks brotha ! Yeah I’m def a heavy studier on my things before i roll with it instead of a lot of folks who rush it and just wing it. I have been studying rdwc and taking down information for 4 weeks now and slowly gathering my supplies so i have the best possible outcome. Very helpful response and those girls look amazing!
im running a chocobang and a sweet breath from Humboldt seeds. Then I’m going to do one regular dwc bucket (not recirculating) and add one of the 5 strands I’ve been running in soil (gorilla glue ,pineapple chunk , pin citrus express , cookies kush, or LA kush ). Will decide this week.
One more question to finish it off ! As far as res changes I’ve read the theory’s on how you watch ec as to how much Nutes girls are drinking as far as top offs go.
on yours how often did you do a full res change ? And how did you top off your res inbetween. I havea 3 x5 gal system 2 plants one water res with water pump and two circle air stones. Thanks bro
Those strains sound delicious lol. When I change my nutrient reservoirs I always just top them up with more pre-mixed nutrient solution and then test my waters PPM and try to keep it around 800 ppm in VEG 1200 ppm in BLOOM depending on plants size. You can experiment with different richnesses of nutrients in the water and see how your specific strains tolerate it.

What I did vs topping off my old bucket was I had a spare 5 gal bucket and I would fill it up with water, mix my nutrients in and then just lift the roots up out of the other bucket and set them into the new RES. I try to make sure tmeperature of water and ppms is very even so the plant doesn't get shocked. Also do it as fast and gentle as possible without letting the roots swing around in the air or anything like that. lol

Personally I switched to Auto-Pots with 50/50 COCO/PERLITE and ditched full hydro because I realized its way more work and way less forgiving than growing in pots of coco.
 

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
I've only cursed over this thread, but just a quick PSA - AN Voodoo Juice is a waste. ODA microbial analysis showed the spore counts were so low, they were undetectable. Same for Piranha and Tarantula. Its literally bottled water and truly "snake oil".
Look into Southern AG as a replacement for Voodoo

Their bases are fine and have similar ratios as others on the market but most of their supplements are redundant.
Budfactor X and Big Bud are two worth adding.
Oh and when mixing nutes, remember AN uses the 700 scale.

Thats all. Good luck and happy growing.
You want to avoid any organic or goopy products in your hydroponic growing system. Any of Advanced Nutrients root products are inferior.

Big Mike himself said his Rooting products are inferior to House & Garden Roots Gold:
I can vouch this and Heavy 16 Roots were the only noticeably working root products. Heavy 16 roots won't screw up your hydro system either or gunk it up..

The only additives from AN that I've used and seen results are Bud Ignitor, CarboLoad (sugar), B-52 and Big Bud and their base nutes of course.

If you want to run Silica a fantastic alternative to standard silica is going to be monosilicic acid aka MSA. Alchemist makes a wonderful and consistent SUPER inexpensive product called "Stout MSA". MSA is less ph volatile, plant available vs standard silica and also more stable with other additives. Always make sure to add any type of silica including MSA to your water before anything else. Never add Silica/MSA into your reservoirs before diluting & mixing into recommended amount of water.
1600576897357.png

Summary:
Avoid Organics in RDWC/DWC unless you're prepared to clean your system out weekly and constantly hope nothing plugs up or slimes up. Stick to the basics where possible.
Root boosters are good but not necessary in hydro in my own experience. If you do want a root booster run House & Garden Roots Gold vs AN additives (turantula, pihrana etc).
 
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calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
Ok 930 og i def see your point on that and i have been training plants for years in soil so i believe in a strong low stress training regimens so I’m sure i will get pretty large plants out of these two buckets and those will be very hard to open up to check with any pens lol. Speaking of how in the fuck am i going to get a full res change on them when i have them fully grown out and netted ? I bought a handheld water pump that will pull out 95% of water from just sucking it out of water res. (Leaving whatever lies beneath the actual drain plugs that connect the three res if that makes sense) would it be ok in the ending weeks when growth is to big to just drain all water i can with pump from water res then add water to the lil bit in each res that is left ?
i will def keep those post updated through out my grow so you can see what the ten inch pots do etc. and i will be getting those meters you suggested i appreciate that. And yes i will be double checking the ph of course as no company is totally honest anymore lol.

tangerine - unfortunately i have already purchased the voodoo juice for 80 bucks lol so i will be using it this grow for sure. But on top of my rdwc system I’m also running a single bucket dwc to document the numberson each and see how i feel about each application going forward. I have read on the bigger bud so thanks for the input i will probably grab that now that someone has seconded the quality of the product.
Pardon me for being a total newbie on hydro but I’m not afraid to admit my lack of knowledge and I’m a fucking sponge right now. So when you say AN goes on the 700 scale when adding Nutes what are you referring to ?
thanks for all input and time spent helping my learning ass out lol i know it will help me in making so many mistakes some “bad ass “. “Know it alls” will go through lol
I used the bubble bucket like this:
1600577433632.png

Every 7 days I would just tip that hose sideways and drain it into a bucket with a pump IN THE BUCKET. You don't wanna hook a pump to your bucket with living plant roots because it will yank those suckers out possibly. Basically just gravity drain it, don't worry about cleaning the whole tank out, you shouldn't have to as long as you avoid products that will gunk up in the res and not be absorbed by the plant.

If the plants drink heavily and you're getting down to ~25% nutrient solution in the reservoir then thats when its a good time to drain & change it. I know some people that would just mix a new batch of nutrient solution and top it off that way. Just gotta watch your PPM & PH because if stuff isn't being uptaken by the plant and just sitting in the bucket it will mess up everything. This is why I switched to coco.
 
Yeah Calvin i have that same water level indicator on my res that i can drain with and i have a hand held water pump that’s like a long wand to reach in buckets and suck almost all water out of my Reses maybe leaving 4-6 cups in bottom that’s combined over all three buckets prob do a full change and clean out buckets between vegg and flower. I would try those auto pots but I’ve studied this dam rdwc for 4 weeks and built my own system as well as a single bubbler like you have to just learn regular dwc at same time. So I’m going to run this and see how good i can get at it and then may def try those auto pots! Gotta recoup my investment and time first lol.
Man i hate that i am hearing many people tell me bad things about this voodoo juice as it’s the most expensive bottle of Nutes I’ve ever bought by itself . But I’ll prob just hydro gaurd. Although the voodoo juice does only call for two weeks in veg and two weeks in flower so maybe i can use it and it not hunk up anything ? As far as doing res changes by filling up new bucket and just transferring that won’t work with rdwc becauee i have lines between each bucket but def will work on my dwc bubbler for sure and i am planning on keeping my clean ro water in room with the system as I’ve tested water temps by setting 5 gal jugs in the room and they are staying between 64 f and 71 f. So res and spare water will be same temp. Just have to keep ppms close.
fuck there is so much more to this hydro thing than the soil I’ve been doing for years so i better get crops that blow my mind
I’m excited about it all for sure and I’m def excoted about flavors i have. I grew a sour d strand for 4 years and had her sooooo good and this sweet breath looks so much like it so I’m hoping it comes out like they show in pics lol
 
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