Yeah draining through that tube is the best way to go even though it takes what seems like forever lol. The Voodoo juice could work for you I wouldn't waste it. You could always use it later? I'm going to compile a thread & log of my entire grow experience with AutoPots on this next cycle. I have a brand new 4 pot system coming in the mail today so I'll be transplanting 4 creamsicle plants into there from the same momma and using 50/50 coco perlite as a medium.
Yooo!! I love rdwc!! I just posted asking people about what nutes they thought. I have had several successful harvests under rdwc. I last used connesieur from AN . I used the AN micro gro bloom several xs I personally go sterile with h202 32% but if you are going microbes voodoo and hydroguard are great but I would use one or the other. They both are microbes. Hydroguard has fewer kinds of microbes but they are very specific to what you need in hydro. Voodoo has a bunch of different microbes. Personally I would go with the hydroguard but both are good. I think you should consider a cal mag at some point like cali magic, sensi cal, botanicare cal mag etc and definitely need a silica. The silica (cant remember the name)by dynagrow is awesome....the best for sure. Also rhino skin AN or armor si by gen hydro would work the silica is so good for making things super strong and able to deal with heat or cold better. That's my thought brother
Did you have any problems with mineral buildup using Advanced Nutrients Connoisseur? I plan to run this in my next Auto-Pot setup with no supplements.. I have technical grade h2o2 but I think with autopot that won't be a requirement? Not sure if I'm going to have a problem with gnats with this run since even my 10 gal pots of coco are being beat up even with deturrents like Plant Therapy and Captain Jacks Dead Bug Brew.. I'm running a "closed air" grow with co2 supplementation and a 3 ton mini-split to keep outside junk from coming inside. Hoping this next run is problem free I have had issues with what appears to be calcium buildup in my trays (white chalky looking stuff when dry).
No I have never had what I would consider to be an issue with salt build up..I definitely have that same white chalky (salt) build up and you will need to manage that for sure. I change my water every 2- 4 weeks. I know people change there rez even weekly but I have found that wasn't necessary in my experience. Res changes are necessary I just dont think as much as people do it. As for the build up I will take ph,d water and pour it directly into my net pots to give the top roots clean from sodium build up and then run just phd water through the res and drain before adding the water back with nutes at res changes. I have used dyna gro/bloom which is notorious for sodium build up. Either way you are going to get some build you just have to be solid on maintenance program and should be fine. Good luck brother. I know people dont like AN because it's cool to hate on them and it's not "organic" but the stuff has always been good to me and I still love the micro gro bloom by AN especially for the price. The PH of the connoisseur stays stable as stated but it is sometimes on the higher end of the spectrum like 6.2 ish and I prefer 5.8 either way I have had great results and plan on using the rest of the connoisseur that I have on my shelf
2 ways to go on with hydro ..microbes or sterile if you use anything like voodoo juice or hydroguard or tarantula or orca etc. But you have to reintroduce and rebuild your microbe flora every time you flush. On the other hand it's easy to F up your grow worh too much peroxide and it will.burn the shit out of you as well as your plants so do your homework if you ever fo the route of h202. I use it faithfully
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to give it a shot and plan to document my results. Do you think something like Sunshine Advanced #4 mix would work or would it be too retentive with water? I guess to compare its a quicker drying version than ProMix HP-CC. I feel like it's weird that you have to add clay pebbles to the base of the pots? I'm trying to use what I got and not have to go hunting down and washing clay pebbles and or rocks/perlite lol.
With those big net pot lids how much water will the 3 pails hold with the level at bottom of net pot?
i measured that the other day and if i put 10 gallons of water in the system the water comes up to right at the bottom of the net pots. So i would say to start things off they will hold 12 gallons or 4 gallons in each one but as the plants grow prob as little as 8 gallons to let roots stretch out. Earlier in the thread i asked if people thought that would be an issue with lack of space in my res for roots? Any thoughts ? My seeds popped today in the Rockwool so it’s about to be point of no return lol
Werd thanks brotha yeah i figure it’s only for 2 weeks in vegg and 2 weeks in bloom that i was going to use the voodoo juice anyways how much build up can that possibly cause ? I appreciate the support and alllllllll the lil nit picking and detail. I’m a fast learner and not a lady mfer so i usually figure out my failures pretty quick ( with someone’s help of course lol)
So I’m still unclear how the pump moves water? Is there air stones?I would run the system and check water temps add some nutes and see how the ph goes. Kinda a test run before you add plants.
Thanks man i appreciate the information for real. My seeds just showed their lovely lil faces this morning so I’m probably cranking this shit up tomorrow. I think i have decided to go with the trio ph perfect , a calimag ( prob GH) , hydro gaurd , and I’m going to try voodoo juice for first two weeks of veg and first two weeks of bloom. And see how things are going for a couple of weeks if they respond great and grow healthy I will look into other additives. Fucking excoted and I’ll keep everyone posted
So i placed the pump inside the main res with a 1/2 inch rubber hose that pushes the water directly into the next res and comes back to main res from tube to the left.
The cubes are still “damp” but should i get them wet with Nutes water ? Or do i let it dry out so roots grow out after water like in my root riot cubes ?
For sure bro keep me updated on that auto pot grow cause i def May go that route after learning this dwc shit. It seems like with the success I’ve had in soil (i know everyone says they kill it but I’ve had some mad success in soil) that will be a soil on steroids grow for me lolYeah draining through that tube is the best way to go even though it takes what seems like forever lol. The Voodoo juice could work for you I wouldn't waste it. You could always use it later? I'm going to compile a thread & log of my entire grow experience with AutoPots on this next cycle. I have a brand new 4 pot system coming in the mail today so I'll be transplanting 4 creamsicle plants into there from the same momma and using 50/50 coco perlite as a medium.
Nutrient companies tend to make their biggest money off their Supplements & Additives more so than their base nutrients. I definitely can vouch that hydroponic growing is definitely more tricky than soil almost always. Soil CAN be tricky depending on brand, personally I had horrid results with Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Happy Frog 2 years ago. They were infested with bugs from 2 different vendors in 2 different counties and had some odd PH issues that kept causing me to have overly alkaline runoff which was weird..
Anyways I have learned growing in mediums like Coco gives you the Hydro results but without the technical difficulties and you can treat it more like soil with additives etc unlike in true deep water culture where there are many more variables to keep track of.
Definitely earn your $ back before you switch to anything else, also always try things out. You never know the Voodoo juice might be fire I've had no complaints about any Advanced Nutrients products I Just know that even the CEO recommended another companies product over his and I do know that there are much cheaper alternatives that work better and in smaller dosages. Now remember too though Cheap isn't always better big difference between Cheap and Inexpensive to me at least.. Cheap usually you get what you pay for.
Keep in mind if you're doing Recycling DWC you will likely have more temps in your water from pumps etc.. Be prepared to look into a chiller. One of my friends who is near me in Michigan grows using Heavy 16 full line of nutrients in basic bubble buckets and he gets epic results. IDK how because I tried and couldn't swing it. I prefer COCO but to each their own method for sure.
Autopots can be finnicky too and do require experimentation mainly with how you prepare the pots prior to enabling the system. Medium used, ratios of coco or perlite and also some people fill the bottoms with clay pebbles or rocks/perlite but I do not plan to do that. I'm just going to run a 50/50 blend of coco and perlite so the plants can get a nice wet/dry cycle and feed frequently.
I'll make a note to update you in a couple weeks when the system is up and running. You got this.