My Hydro Questions. Your Hydro Answers???

HighSeeker · 09-21-2007, 05:21 PM

Well, I have many questions Im sure! But I will try to address 1 at a time.

Question 1: I have 5 General Hydroponics Waterfarms. These are the buckets with drip rings. And with the farms, I inherited a resovoir that matches them. I was hoping it would make watering much easier using the res. But, now I hear that the water needs to be changed out almost daily when the plants are in flower. I hear that the PH will be way off or that the plants will be uptaking so much that the water gets "off" very quickly. What is the point of the res if this is the case?

Thanks in advance for any answers!

Peace~

Highseeker

latewood · 09-21-2007, 05:51 PM

Well my friend. Whoever told you that was wrong. you have one of the best systems out there for what you are doing. It is tried and true.

Before we move on. I will say that using GH 3-part will be the best way to go. It has a PH buffer, and helps to keep ph under control. Good enough for NASA

Some background questions...
1. what type of water do you plan on using?

2. What nutes? Additives.

3. Do you have ph, and tds/EC meters? imperatinve to succeed in hydro
I'll be back to check your answers and advise further. perhaps Zandor will drop by also. Peace

HighSeeker · 09-21-2007, 06:29 PM

Great information. And as I suspected... Heck, I usually don't buy crap!

To answer your questions. And I do appreciate you asking...

Nutes: calmag+, GH 3 part, GH Floralicious Bloom, kool bloom, then flora kleen. Basically I try to match the GH chart as best I can. The supplement I plan to purchase next is Diamond Nectar. Maybe others? GH family... My OCD wont allow me to mix brands.

Water. Still undecided. I am still in setup stages for this grow. The buckets are empty at this time. My tap water is like 8+ pH. I adjusted a gallon down and it took quite a bit of ph down. I am leaning towards water from walmart. The uptake tubes get clogged and the water already creates deposits with all the nutes...

Lights I have available:
430HPS ballast. 430hps bulb, 400mh conversion bulb to the 430hps ballast.
250 HPS ballast and bulb
150 HPS ballast (no bulb)
About lighting. I hope to eventually go flouro or some other form of cooler lighting if possible. At least for babies and veg.

Equipment on my needs list: Henna 4/1 waterproof meter. Replacement cartridge for my filtration (which is adequete for my current setup).

* I am not growing anything in these at this time. I am waiting to get all my equipment before I do.

HighSeeker · 09-21-2007, 07:19 PM

This is the GH schedule I am trying to match as best I can.

latewood · 09-22-2007, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HighSeeker

Great information. And as I suspected... Heck, I usually don't buy crap!

To answer your questions. And I do appreciate you asking...

Nutes: calmag+, GH 3 part, GH Floralicious Bloom, kool bloom, then flora kleen. Basically I try to match the GH chart as best I can. The supplement I plan to purchase next is Diamond Nectar. Maybe others? GH family... My OCD wont allow me to mix brands.

Well calmag+ is made by botanicare, not general hydroponics. LOL

Water. Still undecided. I am still in setup stages for this grow. The buckets are empty at this time. My tap water is like 8+ pH. I adjusted a gallon down and it took quite a bit of ph down.

You should mix up a batch using the 3-part, then check ph...adjust from there

I am leaning towards water from walmart. The uptake tubes get clogged and the water already creates deposits with all the nutes...

this idea of buying water will cost you a fortune, and trust me. You will get real tired of that. If your water has too much crap in it, then you need to invest in a Reverse Osmosis unit. available on ebay for around 80 bucks. works great, then you control what is in, and ph is consistant.

Lights I have available:
430HPS ballast. 430hps bulb, 400mh conversion bulb to the 430hps ballast.
250 HPS ballast and bulb
150 HPS ballast (no bulb)
About lighting. I hope to eventually go flouro or some other form of cooler lighting if possible. At least for babies and veg.

Use what you have. much better than fluoro. 150 lamp would be great for veg. get bulbs. better quality light will pay off in end. look into ventilation.

Equipment on my needs list: Henna 4/1 waterproof meter.

I would invest in a milwaukee EC meter. I have an sm-302. and also use a Milwaukee ph pen. I also sell them at my site.

Replacement cartridge for my filtration (which is adequete for my current setup).

* I am not growing anything in these at this time. I am waiting to get all my equipment before I do.

You are on the right track. Your choice of nutes is excellent. You don't need to add more stuff. I dropped everything but this simple list:
GH 3-part - Mineral
Calmag+ - Organic
Liquid Karma - Organic
Hammerhead - Mineral
Superthrive is great for seeds, seedlings, cloning water, transplanting solution, for transplant shock.

Keep it simple, and small. you will get better results from simple solutions, and consistency of temps, and humidity. I think that keeping the humidity in the 40's is about as important as consistant ph. Other than that. it is a weed. Peace

latewood · 09-22-2007, 05:39 AM

Hey. I am going to copy/pasterevise an old thread I did on Gh 3-part, and a simple very successful hydro recipe. It had 1000's of visits, and still sits on frontpage of hydro forum at Cdot...Look for this "New Revised" thread here @ Stoner Forums.

A simple hydro mix. gh 3-part base, calmag+, Liquid Karma.

HighSeeker · 09-22-2007, 06:52 AM

Yes, I know. I figured you would mention that. The fact that the calmag+ is botanicare, not GH. I try not to think about it... It messes with my head!

All good information. Thanks!

I went and checked out your site Lakewood. I saw the meters. They are pretty inexpensive. ...and that poor boy on the homepage...

I will put the RO system on my needs list. I have been looking at them.

Questions:

How much water should be in the buckets? and resovoir when the drip rings are running? Not in gallons, but in water level. What would be the max and the minimum? I am wanting to run at about 2 inches deep while vegging. When they start uptaking a lot of water, I will increase the depth so they dont run out.

When does veg really start? When should I start counting weeks? If I have seedlings, obviously I cant throw em in veg for 3 weeks? I dont think they will be large enough???

I have more questions, but these are ones I am not finding while browsing the forums. Hopefully others learn a little from this thread. And I look forward to browsing the GH thread you mentioned posting.

Peace~

HS

latewood · 09-22-2007, 07:01 AM

I would google the manual for those buckets. I think you can find it. If you can't. Let me know. That is the best way to learn that set-up. I don't use those. I made all my old set-ups, and now that I am commercial. I use poly bags filled with perlite, or pine bark & sand.

As far as your other question. Vegging day count starts when you have 4-5 alternating sets of true leaves (nodes), and transplant to system. You never apply nutrients until this time. later.

HighSeeker · 09-22-2007, 10:23 PM

These are the nutes I have available. Just thought I would post a pic for clarification.

Peace~

Seeker

HighSeeker · 09-30-2007, 03:55 AM

I have answered a few questions I had over the last few days. All good info from Latewood and Zandor and a few other friends. Thanks! and I have done more reading as I like to do. Here and at a couple other forums.

The biggest problem I had with my last grow was too much nutes. I have really just figured this out. Basically, when adding water, I have always added water with nutes. And I felt this must be wrong as I knew there had to be some evaporation, etc of the water and no evaporation of the nutes. And I found while reading today, and after mention of something similar Latewood was discussing, that I should only be addeding PHed water to top off my buckets or resovoir. So, from now on... Nute change every 10 days. Top off in between with tap water PHed to 5.8 ONLY!

Peace~

HighSeeker

latewood · 09-30-2007, 04:45 PM

Great,

Now you have a solid plan. One more little tidbit about topping off...You have an 8 gallon rez. If you top off with ph'd 5.8 water between nute changes. Make sure you don't add more than 8 gallons before refreshing nutrient change.

i.e...You cannot start with 8 and add more than 8g without refreshing nutrient solution; So If you find that your plants are drinking more solution and you reach 8 gallon limit, you must shorten your nutrient schedule from 10 days, accordingly. So, if it takes 7 days, and you have added back 100% of original volume...you must do nute change. Hope this makes sense. back later.

HighSeeker · 10-01-2007, 01:34 AM

Yes. Thanks Latewood. That was basically my plan. I have actually filled the res to the fill line and the shutoff valve did quit letting water from the fill bucket to the resovoir. Then, I added 6 gallons of PHed water to the fill bucket. I figured this would equal about 1/2 what is in the res and buckets combined. I will not add more than 8 as you suggest. I understnd the nute strength will get low otherwise.

Thanks, for the good info. It is always appreciated!

Peace~

HS

latewood · 10-01-2007, 05:13 PM

I wish everyone was as easy to teach...On behalf of me and Z. thanks for listening. Peace

My Hydro Questions. Your Hydro Answers???

Hydroponic Cultivation