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Best thing I EVER added to my res...

Asotos

New member
Hahaha, i'm very glad I could help even that little ...
This guy is a genious, man ! From his posts, he must be a scientist or something ...lol
He pulls 180g with this method , just from a tiny cab !!!!!! o_O

I assume you love DYIng dude and this aquarium filter will get the job done much better.
It will cost some money (definitely more than GHE @ 75$) but it will be reduced, if you got some parts allready !!
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
Hahaha, i'm very glad I could help even that little ...
This guy is a genious, man ! From his posts, he must be a scientist or something ...lol
He pulls 180g with this method , just from a tiny cab !!!!!! o_O

I assume you love DYIng dude and this aquarium filter will get the job done much better.
It will cost some money (definitely more than GHE @ 75$) but it will be reduced, if you got some parts allready !!

man, I pm'd this dude and am hoping that he gets back to me asap. from just what he said and from what I know of my readings, theres a setup that comes to mind and it seems as though that's only way to treat each DWC as its own system or "tank".

it reminded me or a fishtank that I saw at a dealers house once, cat refused to clean his tank and the filter on there was safe to assume hasn't been cleaned in god knows how long. so what happened was you could see the airstone bubbling the poop up into the tank . . . now that gets me to thinking, if I could get the same type of action in a 5gl DWC with a bio filter in the mix then I should be golden.

the problem with all of that is its all speculation, if I could get that verification you know the "hey that just may work and heres why" from someone reputable then I would get started right away.

soooo hope this dude hits my pm back soon and its getting worse cause now im seeing all tupes of shit for aquaponics systems, I mean simple shit that I could do in a small space with the right tank/equipment. nice sized tank, some 6" pvc tubes, ive got the pump already, got more hydroton than I know what to do with. checked the other day and home depot has the lava rocks for $4.++ for a nice healthy bag enough to cover atleast 4-5 of the buckets, and getting 2 bags is not a problem, like I said before, just a nice layer of lava rock at the bottom of each bucket with the airstone in the middle . . . sigh

can you tell I love to DIY?! lol
 
N

noyd666

friend indeed, try using airline without stone, if noise is not a problem you will get alot bigger and better surface disruption.
 

Asotos

New member
It will work for sure ! I'm thinking the same, a nice layer of lava rocks at the bottom and then hydroton !! Both at ebb n flow buckets and small netpots at the veg system.
 

Keep goin

Member
Very interesting info indeed!

I'm thinking to get the Gh Biofilter and use BM ! I was also thinking to use mosquito dunks to my res as a preventative *measure to gnats !! Do you think the dunk bennies will interact (battle) the BM ? Or there won't be a problem ?
Or is it even possible to not need the dunks at all, with a Biofilter ?

Another subject is , do you still need the periodical flush to the plants/pots to avoid building*excess salts, in hydroton and the pot ?*Does the bio filter help in this situation ?

Also I see you don't *change nutes every week ? Only top offs and "adds" ? Did I understand that right ?*
And if yes , is this a kind of rule , or is upon growers decision ?

Thanx in advance guys , great topic indeed , well done keep'going !!!!*

Not sure about the dunks??

I don't do a periodic flush at all...same solution from beginning to end.

I don't change my nutes out at all...although I was playing with this before doing the filtering. So one thing doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other. If they start to "look funny" I will dump/clean and refresh my solution...but I haven't had to do that in some time. Not for the novice grower for sure...but if you have a good handle on your grow you can play with it for sure.

I add back 5 gal fresh water, then 5 gal of mix...alternate all the way until about 2 weeks left, then just fresh water add backs to the end. Not even a proper flush. Again advanced growers only.

I do have knowledge of the GH products you mentioned. I have tried subculture, I have also used great white as an additive. I had good results from both products, but made my res kinda "funky" by the end...lots of scrubbing when all was said and done.

The beauty of the filters is you don't need ANY of that stuff anymore.

I run GH 3 part with little else...foliar periodically with Floro+ or some other seaweed...that's it!!

Very simple.

Good luck...hope this thread helps out. Seems to have people talking/thinking anyway.

Good growing all!

KG
 

Asotos

New member
Alright !!!

Are you running just the filter, with no bennies and other additives ?
I'm going to use the GHE l
 

Asotos

New member
.... The GHE line as well and I was thinking about their bioflter. Do you recommend to run it without subculture etc ? Just as a filter ?

(sorry for the messy post, iPhone is playing games here)
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
It will work for sure ! I'm thinking the same, a nice layer of lava rocks at the bottom and then hydroton !! Both at ebb n flow buckets and small netpots at the veg system.

what I read at the thread had me thinking of putting some lava rocks in a net bag of some sort (like the bag onions normally come in) and lay it right over the airstone,

been reading up soo much on this aquaponics and am thinking about asking the guys at petco if they would be cool with giving me and old filter or seeding water.

I had the idea of making the lava rock bags, getting some fish in my tank, letting the rocks gain the bene's in the fishstank, then just placing the sacks in the buckets once they've been.
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
friend indeed, try using airline without stone, if noise is not a problem you will get alot bigger and better surface disruption.

I could give that a try.

just went to plant some seeds that sprouted from the soak. added some EWC to the perilite/vermiculite mix I normally use, hope to see good things in the future.

really wish this cold would let up, damn! next place is gonna be straight heat for sure
 

Asotos

New member
I believe , that even if you don't put the l.rocks in the fish tank , they 'r gonna create the microbes , if the find an airy solution ! I think it takes 2 weeks for the mic's to start making good populations.
The problem is should we (i) use any add on bennies like great shark, subculture etc, or leave it as it is ?
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
I believe , that even if you don't put the l.rocks in the fish tank , they 'r gonna create the microbes , if the find an airy solution ! I think it takes 2 weeks for the mic's to start making good populations.
The problem is should we (i) use any add on bennies like great shark, subculture etc, or leave it as it is ?

now this too is something I thought. when I get the lava rocks my plan is/was to add the regular GH nutes, lava rock layer at the bottom, 4" air stone and just let it rock out for a while. I cant see any problem with

adding that other stuff BUT as ive read (which seems to be accurate) that when you add them in hydro without the media then they just float around, get used up and you have to keep adding them periodically and that's where what your and my thinking comes into play because if all you/the bene's need is circulation (airstones), a media (lava rocks) then all should be well, which brings me back to my original question that you asked as well which is are the bene's for plants the same as the one for fish?

if there is no difference then I could, lol, head to petco right now!! BUT if there is a difference then Im not going to spend $80 on "blah blah" especially when ive got the same shit (literally) sittin right here just in dry form, you know? just have to figure out how to use it; when you make a tea you are essentially just making those same organic BB additives, but my thinking is that if you use the tea along with the media and airstone then those BB's are going to have a place to set up shop as opposed to just hanging out and leaving eventually and what you will end up with is a continuous experience as what the OP is having with his filter system with the bio filter in it. (don't just add a bio filter to the system let the system become a bio filter in and of itself, and if that theory is correct then what better place to experiment with it than in DWC where the most can go wrong)

I have found that sometimes the slimey build up will happen on the equipment with the water just sitting there, so if the slimey stuff is there then with the other bene's should be there as well, with the airstones though it would give the bene's/aerobic bacteria a fighting chance or at least some manner of head start. I understand that the bad stuff can grow as well, so I also thought that introducing some may help by way of the organics I have (was also on a search for how to do this as well). if I saw anything "poppin" I was gonna add 1tspn of molasses to be on the safe side and keep the bene's alive.

if ive been understanding what ive been reading correctly, the good stuff tends to need a stable place to setup shop (ie, the lava rocks) while the bad stuff grows damned near every/anywhere. be clear I could be wrong/ not entirely correct about that so im just speculating.

when I first started growing I was always in the habit of treating my water first so when I decided to do hydro I did the same. treated it all with aquarium water conditioner/ treatment (gets rid of chlorine and chloramine), then let it bubble for about a day.

when I read to OP's first post I figured, hell, he's running GH nutes too so I'd better get on the bio filter bandwagon as well as an added precaution (hey every lil bit helps right?) BUT I cant buy 8 new water pumps right now and if its all about bio filter specifically how could I emulate that for my situation which led me down this road of research and investigation.

Asotos- it seems as though you and I are on the same wavelength as far as the process and specific need of all this but I have to tell you I read something else that has me thinking as well: http://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka.html

veeery interesting read as well, and from what ive gathered, what he's saying is that you really don't need to worry about BB's when using chemical nutes in hydro only and specifically in DWC, only time you need to worry about BB's is in organic hydro or what I call hydroponic flow systems (ebb&flow;RDWC;NFT;aeroponics; etc) and not to worry about it in DWC BECAUSE of the fact that its a stand alone system and theres less chance for all of these organic changes to occur where there is less water to deal with.

if you look at an 8x5gl DWC as dealing with 40gl of water then your going be off, imo, you have see each bucket as an individual system. I could have done 12 sites BUT because I see each on as specific I only wanted to deal with 8 for now; once I test what I want to test and see what I need to see THEN i'll add more sites

now I have to admit, with my last grow, with all the power outings and what not that we get here in NJ I learned a lot about plants in hydro believe you me, and aside from the gunk build up on the tubing and the floaties that sit/sat at the bottom of my buckets, I really had no root slime or anything else to speak of to be honest BUT once again, those were 2gl buckets and now im going 5gl so my thinking is "better safe than sorry", I figure like that saying "more money more problems" so the same could apply to my DWC "more water more possibility of things going wrong"

now im thinking what if I just go straight GH (as I normally do), get the BB's that they sell in petco as an additive instead of the overpriced bottle of "blah blah", add the lava rocks and just let it rock out. since I should be good with just the GH (as I was) then if I get the bene's growing then cool, since the floaties are going to be there anyway right, let the organics do what they do with what they have.

and im seriously not above getting some fish in my buckets to create that environment for the meantime while the weather lets up so that the BB can at least take hold if they so choose to do so.

if it doenst happen then that's cool too, I figure i'll have the lava rocks to use when I decide to build the small aquaponics setup ive been thinking about. ive already decided that when I do set it up I want to have a swirl bucket and a lava rock bio filter BUT I still want to put a layer of lava rocks at the bottom of the 5gl buckets of that system. it may not be much of one but I think that the lava rocks would make a definitive/helpful difference.

tell me what you guys think. tell me im wrong, tell me im right, shit, tell me to go fuck off for all I care, lol, as long as I learn something in the end and grow better plants period then im happy as I would want everyone else to be
 
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Asotos

New member
This was a very informative post , mate !! And makes me think ...
The first think I wanna tell you, from what I've read so far , is that never NEVER should feed the microbes in hydro, as your not only feeding the bad ones (and you ll get slime for sure), you will multiply their populations rapidly ! There must be a balance , from what I ve read , too many bennies will finally hamn your plants and have the opposite results.

In my case , I'm going to run an ebb n flow sys, (multiflow-English sys) so from your post I see that added bennies (like subculture) will run good , unlike DWC style which plants having their roots continuously exposed to water. Keep goin' says that this stuff created some funky shit in his res. he grows in dwc , I think ?

Even like this I don't think I'm going to use any add on bennies, at least at the first times .
We ll see this . The whole thing needs better research for sure.
 

Asotos

New member
Hahahaha niceeee !!!!!
I was searching as hell yesterday night and I came up with the same link !!! :D
I even bookmarked it !!! I'm still about at page 20

Great thread a must read I think
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
This was a very informative post , mate !! And makes me think ...
The first think I wanna tell you, from what I've read so far , is that never NEVER should feed the microbes in hydro, as your not only feeding the bad ones (and you ll get slime for sure), you will multiply their populations rapidly ! There must be a balance , from what I ve read , too many bennies will finally hamn your plants and have the opposite results.

In my case , I'm going to run an ebb n flow sys, (multiflow-English sys) so from your post I see that added bennies (like subculture) will run good , unlike DWC style which plants having their roots continuously exposed to water. Keep goin' says that this stuff created some funky shit in his res. he grows in dwc , I think ?

Even like this I don't think I'm going to use any add on bennies, at least at the first times .
We ll see this . The whole thing needs better research for sure.

yeah I know what you mean, now this kinda changes the game for me in a great way. lol, do I even bother with a bio filter at all? maybe I could just add the bene's and call it a day? and not bother with the media since feeding an established coloney is involved, do I want to have that as an aspect of my system?

maybe if he does RWDC he would have a rez, but outside of that, if hes doing strict DWC then where the plant grows "is" the rez.

as for you, if your running chem nutes then you'd not need the bene's but if your dealing with organic nutes then you would want to eventually setup up the BB system for prolonged and future protection. I think for me im going to take a chance with the petco "BB in a bottle" and see where that gets me.

from my readings I don't even want to deal with the chance of introducing anything into my system that could gunk it up, even if its for a while. one Idea I had was to inoculate the rocks somewhere else and once they were ready and plants were not in the system let them sit at the bottom of the buckets, chill out and start taking readings of ammonia . . . but then ive gotta feed them and I think, do I really want to do that(adding the organic to the chemical) if things are fine?

so my question now becomes: do I want or even need a bio filter if im running strictly chem nutes? and with my last run I don't/didn't use any manner of additives and it the grow came out fine. my issues always arise when im dealing with power outages that go beyond my control. last run the power went out for about a week, the SWEET SKUNK I had hermied on me, the NORTHERN LIGHTS suffered on yield.

my very first attempt at hydro was with PRINCESS DIESEL and they were hermie plants form the start. guy I got them from said he just picked off the balls, as for me, I don't even want to deal with hermie plants period.

the things ive read about the starter additives is that the bb's are good for aquatic plants as well as fish so with that, im willing to give it a try

Hahahaha niceeee !!!!!
I was searching as hell yesterday night and I came up with the same link !!! :D
I even bookmarked it !!! I'm still about at page 20

Great thread a must read I think

yeah man, give you a whole different perspective and new information to consider in making your decisions. your good, I only read the first 2 (I think up to 3?) pgs. and my wheels automatically started turning.

I will definitely read all of what he's saying though so that I can get a better/full scope of what I either "should" do or what I "need" to do.

very interesting stuff indeed! im going to need the information for the future anyway so everything is being bookmarked! lol, I even know where to get the 175gl tote tank i'll need to house the fish; youtube playlist got bumped up by at least 20 more vids

im good for now though, gonna keep going with the GH nutes and do the "bio filter" stuff off to the side since its going to take time anyway
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
LOL, I think im just gonna make and EWC and use it as an additive

Asotos- I hit page 10 of the thread :
Quote Originally Posted by Shafto View Post

Thanks Heisenberg. Can the tea be made with only the earth worm castings and molassas? One less thing to order anyway.
Sure, you would still get a very diverse community. The other stuff just guarantees you have the disease fighting strains. If your goal is organic decomposition the EWC alone will be just fine.

lol, you know im good now right?

EDIT: pg13- "At first glance stresszyme seems to be bacteria cultures. It is actually encapsulated enzymes and intended to send the bacteria in your aquarium into overdrive. Products with bacteria intended for aquariums are probably not a good idea, since they often contain strains that remove nitrogen from the water. "

that answers one question I had

pg16: "Their reverse spray is also excellent. It wont do much for a true hermie, but plants that have developed male parts in response to stress are not true hermies. As long as the stress is corrected (light leaks, ect) reverse will cause the plant to revert to female, and cause any male parts to dry up and fall off."

if I only knew! DAMN!!!
 
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Keep goin

Member
In my case , I'm going to run an ebb n flow sys, (multiflow-English sys) so from your post I see that added bennies (like subculture) will run good , unlike DWC style which plants having their roots continuously exposed to water. Keep goin' says that this stuff created some funky shit in his res. he grows in dwc , I think ?

Even like this I don't think I'm going to use any add on bennies, at least at the first times .
We ll see this . The whole thing needs better research for sure.

No Asotos...I mainly grow in E&F tables covered with boards cut out for 5.5" net pots to drop into and top fed w/ spaghetti lines from a 1/2" line. Run feed 24/7. The advantage over E&F beyond better growth, is that the entire res doesn't need to be up top in order to feed. Therefore you have more flexibility with res levels.

I only run DWC as "extras" on the edges of the room.

You will not be able to run a hang over the side filter as I do with the E&F set up...the res will probably go too low during feed times to keep the bottom of the filter under water.

You can get a fully submersible filter to go with E&F.

And yeah, I said in my previous post NO additional bennies needed. NO seeding of the water. NO nothing. Just plug and play.

Keep it simple guys...

KG
 

Asotos

New member
It was really late and I was pretty stoned keep goin' , my sys in not ebb n flow (tables) its a flood and drain system with a controler bucket. Sorry lol

The hanged filter (GHE Biofilter) can be installed inside the tall barel, with a few mods and the submersible one too, I'm afraid though it might raise the res temps a bit ?
In veg system the res will be much shorter and I think a kind of tetra filter , will fit fine.

As you suggested I'm going to KISS it at the beginning , as I'm very newb I admit ..!!!
In the future I ll try bennies for sure. From what I understand so far that's the best way to grow once it's dialed in ... Let me point few benefits:
1. A system free of "the bad guys". (algae, RR ...)
2. A system that doesn't need h2o2 every few days and doesn't need to be sterilised at the end (same with hydroton I think, just a good wash/rinse)
3. FANTASTIC root growth , that leads to more healthy/bigger rootmass and eventually plants, that leads to less ferts usage (except phosphorus at bloom stage)
4. Less nutes , as you replace only 2/3ds .. (daily add ons from a top off res with mild nutes)
5. Less strong nutes
6. You can go with a little bit higher res temps.

A system like that is trully set it and forget it IMO, but it needs some experience as you see !!
 

Asotos

New member
@friend indeed:
Yeah man, tons of info in that thread !!! It will take some time to reach the last page though...lol ! Its worth every minute !!!!
I'm sure the tea will benefit the roots !!! That's the key for every successful grow mate , a nice rootmass !!!! (well not only that, but one of the major facts...lol)
 

FRIENDinDEED

A FRIEND WITH WEED IS A . . .
Veteran
@friend indeed:
Yeah man, tons of info in that thread !!! It will take some time to reach the last page though...lol ! Its worth every minute !!!!
I'm sure the tea will benefit the roots !!! That's the key for every successful grow mate , a nice rootmass !!!! (well not only that, but one of the major facts...lol)

truly soo much shit! for me and my needs/wants that thread is more along the lines of what I was looking to do. im on pg 36 and I have to admit im getting hit in the head with so many bits of revelation that its crazy!

ive already decided what I need to do, and im can honestly stop searching asking now, just read on. EWC tea and that's it!

never intended to want add too much. after reading that stuff I have a better understanding of how a aquarium filter (especially with a bio filter) would work in a circulating grow situation with a dedicated rez since either way things can end up back in the rez some how BUT not really necessary in DWC.

No Asotos...I mainly grow in E&F tables covered with boards cut out for 5.5" net pots to drop into and top fed w/ spaghetti lines from a 1/2" line. Run feed 24/7. The advantage over E&F beyond better growth, is that the entire res doesn't need to be up top in order to feed. Therefore you have more flexibility with res levels.

I only run DWC as "extras" on the edges of the room.

You will not be able to run a hang over the side filter as I do with the E&F set up...the res will probably go too low during feed times to keep the bottom of the filter under water.

You can get a fully submersible filter to go with E&F.

And yeah, I said in my previous post NO additional bennies needed. NO seeding of the water. NO nothing. Just plug and play.

Keep it simple guys...

KG

hey KG, thanks for starting this thread brother, ti really did a lot more than what it was intended to do, at least for me anyway. found a lot of cool information, as usual helpful ppl, and learned a shit load. love that about IC.

that bio-filter portion of your filter must be a beast! from what ive been reading its doing a lot more for you than you may realize, but I think you know already to he honest.

I know things are cool for right now and by god I hope they stay that way for the rest of your grows but if you really want to learn more man, you gotta check this thread out: http://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka.html

the problems that he talks about can hit anyone of us at anytime so its good information to not only have but understand. I think the first 20-37 pgs are good for anyone to know. don't know if its anywhere here on IC but with the information so disseminated around here its hard to tell.

I completely agree with you the more simple the better, i'll be using a simple EWC tea from here on out for my DWC grow, that should more than give me what I need for plant health and help to break down all the dead stuff so it wont become dangerous/problem in the grow.

I wanted to ask you, you run GH nutes, but those additives that you use, are they organic? do you know if they have any BB in it/them?
 
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