New Drain to Waste Setup

[jnlockar]

Iv ran RDWC for years and it's been a pain to clean so Im making the big switch to a drain to waste. I built my own tables and have 1/2 tube with two drip lines per plant for total of 4 plants. The nute Res is 12 gallons with three air stones. 4 inch air intake from the window in and the out take is a 6 inch carbon filter through a 1000 watt cool tube and out. First run is a Candyland Peyote fem seeds from i49. Stay tuned

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Staying tuned

 

[Creeperpark]

How do you keep the cups from falling over?

 

[jnlockar]

Red cups are just what Im starting them in. I have 4 gallon smart pots I will be running them in. Also for nutes Im going to run the GH Flora series.

 

[BlackBart]

Check your runoff PH/EC it will tell you a lot about how your feeding your plants

 

[jnlockar]

4 out of 4 on seeds here we go. Running them under an Led till I get my light mover in the mail. I soaked the Coco with ph 5.5 water before planting the seeds.

 

[jnlockar]

Looking good got the light mover put in and running smoothly.

 

[Creeperpark]

This should be very interesting! I'm going to stay tuned in on this one for sure! I hope you don't mind?

 

[f-e]

The 1000w heater in a tube, is the wrong way round. You would almost certainly be better off with a 600 turned through 90 degrees without the tube.

A 1000 is about 130,000 but the tube looses about 20 of them, leaving 110,000 over the 92,000 of a 600. However the lamp is the wrong way round, as the light comes out the side of a sodium, not it's ends. This can be seen buy how bright the back wall is. This orientation problem puts them at about the same brightness, with the 600 having the better spread. No difficult hump in the middle.
About 250w leaves a 1000 through conduction, which can be draw away by a fan. So the heat gain is also similar.
Both will work about the same. However, the power used is irrational. Factor in the additional fan and poor reflector design. The 600 is probably the winner.

 

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Looking good got the light mover put in and running smoothly.

Cool! Like we're back in the noughties

 

[jnlockar]

DAY 5 started nutrients.

 

[Creeperpark]

How many ppm?

 

[jnlockar]

Feeding once a day the nutes Rez is at 540-550ppm. The first picture is the run off from the left and the second is the run off from the right side. Left came back 580ppm and Right came back 590ppm. The plants seem happy and growing. If anybody can tell me more about run off. From what I have researched the closer the ppms going in that are coming out means your plants are eating the right amount.

 

[BlackBart]

Your runoff will always be a lttle higher once you are on a regurlar feeding program . Its not uncommon and don't get too freaked out about it . I typicaly run a 2.0 EC and a 5.7 PH with my plants. If your runoff gets to high because of salt buildup you can always correct it with just straight PH water . drain to waste is the most exact way to grow hydroponically . I have over twetyfive years experience and would be glad to help you in any way that I can. Its very rare to see someone try drain to waste growing weed

 

[jnlockar]

Your runoff will always be a lttle higher once you are on a regurlar feeding program . Its not uncommon and don't get too freaked out about it . I typicaly run a 2.0 EC and a 5.7 PH with my plants. If your runoff gets to high because of salt buildup you can always correct it with just straight PH water . drain to waste is the most exact way to grow hydroponically . I have over twetyfive years experience and would be glad to help you in any way that I can. Its very rare to see someone try drain to waste growing weed

Thank you! Yea I love drain to waste its going to be so much easier to clean and reset than RDWC. Also it all breaks down and fits in the Rez totes for when my mother in law comes to town, legal grow just have to be able to keep the peace. Do you run 5.7 PH through veg and flower?

 

[Creeperpark]

Your runoff will always be a lttle higher once you are on a regurlar feeding program . Its not uncommon and don't get too freaked out about it . I typicaly run a 2.0 EC and a 5.7 PH with my plants. If your runoff gets to high because of salt buildup you can always correct it with just straight PH water . drain to waste is the most exact way to grow hydroponically . I have over twetyfive years experience and would be glad to help you in any way that I can. Its very rare to see someone try drain to waste growing weed

Those plants are freaking awesome BlackBart! I bet you got some killer stories and fun memories. I have to agree that drain to waste is the best and easiest. I'm still new but very interested in learning more. I'm going to hang out for a while, quietly and learn something from you guys.

 

[BlackBart]

Enjoy and yes I run 5.7 throughout .

 

[jnlockar]

DAY 10 since seeds planted. Flushed with PH water on day 9. First feeding of the week, nutes Rez reading 600-610ppm the run off read was 540-550ppm.
Nutrients are
FloraGro
FloraMicro
FloraBloom
Rapid Start
Dimond Nectar
Cal Mag
Floralicious Plus

 

[jnlockar]

Added a 5 gallon bucket to the system with just PH water so I can flush easily without having to change my nutes Rez. Also added one more drip line per plant going to transplant to 3 gallon smart pots at the end of the week.

 

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When flushing through the cycle I use low PPM like 3-500. Flushing with plain water can throw out your media cation exchange.. type thing