Theres plenty of bubbles. I just up the feed to 500 PPM. Hopefully that helps.
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It should help. Sometimes the seedlings āgo through a phaseā when they are really small, and take some fiddling to get it in the āperfectā zone. In my case EC .2 increase can make the difference between yellowish and looking great.
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Anyone know anything about chillers? I would like to get one to run 30 to 40 gallons. Iām okay right now just looking for one to run in the summer.
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I do not, but gonna start some research. Not sure how the hydro will do over summer. Iām still learning on it. Just 1 grow under the belt.
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I got away with it last summer but donāt wanna take the chance again. My buckets got up to 80f.
Cooked a couple plants in my garage last year. Was like 118 in there. Boxes where at 100ā¦ got a portable ac unit which made a huge difference. Iām good on that now just not sure about the hydro in there.
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If you can shoot for 22C on the canopy it should be excellent for growing. uh is that like 72F? The buckets will probably be a little cooler than the air due to evaporation, but even at 22C in the water it should be safe for even fairly large plants. Where the real danger lies, is in the oxygen requirements of the plant VS the temperature/O2 saturation of the buckets. As the plant gets bigger and needs more oxygen you could hit a point where the plant needs more oxygen, but the water is unable to dissolve the concentrations the plant needs. 30C/90F is the death zone. Youāre definitely taking risks over 25C.
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In the summer they like to keep the A/C at 24c/ 76f. I thought that if I were to run an inline fan I could get it down a little more to room temperature. So that might actually work. I made reflectors with card board and metal duct tape. On day I put my hand on the bucket and it felt damn near 32c/90f. So I made those. They work verry well. I really want to move my grow to the basement. I know the cold floor would help alot. I just worry about certain people that live with me getting in my tent.
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I run chillers. They are so valuable in hot climates for DWC. I run my nutes at about 21C. What did you want to know? I may be able to answer your questions.
I have about 30 gallons in each of my systems and I run a 1/15th horsepower unit in each. So i imagine they draw about 70 watts each when they are running. I recently double potted one of the systems (sit one pot on/in another pot of the same size) to create an air gap around the DWC pots and it offloaded the amount of work the chiller had to do by a noticeable amount. So i recommend doing that.
Sounds like it is time to re evaluate your house mates. 
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The double pot trick. Thats a great idea. I gonna do that myself.
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Temps are most critical in DWC. . Plants grow their best at 71Ā° f air temp. Water temps should be 65Ā° f. When I kept my room at 71 with fans, my water temps stayed 65. This last summer I had trouble keeping my room at 71 and the water temps raised outta control, killing several plants and stunting growth on others. I put 2 thin wood slats under the buckets for better circulation. Helped out greatly.
Use a nutrient that isnāt salt based. And hits at about 6.0- 6.5 pH without having to add any up or down
Feed at 1/2 strength, and little by little make solution stronger until just the very tip of the leaf starts burning, and thatās it, the most the plant can handle without burning it up thatās pushing it full throttle then.
High temps cause all kind of problems that stack on each other
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This is verry valebale information. Thanks so much. I will start shopping around to see what I can fit my current buckets in.
@BudSy do you recommend any chillers in case I might have to buy one in the future. I shouldnāt need anything big.
I would have left years ago. Its just more complicated then that. It always is when it comes to family.
Hey @TheBubbleKing what nutes do you use. If its not salt baised wouldnāt that make it organic?
Thanks alot you guys for helping me think outside the box.
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I use the Hailea 130A it is a 1/15TH horse power. It works well. Is rated for around 50 gallons but if your space is not red hot then it should do more.
it sure is.
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I didnāt hook up my air stone to my minni yesterday. Oops. Everything is alright tho. She really picked up after I gave her some bubbles. It looks like shes getting darker green. Canāt really tell by picture so I wont post it.
NOW BACK TO THE HOPSCOTCH
Today I did a good bit a defoliation. Took allot of small branches that wonāt do much. I will end up taking more 30 days in. That will be the last defoliation. They look like they are responding well to the pre flower nute ratio change out I did 2 days ago. No more change outs untill flush. I came up with a solid plan to only do one change out per grow that I will put into practice my next grow.
When Iām comfortable and everything is going as plained I would like to try not doing a change out the whole grow.
For those that donāt do change outs: Do you simply just change the the nute ratio as needed to the water you add to you res. Not caring about whatās already in there?
Not much of a change as of yet. Keeping an eye out for those pitols. As long as I donāt see any balls Iām a happy man.
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I just made sure everything i put was at the same ph and dumped in. Gauged by the plant and how she responded. I know its not the right process but it worked fine for me. Figured the less I mess with things the better
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I donāt ever think thereās a right or wrong process. Just as long as your not pissing in your reservoir your doing it the right way.
There are methods better then others Iām sure.
Iāve just seen in the past that after I did a change out it looks as tho they like the fresh nutes. I dont know if nutes can get old in the res.
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Yeah Iām not sure. Once mine took off she was drinking so much that I just kept topping off everyday. It was scrogged also, so res change couldnāt happen easily. All worked out.
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I just pump my water out when I scrog.
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I had that thought also. This was a trial run so, next time Iām gonnado a couple things different to see.
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