# DWC problem!



## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

This is my first hydro. I'm only a little over a week in, and I've changed the water 2 times already . The problem is my ph keeps climbing and the water smells like fish after just 2 days of changeing . I'm using phed well water 5.5. What can I do to fix this ?   Thanks


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## pcduck (Feb 15, 2010)

What nutes are you using?


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

Well nothing now the seedlings are only a week  and half but I did use olivias cloning solution the first time ,then I replaced it with 5.5 phed well water. I wasn't going to give them nutes tell they have 3 true sets of leafs. Then I was going to use botanicare line.  And Thank you for your quick response. I'm doing a soil ,dwc comparison and the hydros is growing faster.


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## pcduck (Feb 15, 2010)

Most likely the smell must be from the cloning gel unless your well water always smells like fish..When I do DWC I have nutes in my buckets if I have plants in them.


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## BioDynamic (Feb 15, 2010)

What exactly are you trying to compare?

With the unlimited amount of various soil recipes, each one would perform differently, giving different results, and when compared to Hydro, some soils will lack, others will come close to or correlate with hydro, and even some soil recipes will perform better than hydro.


Can't wait to see your end results though.


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

This is my first time so I'm up for any suggestions. I didn't use gel it was a solution added to the water. How much do you think i can feed them right now , the roots aren't even established enough to reach the water in the bubbler yet. so I have to hand water them right now. Thanks again PC, hope your having a great day.


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## pcduck (Feb 15, 2010)

I do not know what nutes are being used but I would have a weak solution of something in my bucket. I also usually wait until I have a good amount of roots peaking out of my plug/rapid rooter before placing in netpot. This way hand feeding is limited(a day or two).


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

Well BD, I'll be useing the FF series soil. Right now I have seedlings in Light Warrior and perlite 50/50. I will be transplanting with Happy frog and ocean forest and perlite 1/3 of each. I have use this soil mix for a couple years now. I think I got it down. So thats what i will be comparing to.


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

Yeah I thought I might have put them in prematurely. Thanks


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

Oh yeah , i was going to use Botanicare line .


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## The Hemp Goddess (Feb 15, 2010)

What is the PPM of your well water?  Many times well water is very high in dissolved solids (so, in essence, it is nuted water, you just don't know with what).  If your ppms are high or you do not know, try running distilled or RO water and see if that helps stablize your pH..


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

I don't know ,I just bought a new EC tester. But I didnt get the calibration solution, stoner move I drive an hour and a half to the hydro shop and totally spaced. Cant believe the saleman didnt suggest it. Hell he try to sell me everything else. Heading down there tomorrow.  And I'm pretty sure your right about the well water . What ppm should I have with 1 week old seedling?  Thanks


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## zem (Feb 15, 2010)

cant see where fish smell would come from except from the well. it could be bacteria thriving in that water after you put it in you res and air it, would be good to test that water anyway you dont want to be using this water for household without testing it, if ppm is not abnormally high i suggest you use disinfectant like H2O2 before using it


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

What ratio should i use the H2O2?


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## zem (Feb 15, 2010)

SicSativa said:
			
		

> What ratio should i use the H2O2?


usually 1% of H2O2 3% solution or 0.1% of H2O2 30% solution, check some faqs to make sure, i use the H2O2 30% solution i never go over the 0.1% and it still works at lower concentrations, however its not the bacteria i am targeting, i mainly use it to prevent larvae growth with no pesticides.


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## SicSativa (Feb 15, 2010)

Well I went and bought 15 gals. of distilled water. My wellwater has lots of calcium, its all powdery looking in the water at the bottom of the tote. I cleaned everything and put the babies in their new clean home . Funny thing is when Ichecked the ph of the Dis. water it was bouncing all over the place , from 4.2 to 6.2. It kind of settled at 5.4. I thought maybe the batteries were low but when I put it in the 7.0 cal. solution, it went str8t to 7.0 *** I'm going to give it an hour an check it again. So should I start a week nute solution? If so, how much? Im using botanicare line.  Thanks SS


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## The Hemp Goddess (Feb 15, 2010)

Seedlings do not need any nutes at all until they are 3-4 weeks old.  And then I start out with a ppm of about 150-200.  

I cannot imagine what would cause your pH meter to be jumping around like it was.  I have never seen distilled water with a pH that low--not that it couldn't be, but 5.4 is really quite acidic.  Do you have another calibration solution?  I calibrate with both 4.0 and 7.0  It is really impossible for water to change pH that radically, that fast.


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## MindzEye (Feb 15, 2010)

Whats the temp of your res water? Somtimes heat breeds bacteria and causes a fishy smell


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## ishnish (Feb 22, 2010)

i had a dwc with a similar issue...  but it took about a week or two for the fishy smell to really start...
the first time it happened, i cloned the tops of my four plants and threw the rest out and super cleaned with H2O2 then bleach.
made the res super lightproof and got the cuttings in when they rooted, then bout 3-4 weeks later, same thing happened..  so i just ran with it and it came out ok.  probably affected my yeild maybe, but the smoke was good n stoney.
I recently got the botanicare line myself so i'll be checking in.
 my next DWC is set to blast off near the middle or end of March.


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## emuman (Feb 22, 2010)

I'm not sure if this will help or not, but here goes
I have well water and for the most part my water smells and tastes... like water, occasionally it has a slight iron taste but for the most part its fine,
now the unusual thing is sometimes my dishes(dinner plates, bowls, ect) smell like fish, well not so much like fish, but like they were washed in a lake, you know like when you go camping? now I asked a guy at the local water softener place about it and he said," a water table  is an underground lake, and your well pump draws water from this underground lake, so as you could imagine it is not all that uncommon for well water to sometimes smell like it came out of lake", but any way he recommended a carbon filter under the sink, and what do you know, no more fishy dishes  anyhow hope it helps


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## LV_pothead (Feb 27, 2010)

It would appear that I am a little late on this post but I saw now mention of air anywhere. A lack of oxygen in the res will cause stagnent nasty water. YOU CANT PUT TO MUCH AIR INTO YOUR WATER!!    

*Edit* Also, the air will cause evaporation which will keep your res tems low!


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