# Dwc For Dummies Explained In Detail



## loolagigi

ok, i have been asked to make a dwc thread for people curiouse on this forum.  everyone has a different style, this is the style i use. this is eiser than dirt imo with double the growth speed if done per instructions. 

you can use a storage tote or a 5 gal bucket.  i use a bucket, and thats what ill explain.  first off grab a 5 gallon bucket. you want it to be light tight. so the best way is to use a reflective material such as tape that light cannot penetrate. cover the whole outside of the bucket missing nothing. this is very important.  for the top of the bucket you can use the lid or like me i use a net pot thats the same diameter of the lid.  i like this better.  if you only have small net pots, cut hole for pot in lid.  then use the mettalic tape to cover the lid also.  this container needs to be 100 percent light tight.  

next, i use a 1.5 rockwool cube with a clone or seedling that has new roots just comming out of the bottom.  i place the cube on the on the net pot and sorround with hydroton. (clay balls)  fill your bucket with plain water until thw water level is 1/2" below the bottom of the net pot. i will explain why its 1/2" below the net pot in a moment.

now, your ganna need a decent air pump with either a round disc airstone baught at petsmart or fish store, or a couple small airstones.  the air pump will create bursting bubbles on the top of your water. this creates oxygen for the roots. they will hit the bottom of net pot. (as roots grow lower water level some. place the air stone in the bottom of bucket securing with sylicone. let dry. then drill hole through the side of the bucket near the top. run a 1/4" airline through the bucket to the air stones. then connect other end at air pump. plug pump in, and crank it up. if you got good bubbles your almost there.

depending on how far along your veg plant is, fill your bucket of water with your desired hydro nutrients. measure amount with ppm meter.  once that is done, check ph. ph in dwc needs to be 5.5-6.5. its good to let your ph drift from low to high allowing different nutrients to be "eaten" by your pants.  once the ppm, and ph are where they should be, place lid, or net pot on top, and wait. water temp should stay between 65-75 degrees. your roots will find the water after several days.  

I will never go back to dirt. ever!  right now i have a plant that is 3 weeks in veg from seed. i could never do this with dirt.......:holysheep:


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## TexasMonster

So, there is no pump to move the water/nutrients in and out of the growing container? Just an air pump that causes the water in the container to bubble? Is that right?

How do you decide when and how much to add water/nutrients? I guess you can just pull the net pot up to see if the roots need the water? 

What does the acronym (sp?) "DWC" stand for? Is it dry/wet/cycle?

I know thats a lot of questions, sorry about that.

Edited to add that I found the acronym spelled out over in the other thread. Thanks



			
				cmd420 said:
			
		

> DWC is "deep water culture"..enjoy..


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## bluealein56

check the ppm levels to determine when to add nutes,a nd just add water as needed. The roots will suck alot of that water up


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## stonedrone

All that you need is the airpump, it will move your water around enough, but you do have to change out the water/nute solution in the reservoir every week or two.


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## loolagigi

TexasMonster said:
			
		

> So, there is no pump to move the water/nutrients in and out of the growing container? Just an air pump that causes the water in the container to bubble? Is that right?
> 
> How do you decide when and how much to add water/nutrients? I guess you can just pull the net pot up to see if the roots need the water?
> 
> What does the acronym (sp?) "DWC" stand for? Is it dry/wet/cycle?
> 
> I know thats a lot of questions, sorry about that.
> 
> Edited to add that I found the acronym spelled out over in the other thread. Thanks


its that easy. no water pump, just air.  yes, just pull up the pot and stick meter in solution to check ppm, and ph.  and dwc stands for deep water culture.   ask as many as you want.


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## Pepper

A few things need to be mentioned.
The water temp in the rez must be below 75 degrees F and above 60 degrees F this is very important, also the air pump must be a large air pump or multiple air pumps, a 20 galon pump will not work for 20 galons of water in a dwc, it will work in a fish tank but dwc is not a fish tank, I use a 100 galon air pump for every 20 galons of water, also do not keep the air pump anywere near a heat source, such has a warm room, ballast, lights etc, do not use clear tubing even thou it could be used has a last resort black tubing is best.

No need to flush the system out every 1 or 2 wks, but if you are new to dwc by all means change the water and nutes every 1 or 2 wks, has experiance is gained and confidence levels are up, everything is dialed in, and trust me it is not easy, hydro can be very dificult because of trying to figure out nutrient levels specialy nitrogen a real pain in the ***, and keeping the ph steady. Not all strains are the same, some strains will suck up water and nutes like craisy and other strains do very well on a very light nute solution specially sativa strains, and some hybrid strains.

My advice to anyone that is new to hydro is start off with bag seed dont buy expensive seed because chances are you will not do well at first, and if you have to buy seed buy the cheapest seed you can find, and buy an indica strain they can take more abuse than hybrid strains or sativa strains.

Do not buy cheap nutes, do not be cheap on anything in your garden period buy the best you can afford trust me you will regreat it if you try to be cheap and can afford better nutes, equipment, etc.

I use either a black rez or cover the lid + rez with 6 mil black plastic.

When the proper levels of quality nutes are used the ph will never need to be adjusted, at first the ph may be aroud 5.2 or so but it will rise on its own, no need to touch anything, and the ph will be stable on its own, if you do not use the proper amount of nutes, or a low solution strenth like for a sativa strain for example chances are the ph will not be has easily maintained and will need to be adjusted manualy, and that can be a real pain in the ***.

I grew veggis and fruit in big farm for 20 + years and I can say that once the dwc is figured out and everything is dialed right down to the T its the best for growing, very simple system.


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## 2broke2smoke

Pepper said:
			
		

> When the proper levels of quality nutes are used the ph will never need to be adjusted, at first the ph may be aroud 5.2 or so but it will rise on its own, no need to touch anything, and the ph will be stable on its own, if you do not use the proper amount of nutes, or a low solution strenth like for a sativa strain for example chances are the ph will not be has easily maintained and will need to be adjusted manualy, and that can be a real pain in the ***.



I am interested in doing a DWC, so what u are saying is, if I mix my nutes correctly, I need not worry about my ph?  My current nute mix puts me at 4.6 after my ph stabilizes. Currently I have to let my ph stabilize after I add my nutes, then I have to add ph up to get to 5.6.  If I hit at this 4.6 in the dwc it would surely be detrimental to my root system, wouldn't it?  If not, how fast would it raise due to the airstone and just drift through the proper ranges?

2b2s


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## Pepper

2broke2smoke said:
			
		

> I am interested in doing a DWC, so what u are saying is, if I mix my nutes correctly, I need not worry about my ph? My current nute mix puts me at 4.6 after my ph stabilizes. Currently I have to let my ph stabilize after I add my nutes, then I have to add ph up to get to 5.6. If I hit at this 4.6 in the dwc it would surely be detrimental to my root system, wouldn't it? If not, how fast would it raise due to the airstone and just drift through the proper ranges?
> 
> 2b2s


 

First let me say that I only use Fox Farm nutes I use their entire hydro line, 3 liquid and 3 solubles, and yes using Fox Farm nutes I just add nutes and walk away its a beautifull thing I love it, the only pain in the *** is trying to learn the right amounts of nutes to put in the rez, its all a trial and error thing that takes time and costs money, but once the proper nute level is found, its a stress free growing experiance  untill you change strains to a light feeder and now all your growing stress is back   because either the plants are dying, getting nute burn, etc, i'll tell you hydro is not easy, not easy at all.

Everytime you add ph up or ph down to your rez you are addding salts to your system, and that will cause BIG problems in your garden either over time or right away, the plants will lock up and will not feed, they will grow at a slow rate, and your yield will be poor.

Unless your garden is 100% dialed in, proper co2, proper air circulation, proper temp, do not try a hydro system, you will get so stressed out it will drive you craisy.

The larger the rez the easier it is for the ph to remain stable, but also the more nutes need to be used because now you have more water.

I dont know what nutes you use, but with the proper amount of nutes you should never need to adjust your ph, In a hydro system I would only use Fox Farm or Canna nutes, because those are the only nutes that I have seen with my own eyes at "work" and that the ph never needs to be adjusted.

When you first start add the nutes to a spare rez equal to the one you currently use + air in the same enviroment as your garden but do not put plants in the rez, just sit back and watch to see what the ph does, at first it should be around 5.2 - or + a few points but it should rise on its own within 24 to 48 hrs to around 6 + or - a few points leave it alone.


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## pcduck

> do not keep the air pump anywere near a heat source, such has a warm room, ballast, lights etc, do not use clear tubing even thou it could be used has a last resort black tubing is best.



Why is black tubing the best? Does not black absorb the light/heat from your HID? Which in turns heats up your air?. I do not understand the purpose of removing the air pump from any heat source, then using black tubing?


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## Growdude

AS ppm rises the ph will fall and visa versa.

When using too strong a nute solution certain nutes are not being consumed by the plant and building up, evaporation can make this worse.
PH will be falling and thats telling you its too strong, now a certain amount of swing is expected and benifical.

When nutes are to weak the plants are consuming the elements causing the solution's PH to rise.

Proper feeding will maintain a stable PH but IMO you do need to adjust the solution if its outa the 5.5 -5.8 range. then just give it to your plants, a bit of PH up down will not harm anything im my experience.

Also a flushing out your medium every couple weeks will help make it all much easyer, Hydro is very easy with just a little maintenance.

Also finding the right PPM of your nutes is as easy as going slow and watching for burnt tips or pale green leaves.

This makes it sound so hard when it far easyer than dirt IMO.


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## Pepper

pcduck said:
			
		

> Why is black tubing the best? Does not black absorb the light/heat from your HID? Which in turns heats up your air?. I do not understand the purpose of removing the air pump from any heat source, then using black tubing?


 


 

The black tubing keeps* all* light away from the inside of the tube. I dont expose my tubing to my hid lights. By removing the air pump from the heat source it prevents the air pump from pumping hot air into the rez, if the pump is in a warm enviroment it will transfer that hot air into the rez and that will kill your plants, or stress them to the point were they will hermi.


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## 2broke2smoke

I am new to this site, but I have been in a hydro setup for the last 4 years and in soil/soilless mix for 15 years b4 that, i said i was curious about DWC not a newbie to hydro.  I prefer A/N nutes to fox farm, but that is just my personal preference.  I have done well with GH nutes as well.  I never let my EC go over 2 (EC is a better referance than ppm as it has no conversions, where there are 3 conversions for ppm) i also never flush and i have no problems.

Hydro is not harder it is faster.  What takes weeks to develop in soil develops over night in hydro.  Also u do not need co2 to be dialed in if u keep ur temps down under 80f additional co2 is wasted, now on the other hand if ur temps are out of control...but then ur room would not be "prefect".  

My original question was why i would not have to ph adjust in a dwc, it occurred to me that the addition of the air stone would make the ph a bit unstable and drive it up so no need to ph just wait on the drift .  My concern is that my mix puts me at 4.6 ph at 1.75 EC.  I believe this would injure my roots b4 the ph drift took effect.

2b2s


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## pcduck

I prefer to have my ph at 5.6-5.7 to start, by rez change the ph is around 5.9-6.0.

When adding more nutes, most the times, the addiction of these nutes will lower the ph. Hence the more nutes the lower the ph will be, before adjusting to 5.8 the optimal ph for hydro.




Now you got me really :confused2:



> The black tubing keeps all light away from the inside of the tube. I dont expose my tubing to my hid lights.



:huh: If your tubing is not exposed to your HID light there is no need for black tubing .. Just my $0.02.....


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## cubby

WHOA,
    I'm less knowledgable than i was when I started reading this thread:confused2:


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## TURKEYNECK

cubby said:
			
		

> WHOA,
> I'm less knowledgable than i was when I started reading this thread:confused2:


:yeahthat:


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## IRISH

y'all wanna see a dwc system in action? stop on by the Ducks nest anytime, then head on over to GrowDudes WW Monsters, then come on over to my place , and we'll attempt to show you how to get 3-5 O's per plant. plain, and simple...  ...

outta the three of us, GD has been at this style the longest. we always give props to the teacher. it was guys like these that we honed our style from, after seeing thier amazing pulls. ...

then another mj giant stepped in, whom was a very good long time family friend, and showed Duck, and myself the ease of DWC. that would be Andy52.  ...

come see for yourself what the hoopla is about. you won't be disappointed...

were all rocking a DWC grow at this time. you don't wanna miss it.:hubba: ...

( i pulled down 5 ounces on 1 plant on my last DWC grow. 5 o's dry!!! she was a short , fat, greasy little indica girl, by the name of Legends Ultimate Indica. a search will show you the results...)...

hurry on over, the shows are all in full swing as we speak...

i'll show you how to hook up a 5 gallon dwc bucket for under $20, and possibly cheaper, cause you may already have some of the materials just laying around the house...

...Irish...


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## loolagigi

TURKEYNECK said:
			
		

> :yeahthat:


thats what happens when people hijack your thread.


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## jamexican686

A question on the air pump! I was wondering what a good air pump is for about 6 5 gal. buckets? Should I use one or should I get like three cheap ones?


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## jamexican686

Hello I was wondering what air pump to get for 6 5 gallon buckets? I was wondering should i buy one or 3 cheap ones


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