Originally Posted by
NeCkRo
Hi All,
Long time lurker of the forum, and I am thinking of "raising my own" again after a 4 year break. I've previously only grown auto flowers under CFL's, so would be looking to make the jump into hydro/HPS 600w this time, given the 20oz + monsters that are regularly shown off by the talented indoor botanist's on here.
I'm just trying to get an idea in my mind but, essentially are the home made RDCW's easy to drain and change, given that the general advice is change your res every month. I'm unsure as to how this is done, is it a case of just draining the res via an outlet valve, or do you need to access and drain the growing buckets with the spray bars as well.
yes. I used to use a sump pump to empty the res. all the water from the totes will flow back to the res due to gravity. get a spiral hose from sump pump tho, not a lay flat one
oh and change the res every fortnight inflower and every 3 weeks in veg, to prevent build up of salts or too much micro/ macro nutrients.
Also does this mean you are essentially leaving the plants dry, pump to spray bars off, while you change and drain the solution. Are their any tips when designing your system for easy maintainence (a screen over the grown buckets outlet to stop roots blocking for example) that I should consider.
don't really need a screen over the outlets - just turn the net pot every few days to prevent roots in the outlet pipes.
plant roots will be dry when system is drained, but you will be filling it up again so no problem
Unfortunately as a newman I can't see the completed grow diaries, so am hoping there are other threads you could link.
PS Are the Amazon systems such as *REMOVED* (not endorsing seller for reference only) essentially a commercial version of a RDWC? how would these compare in terms of final yields etc
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