Hey everyone! I am starting my first ever cannabis grow and decided to try DWC in two 5 gallon buckets with 6" net pots. I have been doing research for a while now and decided it was time to get started. I will be growing (attempting) 2 White Widow Auto Flowers from ILGM. My biggest concern is the nutrients but even after doing tons of research I still feel a bit confused, I have an idea of what I need to keep my PPM’s at during each stage but I’m not really sure what amounts that would equal out to as far as the nutrients go (ml/Gallon).
I am using the General Hydroponics Flora series (Micro, Gro, Bloom) and I also have GH Diamond Nectar, GH CALiMAGic, GH Armor Si, Hydroguard, and Humboldts Secret Flower Stacker (recommended by a friend)
Does anyone have a set chart they use for this series that would be willing to let me try it out? Or can give me an idea of what strength I need to use through out?
My setup is the follwing:
- 36"x36"x72" Tent
- Mars Hydro TSW2000 LED Grow Light
- 4" 190CFM Inline fan with Carbon Filter
- x2 5 gallon buckets
- x2 6" net pots
Also have a couple circulating fans for stagnant air, and a De/Humidifier if needed. After running the tent for 36 hours to test it out I saw that my temps and RH stayed consistent at 78 degrees with a RH of 55%. That was with only one 6" circulating fan running and my Inline fan on low.
If anyone could give me some feedback that would be greatly appreciated as I am super excited to start this grow and continue gaining growing knowledge.
Thanks,
Will
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Welcome to the forum 
General Hydroponics has feed charts on their website that will detail ml/gallon dosing. They work really well. I grew about 10 WWA using the advanced Flora series schedule about 3 years ago. I used the GH water farm DWC drip system. It is a good system but has it flaws.
I created a few journals on here a couple of years ago. If you search for my name, you can find them. Might help you along. I can try to help you out along the way and there are many folks here that grow in DWC/RDWC
Welcome aboard
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Do you have an air pump and air stones ?
It is needed for dwc and you dont have it listed is why I ask.
As far as nutrients there are feeding charts online if you search. I would start with 1/4 of what they say to use.
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Hey thanks for the welcome and I will check out that feed chart GH has to offer. I saw a couple of your journals and you had some nice grows man! I hope to be able to pull at least half of that. Hell even just finish the grow lol
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Hey! Yes I am using an air pump and stones, sorry for not listing. I’m using the Danner Manufacturing Supreme Hydro 8-watt pump and 1.5" stones. I am thinking of using two stones per bucket to ensure I have enough oxygen.
As far as the nutrients go, would you go 1/4 strength for the entire grow or bump up to about 1/2 once the plant hits late veg or flower?
Thanks
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I have a few suggestions: but first a bit of background…
DWC is problematic in 5 gallon buckets. The problem is that as the plant grows it starts to use greater quantities of liquid. A 6" net pot in a bucket only leaves you about 3 gallons of liquid: a flowering plant can consume 2 gallons a day which means you will be filling each bucket possible twice a day. That’s not fun.
Adding a check-rez and standing reservoir turns your space into an R DWC: recirculating. Now you can set rez outside grow space and will maintain proper levels throughout grow (1 1/2" below net pot) and can also manage for temps better.
Liquid temps should remain under 70F and plan on changing rez every two weeks if doing RDWC.
As to nutrients: GH is a good product line, use the correct feeding chart and if you don’t have already, get a decent digital PH and TDS meter. This is really necessary to mix your nutrients. When plants are small, run a TDS of around 400 ppm and slowly ramp up to around 750 to 800 ppm and hold there through veg. Depending on lights and strain you may be able to bump up to 900 to 1,000 in flower.
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To add a rez is simple enough to a dwc to make it rdwc. Just cost stops most from doing so on first grow.
It is possible to get through on just dwc if pails are changed enough and using hydroguard. Every grow environment is different and it varys from location to location on how well it will work without adding a rez.
As stated above it is a lot of work so be prepared.
I disagree on starting at 400ppm. I myself stick to 250 until the plant has a few sets of good leaves. First are cotylion leaves, then single blade leaves, then get a set of 3 blade leaves and go up gradually from there. It’s just easier to start lower as to not burn the plant up.
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My setup near identical to yours I’ve been through a number of grows in the buckets yes you have to check it like 3x or more a day adding water with si and Cal mag and hydroguard
in flower I’ll switch solution out more than once a week they love it.
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I run Current Culture systems now for my hydro grows. I use Advanced Nutrients PH Perfect nutrients. Never have to worry about PH creep. I don’t run these with a control reservoir (never needed one). I have the solo systems.
My GH Water Farm had to have a reservoir. It was impractical without it…
Best of luck! Get a couple grows under your belt and you will be golden
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Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely look into RDWC in the future as it sounds like it would make life a bit easier lol. As for now I will run a couple of grows with the current setup I have just to get some experience under my belt (reading my plants, buckets, etc) I have some digital thermometers to put in the buckets to keep an eye on the temps however I don’t have a chiller if they were to get too hot. Some people recommended frozen water bottles so I may try that if needed. I do have a PH and TDS meter that I just got calibrated.
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While you are growing these out do a search on this forum for ‘autopots’. I’m setting up my first run with them tomorrow. But there are a lot of good experienced growers going to autopots and Jack’s 3-2-1 nutrient line.
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Hey everyone sorry for the delayed response I was unable to comment for 21 hours due to being a new member.
But with that being said lets jump into todays update; we have some good and some bad news.
The good news is that our seeds arrived a few days earlier than the anticipated arrival date which was nice and very discreet.
The bad news is that I decided to run my tent again before starting the germination process to make sure I had consistent temps and RH again and this time we ran into a bit of a heat issue. With my light at 100% I saw temps rise as high as 83 degrees with my RH dropping as low as 40%. This was with my Inline fan running at different speeds (low, medium, and high) I know the fan is working because there was negative pressure in the tent and I can feel warm air being blown out of the ducting. I also had both circulating fans running so air would be moving inside. I decided to turn the light off and continue running everything inside the tent and lone behold the temps dropped down between 71-73 degrees with a RH of 55% and stayed that way for the rest of the night. Could it be that my light is just too intense or a poor duct work from myself? I am going to run the ducting out the window tonight so the air isn’t recirculating back into the room.
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You might want an intake fan blowing fresh air in too.
Update: Hey everyone! I made a couple small modifications to the tent to try and combat some of my heat and RH issues. I added some metal tape to my carbon filter connection point and duct points on my inline fan to help with any possible leaks and I will say that made a huge difference as I could instantly feel more air coming out. I now have that ducting running out of the rooms window so it won’t recirculate back into the room. Without having another intake fan I had to jerry rig something together to get fresh air flow going into the tent, so I took an oscillating fan I had and taped some ducting to it and ran into to the tent lol. (not sure how long that will last)
Results: Since doing these modifications I have noticed a drop in the temp of the tent from 83 degrees down to 75-76! I may be able to get it to drop another degree or two. My water temps were sitting around 70 degrees but I feel it will probably rise to the ambient temperature of the tent but we shall see. RH has been sitting pretty steady at 50%
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Another update!
Hey everyone back again with some exciting news… WE HAVE MOVED THE GIRLS INTO THEIR NEW HOME (The Tent). After testing the tent and keeping the temps in a decent range that I feel comfortable with; probably not the best but will have to do for now, I went ahead and started the germination process.
After soaking my rockwool cubes in 5.8 pH’d water for a little over 24 hours I placed 3 White Widow Auto Flowers from ILGM into 3 separate cubes. I had to make 3 make shift humidity domes from water bottles because my dog chewed up the dome that came with my tray a while back -_- lol.
The tray is placed under a Mars Hydro TSW2000 light at 100% strength approximately 50" (35" if they were already in their bucket) away with the ambient temp of the tent between 76-77 with the RH fluctuating between 38-40% (I am going to add my humidifier and try to bring that up and adjust accordingly.)
I am nervous yet very excited for this grow. Updates will continue to come as the grow progresses!
Cheers,
Will
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I use the 4"airstones three to a bucket but much more air pressure…
You’re looking good there. On your way to a full tent. 
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