Hi guys,
I've taken my first step into hydroponics with a homemade outdoor DWS set-up and have a concern and a questions that hopefully someone can hep with. I've been trawling through web sites and to be honest its information overload for me as I tend to obsess / over think these things, so I thought it best to ask here for piece of mind.
Firstly a little bit of background... The system I've built is nothing fancy, just a 50L black tub, with about 30L of solution and two 190cm diameter baskets. I've got a 400L/hr pump running two air stones (one below each basket). I've covered the box in white paper to reflect the sun and the temp on a 32C day in the tank is between about 18-22C.
For nutrients I'm going with chilli focus as I had about 5L of it lying around from last years soil grow. I've started out with tap water that has been de-chlorinated over 72 hrs.
Before I added the plants, I just ran the system for 72 hrs to get the pH set. Day 1 was to de-chlorinate. Day 2 was to assess and adjust the pH to 6.0. Day 3 was to adjust the pH after adding my nutes. My solution is running at about 800 ppm (1.6 ms/cm) with the nutes included.
Concern No. 1 - After the initial 72 hrs before I even added the plant to the basket, the solution is slightly cloudy (see below photo).
Is the semi-clear colour of the water normal after adding some nutes? Should I be thinking of trying a new batch of water (I've had two goes at the water before I added my 1st plant, both times after 48-72 hrs the water turned out like this).
Question No. 2 - I've taken a bhut jolokia I've grown from seed in a soil mix and washed off all the potting soil. The roots were white and healthy looking, but given the size of the plant and the matted roots its too difficult for me to get the roots through the existing holes in the hydro basket. So what I've done is splay them out as best I can at the bottom of the basket and surround them in clay pellets.
Do you think the plants roots will automatically move to seek out the solution below or should I clip out a few holes to make them bigger and push the roots through?
The reason I ask is I have a fatalli to go in the second basket and I'm worried I've ballsed this up and I don't want to kill two plants If I have.
Question No. 3 - An easy one, should I be lightly top watering for a few days if the roots are not yet in the reservoir, or do I just leave nature do its thing?
Thanks in advance for any advice / tips.
Cheers,
RM.
I've taken my first step into hydroponics with a homemade outdoor DWS set-up and have a concern and a questions that hopefully someone can hep with. I've been trawling through web sites and to be honest its information overload for me as I tend to obsess / over think these things, so I thought it best to ask here for piece of mind.
Firstly a little bit of background... The system I've built is nothing fancy, just a 50L black tub, with about 30L of solution and two 190cm diameter baskets. I've got a 400L/hr pump running two air stones (one below each basket). I've covered the box in white paper to reflect the sun and the temp on a 32C day in the tank is between about 18-22C.
For nutrients I'm going with chilli focus as I had about 5L of it lying around from last years soil grow. I've started out with tap water that has been de-chlorinated over 72 hrs.
Before I added the plants, I just ran the system for 72 hrs to get the pH set. Day 1 was to de-chlorinate. Day 2 was to assess and adjust the pH to 6.0. Day 3 was to adjust the pH after adding my nutes. My solution is running at about 800 ppm (1.6 ms/cm) with the nutes included.
Concern No. 1 - After the initial 72 hrs before I even added the plant to the basket, the solution is slightly cloudy (see below photo).
Is the semi-clear colour of the water normal after adding some nutes? Should I be thinking of trying a new batch of water (I've had two goes at the water before I added my 1st plant, both times after 48-72 hrs the water turned out like this).
Question No. 2 - I've taken a bhut jolokia I've grown from seed in a soil mix and washed off all the potting soil. The roots were white and healthy looking, but given the size of the plant and the matted roots its too difficult for me to get the roots through the existing holes in the hydro basket. So what I've done is splay them out as best I can at the bottom of the basket and surround them in clay pellets.
Do you think the plants roots will automatically move to seek out the solution below or should I clip out a few holes to make them bigger and push the roots through?
The reason I ask is I have a fatalli to go in the second basket and I'm worried I've ballsed this up and I don't want to kill two plants If I have.
Question No. 3 - An easy one, should I be lightly top watering for a few days if the roots are not yet in the reservoir, or do I just leave nature do its thing?
Thanks in advance for any advice / tips.
Cheers,
RM.