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hydroponic General Hydroponics Water farm question

DarkTrak

DarkTrak

Going to be putting this to work here soon, was wondering if anyone that has used these before, just run the pump 24/7 or on a timer for some on and some off cycles?? I have heard different ideas.
 
Since I don't know the actual construction of this but if it has something in the bucket causing bubbles, my guess is to keep it on 24/7. If its anything like my set up there are two reasons for the bubbles. One is to allow for "popping" to happen at the surface which will cause the grow medium to get wet with the nutes you are using. Second is to oxygenate the water which will be more beneficial when the roots reach the water.
 
I mean as far as the drip goes. I cant regulate the flow with the pump they provided so I was thinking that since hot pepper roots like a less than sopping wet enviornment, It might be beneficial to have on and off cycles?
 
i have this kind of set up before ... i am guessing you are using rocks in it ?? if so i always had to turn off for like 15mins ... but if your room is hot then u might need to leave it on 24/7... do you have the whole kit??
 
What do you mean whole kit? It came complete with pump, hydroton, bucket, hoses, drip ring, yada-yada...Would an hour on/hour off be a bad thing?
 
I've ran GH Waterfarms drip ring timers 45 min on and 15 off day and 30 min on 30 off at night before. Haven't been running them at all at night this year. Never done a 24/7 run before.

Wouldn't worry about an air stone at the bottom of the res unless you have a huge mass of roots hanging down there. If the roots start turning brown and slimy, throw an air stone in there. The design of pump system for the ring aerates the water some when it is running.
 
I have a homemade DWC System running since April last year and I keep an airstone at the bottom running 24/7.
Haven't tryed turning it off for short periods of time but in a small container and with big plants its better to play it safe.
And I have to say that by the end of the summer, and probably because of the heat, I had very happy plants but with 1/3 of the rootball brown or dead.
 
DarkTrak said:
Does he also run an airstone at the bottom?
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Nope, but I've seen people do that. The water gets plenty aerated falling through the hydroton and back into the reservoir. The only modification my friend has made is that he's using a larger air pump because he's running 2 Waterfarms off it.

I've also heard of people switching the top drip to just an airstone and just using it as a DWC once the roots have grown down into the reservoir. Never tried that myself but I suppose it'd work. If you're going to do that I'd probably drill out a few more holes in the upper bucket so the roots have an easier time growing through.

I've got one sitting in the basement that I'm not using but I might have to dig it out and fire it up because I do like it. The only weird thing is the gurgling sound it makes as the water pumps through the system.
 
If it is the water farm with the drip ring, it needs to be run on a timer or you will have many problems with the roots. Slime growing in the buckets is another problem I have run into with them. I finally ended up tossing mine due to problems with the roots and the timers can be expensive due to the 15 on and 45 off that they need to be run.
 
rds040800 said:
If it is the water farm with the drip ring, it needs to be run on a timer or you will have many problems with the roots. Slime growing in the buckets is another problem I have run into with them. I finally ended up tossing mine due to problems with the roots and the timers can be expensive due to the 15 on and 45 off that they need to be run.
Click to expand...

What if I run it, hour on, hour off? is that too much?
 
It is important to note that, as well as providing oxygen to the plant roots, oxygenation controls pathogens and temperatures in the nutrient mix. I run my airstones 24/7.
 
willard3 said:
It is important to note that, as well as providing oxygen to the plant roots, oxygenation controls pathogens and temperatures in the nutrient mix. I run my airstones 24/7.
Click to expand...

In a drip system?
 
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