Offical IWS Thread

[nonaynever]

I run 24 using the same sized tank and I'm using the old style inner pots with the holes drilled but they are essentially the same thing. Flood just about drains the tank 220 litre tank, there's maybe a foot left in the bottom. Can lead to EC /pH fluctuations when they are really drinking so I've a second tank operated by float switch that tops up the nutrient tank with pH'd water automatically at every feed.

Hi laphroaig ,

could you explain how your second tank works , how much drains back into the res from the pots roughly after each feed ?

does it top up as the plants are being fed or do you have it set up just to refill once flood and drain has finished ?

Thanks in advance

[Laphroaig]

Sure be happy to.

The amount of nutrient returned depends upon the frequency you are flooding, the size and age of the plants and environmental conditions. I feed every two hours whilst lights are on and once whilst they are off, I estimate 95% of the nutrient goes back into the tank afterwards.

First you need a heavy duty rubber float switch, not the type you need to drill holes to fit, they just look like a big rubber lump on the end of a bit of flex. Makes life easy as you can use a zip tie to attach it to the pipe from the pump at the bottom of the nutrient tank to secure it and set the level by moving the zip tie up and down the pipe.

Then you need a second container, a pump and a bit of pipe. The float switch should have 3 wires, one is the live going in the other two are the normally open and normally closed poles of a switch that operates when the float changes orientation. You want it so the switch turns the power on when the float is hanging straight down and turns off when it reaches horizontal with the surface of the nutrient. Then with the nutrient tank full initiate a feed cycle, when the pots are all fully flooded slide the float down until it is resting flat on the nutrient left in the bottom of the tank.

Finally you can get an anti-syphoning valve the (grey thing on top of the top up tank) so if you poke the top of the delivery tube in the nutrient it won't all syphon through and flood you. Oh and make sure you put the hole for the feed pipe off centre in the lid or else the stream of water will hit your float switch forcing it down!!

So now I just add tap water to the top up tank between nutrient changes and do the pH, the tank has a pump and aeration to keep it nice and fresh, it even gets half an hour of ozone treatment every 12 hours to kill any nasties. Bonus is it gets standing time to reach ambient temperature and loose any chlorine, that isn't gone gets nuked by the ozone.

Peace

Edited January 31, 2012 by Laphroaig

[Ace1000]

Hi Guys

A little off the recent topics on this thread, but..

Someone i know has a simolar IWS set up as me, he is using 12 pots under 3 600's, however he has areally small area and the pots are so close they are almost touching each other. He maintains that he has no enviromental issues as such and can control the temps normally but he claims that the cold weather has impacted him and his last yield was at aprox 600g.

Now im using 8 IWS pots under 2 600's and im getting 750g.

I'm telling him till i'm blue in the face that less is more. If he reduced his to say 6 - 8 pots and allowed the plants to spread out and let light reach the lower leaves that he would in fact probably yield more than cramming in 12 pots and more light.

Can i run this past you guys and get opinions? Much appreciated!

[Laphroaig]

don't get frustrated with your mate. I think with growing it's a case of finding a method that is manageable and that produces results you are happy with. Offer advice if you are asked but never volunteer it. Look after your own and do the best you can, then let your results do the talking.

Peace

[tripleAponics]

The Best Thing has happened to me today. After using Iws for around 2 years now. i can say with great pleasure that i have sold it. No more small little problems that all help to wreck your crop.

[cindie-99]

The Best Thing has happened to me today. After using Iws for around 2 years now. i can say with great pleasure that i have sold it. No more small little problems that all help to wreck your crop.

Laffin out loud, Tripple

I was just gonna say that I cant wait til "i love my iws" ... its been a year and i STILL hate it.. lolol

THIS time though.... its gotta be THIS TIME i get it right

stay well n gro cool guys

cindie

PS niiiice wee xtra you built there Laphroaig... well done you!!

[superx]

The Best Thing has happened to me today. After using Iws for around 2 years now. i can say with great pleasure that i have sold it. No more small little problems that all help to wreck your crop.

which problems? surely if they were "small little problems" you could of sorted it..? did u tell the guy you sold it to of your little problems with it?

[Laphroaig]

The Best Thing has happened to me today. After using Iws for around 2 years now. i can say with great pleasure that i have sold it. No more small little problems that all help to wreck your crop.

Going back to growing in muck? .I'd be interested to know what you've decided to try next.

I think it's all down to finding something that fits you, I was awfully good at killing stuff with NFT. I got some pretty dire results from the IWS when I began too. However with hindsight it was mostly my own lack of knowledge that did the harm. Now I'm pretty confident I can turn around a fairly decent crop each time but that's with several years of disasters under my belt. It's all little things, but together they make a huge difference, sadly there's just no substitute for experience.

Good thing is that you are here. I could probably have saved myself a couple of years of heartbreak if I'd found UK420 when I was starting out. Anyway good luck whatever method you decide on.

Cindie-99 thank-you, I think IWS should sell something like this for all their kit as it makes a huge difference, pH and EC stay stable for days on end and all the changes in temperature, pH and EC that the plants experience are incremental and therefore tiny compared with throwing a couple of buckets of tap water into the nutrient tank each day like I used to.

Peace

[cindie-99]

Laphroaig... can you help me please??

Im heating the water with a wee water heater and the temps are sitting nicely at 19.5 degrees in the tank.

My query is

By the time the water goes into that pool of water in the brain and gets to the pots.... my temps are gonna be no where near 20 deg.

How do i over some this??

Anyone got any idea's??

stay well IWS'ers

cindie

[chopey]

hello all

A little of topic

but what do you think would yield more

I have the IWS system but I have just got 25 litre inner and outer buckets from IWS they are big pots but here is my problem it only floods to half the height of my new buckets i have measured it and it is 16 litres

so if I use pebbles I can only use 16 litres of pebbles but if I go 60/40 mix I can fill it all with 25 litres of 60 /40 coco mix

so what will yield more { under ideal conditions }

16 litres of pebbles { hydroton }

or

25 litres of 60/40 { coco mix }

if that makes any sense

cheers chop

[Laphroaig]

Sorry have been busy with work so no time to visit UK420.

Cindie it shouldn't be an issue, your pipes, brain bucket, etc should all be at the ambient temperature of your room or close to it. Sitting on a concrete floor for example may have an effect but it should be minimal, if you see 19c in your tank you can be pretty sure that that's the temperature the plants will be getting too.

Chopey, dunno mate, only ever used clay pebbles. Half or 2/3 flood is all that's needed, capillary action will get the rest of the medium moist and the surface you want to stay dry anyway otherwise you will start getting moss growing So I'd say go with whatever you feel most comfortable with. I use all clay pebbles simply because I like to recycle them between grows. Not having 20 bags of used growing medium to dump every time significantly increases my security.

Peace

Edited February 28, 2012 by Laphroaig

[cindie-99]

Yep thanks Laph... i had asked at the grow shop and they said the same thing

Cheers for taking he time to advise me though

stay well

cindie

[adddw]

so did the the tights method solve all the root blocking in the end?

also what would you say all is the minimum space needed for a 24 pot IWS, by that I mean the pots themselves not the brain.

P.S I usually LST them all to single canopy anyway and do 4 pots per lamp covering a 3x2ft space each

Edited April 6, 2012 by adddw

[Nic TFS]

I posted earlier in this thread about using various filters and what not to try and solve the root blocking issue.

After a couple of years of using the IWS system i've come to the conclusion that the best issue is to upgrade the whole thing to a DWC kit. there is simply not enough room in the pots to harbour the root system of a hydroponics grow. I've had great times and really bad times, certainly not enough stability to warrant not striving for something better and more consistent. Its a cheap upgrade and one you will not regret.

If you just upgrade the pots from whatever the standard size for the IWS is (11L?) with the DWC pots and tops (19L I think) they will cost you £9 roughly per pot. All you need then is an air kit which will cost you about £100 give or take a couple of quid. If you wanted to you could re-run the pipe work with the new flexi pipe as well.....its way better and if you need to step on top of it at any time it won't put anywhere near as much stress on the valve/connections as the old pipe they supplied me with.

Say you had to upgrade a 16pot system, the cost would be about £260 and i guarantee the rewards will be MASSIVE. more root space, easier maintenance, less growing media needed per grow, oxygenated solutions, easier clean down times.....the list goes on and on. The only problem you will ever encounter is dealing with the explosive growth and vigour the plants will respond with.

[Laphroaig]

I posted earlier in this thread about using various filters and what not to try and solve the root blocking issue.

After a couple of years of using the IWS system i've come to the conclusion that the best issue is to upgrade the whole thing to a DWC kit. there is simply not enough room in the pots to harbour the root system of a hydroponics grow. I've had great times and really bad times, certainly not enough stability to warrant not striving for something better and more consistent. Its a cheap upgrade and one you will not regret.

If you just upgrade the pots from whatever the standard size for the IWS is (11L?) with the DWC pots and tops (19L I think) they will cost you £9 roughly per pot. All you need then is an air kit which will cost you about £100 give or take a couple of quid. If you wanted to you could re-run the pipe work with the new flexi pipe as well.....its way better and if you need to step on top of it at any time it won't put anywhere near as much stress on the valve/connections as the old pipe they supplied me with.

Say you had to upgrade a 16pot system, the cost would be about £260 and i guarantee the rewards will be MASSIVE. more root space, easier maintenance, less growing media needed per grow, oxygenated solutions, easier clean down times.....the list goes on and on. The only problem you will ever encounter is dealing with the explosive growth and vigour the plants will respond with.

Seems a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me. I'm not saying you are wrong but I'd hesitate to "guarantee" anything because you really can't. Some of us do very well with the old flood and drain system, on the other hand I was useless with NFT. It's all about finding what works best for you and everyone is different as are their circumstances. DWC isn't for me for several reasons. I'm very, very good at killing air pumps, I usually kill at least one possibly two per grow as the rubber bellows split and they're useless and the only way to tell is to be able to see the bubbles. Strictly speaking you can get away without aeration in flood and drain (although I wouldn't recommend it) as the air is sucked into the substrate to replace the water as it drains ensuring fresh air gets to all the roots each feed, whereas from what I understand it's critical for each individual pot in DWC. I also need the substrate to stick my plant supports in otherwise the weight of bud causes them to collapse, as it is come week 8, half of my branches are unable to support the weight of bud on their own and it's critical at that stage that they are supported. Add to that the reduced stability from not having the plant anchored in sufficient substrate to prevent the whole thing from toppling over. I'm also concerned that DWC is far less resilient if anything goes wrong, with the bucket of pebbles or coir if your pump packs up or a float switch sticks the substrate retains a fair amount of moisture. You get more time to spot the problem before your roots dry out and die.

But good luck to you and I hope that DWC brings you results that you are happy with.

Peace