Offical IWS Thread

[Ace1000]

Im using only 8 pots from a 12 pot system so i dont use anywhere near the full res for each flood. At most in flower, i have to top up every 3 days. My system is in the loft so it helps my peace of mind to know that should there be a pump failure (as in locked on) the pots will fill right to the top and just into my spillmatts and not empty the whole tank over my floor.

I still get the benefit of a stable PH and EC as im only using fractions of a large total volume when i top up.

So it depends on how your using the system and location i guess

Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb

[Guest Shirley]

the large res is designed to be kept full no for growers to be lazy, its designed to keep the ph and ec stable as the larger volume keeps these stable by letting it run down your no getting the best from your system i constantly top up the res every 2 days max.also my iws system is designed as above from the manufacturers as the feed pump only goes half way down the res so it cant over flow.

love the system, only thing i will be doing different this time is to rotate those pots every day..root control "love it" shirley is it clay pebbles u use?

yeah clay pebbles as its wat they designed for.

[superx]

sme as "pebbles" but wit greens and "the manufacturers experience" using the bottom third of the pot with pebbles and the top two thirds as coco\mix will provide optimum results.. any one try this?

Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb

[weedp]

Yes, feed pump is right at the bottom of the res, might have a look at shorting it abit. Dont think it will be as bad this time with half the amount of pots, using 12 prob be able to put it half way up.

Had to top it up every day with 50litrs with 24 pots with a few drops of ph down and things were stable enough.

That 36 pot system must need a big space! dont envy you cleaning that out!

[superx]

space is roughly 4 metre by 4, with the res in the en suite, only clean it out at the end of haverst.. in between the veg and flower stage i would empty out the res roughly every 2weeks.. but yea the clay pebbles are an arse to clean in the bath "4 and a half bags".. worse when its the kids bath time..

Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb

[chopey]

cheers Rollitup

al think al get the 150w version

choppey

[troy]

Anybody used coco in this system as they sell it as an option. ?

[cov]

iws thread, sounds good.. about to start over again myself been washing system down the past 2days "36 pot" and having 2 clean out 4 and a half bags of pebs, looking forward to using it again, my only concern being is the roots getting in to the pipe work as what happend last tme.. have heard to rotate the buckets every day helps, i have the net pots with the copper mats in the bottom of them, but didnt matter.. you guys got a good soultion? love the system but cant get this root problem out of my head..thanks in advance for any help out...superx

if your system is anything like the one i used then where your feeder hoses leave the brain you should be able to attach a hosepipe to them from inside the brain then simply attach to a tap and hey presto you can 'jet-wash' your pipes clean. just be sure to keep an eye on all the pots if theres a blockage it'll fill up real fast. doing this should help cos you'll only need to undo your pipework where its blocked rather than stripping the lot

[cov]

iws thread, sounds good.. about to start over again myself been washing system down the past 2days "36 pot" and having 2 clean out 4 and a half bags of pebs, looking forward to using it again, my only concern being is the roots getting in to the pipe work as what happend last tme.. have heard to rotate the buckets every day helps, i have the net pots with the copper mats in the bottom of them, but didnt matter.. you guys got a good soultion? love the system but cant get this root problem out of my head..thanks in advance for any help out...superx

if your system is anything like the one i used then where your feeder hoses leave the brain you should be able to attach a hosepipe to them from inside the brain then simply attach to a tap and hey presto you can 'jet-wash' your pipes clean. just be sure to keep an eye on all the pots if theres a blockage it'll fill up real fast. doing this should help cos you'll only need to undo your pipework where its blocked rather than stripping the lot

made my life easier and i had a forty pot system over two rooms!! cleaning up was hell!

[cindie-99]

Evening dudes...

Ive just purchased a small IWS and am waiting for my babies to get sex before I put them into the system...

Thought I better join my fellow growers at the OFFICIAL IWS thread before I need your help

Ive been reading up as much as I can but its far nicer to talk to folk with personal experience of all the problems I might face.

Thanks in advance for all your help guys... lolol

Stay well n grow cool

cindie

[CHAN]

ive just purchased my 2nd iws, seems to be the mark 2 model.

[Nic TFS]

Hi Guys,

Really cool that a few people are going down the IWS route......i've been perusing the forums for ages but really want to start contributing and exchanging ideas with other dudes.

I've got an IWS 24 pot system and have had it for 2 years or so now. Gotta say, when everything is running smoothly the rate/quality of growth in these systems is crazy! I've had a few problems but alot of them have come down my grow space being somewhat awkward (1.3m x 7m).

One thing I would definitely suggest is connecting in-line filters to the main lines from the brain bucket. The smallest particles of salt/pebble can get trapped underneath the valves and cause them to stick. Sometimes its almost as if nothing is even there they're that tiny. This obviously causes the system to not fill and drain properly and is mega ball ache if not discovered early on. For an extra couple of quid you can invest in these and although they will restrict the flow marginally, they will modify your system making it even more fool proof. Your flood times may need to be upped by 1-2 mins depending on system size.

I've also had issues with the roots infiltrating the pipe lines. 1/4 turn every 1-2 days will definitely help with the roots blocking things up. It's almost as if the pots and baskets could do with being an extra six inches in height. The IWS bubbler DWC systems seem more sensible and have way bigger buckets by the looks of things.

Because the root growth is stupidly rapid, even at the end of a fairly long veg time (say 4-5 weeks) the roots are massive. I guess switching over to 12/12 at 12-15 inches will obviously help keep them under control a bit.

Nutes wise, I use House & Garden Hydro A & B with Canadian Express Regenaroot throughout near enough all stages. Canadian Express Potash through weeks 1-7 of Bloom and House & Garden Bud XL through the last 3 weeks. I will normally use Monster Grow and Monster Bloom additives sparingly through most of the cycles as well.

Anyway...........I think that's about it from me. It's great to be able to exchange ideas with other users of the system! Hope to see more discussion and technique sharing in the future.

Take it easy dudes,

Nic

[Nic TFS]

I also forgot to mention.......

The one strain so far that really sticks out as perfectly suited to this system is Dinafem Critical Jack. I run 600w per every 4 pots in my system so i guess you could say that that these particular seeds had roughly 800w of light between them.

I fimmed the plants really late (a couple of days after flipping to 12/12). Not only did they love it, they yielded a whopping 950g of dry bud! completely clean of any leaf. They were actually over-manicured if anything thinking back now.

They were probably vegged for around 3 weeks after transplanting into the system. I've got another set of Critical Jacks going in sometime next week so i'll try and post some pics and maybe a mini grow diary. The smoke was really strong.

As far as germination and genetics go Dinafem are a really reliable company from experience.

Are most of you growing from seed or clone?

Nic

[persuit-of-potancy]

hello uk420,

i'm pretty new to the site just been baffeld by some of the work put in and results achieved on the grow diary's.

i've especially enjoyed shirely's bondage chamber it was the first diary what slapped me the hardest but owderb isn't human he takes thi pi** with his masterful techniques cant believe some of the stuff he's done. where most would say NOT POSSIBLE he'll grab a tree shave it to un recognizable proportions to get a huge gasp out of everybody then just to take the pi** he'll shave it till which looked like a few leaves further down the diary my eyes popped out astonising work master. massive kudos to both of you.

I was hoping to get a little help from both of you as i'm at wit's end

(not that i'm turning down anybody elses help all is welcome and appreciated it's just these two posess great knowladge relevent to my setup enviro etc.)

Bit about myself i'm a family man with a mrs with professional career and also little baby girl, im not by any measure a criminal i refuse to deal with em, i'm a peacefull person and i dont like havin to see a scabb on a bmx for 0.9g of erb for £20 (idiots round ere pay it!!!!) i cant commit to puttin that kind of financial strain on my family to me that would be a crime so this is the only way of me being able to sustain.

been dabbling over the past few years at supplying myself it's not all been great but have got lucky on few occasions.

1st sucessfull grow using:

mother room: 4ft x 6ft

400w mh for few weeks before taking cuttings otherwise 125w cfl

had a stock mother flying dutchman POT of GOLD (miss her soooo much)

main room: 8ft x 8ft

2x 5ft triple duct nft system

4x 600w hps

12" rvk out 2x 6"in

i managed around 44oz off 36 ladys

2nd unsuccessfull then successfull attempt(all in same grow )using:

1m square flood n drain

2x 600w hps (sequentialy)

same ventilation as privious

here's the ,

started with 9 pot of gold they were pictures to look at half way through their veg (appart fram 1 which refused to grow over 4 inch) but i had an issue with salt build up in the top tray of my system which holds the things i flushed it then re admin'd the neuts few days later stuck my truncheon in the tray while it was filling and it was really high i thought if i could just loosen some of the build up off the bottom of the tray with my hand!!!!!!! while it was full of water it felt cleaner under my hand where i was rubbing but unfortunatly the ladys did not like it at all i must have f**ked the roots coz they paid me back by dropping dead altogether all except for 1 you guessed it the puny 4" thing sittin in the corner was devo'd but for some reason left it in. GOOD JOB , after 3 weeks she had litrally covered the table one big round ball of lush foliage then went on to produce 11 oz of some of the best herb iv'e smoked and i been smoking high grade for over 10+ years loved the fuely hashy taste from my pog lady though it's just stayed with me.

after that it all went a bit shit for me moved home and moved spaces with different enviroments and methods but it's not quite been working out for me. i have bought numerous expensive bookswith too much contridictive statements in em but managed to get a vast amount of thoretical knowledge but i feel im lacking in being able to put it in to practice

so about a year ago i decided to take the plunge and got the best equipment i could afford, but unfotunatly even though there has been quite an improvement its nowhere near so i'm hoping for some improvements with your help

lets go through what i got to work with:

secret jardin dr 2m x 1.2m tent

2 x 600w hps in cool tubes

2 x 6" rvk for in/out

primair enviromental controll unit

bluelab guardian monitor

have 24 pot iws system but been using it as an 18 pot, 9 plants in a square under each lamp

using b'cuzz full schedual inc bloombastic

sounds good but not havin a good time and im not affraid to admit it but im willing to empty my cup on any advice

looking for a good strain them tents get very dry at early stages humidity is an issue so help on a good strain to withstand airid conditions or some ways to solve the humidity issues practically (story time! friend of mine went to damm in 2004 brought back some of the cup winner WHITE WIDOW no matter how much u put in the biff u choked like f**k on every toke littrally 1 spliff knockout was reading owderbs post on ww is the dp ww anything like that if it is how easy is it to do? do you really have to flower for 8 week then 2 week with lights off to get the result as stated on attitude? or is there another very strong above average producer thats easier to do? my other issue is how many should i do in that tent 18 fits but is less more if you know what i mean? if you could start me off with them two bits hopefully i can get going and hope fully can post pics in a diary so we can see where else my tecniques are letting me down.

thanks for taking the time to read my story

[persuit-of-potancy]

he's right i put them on straight away also would strongly recomend cuttin both pipes fitting hoze lock connectors joined with couplers to the fill an drain pipes so much easier to empty and fill the res u just use a hose from the tap and clip it on to the drain pipe's coupler to fill it and get a hozelock water butt tap with the same hose pipe attatch put hose in sink open tap sitt on your ass!! its great

also the res can be completely removed for cleaning if necessasary

i'm no pro but these are simple observations which has made life easier.

220 litres of water not good for back's carryin it in 10 litre buckets .