MarcelusWallis Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 What do you guys think about teh dwc version of the i.w.s in comaprison to the flood and drain, which do you think is better and will yield more? cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomberman Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 hey, i'm on my second run using the 24 pot, first run ran into problems never done enough research, ended up with root blockages all over the shop, being a noob to the system i thought it was nutrient problems, second run for sure i'm turning these pots, its not ideal though its very hard to get to each pot and do the necessary turns, its not good enough we need a better solution, the plants find there own place in the garden and put there shoots where needed, i dont like turning everything gets tangled and can lead to stems snapping, i check the iws homepage on a daily basis, they have the same info never changes, just says we are working on ways to prevent root blockages for good. thanks for the inline filter tip thats going to help alot of peeps. the best price i can see them for is £4.15 for one. definitely the best hydro system i ever used, just needs this root problem ironed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlock999 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 (edited) Try feeding more often so the roots don't have to go seaching for the water Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindie-99 Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Hey guys... Well I just put some water into the tank and had a wee trial run to see if all was working.... First off the drain pump was bumping and banging but I gave it a wee wiggle and it started to work.. SILENTLY.. so that was fine. One problem i have is that the drain water going back into the tank is like a broken toilet and pretty noisey.. I can clearly hear it running down into the empty tank... any clues how to fix this?? I had the same problem with the water going into the brain but i just added a wee bit pipe and it quieted down nicely. Second problem is I can clearly see wee bits of muck and dust floating around in the brain and in the tank... having read all your advice I can see that an inline filter will be needed... Can you tell me where to get them from and will I put one in the fill pipe and then one in the drain pipe?? As far as i can see this would cover all the water and keep it clean. The next thing I have found is that the pots dont fill up enuff to cover the top of my pots... how do I adjust the height of the water in the net pots?? This is only my trial run and ive found problems already.. thank fck I got you lot to help me ooot... many thanks peeps cindie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic TFS Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) Hey dude, The drain water loudness issue can be solved, or at least reduced. Hope i can explain this so that you understand what i mean. You know the white, smooth mylar you can buy at near enough every hydroponics shop? get a small cut of it (1m cut will be more than enough). If you cut a length of it that is long enough to reach say 5cm or so from the top of your pump at the bottom of the res and then wrap the one end of it around the drain pipe and secure it with a cable tie. Staple the other end together that is going to be dangling down by the pump so basically you have a sort of an extended cylinder. This should then sort the contact noise without causing any flow restriction to the drain. The water will hit the mylar making barely any noise and then trickle down the channel you've made to the bottom rather than free falling from a metre or so down. Other things you mentioned.............The water level flowing into the pots is basically self-levelled, once it reaches a certain point it shouldn't raise any higher. If you're not getting enough water to reach the top of the pots then chances are you've probably got too much of your growing medium in the baskets (i.e pebbles, coco etc). You want to have them finishing at the top perferations on the baskets, maybe a little bit higher depending on how you're planting into the system. I veg in a seperate tent first in root riot cubes and then larger rockwool cubes, my roots are sprouting through nicely so if i fill the pots higher then the roots will still be submerged enough for them to feed nicely. If you're growing in peat pellets for example straight into the system then to start with you need the water to contact the pellet/roots meaning you'd have to have less medium to ensure the water reached them. Hope that makes sense. The in-line filters are available online from various places (i.e Gro-Well) but if you're like me and don't like going anywhere other than you're local hydro shop then just go and ask them. They should either stock them or be able to order them for you. Hope that helps you. Happy growing! Nic Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindie-99 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 AWe fanx nic... That helps me a LOT... I have some milar in the cupboard so I will make the extended wee channel you are talking about when lights are on tonight... I veg separately too, coz I work from seeds but i veg in coco and in pots.... maybe I need to get a smaller pot for next time.... I am going to try a wee experiment and use Spagnum Moss as my grow medium... Ive heard it helps greatly with PH issues and also with root rot and other problems.. I dunno how it will work but Ive heard its brilliant for Hydroponic growing. Ive not bought the filters yet but i just needed to know where to get em incase I needed them. You've been a great help Nic and I will let you know how i get on with my first time flood and drain tonight... YEEEEHAAAAA Stay well n grow cool, dude cindie ps Im a dudette, by the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomberman Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 hey guys, could you clear this up for me, if i'm using 6 lanes for feeding from the brain pot, do i buy 6 filters and just attach them inside at bottom of brain pot? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic TFS Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 hey guys, could you clear this up for me, if i'm using 6 lanes for feeding from the brain pot, do i buy 6 filters and just attach them inside at bottom of brain pot? Hi Mate, You've got your 6 lanes with pipe running from the outside of the brain to the first set of pots.........cut the pipe close to the outlets on the brain, insert an in-line filter (making sure you follow the flow diagram thats on the filter to make sure its the right way around) then cut out the excess bit of pipe you have and connect that to the other side of the filter. Sorted! Nic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomberman Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) ahhh bisto! nice one nic brah. Edited March 31, 2011 by Owderb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomberman Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 hey guys, i have no idea if this has been done/ tried before, anyone think you could cut up a pair of ladies tights and secure them on to the feed pipe in each pot with a cable tie, to eliminate the need to turn pots and stop roots blocking? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopey Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Hello all Am after a bit of advice please { first time IWS user } I am running an IWS system with 16 pots on I am 2 weeks into veg { 18/6 } at the moment and plant height of about 12" all round I flood 5 times a day at the following time {every 4 hours } none at night 6am / 10am / 2pm / 6pm / 10pm would I benefit if I increased my flood times to every 3 hours to 7 times a day 6am / 9am / 12noon/ 3pm / 6pm/ 9pm / 12pm do you think that would be better or do I leave it as it is { I am using clays pebbles with a 4" grodan cube } I am just not sure if am using the Iws to its full potential cheers chopey :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dropafly Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Hi there i have a 24 pot iws system and think its the bollocks , i flood every 3 hours for ten mins and the girls love it ,been running now for 5 years and apart from a few teething probs its all perfect.As for the root prob i use an old pair of the mrs tights wrapped around the inlet to the pot, it seems to work well. As for cleaning out i just pull the rootball out shakeing off most or all of the pebbles and crunching it up with hand , i then put the remainder into a plastic tub to clear out any mass root and then just pour remainder back into pot , repeat this to All 24 pots , takes about 2 hours , i then use cannazym which breaks down old root mass into food and pythoff as a sterilizer , system ready, just got to make sure to keep the ec down as this will surely raise with the cannazym takin effect , hey this works for me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace1000 Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) Great stuff i was wondering about this mysrlf How much Canazyme do you add and how much pythoff do you add? I have been doing somthing similar but only using high doses of oxyplus, then adding reguarly. However there are some problems with yellowing leaves on a friends grow who does what i do, we are trying to get to the bottom of this and have come up with 2 possibilities - not changing the pebbles has caused this or (as recently tried) trying to put the plants straight into bloom with out a veg period in the IWS has meant the roots can't support the high growth/bloom rate of IWS? Ant thoughts? Have you ever done a complete change in pebbles? Edited April 9, 2011 by Owderb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopey Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Hello All bit of advice if you could be so kind I am about to go 12/12on sunday they are about 17/18 inch in height all round { 16 pots } after about 23 days Veg I have been using vega A vega B with some rhizotonic and some silicon but main just topping up my tank with A and b my question is How do I add additives correctly if I am using a recirculating system {IWS} as I am because my system needs topping up every 3 days to keep above the 3/4 mark in the res so when I fill my res I add the additives then my A then B the PH down then its ok for a few days then water goes down my ph rises and my EC goes down so I add more water then A then B and no more additives cos am not sure were on up to if you catch my drift thanks in advance chopey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace1000 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) What additives are you adding? I don't use rhizotonic once in flower unless they are stressed, i normally add bloom 4 times (week 3,4,5,6) and flush for week 8. Edited April 9, 2011 by Owderb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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