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Alien RDWC Setup and Testing


SKELE-TORO

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@@SKELE-TORO cheers for a nice, informative thread... always had my eye on an Alien RDWC!

A cooler is essential, especially where your'e living, Senor, nail it on 19C, you will find this will be the most useful, but the noisiest bit of kit you'll have. When I did DWC, I used a 3 inch thick piece of sofa foam underneath it but it still made a right old racket.

I had the Hailea 150.... shop around the aquarium suppliers and find a quieter one... if you can.

Best of growing karma for the grow, Bro.

Cheers buddy..

Hmmm was curious about the noise of a chiller... can't be noisier than the intake surly? You've shit me up now..haha... I'm right on my noise limit.

:fear: paranoia :fear:

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Looks good in there, mm tiled floors we should have them in the uk!

Pulling up a chair

hahah.. essential here.

If I had tiled floors when I was in the UK though, I never would have got out of bed!!

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Alright. What's happening guys? ;)

It's been a week, and the girls have now had a few days to get over any shock they might have encountered going into the system, they are slowly starting to get into the swing of things.

In just the last two days alone, I have noticed new growth up top, and also the root mass starting to form... I got a feeling they're gonna go nuts this next week.

I really wish I had a chance to test my cuts before they went in, but seeing as I had no time, and this is just a test run anyway, it's cool.

I added 250mls Rhizotonic to the 150L system this week, also the standard 150mls H202 every two days and Ice every 12 hours.

Oh. and I'm still on 360W light setting.

TEMP: 26C

E.C: 0.5

p.H: 5.9

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It appears as If the plant on the right got a better start? Have to keep an eye on that :g:

All good though.. happy with it so far.

I'm still stuck on the Sterile System/Beneficial Bacteria argument.. sterile is winning so far in my mind... but again, if anyone has any knowledge on that, please let me know.

Hopefully by next week there should be some outstanding visual improvements in growth for you.

Until then.... :spliff:

Edited by SKELE-TORO
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How comes you have 3-4 plants in each pot Bro? That's gonna get mighty full, mighty quick!

Plus it will be harder to address individual needs for each plant.

All the best though, I like the system!

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looking good mate

Thanks Geez !

How comes you have 3-4 plants in each pot Bro? That's gonna get mighty full, mighty quick!

Plus it will be harder to address individual needs for each plant.

All the best though, I like the system!

Alright Tee Hee. I haven't put multiple plants in each pot. Only 1 per pot. Each cut was a double though.. a Y shaped cut with 2 stems. they just filled out.

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Oh, sorry Man, I thought you started from seed!

How you getting on with the chiller idea?

When I did DWC, I went with bennys rather than sterile. I was using House and Garden nutes... the roots excellurator was great at stimulating growth and keeping pythium etc at bay, without the need for H2O2.

Advice I was given from Automaster on UK420 and also Seymore Buds on AFN, DWC relies on highly oxyenated water to prevent the roots from drowning, To get maximum O2 saturation, your reservoir must be at 19C.

Plus the air pump needs to be churning out 60L air per hour, per every 15L of nutrient to get maximum oxygenation. The oxygen will also act as a disinfetctant, again keeping root rot in check. I ended up upgrading the air pump and stones in my DWC system to get the benefits...... I know Alien is top notch gear, but all companies cut corners here and there to save cash, do you think the air pump could be better? It looks like your using a good pump though, cos that looks like 8mm air line rather than the standard 4mm?

I got a Hailea 9730 air pump (giving 60L/hr) and 150mm x 50mm cylindrical airstones from Coastal Koi, nice and quiet, and super bubbly.

Edited by teehee
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I thought my air pump was enough for my little three pot setup, it runs at 40L per minute... into only <150L of water?

The stones could be upgraded to larger disk shaped ones. I did think about adding a T piece to each airline and running two air stones per pot, as I have them already here, but i don't want to put any holes in the main air line yet.

How many litres was your system?

We'll see how this grow pans out. :g:

It's just with 150mls of H202 every two days.. and having to get a chiller, it seems an expensive way of running it? IF you could eliminate the use of those things with a cheap dose of Beneficial Bacteria every so often to keep the phyth at bay.. Or am I overlooking something here? :huh:

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Its good to see this journal actually started,

Atb

:yinyang:

Nice one for popping in, just while your about....

Being the old IWS pro you are... I was just wondering what kind of preventative measures you take to avoid Pyth in your res?

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Plenty of air stones mucker, keep temps between 19-20c and a weekly res change..

The problem with the iws is that the roots are always lying in stagnant water, this u can do nothing about

unless u remove the roots between the 2nd and third week of flower.

The system u have does not have this problem as each pot is well oxygenated, i came close to buying the 36 pot alien

but went with coco this time instead its a cracking system you have and it seems very well put together.

I might just add it to my Christmas list, i will be keeping a close eye on this journal if you do not mind...

Atb with it.

:yinyang:

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1 WEEK LATER....

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Hey folks.
Right, they been steady for a week now.. the E.C has raised up a little.. I assume a little of the water has been lost through evaporation?

The first plants roots were white and dappled with moisture, looking good. The second's were a little dried out it seemed.
Have to keep a check on the pot levels now. I'm not sure whether to let it drop right down before refilling, as the roots will then be underwater?

Sorry for the bad photos.

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@@SKELE-TORO

Is this not the idea behind your system, the roots are meant to be under the water as there is bubblers

in there to keep them well oxygenated ? you will be getting serious root growth in those buckets, i am looking

forward to it..

:yinyang:

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