A Guide to Building and Operating Bubblers

[3rd floor felon]

MU big thumbs up mate. was it your thread where i asked what DWC was? in anycase i know now

Felon

[MU]

cheers felon...

3 joints later...

right, how to run 'em.

because the roots dangle out of the net pots, then into a small space of air, then into the res, the roots are permanently in a highly aeriated reservoir of nutes, so underfeeding is the key to running bubs.

forget all about the ec's you hear other hydro growers talk about, like 1.1, 1.3 maxing out at 2.2 blah blah blah, it doesnt apply here!!

the ec of my water out of the tap is 0.2, so im lucky its quite pure, and here is my ec schedule for growing plants:

rooted clones thorugh the 3" rockwool cubes - 0.4

vegging medium size plants and mothers - 0.5

big plants 0.6

0.7 has always burnt my plants either in veg or flowering!

for flowering, start with 0.4 and work up to 0.6 in the last couple of weeks.

i understand this might be completely different under the lucas regime, so bear that in mind.

i have a syringe which measures in ml's so i can doses as low as 0.5ml quite accurately, but in a 50L res, for mums, i give 16/8/8 ml of GH Grow, Bloom, and Micro and that equates to an ec of 0.5 and my mums have been very happy for yoonks on that.

after a major prune, or clone take, i give a 3/4 feed, so 12/6/6, ec 0.4, because after a major prune they dont like so much food.

as for ph, i maintain a ph range of 5.7 to 6.1.

i have found with the 50L tubs this takes ages as the ph stays quite constant and the ec doesnt drop either, so you know the res is right if the ph is only rising slowly, say over 5 days and the water level is dropping, but the ec is staying the same or drops only 0.1 point in 5 days, thats when you know you have the res correctly set up.

once the res his 6.1 ph, its time for a topup and reset back to 5.7. if under strong lights the res may need topping up every couple of days, depending on how much water the plant is drinking. under flo's i only top up the res every 4 days or so.

[MU]

when starting freshly rooted clones, i have had the best success with clones that have been rooted in 1" then 3" rockwool cubes, because the clone is quite well established by then, popping it the net pot and putting it in the bubbler, the clones are grown enough to take a feed of 0.4. ive had some problems putting in freshly rooted clones, from the bubbler cloner, with making the res too strong so i need to practice that a bit, might try an plain water res and foliar feed for a few days but thats offtopic here.

my point is, its easy to sting your freshly rooted clones with too much nutes when first installing them in the bubbler, so be careful...

also, when first installing the clones, heres how i do it... assume rooted 3" rockwool cubed clones

1- put one layer of clay balls in the net pot, only one layer so the roots dont have to work too hard to get to the net pot

2- plonk in the 3"rockwool cube

3- fill netpot with clay balls

4- install in bub

5- fill bub up so that the res level is a good inch into the netpot so the roots are already touching the reservoir and run the bubbler for the first week like this until a good number of roots have got through the netpot and are dangling in the res, only then should you reduce the level to just beneath the net pot. later on when theres loads of roots through, leave an inch or so between the level of the res and the net pot.

6- when first installing the young clones, if under HIDS keep the light well away, only drop the light when the clone is strong and plenty of roots are through the netpots and into the res... ive had problems myself with this, being too keen with a 600Watter on young clones...

7-check the levels and res temps daily and for a long time, until you have a good idea whats happening temp wise... if your grow rooom feels cold, then the res is probably too cold too!! if it feels hot in your growroom, really keep an eye on the res temps... i lost my 3rd bub grow, and screwed my 2nd one quite badly because of too low res temps through the winter.. i learnt the hard way..

8- keep an eye on your roots but dont lift the lid too much.. the roots dont like light. if your roots are going brown, try using cannazym and rhizotonic, which i use as a matter of course anyway because they really help to keep the res and roots healthy.

need a spliff!

edit: only install the rooted clones when there are a few cm's of several roots through the bottom of the rockwool cube, because the bubbler will saturate the RW cube and the clone will be starved of oxygen unless there are roots outside of the cube.

Edited August 2, 2005 by cheese farmer

[MU]

top-ups... i should mention those in detail.

i have been keeping mums in bubs for some time, and have found i dont really need to change the res for up to 3 weeks.

i usually do it every 2 weeks, but recently particularly as theyre going to be dumped soon anyway, ive been doing res changes every 3 weeks, and they still look fine and dandy.

what i do, is when the ec has dropped 0.1 i or the water level is dropping i give a topup of 4/2/2ml grow/bloom/micro, and with the extra water that maintains the ec at 0.5, it my rise to 0.6 sometimes, but the plants dont mind that and it usually reverts back to 0.5 anyway, so i find giving a topup of 4/2/2 and the required water every 4-5 days maintains the mum bubs well.

i also use 8ml of cannazym and 8ml of rhizotonic on each res change, but never include those in the topups, dunno if i should or not, but i only topup with nutes and use rhizo and cannazym at res change time.

talking of res changes, because i run big bubs, i pour the bath, after cleaning it thoroughly, and ph the water in the bath to 5.0.

i then fill the bubs by using a water pump from the bath through some tubing, into the bub, and then i give each bub the exact dose of nutes required.

i used to put the nutes in the bath but had loads of problems doing this, and was sure the nutes didnt mix properly doing that... so best to fill the bubs from the bath with just phd water, and then put the nutes in each bubbler seperately.

cheers all, hope thats been useful...

mu

[MU]

oops, forgot to mention, the clay balls must be washed thoroughly and all the gunk removed...

otherwise your ph will go nuts!

Edited May 8, 2005 by MU

[MU]

talking of res changes, because i run big bubs, i pour the bath, after cleaning it thoroughly, and ph the water in the bath to 5.0.

355322[/snapback]

i should explain that.

i ph the water to 5.0 because it always rises about 1 point when the bubs have been filled and the nutes applied.. it rises 1.0 point over 24hrs, always does that for some reason, esp if i didnt clean the bubs, which i dont always do.

so it initially rises to around 6.0 by the next day, i then reset it with some phdown to 5.7, and then the true 4-5 days cycle begins, the ph on drifts slowly, which is what is wanted.

[Dohped]

excellent thread MU, i am about to soak my hydroton in readiness to fire up my 6 pot bubbler @ 7pm lights on.

when you say don't put a hole in the lid for the airline

i take it this is due to light leaking through the line & hole?

if so that's fixable so i am ok there, please tell me if it's for sommat else tho

quick Q about EC please m8?

when you say your water is 0.2 out of the tap and you then say that 0.7 is too high......

is that 0.2 background plus 0.5 nutes equalling 0.7 in total?

or do you discard the background ec and put in a 0.7 worth of nutes?

i only ask cos it's been doing me nut for a long time now and i would liek it cleared up but mainly cos i am sure my eau de council is way above your max levels already

cheers bud

[MU]

hi mate

excellent thread MU, i am about to soak my hydroton in readiness to fire up my 6 pot bubbler @ 7pm lights on.

thanks buddy, and good luck with it!

when you say don't put a hole in the lid for the airline 

i take it this is due to light leaking through the line & hole?

if so that's fixable so i am ok there, please tell me if it's for sommat else tho

well light getting in is a point, but (and i forgot to mention this ) i stick thick black tape over the holes where the airlines go, after the airlines are installed, just to further block out light..

but the reason not to put the holes in the lid is just because it makes taking the lid off for res maintenance and cleaning the tubs much easier...

i know this because i have to put the airline holes in my bubbler cloner in the lids and its a right bloody nuisance!

quick Q about EC please m8?

when you say your water is 0.2 out of the tap and you then say that 0.7 is too high......

is that 0.2 background plus 0.5 nutes equalling 0.7 in total?

or do you discard the background ec and put in a 0.7 worth of nutes?

i only ask cos it's been doing me nut for a long time now and i would liek it cleared up but mainly cos i am sure my eau de council is way above your max levels already

cheers bud

355330[/snapback]

all the ec's i mentioned were total ec's as read on the nz truncheon ec meter, including the background ec.

so yes, an ec of 0.7 is 0.2 with 0.5 ec of nutes added, and thats been too strong for my plants..

so maybe if your starting ec is 0.5 for example, your growing range would be 0.6-0.9, i dunno for sure if thats right mate, so dont quote me on it... ive also heard that you should consider half of your background ec as available to the plants... im not too clued up on this, sorry!

ive just found what works for my water...

hope thats helped...

Edited May 8, 2005 by MU

[Dohped]

thats cool m8 ta

previous hydro grows (passive perlite) i have ignored the background and gone for what the truncheon says after adding the nutes.

1.4 ish for perlite noprobs.

afaicr my ec is 0.8 and my ph is 8.5 out of the tap, but it has been 4 months since i picked up my truncheon () so i will recheck all of that.

i will suck it and see, maybe start with an ec of 1.0 and see how i get on.

i am going to use citric for the ph balancing, this is new to me ( it's all bloody new ) as i am used to using phosphoric acid in liquid form.

here is my first attempt at dwc, i have made it so the lid just lifts off in 1 and the res can be replaced underneath, i have a few of these storage tubs lying around so i intend to just mix up a fresh res and swap over as necessary.

i have 2 airstones in there, with another pump and more stones in reserve.

quick tip for uk dwc'ers everything apart from the netpots and piece of plywood is from wilkinsons, they stock perlite too which can be used instead of hydroton, but if you got a big wilko's then J.A.Bowers make hydroleca which is little pebbles.

cheers MU, can't wait to get back into hydro

edited - i have a cover for the lid and sides of the tub made of b&w plastic, like a tablecloth with a rectangular hole in the middle for the netpots.

Edited May 8, 2005 by Dohped

[MU]

looking good, but im concerned you might not have enought airstones..

can we see inside por favor?

[MU]

afaicr my ec is 0.8 and my ph is 8.5 out of the tap, but it has been 4 months since i picked up my truncheon () so i will recheck all of that.

355345[/snapback]

i would try 0.9 and work up mate.. plants burn easy in bubblers..

[MU]

sorry, got another question.

what size res will that hold?

[robbieizere420]

brilliant thread mu its people like you that make uk420 the best canna site.

interesting to see your e.c so low, during flowering in my bubblers i use an ec of 1.4 and although the plants seem healthy my p.h drops extremely rapidly and in 3 days it will have gone from 6.0 to 5.0, this is 1 plant in a 20l bucket filled with approximnately 16 litres of solution. maybe your low ec is the way to go for keeping a steady ph. i shall be giving it a go asap. thanks again mu.

i use the same ec in my 40 liter nft tanks and the ph rises almost as fast as the bubblers drop, this has been puzzling me for a while.

[Dohped]

its a 35 litre tub, will hold 30 litres with the pots submerged 1 inch.

as soon as the mrs gets up i can start making noise (bloody nightshiftworkers)

i will fill it and see how well it copes, if it's crap then the other pump will get thrown into the equasion with another 2 stones.

the reason for using these tubs is that they will fit in my growroom.

i can get 2 in there and still have room for the odd soil pot.

i had planned on having 2 running with 4 pots in each, on a 1 month rotation, so i am cropping / flowering once every 4 weeks, but i am a bit ahead of myself as my mum stock is being rebuilt after the borg wars.

this 6 pot bub is being used to flower off all of the clones and stuff that was in the veg room recovering from the borg battles, time for a clean slate.

this way i get to get my feet wet with dwc while not having to fret too much about the stock that is going into the netpots.

the mums that are germing & vegging currently will require a working knowledge of dwc for me to be able to give them a half decent chance of reaching their full potential.

[MU]

brilliant thread mu its people like you that make uk420 the best canna site.

interesting to see your e.c so low, during flowering in my bubblers i use an ec of 1.4 and although the plants seem healthy my p.h drops extremely rapidly and in 3 days it will have gone from 6.0 to 5.0, this is 1 plant in a 20l bucket filled with approximnately 16 litres of solution. maybe your low ec is the way to go for keeping a steady ph. i shall be giving it a go asap. thanks again mu.

i use the same ec in my 40 liter nft tanks and the ph rises almost as fast as the bubblers drop, this has been puzzling me for a while.

355353[/snapback]

hi mate and thanks for checking out this thread..

i suspect your ec is too high in your bubs and the ph is dropping because the mix is becoming more concentrated as the water is being consumed faster than the nutes.

whats yoour starting ec?