When to drain and refill RDWC system? Weekly? Essential?

Says it all in the title folks, just wondering when to empty and refill 50 gallons… :disappointed_relieved:

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I do mine about every 8 to 10 days. I believe no longer than 2 weeks, but that’s just how I do it.

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the roots are going utterly insane hawk, just had a look this morning… ones tripled in length and girth overnight… literally. So I can’t see why giving it another few days could be a problem in reality, cheers dude.

Alright man, good luck growin

what happens is as plants feed they break bonds in nutrients leaving what they don’t want in res that being said your goal should always be to make sure what they want is always there changing weekly makes this possible also keeps ph more stable res cleaner.

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I am building up a RDWC system and wondered how often folks need to drain and completely change out the water over a grow as well.

I’ve heard of folks doing it every 3/4 weeks, others say they never do…looks like a poster here does it every 10 days.

I’d figure I’ll be filling up a reservoir, making sure all fluids are within ph/temp and phase of nuts pretty often, but wasn’t sure how often I’d need to drain out all the water and completely fill again.

My system, 4 x 7 gallon buckets with 1 reservoir, once it’s stable I’ll hook up the float for reservoir top off.

The reason i ask is, should I drill in and set up a bottom drain system in my DWC buckets to make completely draining easier?

And what leads you’all to drain and re-fill instead of mix in and balance nutrients and ph?

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From my experience, during different growing stages, the water gets dirtier at different times. I usually do a water change every 10 days.

During late veg and during the transition, it seems to get dirtier then other times. Late in flower, I can go for 3 weeks or more, just depending on the plants needs.

I’m also fortunate enough to to have running water and a sink right next to my system, so I’m able to do changes supper easy.

I have 22 gal of water within the rez and two 20 gal totes for two plants. During heavy feeding, they can drink 3-4 gal in 24 hrs. So having a sink next to my system makes things so easy.

True! There are some that don’t change at all. Different strokes for different folks… lol Whatever it takes, you will learn your system. The plants and the water and roots will tell you what time it is… lol
If you need anything just give us a shout.
Good luck! :v::+1:t2::sunglasses:

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Your situation will likely vary greatly from others. The rez can remain without changing so long as it doesn’t go cloudy or start to stink, if your standing rez is too hot will require more frequent changes etc. @peachfuzz is an outstanding hydro grower and rarely changes his solution out.

Before you get going too far down the hydro road, look at using Jack’s 3-2-1 program: probably the easiest and most user-friendly nutrient line out there today.

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My flower system’s hold 18 gallons from the start of light flip , every week I let the water level drop by 1 inch , to make more healthy oxygen root’s…
So evey 3 weeks I completely drain and refill the system with freash ro water at a ph of 6.5 and a ppm of less than 5 with all new nutrients for their stage of flower , take in mind that now the water level is a 1 1/2 inches lower now…
So by the end of flower the system might only be holding 14 gallon depending on how long they flower for…
During each three week time period of changing everything out and starting over , I just top off system with ro water with a ppm of 150 and a ph of 6.5 to 7 , and this is filtered and ran through a ro system that’s fed from a well , but I don’tadd any nutrientsor anythingduring my top offs…
Hopefully I’m making sense…
But it basically runs itself until I go out every 3 weeks… :+1::wink:
I have never had a build up of anything or slime in my systems doing it this way and even tho I drain almost everything, I don’t clean anything until the run is done and it’s neveran issue…
But every system is different and will need to be monitored closely until you get everything dialed in…
I should also add that this info is only for flowering and not vegging…
I vegg in a completely different area in completely different systems and do things completely differently for that situation… :+1:
:v::sunglasses:

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My danm phone…
:confused::man_facepalming::man_shrugging::grin:
I wish we could still download stuff from a while ago…
Super sucks…
I look like I can’t spell and it’s the danm phone…
It love’s to make me feel stupid or look stupid…
Stupid phone…
Just curious…
I’m stoned …
doesn’t mean that I’m stupid…
I’m just medicated…
And stoned , and maybe have a problem with spelling… maybe…
Don’t judge…
I know what I’m reading , I just don’t know what I’m saying…
It’s kinda like a backwards thought…
:v::sunglasses:

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It sounds really good…
And then it don’t make any sense…
I could have saved the world…
Than i forgot what I was thinking…
Super stoned maybe… :upside_down_face::grin::+1::smirk:
Backwards thought… lol
:v::sunglasses:

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@Oldguy
You dang hippie…
You must know me from many moons ago…
:metal::wink::grin::thinking::shushing_face::partying_face::rofl::joy::green_heart:
:v::sunglasses:

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I run a rdwc system and find I only need to change maybe once. I have a chiller and run a small pump with a filter to keep my nutrients clear. I change the filter once a week. I’m using Floramax and have really good luck with it. I also have a Bluelab monitor to keep an eye on it.

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