AK-47 – The Road to Perfect Roots
Fan
6"Grow Tent Fan Auto Oscillation
Spider Farmer
Contr
GGS AC10
Spider Farmer
Hydro
Hydroponic Systems Recirculating Oxy Ring 2
Indoor
Room Type
16 l
Pot Size
Start at 4 Week
G
Germination1mo ago
420B3ardman An honest RDWC diary full of mistakes, experiments and lessons learned.
Welcome!
Hello everyone,
After reading so many incredible grow diaries over the years, I finally decided it was time to give something back to this amazing community.
This is my very first diary here on GrowDiaries, and I'm genuinely excited to share this journey with you.
But before we begin, I'd like to make one thing clear.
This isn't going to be another "perfect grow" diary.
I won't pretend that everything went according to plan.
It didn't.
And honestly... I'm glad it didn't.
Because every mistake taught me something new.
Every unexpected problem made me a better grower.
Every success felt much more rewarding after overcoming the failures.
So this diary is not only about growing cannabis.
It's about learning.
Experimenting.
Failing.
Improving.
And hopefully helping someone else avoid the same mistakes I made.
If my successes inspire someone, I'll be happy.
If my failures save someone time, money or frustration, I'll be even happier.
Why AK-47?
For my first diary I wanted to grow a true legend.
Not the newest strain.
Not the highest THC percentage.
Just one of those classic genetics every grower should experience at least once.
I chose Barney's Farm's AK-47 because it has been respected by growers for decades.
Strong genetics.
Beautiful structure.
Reliable performance.
Exactly what I was looking for.
Why RDWC?
Many growers love soil.
Many swear by coco.
I tried both.
Neither one really suited me.
The moment I discovered RDWC, everything changed.
Fast growth.
Healthy roots.
Explosive vegetative development.
Complete control over the nutrient solution.
I simply fell in love with hydroponics.
Of course...
Learning how to master RDWC turned out to be far more challenging than I expected.
And that's exactly what this diary is about.
What can you expect?
This diary isn't only about beautiful flowers.
You'll also find plenty of things that usually stay hidden behind the final harvest photos.
You'll see DIY projects.
Equipment upgrades.
Training techniques.
Root problems.
Nutrient experiments.
Crystal-clear victories.
Expensive mistakes.
Moments of frustration.
Moments of excitement.
And hopefully, in the end, an amazing harvest.
Nothing will be hidden.
The good, the bad and everything in between.
Because that's how we all learn.
Looking back...
One advantage of writing this diary after most of the journey is that I already know where the road leads.
That allows me to tell the complete story instead of simply reporting what happened each day.
You'll see the moments when I thought everything was going perfectly...
...and the moments when I realised I had made the wrong decision.
You'll see solutions that worked brilliantly...
...and others that cost me both time and money.
Looking back now, I wouldn't change any of it.
Every single mistake helped shape the grower I am today.
So...
Whether you're completely new to RDWC...
Or you've been growing hydro for years...
I hope you'll find something useful here.
Maybe an idea.
Maybe a solution.
Maybe just an enjoyable story.
Either way...
Welcome aboard.
Let's start this journey together.
Because every great harvest begins with a single root.
And mine certainly had quite an adventure.
The journey continues...
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Used method
Paper Towel
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation25d ago
3 cm
Height
16 hrs
Light Schedule
23 °C
Day Air Temp
5.8
pH
No Smell
Smell
150 PPM
TDS
85 %
Air Humidity
10 l
Pot Size
50 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 1
Root Booster
0.053 mll
420B3ardman Week 1 – First Steps
Hello everyone!
Five days after moving the seedlings into their new home, everything was finally starting to come alive.
Seeing those first tiny leaves emerge above the collars always feels like a small victory. After all the planning, measuring, printing parts and assembling the system, the grow had officially begun.
This small 10-liter DWC bucket became the testing ground for my ideas before the plants were transferred into the full RDWC system.
You may notice that one seedling is considerably larger than the others.
That's because it isn't one of the AK-47 plants at all, but a Rainbow Melon. At that time I didn't even know this grow would eventually become an AK-47 diary, so all the seedlings shared the same bucket during their first days.
One thing I'd like to mention right away:
At this stage I wasn't using a water chiller yet.
Looking back now, installing one later turned out to be one of the best upgrades I made, but that's a story for a future update.
The goal during this first week wasn't explosive growth.
I simply wanted healthy roots, stable water parameters and happy seedlings.
Sometimes doing nothing is the hardest part of growing.
For now, everything looked exactly as I had hoped.
Let's see what Week 2 brings.
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2
Week 2. Vegetation21d ago
5 cm
Height
16 hrs
Light Schedule
23 °C
Day Air Temp
5.8
pH
No Smell
Smell
150 PPM
TDS
85 %
Air Humidity
10 l
Pot Size
50 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 2
Root Booster
0.053 mll
CalMag Pro
0.2 mll
420B3ardman Week 2 – Not My Finest Week
Week 3 was nothing special. If I’m completely honest, the plants were probably developing a little below average at this point.
The reason was simple: my attention was elsewhere, and the AK-47 girls did not get the focus they deserved. They were growing, but there was no explosive development and nothing particularly impressive to report.
Looking back at these photos now, I can clearly see that this was not the strongest start. But that is exactly why I want to include it in this diary. Not every week is perfect, and not every plant gets ideal treatment from day one.
The two plants were also already developing at noticeably different speeds. One was clearly stronger and further ahead, while the smaller one was taking its time.
At this stage, they were still in their small DWC containers, quietly building the foundation for what would come later.
Nothing spectacular yet. Just two small AK-47 girls waiting for me to finally give them the attention they deserved. 🌱
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4
Week 4. Vegetation2h ago
13 cm
Height
16 hrs
Light Schedule
23 °C
Day Air Temp
5.8
pH
No Smell
Smell
650 PPM
TDS
75 %
Air Humidity
16 l
Pot Size
50 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 5
TriPart Micro
1.5 mll
TriPart Grow
1.5 mll
TriPart Bloom
0.5 mll
420B3ardman – The Big Move to RDWC (April 6–12)
This week the girls received a major upgrade. On April 6th they were transplanted into their permanent home: the Growrilla Hydroponic Systems Recirculating Oxy Ring 2, holding around 45 liters of nutrient solution.
At the time I was genuinely excited to try this system. There were two reasons why I chose it:
It was on sale and only slightly more expensive than the standard version.
I simply didn't know any better yet.
Unfortunately, my opinion changed rather quickly.
The system relies on a recirculating Oxy Ring that constantly splashes nutrient solution over the root zone instead of using traditional air stones. On paper it sounds like a great idea, but after seeing it in action I wasn't convinced.
My other tent was already running the larger Growrilla RDWC 6 Pots system, where each bucket is supplied with a dedicated air stone. Compared to that setup, this "dripping" approach immediately felt less effective.
At this early stage another problem appeared.
The constant splashing left the clay pebbles permanently wet and several leaves were literally resting in nutrient solution. Thankfully, a few days later the plants grew enough for this to stop being an issue, but the bucket lids still remained much wetter than I would have liked.
It wasn't a disaster, but it was the first moment where I started questioning whether this system was really the right choice.
Nutrient Solution
40 L Reverse Osmosis Water
Plagron CalMag Pro – 0.5 ml/L
TriPart Micro (Soft Water) – 1.5 ml/L
TriPart Grow – 1.5 ml/L
TriPart Bloom – 0.5 ml/L
Cannazym – 2 ml/L
EC: 1.3
pH: 5.8
Despite my doubts about the system, the plants handled the transplant well and quickly resumed growing. Looking back now, this week marked the beginning of a valuable lesson: not every new hydroponic idea is necessarily an improvement over a well-designed, traditional RDWC system.
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