400W DWC Grow - 4 Sour Grape - 2 Blue Dream

jjames

jjames

New Member
hey im a new mmj patient and am just getting my 1st grow off the ground heres the stats...

im gonna try an keep this journal going, as ive seen an abundance of members here with lots of knowledge...

4 sour grape, 2 blue dream clones @ 2-3 inches each...

400w MH in tube style hood ( inline fan ready )
switchable digital ballast
3 15 gal tubs w/ 10 gal RO water each
2 8" net pots in each tub, 1 plant per pot
washed hydroton medium ( clones are in there in their cloner cubes in hydroton, but the cubes are not in the water themselves )
bottom of pot just in the water ( heard this is good and bad, but the roots are going to be submerged anyway right? )
made for hydro air pump running one line to one med air stone each tub ( may add another pump later ), bubbles look great tho...
test run showed water wicking up pretty far in the hydroton
organic nutes; plant feed, bioroot, camg+, seaweed, an humic acid... during veg

in spare bathroom, kinda small yes, but it has separate vents, one in (ac), and one out (exhaust) too...

using gas lantern sched- 12L, 5.5D, 1L, 5.5D...
so far its been stayin at 81-84* and 30% rh during light an dropping a good 10* at night, rh stayin about the same...

i plan on adding a fan plus humidifier today cause id like to have temp around 80* or just under and 45-55% rh during light an it should balance well at night...

also will be adding inline fan, carbon filter an ducting. one fan will pull fresh air thru the ac vent, and another inline fan will pull from a carbon filter on one side of my hood thru the hood tube, then vent out existing exhaust vent... i think i have a little time to do so, but sooner than later, def before flower...

also will be adding a DIY co2 producer ( sugar, yeast, and water in a 2 liter bottle ), gonna let em get a little bigger before i add i tho...

planning on changing out water every 7-10 days...

so... how does this sound to anyone who has done it??

any pointers greatly appreciated!

gonna get some pics up ASAP!!!
:thanks:
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

dwc_12.jpg
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

adjusting the ph twice daily...

once when lights turn on for 12, and once before sleep...

trying to keep the ph at 5.8... i found a graph showing ph levels relating to what nutrients are absorbed at what level, and 5.8 showed all crucial nutes being absorbed...

going to add a humidfier to get the rh up, its been +/- 30% during light, but getting up to 50% during dark. however, the temp has been climbing (too high), to 85* during light so getting that temp down should help the rh, or maybe if i get the rh up, then the temp will go down... either way, its priority.

these higher temps have also been adversely affecting my water, raising it to 75*...

ive heard of putting frozen water bottles in the res, but i am going to work on the air environment before i start that i think. it should level things out i think...
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

jjames said:
does anyone think that i should add some more lighting? i know it would be beneficial, but based on my setup, think i NEED it?
Click to expand...

Can you rotate it 90 so that the wings reflect light to the sides and not onto the wall in the middle?
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

tsoul...

that is exactly what i started to think about doing right after i posted that...they are in a bathtub, (light is lengthwise with the tub), i thought it would do alright, but now that i am actually seeing the tubs in there, i think i may do just that. the reflector wings should direct the light right to the length i need. i dont thnik itll compromise too much space, although im worried about when i install the carbon fliter/inline fan/ducting exhaust system... i have a 'tube' style hood so i was counting on the extra space in the length of the tub on either side of tube to have the exhaust hang...

have to measure it out and see...

also was thinking about using a different nute brand altogether... this organic one has left the water reallly dirty, i dont have a meter, but the ppm all around has to be to high... lots of residue on the bottom, way more than just the silt leftover from hydroton...

my question is, should i wait until the first week is over and then flush my system, ( res, medium, pots, clean everything ), or do it now... everything seems like its calmed down and come together, but i just think something else may be safer...


thanks again for your help/time...:morenutes:
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

my water res have tons of residue at the bottom from the organic nutes... i took a sample of the water in a shot glass, and there was what i think to be waay too much big stuff floating around in there... but i dont have a ppm meter.

i think i want to switch to a different brand of nutes, is that logical or even ok? its not even been a week since clones went in my room so should i at least wait until a week has passed?

is there a brand that anyone has had success with or heard about that will work good in my DWC setup? someone told me on here that the airstones are not conducive to the organic nutrient solution...

i think they may be right that i will benefit more from having a strictly hydro based nute regiment... not something that can be used in soil as well. it seems like i would be losing some % of minerals due to that reason. i was kinda just goin along with what the guy in the hydro store was sayin, or what he said he heard or saw... should have done better homework.

t:headbanger:
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

Hi james realy you need a ppm - Ec meter to grow in dwc bucket. you can take a mesurment of fluid from your res and evaporate the water leaving the dissolved solids in the cup scrape these out and weight them. i have never done this just read a little bit about someone else doing it its so much easier to get a blue lab truncheon though.

If your in the states id buy from Corey at blue planet theres his email blueplanetnutrients@gmail.com contact him he will sort you out!

Link to his website.
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

godspeed,

thanks and i actually just ordered a ppm yesterday. also ive been emailing with corey from BPN and am going to order from him today or tomoro...

cpl clones not doin too good, moved them down further in the hydroton and rotated the bad ones to the back... the guy i got them from was over yesterday and said to give em a cpl more days and if they dont make it hell replace em...

ill put pics up later...
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

think im going to switch to blue planet nutrients... ive heard bad things about these organic nutes and the airstones im runnin in the res...

going to flush at 10days... any benefit to running the plants in the system for a day in just ph water? or should i just throw em straight into the new nutrient regiment??

im on the line...

Pics in the AM
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

just ordered from Blue Planet Nutrients...

im going to make the switch to BPN... i am looking forward to getting these nutes in the mix. i have read thru a few journals that have added Blue Planet Nutes, and the results looked wonderful, i hope i can pull it off...

pics in a min...
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

Less is more. I'd suggest getting the ppm meter asap. Last thing you want to do is burn the hell out of them while waiting on it. Less is more meaning, light feeding till you have at least 4 full sets of leaves.

Air is good. Two stones per tub would be nice. Big tubs though, I run 8 gal tubs with 6 gals nutrient.

Are the roots in the nutrient? Are you using pumps to feed up to the cubes until roots are full submerged?

What are your water temps? This is going to be a VERY IMPORTANT issue (Pen type EC meters often have temp meter too). You'll want to keep the water temps in the 65-68f range ideally. 68f is where some of the baddies start to form so under that would be great.

And as I understand it, forget organic in hydro.

Your mention of all that garbage in the bottom give me a couple of thoughts.

1. Hydroton. Has to be washed like no tomorrow. And then washed again. And again..and...
2. organics making for ugly in your tanks?
3. Possibly high res temps growing ugly stuffs in res.

If you're concerned that there may be baddies growing in your res you can add some Hydrogen Peroxide to the res. It will cause sudsy bubbles just like cleaning a wound if there is junk in the trunk. Don't worry about the suds. The peroxide will go away in 24-48 hrs and res will be fine. Believe me, I just went through this.

Get some hygrozyme (or BP equivalent) and add after peroxide. This is beneficial to the roots. I use it every week at res change time.

Disclaimer: I'm on my first grow, also a dwc, but a total newb that has studied my butt off and asked lots of questions.

WELCOME to 420mag!
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

bassman,

thanks for lookin, yea ive been readin alot and i think my high water temps may have contibuted to some badd stuff along with the floaters in there already. just my ppm in the mail today... i dont even want to say the #... i think i may flush em an run em in jsut PH water till the new nutes get here. your thoughts on that? i have 3 15gal tubs with 10gal in each 2 plants per tub. and ive heard organic is a nono with dwc. also yes im goin to add anothe rpump and 3 more stones. roots are just gettin down to water, ive been keepin em fed good tho, luckily im home and awake during lights on...

also thinkn abt addin an LED, maybe a 300w? i have 400w MH now for 6 plants...

thoughts?

thanks again
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

#1. Don't be embarrassed, just give us the number. You're never the first to screw up.

2. What type water are you using and what is the PPM of it before nutes? This will become important at time. ie: RO water? Well water? Tap water?
2a. If local tap water, check the water district website and find out if they use chlorine or chloramide (I know I got that word wrong, but close).

3. I personally suggest these round airstones Top Fin® Round Airstones - Air Pumps & Accessories - Fish - PetSmart . The plastic housing they are in makes them less brittle over the long all stone ones. Easier to clean during res changes too.

4. feeding them ph water should be fine for a few days since they are still small. Pics of where they are at now would help. Once nutes arrive, I would probably go with 60% of suggested feed schedule for the 1st week at least. Once all plants have 5th node, if it were me I'd bump it to maybe 80%. Less is more.

5. I think an LED would be great. Will create less heat, can be used from start to finish. Expensive, so buying the best quality is most important in my eye. Dont buy 1 watt led's that's for sure. Get 3 watt. I use Grow Steath 600w Pro-Bloom. How long is the grow area in your bath tub? A 300w may not cover it.

6. Read this DWC tutorial many times over: Tulip's DWC tutorial

7. I am now expert by any means. But I would suggest reading my journal. It will tell you what I've gone through. It will tell you how I thought, and sometimes wrongly, thus reacting incorrectly. I also posted in that thread a list of things I learned from seedling to end of veg stage. This may give you things to watch out for to avoid mistakes.

8. Do you have anything reflecting back to the plants off the open side of the bathtub? Hanging reflective material will be important for light penetration.

Sorry for my long winded wall of text. Wishing you the best on this grow.
 
re: Blue Planet Nutrients, 400w DWC grow; 4sourgrape, 2 bluedream

here goes

i thought i put in in... was at 1650, ive got to get em outta there, however, they arent lookn bad... jus goin slow

ive been usin RO water from the go and will continue to...

ive been usin these med. round stones from my shop, they are a bit bigger than a D battery, same shape, and plan on adding a new pump w/ 3 more stones this week

yea think im goin to flush em tomoro... i got a feed sched from a different journal

i was thinkin of addn the 300w in addition to my 400w MH, then keepin it there when i switch to HPS bulb for flower, i dont even know yet, will LED and HID go together? should right?

tub is 5'6'' L x 2'4'' W, think i want to add

will read into them

building my screen frame start tomoro with pvc, will attach mylar/reflective material to it

there... i think i got em all... thanks for your time and input, its much appreciated... i thnk tht the organics in the DWC is what is really keepin me slowed down, but i have new nutes on the way from 'blue planet nutrients'

pics in a min... cant fig it out

wk1end4.jpg


wk1end2.jpg


wk1end1.jpg
 

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