Surfbuddy's 1st DWC BigBud, Northern Lights, BubbleGum Grow Journal 2012

[CronicHempHog]

Re: Major Renovations

So the pH has finally settled down around 6. I realized that my resivoir for the 11 plants in the 10 gallon tub was only holding 3 gallons, and that the water was bumping up against the bottom of my beer cups. I guess that's why people use netpots LOL

So to have more available water down the line, I've added a recirculating reservoir below the two tubs. It took some ghetto rigging because I got the wrong irrigation pipe at the store I.D. vs O.D. DUH, but it's working now. I'll probably do some tidying up tomorrow. The lower reservoir is also a 10 gallon tub, has airstones and makes it easy to check pH or drop in a frozen water bottle to cool the water without disturbing the plants.

Speaking of the plants, I've got new members to the standing club, so all but a few have pushed through the rockwool.
Bubblegum was the first to show real leaves, then two NL's, then more Bubblegum, then Bigbud. It looks like only one will not pop, but I'll be patient for that one...

I got a better, high powered air pump but am displeased with the new decibel level. Anyone have a way to quiet that puppy down? It's haning from the clothes bar in the closet... and actually gets a little quieter when the inlet sucks up my shirt next to it (of course then it doesn't bubble quite as much).

pics of the new setup manana.

i put my 600gph air pump as far outside the tent as i could lol
its not real loud but inside the tent it was like whats the word irritating to be in there now its alot better lol, so i just got long air hoses now lol

 

[Albatross]

I used a computer mouse pad to help with my decibels. Mine sits near the intake on the wooden box floor. Its still kinda annoying but not nearly as bad as it was. I haven't tried hanging or mounting mine so I'm not sure about that. Ill be waiting around for some pics

alba

 

[SurfBuddy]

post renovation photos and comments

OK some photos and comments:
The new setup with reservoir below to add more volume of agua.
I think next time using identical tubs would be WAY EASIER!

And here are the babies-- two with issues, and two happy as can be, all in the same res:
Happy Northern Lights... almost ready for nutes?

another happy Northern lights

Big Bud with brown leaf edges. Admittedly, it could be because I "helped" the seed casing off as it looked stuck (insert smiley of hitting self in head)

Bubblegum with brown center. This was the first seed to crack the rockwool. It also had a taproot sticking out when I did the old reservoir cleaning and removing of the tubes, so I imagine it could be from the hydroton smashing the delicate tap root that was already established... maybe next time i'll have a union on the outside of the cup so if i need to replenish, I can just cut the tube and re-attach instead of messing up the roots.
It has not really done anything since the res change but turn brown in the middle. :icon_roll Oh well. I just hope it recovers.

 

[Albatross]

I would wait for nutes. If you look in my journal i hit them at about where you are with 1/4 and burnt them badly. It should be fine for a little longer. Your using tap water so there are going to be little or large amounts of nutrients the plant can take in, in small amounts or as needed. I would at least wait till there is a 3rd leaf set showing to start nutes. Any idea what your ppm in your tap water is?

 

[SurfBuddy]

I would wait for nutes. If you look in my journal i hit them at about where you are with 1/4 and burnt them badly. It should be fine for a little longer. Your using tap water so there are going to be little or large amounts of nutrients the plant can take in, in small amounts or as needed. I would at least wait till there is a 3rd leaf set showing to start nutes. Any idea what your ppm in your tap water is?

Like a wise man said, once you put in nutes, you can't take em back out
but I only put in 1/2 gallon of 1/4 stregnth into a 7 gallon res, so more like 1/56 strength, and I'm not worried about it. I think the root mangled one needed some help for recovery.

Of course, I don't know what I'm doing

I don't have my ppm meter yet, maybe this week

 

[Bassman59]

Hey SB,

Looking good so far. Nice job on going recirc and cooling the water. Keep it below 68f once they are nicely sprouted and have a couple leaves and you wont get root rot.

I wouldnt add any nutes till you have 3rd-4th set of leaves. Won't take long. Then go with a very mild mix for a week or so, then once you have bigger leaves bump it up.

Check your paperwork on your meter and try to find the "conversion factor" being used. It's either .5 (.500), or .7 (.700). Whenever you mention ppm in your thread add the conv factor for reference. I.E. 1000ppm (.5 conv). This lets us know so we can interpret correctly thus speak the same language.

Example being 2.0 EC on a .5 meter is 1000ppm, but on a .7 meter it's 1400ppm. huge difference.

Also when you get that meter this week, make sure to get some calibration solution. You don't have to calibrate it often. Certainly make sure it's accurate for the 1st use. After that, once every 4-6 weeks is probably just fine and maybe even slight overkill if it's a decent meter.

 

[SurfBuddy]

Re: Major Renovations

i put my 600gph air pump as far outside the tent as i could lol
its not real loud but inside the tent it was like whats the word irritating to be in there now its alot better lol, so i just got long air hoses now lol

Not sure how I missed this... Unfortunately, mine is outside the tent inside my closet in my bedroom, "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

I just noticed too, that it seems to put out HOT air, even though the air near it is room temp.. does yours do that?

 

[SurfBuddy]

Hey SB,
Looking good so far. Nice job on going recirc and cooling the water. Keep it below 68f once they are nicely sprouted and have a couple leaves and you wont get root rot.

Thanks.. Oh, I was trying to get the temp down now, since the temp in near the lights is 83-85. I noticed my airpump puts out hot air-- is that normal? I know you got a cooler, and I think I see why...

I wouldnt add any nutes till you have 3rd-4th set of leaves. Won't take long. Then go with a very mild mix for a week or so, then once you have bigger leaves bump it up.

Roger that. Not 3rd and 4th leaf, but 3rd or 4th set.

Check your paperwork on your meter and try to find the "conversion factor" being used. It's either .5 (.500), or .7 (.700). Whenever you mention ppm in your thread add the conv factor for reference. I.E. 1000ppm (.5 conv). This lets us know so we can interpret correctly thus speak the same language.

Example being 2.0 EC on a .5 meter is 1000ppm, but on a .7 meter it's 1400ppm. huge difference.

Also when you get that meter this week, make sure to get some calibration solution. You don't have to calibrate it often. Certainly make sure it's accurate for the 1st use. After that, once every 4-6 weeks is probably just fine and maybe even slight overkill if it's a decent meter.

Will do, thanks for the tips..

One more thing:
Tonight I changed my res, and it took 1/2 teaspoon of pH down to 3 gallons and a full teaspoon in 5 gallons to bring down my tap water to 5.5ish (drops pH tester). When I first tested the water, it was off the scale (8.5+) any ideas on how to deal with this?

 

[Bassman59]

TBH I've never even felt the air coming out of my pumps. One benefit of chillers for sure, not even thinking about air pump temp. But I dont think it's bad. I do have grow 3 going w/o the chiller presently and non recirc. Cooling in tubs of water bath with ice bottles once or twice a day. Hopefully They get moved to tent and recirc with chiller and a res change this afternoon or tonight. I just have to go to lowes for a couple items to proceed.

As far as the ph issue, have you calibrated the ph meter?

I'd also be interested in what your ppm is out of the tap. Are you letting it sit for a few hours before putting it in the res? Longer the better to rid the tap of chlorine. Not sure how chlorine effects ph but it does dissipate rather quickly and you dont want chlorine in your res.

You really should also check the local water reports posted by your water company. Make sure they are not using Chloromine (I think that's what it's called) rather than chlorine. As I recall, we dont want to use tap with chloromine at all and iirc it doesnt dissipate well like chlorine does.

For me, I have to run to the grocery store machines weekly and refill 5 gal jugs (up to 30g) for RO water since my city tap is the 3rd worst in the country and constantly runs over 600 ppm (.5 conv). Extremely hard water and I dont have a RO system.

 

[SurfBuddy]

TBH I've never even felt the air coming out of my pumps. One benefit of chillers for sure, not even thinking about air pump temp. But I dont think it's bad. I do have grow 3 going w/o the chiller presently and non recirc. Cooling in tubs of water bath with ice bottles once or twice a day. Hopefully They get moved to tent and recirc with chiller and a res change this afternoon or tonight. I just have to go to lowes for a couple items to proceed.

So far the water bottle method is working OK, but I think I might need more of them in rotation... or a chiller
Good luck with the move!

As far as the ph issue, have you calibrated the ph meter?

no meter yet, just a dropper and vial with a few shakes

I'd also be interested in what your ppm is out of the tap. Are you letting it sit for a few hours before putting it in the res? Longer the better to rid the tap of chlorine. Not sure how chlorine effects ph but it does dissipate rather quickly and you dont want chlorine in your res.

Not sure about the ppm's, but as soon as I get and calibrate the meter, i'll post it.
I did let some sit, and others less so, and come to think of it, the highest pH measurement was taken soon after drawing water. In subsequent fill/refill since reading your post, I let it sit an hour, but it was still at 8, and takes 1/4 tsp to get to near 6 and 3/8 tsp to get closer to 5 per gallon. But on the other hand, pH settled down and only moved a modest amount to 6-6.5 over the 24hrs.

You really should also check the local water reports posted by your water company. Make sure they are not using Chloromine (I think that's what it's called) rather than chlorine. As I recall, we dont want to use tap with chloromine at all and iirc it doesnt dissipate well like chlorine does.

according to the website, concentrations can range from zero to 0.15 milligrams per liter (ppm) of chlorine
Whew!

For me, I have to run to the grocery store machines weekly and refill 5 gal jugs (up to 30g) for RO water since my city tap is the 3rd worst in the country and constantly runs over 600 ppm (.5 conv). Extremely hard water and I dont have a RO system.

Oh, that seems like a hassle... I hope my tap water's not too bad... It's supposed to be good, but maybe not good for hydro...

for your input and help, much appreciated.

 

[Bassman59]

Ya people dont drink the tap water in Vegas unless it's Reverse Osmosis. You'll piss calcium rocks and rust your nether region if you do. If you wont drink it, dont feed it to your plants!

 

[CronicHempHog]

Re: Major Renovations

Not sure how I missed this... Unfortunately, mine is outside the tent inside my closet in my bedroom, "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

I just noticed too, that it seems to put out HOT air, even though the air near it is room temp.. does yours do that?

actually have mine where its catching the air coming out of the ac
the water temps usually 2-3 degrees lower than air temp

 

[SurfBuddy]

actually have mine where its catching the air coming out of the ac
the water temps usually 2-3 degrees lower than air temp

Nice! I may have to break down and get A/C... When I eventually have to keep the tent closed for flowering, I know it will get WAY to hot... I just can't seem to vent enough even with just the flouros and I haven't even plugged in the LED's yet!

Ya people dont drink the tap water in Vegas unless it's Reverse Osmosis. You'll piss calcium rocks and rust your nether region if you do. If you wont drink it, dont feed it to your plants!

Yikes! I definitely drink the water... so I've got no problem feeding it to the girls.


I added a few drops of ST to the 13 gallons last night, and today I see the second leaf starting on some of the seedlings. Getting exited!

pH has been totally normal, near 6. Still waiting on the new meters.

 

[CronicHempHog]

bump
this way i dont have to go through pages for the grows im following lol

 

[SurfBuddy]

So I got the meters today-- the TDS meter is a .5 conversion and reads 88 for water straight out of the tap. I checked it before calibrating, then calibrated (but didn't need to adjust, it was right on) then of course it was the same again. 88.

I also got pH reference solution and a pH meter, which told me water coming out of the tap is 8.2

water in the res this evening was at 7. I pulled out 2 gallons of that water and put in water adjusted to 5.2 (it took 1 full teaspoon to get the 2 gallons down from 8.2 to 5.2) I'm going to let it sit for a while then check it again, but it's late so maybe tomorrow.
res temp is 80-82, and air temp is 84. I had to keep the room door shut today, and there was no airflow to cool things down :-(
Because res temps are so high, I added another 8tsp of h2o2 to the 8 gal 5+2+1 resivoirs

I also added a humidifier this morning, and the RH in the tent right now with the doors wide open is 60%.

one week into seedling-land and 10 have popped with two very close, and what appears to be only one dud. not too shabby.

 

[Bassman59]

Are you not using an exhaust fan?

How big are the round vents? I installed a 8" 500 cfm duct fan from lowes, cost about $30 or less. I set it to draw our air. Now I think I will get some ducting, attach it to a couple round vents outside tent and loop it so light doesnt bend through. This will allow full intake of air and not suck in the walls of the tent from the exhaust suction.

I bet if you did that it would make a big difference for you. Cheap and effective.

 

[SurfBuddy]

Are you not using an exhaust fan?

How big are the round vents? I installed a 8" 500 cfm duct fan from lowes, cost about $30 or less. I set it to draw our air. Now I think I will get some ducting, attach it to a couple round vents outside tent and loop it so light doesnt bend through. This will allow full intake of air and not suck in the walls of the tent from the exhaust suction.

I bet if you did that it would make a big difference for you. Cheap and effective.

I'm using a POS desk fan rigged to be an exhaust fan, and i think it sucks. Bigger problem though is that the whole room is hot when I close the room door... which i should probably keep locked JIK.

If the room stays open, things stay cooler...

I think I might try switching over to my LED's today to see if that makes a noticeable difference or if the room is just hot during the day.

I should just go and pick up exhaust fans though... you only put one in?

 

[Albatross]

Depends on the space you have, your going to need to make at least an intake hole to pull air inside and through the box. These links will hopefully have some answers for you.

How Much Ventilation Do I Need in My Grow Room?
How Do I add Ventilation to my Grow Area, What Can I Do about Smell?

 

[Bassman59]

Yea SB, I only put one in. Up high. I get some temps in the mid 80's. Even hit a 91f a time or two. But I just open the door to the room a bit and crack a zipper. I've found the combinations that work for me. But the exh fan is a 500cfm from lowes for my 4x4x7 area iirc. Whatever it is, I remember it was way overkill per suggested air exchange per cubic foot space.

I've generally kept my round holes closed tight. Because of light leak during lights out period, just to be safe. This means that during those periods, with zippers closed, tent suck is pretty big and you can even hear it in the fan as it has more pressure.

I'm going to change that and add ducting to at least two round vents (outside) and open them up for more air flow. loop the ducting and walla, no light gets in but all the air will. Probably $10 worth of ducting.

 

[Sky Rocket]

Looking good surf buddy but if you plan on growing all those plants in one bucket you are going to run into a over crowded situation. How long do you plan on vegging before going to 12/12?