Newbie Fighting His Way Through His 2000 Watt Grow

elious

New Member
This is actually day two but yesterday was crazy busy so I had to wait till today to start this journal. Bare with me, this is my first hydro grow and my first journal.
Set up:
2- 1000 watt batwing hoods.
2- 71 Lpm air pumps with 8 air outputs (2 lines per tub)
8- 18 gallon tubs holding three plants per tub for a total of 24 girls.
I have a 978 cfm 10" fan with 24" carbon filter. The fan has a speed controller and a temperature controller to kick it on when needed.
The room is 9 x 11 feet and has 8.5" worth of intake to create a negative pressure when the fan turns on. I got my timer set for a 18-6 schedule.
Okay, the clones I got weren't in very good shape but it was all I could find and I figured I could get them to bounce out of their funk. Honestly, I think they were about to flower or something. So I turns planted them from soil to hydro (pain in the ass) and got the nutes at half the strength of the manufacturers recommendation. Currently the PPM is at 225-270 between the eight tubs. The current air temps are 73 and water temps are at 66. The ph is a problem at the moment. I adjusted the pH to 5.5(ish) last night. Today, I checked it again (about twenty hours later) and it was back at 7.0-7.5
Does anyone have some wise, kind words for me on this issue? I've Googled it and it seems it could be several possibilities.
 
re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Hi Elious.

Many factors come too play when maintaining ph.
Ph is the key to a good hydro grow.

Do you use tap water?
Hard water (300ppm) can be a little tricky to adjust.

A good way imo. Is to fill a bin same size as res an mix up the solution in that. let It sit with circulation for 6~12 hours. Measure and adjust again. Its usually more stable after the second adjustment.

Also a big res keeps more stable than a small one.

Ph usually climbs a little as the plants use up the nutrients.

I think mixing up a couple days in advance to get it stable before introducing too plants is a good way to go until you get comfteble with ph.
You just have to meassure every day to get the understanding of whats going on.
 
re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

I'm using tap water. Its PPM is 65-70. If the rise in PH was slow I wouldn't worry at all but it had risen 1.0-1.5 in just a day! That seems like a lot. But I'm going to ride it our for a while. They have only been in the tubs for a couple days now. They're not using much as far as water or notes so far. Although they're very small and couldn't possibly use much yet. I'll be checking on them in about an hour or so. I'll post my findings then. Thanks for the reply. I'm hoping my first run isn't a total bomb and any insight at all is appreciated.
 
re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

They dont need much nutes untill you can see growth from day to day.
Your water is good from tap then. I would raise the ppm's to 300 max until you can see they grow from day to day.
The transplant from soil to hydro would have caused alot of stress. They need to adjust.
Also the left over dirt and what not on the roots that did'nt rinse off could also cause some unbalance in the start.
Hope it clears up mate ;)
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Well, the PH seems to have balanced out a bit. It has been stead at 5.5-6.0 since this morning. In a 16 hour period of time the ph is right where it was before. The water temp has leveled out as well. 70-71 degrees. I'm going to get some water bottles tomorrow (16 of them) and start the one in the evening and one in the morning thing. I'm assuming that'll be good enough considering its pretty good right now. But I would like it a few degrees lower. You're right about them being stressed. They haven't shown any signs of anything yet. The only things that has changed is the roots have crawled out of the net pot. I have some pictures but I can't post them with my phone for some reason. I'll have to load them on my laptop and hit up a coffee shop. I'll tell you this, they are not the prettiest things you've ever seen.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Thanks mate, its probably going to take a little luck.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Thanks mate, its probably going to take a little luck.

Yeah especialy with dwc, problems develop fast (2 to 4 days) and can kill or severly stunt the plants. Thats one of the reasons I went with soil for my fist two grows, its a bit more forgiving on all things but over watering. I studied and watched the dwc grows here at :420:for tips and methods used. I am curious about your strain selection, and nutes. :peace:
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Okay, sorry for the long response time, I've been fighting the good fight with water temperature.
So, I am using Grow More nutrients. Grow, Micro,Bloom. I also have some enzymes (forget the brand off hand) and some root enhance as well (same brand as the enzymes). I have some Avalanche and some Hawaiian bud for the late bloom stages. Some Liquid Karma for the tough times and a SMALL shot of ordinary, run of the mill H2O2.
The plants water temperature has gotten under control, settling at 66-67 degrees not. The ph levels continue to be stable at around 5.5-6.0. Today I cleaned up some of the damaged leaves that took it on the chin from the guys who sold me the clones. (they were tore back man!!)But the roots are blowing up, the plants have a lot of new growth on them and now with the old tore up leaves and Rams Horns off of them, I think they'll be doing even better tomorrow.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

I forgot to say that the room temperature is holding pretty steady at 74-75 degrees. I'm, for once believing I can do this DWC thing. I guess some people don't consider my setup an actual DWC. One guy insisted that its just like a bubble bucket. And thats true except the buckets are 18 gallon tubs and they're three plants per tub not only one. But isn't this method consider DWC?
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

Oh yeah, and after reading what you wrote (2Js), I realized that's probably what was making my ph go batshit those first couple days:ideas:
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

That was actually was supposed to have ended the post like this :idea: but I'm way too weed whipped to know what the hell I'm doing right now
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

The strain I am growing currently is Blue Cheese.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

I forgot to say that the room temperature is holding pretty steady at 74-75 degrees. I'm, for once believing I can do this DWC thing. I guess some people don't consider my setup an actual DWC. One guy insisted that its just like a bubble bucket. And thats true except the buckets are 18 gallon tubs and they're three plants per tub not only one. But isn't this method consider DWC?

Bubble buckets are 1 of the easiest methods of DWC. I run RDWC, Which is a series of bubble buckets with continuous water flow.
:peace:
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

That's what's on today's agenda man! I'm taking all the water out placing the plants in tubs with a air stone and fitting the normal tubs with a "hose chain", timing all the buckets together and all leading back to the rez. I'm doing this for simplicity really. Its not absolutely necessary but its gonna make my life a whole lot easier!! This morning the plants are looking pretty good. The roots are exploding. Does anyone think I should start bring up their nutrient levels? I was thinking about 600 ppm. I think they're ready for something a little more. Right now they're around 240-270.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

That's what's on today's agenda man! I'm taking all the water out placing the plants in tubs with a air stone and fitting the normal tubs with a "hose chain", timing all the buckets together and all leading back to the rez. I'm doing this for simplicity really. Its not absolutely necessary but its gonna make my life a whole lot easier!! This morning the plants are looking pretty good. The roots are exploding. Does anyone think I should start bring up their nutrient levels? I was thinking about 600 ppm. I think they're ready for something a little more. Right now they're around 240-270.

Do you have any pics so we can see and how tall are they?
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

I posted this in Begining to Understand Her. Its from a book that came as part of the prize package for NOTM .
From The Grow Book and Equipment Guide. How To Do This.

Problems :Is it 1 leaf? Yes = Invaders. No, Are they clawed and puffy or have speed bumps? Yes= Over-watering.No, Are the leaves thin drooping and curled under? Yes = TOO MUCH LIGHT No, Is the plant stunted with yellowing tips or leaves? Yes = Too many nutrients. No, Is there any purpling, cupping or folding leaves? Yes =Magnesium def.
It takes a week to fix these issues.
Don't expect to fix it over night.

Building Nutrient Profiles
S.N.A.P. Supplements, add Nutrients, Additives, adjust Ph

#1 Solve problems first with supplements and always solve the problem before adding nutes or additives.
#2 Base nutes next
#3 Additives next, they affect Ph more than PPMs
#4 Ph adjust the profile.

Veg under 1/2 of what you flower under. The plant will need twice as much light during flowering.
How high do you want your finished plant to be? Set the light just above that. When the plant grows to the 1/2 way point ,switch to flower, and double the amount of light. You will be surprised at how much better your plants grow. Vegging under 600 watts and flowering under 1000 watts is better than vegging and flowering under 1000 watts the whole time, plus you save electricity (400 watts money wise is a nice chunk o change at the end of the cycle) 400 watts x 18 hours (veg time for one day)= 7,200 watts saved. 7200 x 14 days ( a two week veg time)=100,800 watts saved during veg. Not to mention the bucks you'll save on cooling, nutes, water, and lower stress.

A savings of 40% when you veg and flower this way in regards to watts used by lights..
Hope this helps.
 
Re: 1st DWC Grow 2 x 1000 Watt HPS/MH

I have pictures but I still haven't had the time to download them fromy phone to my laptop and then go online to post them. The idea of saving the energy is great but I don't know how to do that without spending even more money on fixtures/sockets bulbs etc. I'm seriously thinking about T5 lighting for Veg next time around. but for now I'm already up to my nuts in this setup, so I have to ride it out. The circulating system that I implemented today isn't working as well as I had hoped. It is flowing very slowly. I should have used much larger hose/pipe to go from tub to tub. The pump is too much for the lines to drain quick enough. So I put a valve on it and slowed down the pump so the drain could keep up. Unfortunately, the lines can't drain very fast, hence poor circulation. Although it is circulating. We'll see how well it worker. The parts per million is the same throughout the system. PPM is at 330-332 in all 8 grow tubs and the rez. That leads me to believe its circulating okay-ish. The roots continue to grow like crazy and the plant itself has good amounts of new growth on them as well. All in all, its descent so far...
 
Back
Top Bottom