4x4 1000w SCROG 4xWW DWC w/ Sunpulse 3k Digital Bulb

[usul]

Well, I'm a total newbie, but I have been doing a lot of research on H2O2, mostly because I had such a nasty bacterial infection in my DWC res. Here's a link to the article I found most helpful.

I agree with Wheelo's thoughts; if you're using any sort of organic nutrients using H2O2 will be counterproductive. But if you're using salt-based nutes then it might be a good idea - especially if you're seeing cloudy water and things don't smell good.

Here's the H2O2 schedule I'm using, in ml/gal:

Weak - Res change: 3, Daily: 1
Moderate - Res change: 6, Daily: 1.5
Maximum - Res change: 11, Daily, 2.5

And please take all that with a grain of salt - it's just what I've put together from doing a bunch of research and not from actual experience. My plants look like hell but I don't think it's from the H2O2. My water has been crystal clear and pH stable for over 2 weeks using the "moderate" levels, so it can't be all bad. I'm using GH FloraMicro and FloraBloom on the Lucas Formula (thanks Ultra

You've got a good thing going - I'm sure it's all going to come out great.

 

[MI-grower]

those roots looked sweet...Keep doing what you do....


& Love from the Glove


My 1st grow

 

[usul]

Hey Ultra, it's been a while... how are things going? Got that new bulb yet? You've done such a great job with the clones I'm really looking forward to seeing the plants take off!

 

[ultrasonic]

Hey Ultra, it's been a while... how are things going? Got that new bulb yet? You've done such a great job with the clones I'm really looking forward to seeing the plants take off!

Hey all,

Just writing to let everyone know I haven't jumped ship! 2 of my 4 plants are not doing so well, and I think it was because the water level was about an inch lower in that bin for a few days, and the roots were shocked or something. Plus the nutes that are in there are... disagreeable, apparently.

My solution is to remove my 3rd bin, and flower my mother along with the 2 good ones. I will use 1/3 less RO water, so it'll only take about 12 hours to fill it all as opposed to 18. I wish I had a Merlin RO system . 700 gallons per day @ .5 gallon a minute... sigh. It would only take a couple hours to refill my system

Anyhoo I figure since i'm scroggin this will work out fine. I've had the mother for about 6 months, and trimmed it back a bunch, but the perhipial growth has exploded, and I think its a good way to go so I don't have to sacrifice yield.

I have decided since this operation has expanded from a closet to a closet and a tent, I may as well remove the tent and just use the whole room, since i'm closing up my vegging closet (only 1 more crop after this before I move out). I've certainly got the fans (2x 6'' vortex) to move the air about.

My next and final grow will be a "special strain" like we don't see around here unless you know someone who grows at home. I'm leaning toward Blue Cheese - it's just makin the old mouth water every time I think about it. My roommate wants Amnesia Haze, because he smoked it in Holland and he said it floored him. Don't want anything to sativa-ish, since it makes me too paranoid/twitchy. (haven't got much experience with strains in all honesty, what we get here in mostly commercial strain from another province)

Came across some NICE crystally looking bud too, but smoking it tasted like... blah. I don't know if it wasn't flushed or wasn't cured (learning towards not cured because the ash didn't seem substantial, indicating it wasn't leftover salts? shrug.

Anyway, I've ordered a new Sunpulse, and Lumatek 1000w and they're paid for, shipping to me now. Should be here Monday or Tue when I'll provide a nice update with some snappity snaps.

Anyway /endRant.... I'll hit you all with some juicy updates MON or TUE, thanks for checking in

 

[ultrasonic]

Awesome grow!

I'm not crazy, I saw that request for pics

You can see the two that don't look so hot. I also removed compltely the outer tent, so I have a nice frame to build my scrog on. I attribute the issues to a couple things: Poor in tent circulation, and hot dry temps, as well as this funky nute solution that seems to have gone clear, with all the calmax sinking to the bottom... can you say refund. Also, the top parts of the roots were exposed somewhat for a day because I was out of hydroton, so I fashioned these covers.

I haven't been caring for these things like I should because of the stress of ordering the ballast and bulb, which have cost me about 800 dollars. phew.

Now that should be arriving in a couple days. I'm changing out the nutrient solution today. I'm also turning on a humidifier with hopes that this will be an actual properly operating garden. My temps have also been a little too low. I don't know what is up with this mix, but my mother plant isn't even drinking it, so I don't know whats going on.

SO I guess you could say I haven't been a very good daddy.

You'll also notice that for the sake of 8 less hours of filling, I removed the res. bin. I'm going to be better off doing nute changes than trying to deal with all that water with such a puny RO system. Takes too long to fill, and uses more nutrients. SO thats where I'm sitting right now, and you can expect a nice thourough run through on wednesday when the lumatek arrives!

thanks for stickin by everyone!

 

[usul]

Thanks for the new pics! Sorry about the plants looking a little sad, but these are tought little buggers and once you get things figured out they'll be looking great in no time. I've learned DWC can be very twitchy but once you get everything balanced it can be relatively low maintenance.

Looking forward to seeing the new lighting setup - you've been waiting a long time and it'll be great when it's finally up and running. I wouldn't worry too much about adjusting your ventilation, temps and humidity just yet - when you get the new light running all of that will change.

 

[ultrasonic]

Thanks for your support as usual usul

I've changed out the nutrient solution, and the plants already look happier. The solution looks good too. I"m convinced it was the calmax *grr* it was all in clumps at the bottom, and when it mixed, it was all cloudy and gross.

I wonder if the h2o2 killed it? Hmmmmmmm I'll have to look into using that product with h202. Anyhow, the temp in the room is up, and the humidity is up as well, and all seems well. I'm still considering using my mum to replace my 2 near death guys - it all depends on how the next 48 hours play out. Like i said before, since i'm using a screen, I think I can train the plants in and around one another. Can't go without a crop, lol and no more delays.

Next grow, my last in this house ,I'll be ordering fem. blue cheese seeds online and just growing them out. we'll see from there. These WW are a fem strain too.

Expecting a delivery man today and I'll update accordingly. I still have the partially damaged bulb, and it looks good to me to burn for a test, so maybe i'll do that. At least i'll have my hood mounted and my socket wired,etc.

more pictures soon! and better looking plants, hopefully
(I swear I can grow... see my mother? lol, i'm just getting too lazy)

 

[ultrasonic]

Well on a quick side note, I got my ballast today. Holy hell it's big... twice as big as that other china brand 1000w I had. I expertly (cough) wired the reflector which was easy as pie, hung it up, and slid in the glass.

I was about to plug in the sunpulse when I hesitated. I gave the bulb a good look over and found more damage than just the loose supports, and decided against pluggin' it in. My replacement bulb will arrive to a nearby hydro store either tomorrow or the day after, so I'll relax and give my ballast some time to come to room temperature before turning it on.

yikes, I'm gonna need a timer too
*groans at having to buy more things*
and no, no pics until my grow area doesn't look like something out of the Labrybth 1986 David Bowie. *toke toke*



Edit: Oh, I should mention, the 2 good plants look FANTASTIC from the new nutrient solution. The other 2 may be too far gone. Guess i'll have to go with using the mom, which is very branchy and well established. It alone could probably fill my 4x4 area with a couple weeks of veg

 

[DroJo]

Hey Ultra,
hang in there bro! i've got faith in ya.

 

[Sonzor]

Mother looks great. Man I did not think those two plants looked all that bad. A little TLC got them right back on track. Great job....

 

[ultrasonic]

Thanks for the encouragement DroJo and sonzor

I'm starting to think they may be okay too, since they're quickly recovering under the light and new nutrients, however i'm just worried they're not going to catch up to their sisters, who have had a little growth explosion. The mother, as you'll see below, is just so nice and mature, it would almost be a sin not to throw it under that 1k.

*on an amusing side note, my buddy and I tried to find a dedicated circuit for the lumatek (we pretty well did) but we ended up shutting off 5 breakers before finding something in the house that actually turned off, be it lights, or wall plugs. I'd really like to know whats what, and it drives me crazy that the panel is sitting there in such a state

So the sunpulse and lumatek have arrived! I plugged everything in and flicked it on last night, smoked some great weed my dealer brought over (maybe i'll have to include a pic, lol) and went to bed.

I woke up and discovered that a secton of ducting had come loose, pumping the lamps hot air into the room. 86F, and the carbon filter was working furiously to pump it all out . On top of that, I smoked myself into oblivion and forgot I had my circulation pump on, so res temps jumped up to 82F!. Turned it off and threw in some RO ice cubes to cool er down. *focus*. And man, does 1000w ever pump out da heat! The color of light is nice too, not so yellow, you'll notice.

So, show and tell time:

Below you'll see the crazy branchyness of this mature plant. I can only attribute this to the plant being almost 6 months old. Should make some nice buds.

shot of mum

This is my piston air pump. I rigged a pc fan up to it to cool it off because it gets rather warm, which warms up the water. The fan really helps.

Heres my big fat lumatek, sitting next to a fan to help keep it cool.

sad plants, however they've recovered amazingly in the last 24 hrs. Still think they're TOO stunted though....

my babies.

So the next couple days will consist of fine-tuning the humidifier, enhancing circulation, and setting up the screen. Thanks for staying tuned in all..

Whoops almost forgot, this is what i'm smoking atm

 

[Sonzor]

That mom does look amazing. Looks like you babies are getting healthier by the day. Great job and + rep. keep up the good work...

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

Looking great man! + reps from me too.

 

[MI-grower]

Ur plants look great bro, ur lil 1's will pull through they look healthy beside those few leaves. +reps to ya man..

 

[usul]

Hey Ultra, thanks for the updates. I am coveting your lumatek ballast and 1000W lighting setup - I'll have room for such a thing some day - I am watching and learning.

Totally love the axial fan wired up to the pump - hacking stuff like that is juat part of the fun of this crazy gig.

Your mother and happy clones are looking great. The two others look like they'll recover in no time - leave some room for them. You'll be flowering in no time.

 

[BassBong]

Just finished reading your entire post and am finding it quite interesting. Good luck for the rest of the journey. I'm watching and rooting for you.

 

[ultrasonic]

Hey guys, thanks for all your support

The babies are doing great, and i've been working out ventilation issues, fine tuning everything. I've decided to wire in an intake fan instead of leaving my room passive (a tent may have worked passively, but a room, not so much.)

I just have a simple wiring question: I have a cord and plug that i've assembled, and i've got wire caps. I'm just not sure how to wire this inline duct fan. It's got 2 black wires coming out of it, and it's designed for 115v.

Can I just wire it however? I take it 2 black wires means I don't need to pay attention to the polarized plug. There are instructions, but it doesn't specify (obviously I should know that much before proceeding ) My best guess is to just wire the beast up. I mean, there's no obvious distinction between two black cords, right? Input?

Thanks guy, as always

edit: heres a pic of the proof!

 

[Linkorien]

just 2 wires it can go ether way but check it once you are done with the wire because some times some models will go in reverse, you wouldn't want that

 

[ultrasonic]

I did some more research and found out that it will go either way unless one of the cords is marked "netural" or "hot". Plugged in and spinning in the right direction!

 

[Sonzor]

Who would have ever thought that growing marijuana plants would turn you into a electrician. Great job..