Brand new DWC - 6x6 tent - Need advice

[Thomas Anonym]

Merry Christmas! It seems that Santa thought I was great this year and brought me a new 6x6 tent to go along with the huge assortment of lights, fans, timers and other equipment. My dilemma is that I am having trouble figuring out the best use of my equipment.
I have currently:
2x4x5 tent
6x6x6 tent
1 2x4 t5
1 1000w dimmable with both bulbs
2 600 w with both bulbs
1 4"170 cfm fan for inflow
1 6" 440 cfm fan and carbon filter
3 "room" fans
Nutrients:
General Hydroponics
CalMag
This is my first DWC (hydroton) attempt and ill be growing 420 Strawberry Kush.
So until my tent got set up I had visions of 1 1000k light working for the full 36 sqft and me having a perfect garden. Well now I am second guessing myself and wanted to seek advice from the masters.
My thoughts are that I will use the t5 in my 2x4 tent as a starting area for my seedlings to vegging area. In my mind on around week 5 eight of my ladies will move to 1/2 the 6x6 for flower under the 1000k. I would then start another 8 in the 2x4 for the next half of the 6x6 for flower under the 2 600w.
I hope this plan gives me a decent harvest every 5 weeks but does not require me to maintain lots of plants to achieve reasonable yields.
My other plan would be to use the 2x4 and t5 to start enough plants for the full 6x6.
Guys, what am I missing? What holes do I have in my plan?
Thanks for any advice or input.

 

[TrichGobbla]

Sounds like a good plan sir best of luck

 

[Dontscrewup]

Merry Christmas! It seems that Santa thought I was great this year and brought me a new 6x6 tent to go along with the huge assortment of lights, fans, timers and other equipment. My dilemma is that I am having trouble figuring out the best use of my equipment.
I have currently:
2x4x5 tent
6x6x6 tent
1 2x4 t5
1 1000w dimmable with both bulbs
2 600 w with both bulbs
1 4"170 cfm fan for inflow
1 6" 440 cfm fan and carbon filter
3 "room" fans
Nutrients:
General Hydroponics
CalMag
This is my first DWC (hydroton) attempt and ill be growing 420 Strawberry Kush.
So until my tent got set up I had visions of 1 1000k light working for the full 36 sqft and me having a perfect garden. Well now I am second guessing myself and wanted to seek advice from the masters.
My thoughts are that I will use the t5 in my 2x4 tent as a starting area for my seedlings to vegging area. In my mind on around week 5 eight of my ladies will move to 1/2 the 6x6 for flower under the 1000k. I would then start another 8 in the 2x4 for the next half of the 6x6 for flower under the 2 600w.
I hope this plan gives me a decent harvest every 5 weeks but does not require me to maintain lots of plants to achieve reasonable yields.
My other plan would be to use the 2x4 and t5 to start enough plants for the full 6x6.
Guys, what am I missing? What holes do I have in my plan?
Thanks for any advice or input.

Your setup is very similar to mine. I only have two tents and my largest is 4x4 but I am able to grow 6 plants that yield over 700gr dry of prime bud. And lots of residuals for concentrates and tinctures. With your tent you should easily be able to grow 9 plants (if you make sure you don't put your res inside the tent) and have over 1200 gram harvests. If you time it right you can get one every 8 weeks. I am just starting my third grow, if you want to check it out I started a journal. I am also using GH 3 part nutrients and follow this feeding schedule:
Feedcharts
I am not doing a perpetual grow like you are contemplating but the process is the same.

I think your plan is fine but, I think 8 plants in full bloom will take up your entire 6x6 tent and you should grow 9 to use the whole tent. You should put the 1000W and 600W in the 6x6 tent for bloom. Use the 2x4 T5 tent for seedlings. And I would use the other tent to maintain a mother or two for clones with the other 600W. You only need the clones to grow to about 12"-16" before you can put them on 12/12 for bloom. Because you use a tent you will have height restrictions so don't wait till they are too tall to start flowering them.

You understand that this will be pretty time consuming process. It takes almost as much time to work a 9 plant perpetual grow as it does a 180 plant one. Clones are the way to go if you want regular harvests. There are lots of places to buy clones and they cost about the same as seeds. You just have to be careful about mites and such and should spray any clones you don't produce yourself and do it right away and not in your growing area. Don't introduce anything into your growing area until your sure it won't bring in any pests. That includes your shoes if you go outside in nature very often. Plus clean your grow area real well before setup and use disinfectant and anti bacterial soap. You know what they say about an ounce of prevention!

Anyway, I'd be glad to help, and you should start a grow journal. That way the entire community can help.

 

[hydro1000]

Wow you got all the good toys!
What are you using for buckets, rubbermaids? I found DWC is one of the easiest as long as you keep you res temps down at 68 or below 70. I keep mine right now in 20 gallon rubbermaids wrapped in silver reflective insulation, but still have to freeze 2 litre bottles of water and drop in the res to lower water temps twice a week. I will be changing over to insulated camping coolers when they go on sale, as those will keep temps down throughout the week without the worry of adding frozen bottles at mid week. A clean cool res. = white happy root system
Just a thought to pass on because most issues Are water related

 

[TrichGobbla]

Hydrogaurd will solve all your problems with temp in DWC. I use 5 Gallon bubble buckets and they seem to love em.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using 420

 

[hydro1000]

Hydro guard you say, I will have to look that up. So are you saying temps above 72 won't promote algae?

 

[TrichGobbla]

Hydro guard you say, I will have to look that up. So are you saying temps above 72 won't promote algae?

Hydrogaurd yes! And it's only about 19.00 for a quart and only uses 2 mil per gallon.
I also use Barley Total Pond avaliable at Home Depot for 8.00 it takes the place of my Cannazyme I used to use.
Cannazyme is an enzyme that breaks up dead root matter. Giving the algae no place to thrive. Total pond does this same exact thing just far more cheaper and at less people gallon
Cannazyme 39.00 bucks a quart using 9 mil per gallon!
Total Pond only 8.0 much smaller bottle yes but only at 0.5 mil per gallon.
Yes those 2 this combined I've never had a problem. Never. 8 5 gallon bubble buckets going at once no cooler and no ice pack temps hit 78 sometimes in res..

Sent from my SM-T230NU using 420

 

[hydro1000]

Sweet, I will be picking that up next time I'm in the city. What about the growth when temps are that high, does it change for the better or about the same

 

[hydro1000]

Well here it is, Thanks TrichGobbla for tip, I will be investing in this: No more frozen bottles water
"Hydroguard is safe for use in soil as well as hydroponics. Hydroguard bio-fungicide water treatment solution colonizes plant root zones with a mixture of beneficial bacteria to strengthen & protect plants. Because it forms a barrier against damping-off disease & root rot. Hydroguard is especially effective when used with seedlings & cuttings".

 

[TrichGobbla]

@hydro1000 I've noticed no difference in growth but to be honest I've used it from early on. So that would be hard to say. I usually have awesome growth. Some strains of course slower than others.
You can find me on Trichs Travels on the LED HiWay.. I'm still learning how to copy and past my journal links


Ahh here we go Trichs Travels On The LED Highway

Sent from my SM-T230NU using 420