Truly awesome bro! 
DarkStar Project - Advanced Growing
- Thread starter Mr Smith
- Start date
Heya Mr. Smith - that's a freaking outstanding picture of the Darkstar mum. She's beautiful, healthy and huge. Definitely POTM material. 
OG13
New Member
Hey Mr Smith, what are the rough dimensions of the vert setup....distance from plant stem to bulb, what size bulb (1000 w?). Hard to get a handle on it all looking from outside in.
Thanks
Thanks
BigIrishDoode
Fallen Cannabis Warrior
i know your prolly alot like me, i too post some off the wall random brain barf! lol i was not implying you were a nut lol no more than i am anyway you do good work!!! yup one day we will be able to pick up cannabis at the store i believe it! that is like poty!! buddy its a jaw dropper!!
Mr Smith you have great threads worthy of doctrine! I'm going to be building a aero/nft version of your vertical 'satellite'. I have just a cpl simple questions.
1. you have 1/2'' tube feeding the 1/4'' drip lines. Can I just use 1/4'' drip lines coming from my manifold/pump in the res?
2. you have 3 inch net pots (don't know your spacing) staggered each row. Can I use 2'' net pots spaced 4'' apart staggering each row? (I want to make massive lollipops!)
3. you have 4 rows. Can I add (2) more rows to this unit? (will be using (2) 600 watt hps on DIY vertical light mover)
4. which brings me to my last question. Do you have a source or guide for building the vertical light pulley system I saw you used in another journal?
Thank you for your details grow logs; Very enlightening.
P.S. - I'm a member of another forum hence my low post count, but I'm very glad I stumbled upon someone that recommended someone that recommended you (420fied being one of them! He is amazing help too!) Seriously, I was searching all through 420 looking at horizontal aero/nft builds and eventually found the one that makes my soul yearn!
P.S.S. - I'll be building two of these 'satellites' if you give the OK on 2 extra rows. Three rows per light.
1. you have 1/2'' tube feeding the 1/4'' drip lines. Can I just use 1/4'' drip lines coming from my manifold/pump in the res?
2. you have 3 inch net pots (don't know your spacing) staggered each row. Can I use 2'' net pots spaced 4'' apart staggering each row? (I want to make massive lollipops!)
3. you have 4 rows. Can I add (2) more rows to this unit? (will be using (2) 600 watt hps on DIY vertical light mover)
4. which brings me to my last question. Do you have a source or guide for building the vertical light pulley system I saw you used in another journal?
Thank you for your details grow logs; Very enlightening.
P.S. - I'm a member of another forum hence my low post count, but I'm very glad I stumbled upon someone that recommended someone that recommended you (420fied being one of them! He is amazing help too!) Seriously, I was searching all through 420 looking at horizontal aero/nft builds and eventually found the one that makes my soul yearn!
P.S.S. - I'll be building two of these 'satellites' if you give the OK on 2 extra rows. Three rows per light.
Here are pics of the darkstar mother day 39 in flower.
She's a big one for a indoor plant.
The last pic a very good friend of mine is standing behind the plant. He's 5ft10in tall and the plant sits on top a 27 gallon tote.
Water change was done with BPN 3part nutes using monster bloom part of the feeding schedule at 12ml grow, 7ml micro, 20ml bloom, and 5ml blue booster per gallon of aged tap water. A few gallons of water was added to reduce ppm to 1300/1330ppm and water level is reset by pumping the extra water into the secondary reservoir.
BEAST!
sman, not sure about the other Q's, but as for #1, you want to step down from the 1/2" to 1/4" because if you just run 1/4", then there won't be enough pressure to feed through the whole thing I'm sure. to get that even flow, the step down is important. If I understood the question right that is, just smoked a hogleg rolled in a hash paper(hash rolled out with a rolling pen, pot rolled inside, no paper, hole moly I'm fried)
That's what I thought. what do you use for the step down? can i just make a hole a plug in a 1/4 double barbed connector straight into the 1/2? or do i need to get a 1/2 to 1/4 barbed T? I suppose either one is not too difficult.
I would run 1/2 all the way up, with 1/2x1/2x1/4 T's with the 1/4" split off from that to run to the plants, this should allow the water to reach all the way to the end of the 1/2", I would also reccomend pumping with gravity, I.E., pump from the top down, this will also assure that the water reaches all the way, and you can use a much smaller pump.
- Thread starter
- #210
There are 3 600wat hid bulbs surrounding the plant broadsiding her with light. This allows me to grow a large indoor plant without the worry of height control. There are 2 hps(high pressure sodium) and 1 (mh) metal halide bulbs. The hps bulbs hang vertical with reflectors 1.5foot away from its nearest bud. The metal halide bulb hangs naked and vertical, since no reflector is used the bulb can go as close as 1 foot from its nearest bud but I have mine 15 inches away.
- Thread starter
- #211
1. I am using a true rated 1000gph pump and without restricting the 1/4 tubes I didn't have enough backpressure to make all the 1/4 tubes to feed. When I restricked all the 1/4th in tubes except for the top row I had ample back pressure for the whole sytem. My 1/2in tubing is actually a lil small for the amount of plant sites I have. I would have gone bigger but worked with what I had. Unless your manifold piping is close to the plant sites I think you might experience low to no pressures in the 1/4th inch tubes.
2.I am not quite sure how far the plant sites are apart but the average tube is 24in long and either has 2 or 3 holes. The holes are staggered per row. They are 2 and 3/4in holes. I use 3 inch potnets because I have a ample supply of them and use them in other machines. I don't like 2 inch pot nets because its a smaller hole and smaller holes makes cleaning more difficult, thats just a opinian.
3.Each row from inside diameter/width is about 60 inches across. A 1000w hangs in the center approx 30 inches from the plants. If I was to rebuild this machine I would shorten the inside diameter or width to 48 to 52 inches across and add 2 rows for 2 stationary vertical 600w hids bulbs hanging naked in the middle. The shorter dimentions would allow me to put another vert right beside it lol.
4.That is just a normal light mover(LightRail 3.5) using 2 pulleys and a counterweight. Its being used on this grow also. If you like I can take a couple pics of the set up next time I visit the grow.
Thanks for joining the forums, would love to see ya do a build. We have a good number of good growers here besides 420fied and me, hope you stay and check us out.
That's what I figured, just never messed with vinyl tubing before, thanks for the help!
BTW I have an EcoPlus 3170 GPH pump. (the res sits outside the sealed room within a room) but i'll make my own thread about it in 1 or 2 weeks.
Awesome thanks for reply, I guess it just boils down to personal preference. I will cut one and a half feet tubes instead of the 2 footers. Thanks for the welcoming and I will definitely send the link of the build!
I've spent hours over the last few days studying over the grows that inspired some of your grows (Heath). Wow, that guy can grow - you've picked good inspiration, and shown you can hold your own - no doubt. I hope you can pull a yield like he gets on your Darkstar Mum - like you said... why not?
Dumb question, but I'm medicated. Are you still flooding the tubes as well as using drippers somehow on your vert set-up? Or is this just drips and drain and different than your last run?
Dumb question, but I'm medicated. Are you still flooding the tubes as well as using drippers somehow on your vert set-up? Or is this just drips and drain and different than your last run?
That's what I figured, just never messed with vinyl tubing before, thanks for the help!
BTW I have an EcoPlus 3170 GPH pump. (the res sits outside the sealed room within a room) but i'll make my own thread about it in 1 or 2 weeks.
Awesome thanks for reply, I guess it just boils down to personal preference. I will cut one and a half feet tubes instead of the 2 footers. Thanks for the welcoming and I will definitely send the link of the build!
High-hi, sman! Welcome to the best blogoshpere for 420 related discussions anywhere! I'm gonna have to check out your journal of the room-in-a-room when you get that going, I'd love to see it.
Propa Gator
New Member
sman, here's a tool that you may find handy: Polygon Calculator
- Thread starter
- #216
Sman, the next pump I would get is a inline pump that sits outside the reservoir. The backpressure my submersable pump creates puts a load on the pump and the pump runs warm which could warm the nute water mix. Right now the room temps stay on the low side but once the season changes I will have to install a waterchiller because of water pump and the pcv tubes are wrapping around a high powered heat source(light).
Good luck with your DIY builds. Creating the mousetrap and then making it better is what I enjoy most. Growing is more like a test result. I am not that good of a grower so I let the machines and the equipment do the work for me while I clean, trim, maintenance and choirs then reset for the next grow.
The dams have been removed and the tubes releveled so no water stands in the tubes once the pump is off. All water delivery is done through the 1/4th inch drip lines. All 1/4" tubing on the top row run wide open giving a steady stream of waterflow, the least amount of water runs through the top row so they get the extra water delivery. The bottom rows are restricted with either a inline shutoff valve or a 2gph restrictor. These 1/4" lines in the bottom rows have more water flowing through the tubes so less water delivery is needed. These lines don't go drip,drip,drip but instead give a little more than a steady trickle of water. If a drip line in one of the lower tubes gets clogged, the water running through the tubes should take up the slack. The vert system has become hybrid version of a ntf/drip system. If or once a chiller is needed it would run off its own pump and water would be delivered to the 3/4in connector at the top tube. I would use a 500 gph mag or a 250gph mag pump if water volume became a problem.
I'll take pics next time I visit the grow.
Good luck with your DIY builds. Creating the mousetrap and then making it better is what I enjoy most. Growing is more like a test result. I am not that good of a grower so I let the machines and the equipment do the work for me while I clean, trim, maintenance and choirs then reset for the next grow.
The dams have been removed and the tubes releveled so no water stands in the tubes once the pump is off. All water delivery is done through the 1/4th inch drip lines. All 1/4" tubing on the top row run wide open giving a steady stream of waterflow, the least amount of water runs through the top row so they get the extra water delivery. The bottom rows are restricted with either a inline shutoff valve or a 2gph restrictor. These 1/4" lines in the bottom rows have more water flowing through the tubes so less water delivery is needed. These lines don't go drip,drip,drip but instead give a little more than a steady trickle of water. If a drip line in one of the lower tubes gets clogged, the water running through the tubes should take up the slack. The vert system has become hybrid version of a ntf/drip system. If or once a chiller is needed it would run off its own pump and water would be delivered to the 3/4in connector at the top tube. I would use a 500 gph mag or a 250gph mag pump if water volume became a problem.
I'll take pics next time I visit the grow.
Thanks Mr. Smith, that clears it up for me.
- Thread starter
- #218
Today is day 21 in flower for the vert machine and day 47 in flower for the rdwc mother. Unfortunately the darkstar is a 70 day plus strain. 23 days left for the DSM.
-nudge- PICS!
- Thread starter
- #220
I did take pics. Moved the light to get some good shots, even took a few closeups of the buds of the DSM. I took pics of before and after I trimmed the plants in the vert monday. It was a heavy trim too lol. The next day I went to pull the memory card from the camera and it wasn't in the camera. I left it on the desk so all those pics I thought I took were never recorded. What can I say, I am sorry that I am a stoner dumbass at times. I'll take pics next visit.
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