Expertise Needed Growers Please Help

[Irishsmoke00]

Hey everybody I know I am a newb with a lot of questions and it might be annoying. I do plenty of research all day, in fact its all I do, but at the end of the day I might have learned a few things but it doesn't come close to answers I can get from you relating specifically to what is going on with my grow. I have sunk all of my money into this grow so failure is not an option, not only would I be broke but I would be heart broken. My grow has recently started to go downhill and I am in a state of panic. If you expert growers could be so kind to help me out my appreciation could not be measured. My main issue is water temp and ph. My water temp issue shouldnt be a problem for long because I ordered a chiller. FYI I also have recently added an air stone in my rez for the hell of it. 1. One of my seeds died during planting, i'm pretty sure because I put it in a rockwool cube that was soaked, so im assuming it died from drowning right? 2. There is hydroton dust in the bottom of my buckets, will this kill or affect my plants in any way? 3. I am using a 600watt hps bulb running on 50% 30 inches away from my plants 24/7 is this too much? 4. My PH refuses to go down. I have added half a bottle of PH down and it stays at about 7.5. I have tried numerous things and have no new results, all I can think of is that is is my meter, but I have a top of the line 3 in 1 Water Meter which tests the water temperature and PPM just fine. Any ideas? 5. I live in the top floor of a house where there are 2 rooms. You walk up the stairs and you are in my bedroom and then walking through my bedroom is a door to my grow room. I have no fresh air intake into the room technically. I do have all 4 windows in my bedroom open at all times and wind is constantly blowing into my room. I am also constantly in an out of my grow room, sometimes even leaving the door just wide open so more fresh air can just go in. And obviously I have air stones in each of my buckets and my rez. Is this enough air/fresh air? Please if you have any thought into any of these issues please reply. Thank you.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Well writing in paragraphs would help a little bit as block text is some what hard to read at best !

You failed to mention PH value & PPM value to stage of growth ! also over watering might be an issue ?


Better detail can help solve the problem at handed...

 

[Smokemupm8]

Yeah as Fuzz said.. But I am thinking the air should be ok, I have minimal fresh air into my room without probs.
And are you using the 600w hps for Veg and flower?? The plants will not respond as well to a HPS during Veg as with a MH, you can buy a DUAL spectrum globe to use all thru.
Also on res temp issue, I AM NOT SURE ON EXACT TEMP REQUIREMENTS FOR HYDRO - But you may consider buying a cheap heat mat, for like lizards n shit, put that under the res, they are made so that no water can enter the mat so it should be safe.
But I feel someone else will be better off advising you as I do not use this system.. Goodluk!! Smokemup

 

[homegrower]

Do not buy the heating pad, your on the right track with purchasing the chiller. Your water temperature should be in the 58-68 range kind of like your ph 5.8-6.8

 

[buddyb]

where do u get ur water from that could answer ur question about ur ph problems. an hps bulb is the wrong kind of lighting for a seedling its too strong for a seedling. ur probly burning up ur plants with that bulb. u should start them off with growing flourecent lights. then bump them up to stronger lighting as they get bigger. this is just my opinion but lets see wat everyone thinks

 

[Smokemupm8]

So is it adviseable to keep Res temps low?? I guess for bacteria s sake yeah?? Or is there a relation to the plants root temp?

 

[reparboon]

you should always presoak all rockwool at 5.2 ph for atleast a day and then squeeze out and resoak at 6.0 ph. you can grow from seedling to bloom with a hps no problem if the heat isnt a issue. buy a aquarium therostat from a pet store so you know your res temps.. there really cheap like 2 bucks.. you should never have to heat your res with a air pump.. reason i say this is because you can just move the air pump closer to the light for hotter air intake which will warm your res.. if your using a digi ballast i hope you burned your bulb in on the max level of the ballast before you put it on 50% because i have had bulb failure before without doing such a new bulb burn in. the clay pellets need to be cleaned alot before use..(i mean like a handfull at a time in a collinder for 5 min mixing them around then repeat.) they should have no powder or residue.. you should of cleaned out ant tubes or tanks or res with h2o2 and ran the system before use.(there can be corrosive chems on all new plastics that need to be cleaned) im pretty sure your problems lye with your cleanliness and failure to clean n prep the equipment. best of luck and happy growing

Hey everybody I know I am a newb with a lot of questions and it might be annoying. I do plenty of research all day, in fact its all I do, but at the end of the day I might have learned a few things but it doesn't come close to answers I can get from you relating specifically to what is going on with my grow. I have sunk all of my money into this grow so failure is not an option, not only would I be broke but I would be heart broken. My grow has recently started to go downhill and I am in a state of panic. If you expert growers could be so kind to help me out my appreciation could not be measured. My main issue is water temp and ph. My water temp issue shouldnt be a problem for long because I ordered a chiller. FYI I also have recently added an air stone in my rez for the hell of it. 1. One of my seeds died during planting, i'm pretty sure because I put it in a rockwool cube that was soaked, so im assuming it died from drowning right? 2. There is hydroton dust in the bottom of my buckets, will this kill or affect my plants in any way? 3. I am using a 600watt hps bulb running on 50% 30 inches away from my plants 24/7 is this too much? 4. My PH refuses to go down. I have added half a bottle of PH down and it stays at about 7.5. I have tried numerous things and have no new results, all I can think of is that is is my meter, but I have a top of the line 3 in 1 Water Meter which tests the water temperature and PPM just fine. Any ideas? 5. I live in the top floor of a house where there are 2 rooms. You walk up the stairs and you are in my bedroom and then walking through my bedroom is a door to my grow room. I have no fresh air intake into the room technically. I do have all 4 windows in my bedroom open at all times and wind is constantly blowing into my room. I am also constantly in an out of my grow room, sometimes even leaving the door just wide open so more fresh air can just go in. And obviously I have air stones in each of my buckets and my rez. Is this enough air/fresh air? Please if you have any thought into any of these issues please reply. Thank you.

 

[Irishsmoke00]

My PH is at 8 right now!! My PPM at about 180 I added nutes a couple days ago and it was at like 350 but its gone down since, is that good or bad? I meant a 600 watt MH for veg my bad!! But I soaked the rockwool in a ph of about 6.4ish it was the best I could do at the time I hope this doesn't affect my plants too much! What do you mean burned my bulb in on the max level, I turned it on at 100% for a few minutes but that was it. All my equipment came brand new but I definitely should have cleaned it. I did add a little bit of Hydrogen Peroxide into my rez early in my grow to prevent bacteria?

 

[reparboon]

if your ppm is going down the plants are drinking nutes which is good. you can use the mh light for veg no problem.. just keep it at a safe difference for heat. if your running hydro you should really get your ph down to 5.8 area. for soil you should get it down to around 6.2.. when i just got my new setup i went throu 4 bulb by not burning them in at the highest setting for the ballast. like on a lumitek ballast where you get +10% over 100%... i found that if the bulb wasnt burnt in on 110% for at least 24 hours i had premature failure on my bulbs when i turned them up to 110% after burning them in on the 50% setting. when you do your next res change just make sure you clean everything out really good you should be fine

 

[Irishsmoke00]

I am going to clean the system as best I can my next rez change in a few days, also since 2 of my plants have already died I am switching them out with 2 seeds I just ordered there going to be at least 2 weeks behind so they will flower for longer than they veg but im assuming that will just get me a smaller yield on those 2 plants correct? I am also going to order an ro filter from ebay, this one exactly 0ppm Portable 100GPD Reverse Osmosis Ro Di Filtration | eBay will this work for any household faucet?? Also how often should I be adding nutes to my rez, every rez change correct? Thanks guys this is a huge help!!

 

[reparboon]

your prob going to get alot of different answers about nute changes.. in my 5 gallon buckets i just keep it simple.. i dont change anything untill the water has been fully drank by the plants. meaning if the res is 3 gallons i wont change until i topped up the res with 3 gallons of just water from the plants drinking it. might take 3 weeks in veg.. then i add a new 3 gallons of nutes. i usally dont waste nutes in veg because the plants hardly drink any water or nutes. ive actually been sitting my netpots in bowls with a half gallon of lite nutes and it last 3 weeks so i save even more. no need wasteing 5 gallons worth of nutes every week when the plants are barely drinking a half gallon in 3 weeks. just my opinion.

 

[Irishsmoke00]

Okay so what your saying is that during veg the plants are barely eating so I only have to add nutes probably every rez change? And also Okay so I messed up! I was concentrating on all of the wrong things I didn't even realize that my ballast was running at 100% instead of 50, which means my babies were getting wayyyyy too much light for early veg. So yesterday not only were they switched from 24/0 to 18/6 but I turned them from 100 to 75%, will this help there stunted growth and put them back on track? O and fyi my ppm, water temp and air temp are all good! Still just workin on that PH!

 

[Irishsmoke00]

I bought API PH 7 and a PH test kit today, going to match up the ph in a little bit, anyone have any advice for me about the light and new seeds?

 

[cannasensei]

A lot of opinions and preferences in here so I'll add mine lol.
The airflow is absolutely an issue. Not likely a detrimental one but u will never see full potential without it unless u seal and gas it.

Is your light aircooled? Is your reservoir light tight? Having it so will allow u a few degrees of safety with water temp and keep bacteria at bay.

If ur light is aircooled u should be about a foot from canopy. 80 degree canopy temps no higher.

While its true you can achieve tighter node spacing with a mh and Hps will serve just fine for veg. Don't believe me have a look at my journal been doing it great for years. Par is what is important. Keep ur bulbs fresh and clean (keep everything as such)

If ur water is over 72 u cab try frozen bottles weighted to sink so hey don't touch the roots. Its a pain but it can keep em til the cooler arrives. 100% oxygenation is most easily achieved at 65.8 degrees. Shoot for that neighborhood and u could almost just blow into a straw in the res every few hours and they'd be sustainable (not quite don't do it lol)

Ph pens need calibrated whereas ppm and temp typically don't. Consult ur owners manual or pick up some cheap (5-10 bucks) drops. They're less accurate but it'd be for verification only anyway.

My last suggestions., and I recommended this to every new grower. Start in dirt. Grasp the fundamentals.clear the curve get your room dialed. Once u have learned to anticipate the plants needs ahead of time you will have the confidence needed for hydro. Effect are instantaneous and the margin for error is much smaller in hydroponics, not the best starting point if uve all ur eggs in one basket so to speak.

This is not to say hydroponics isn't a great technique or that a first timer can't do well. But the odds of success are much higher in dirt for a first timer. Most doing well in hydroponics with mmj had been growing Aero peepers or the like for years before and have developed a firm understanding of horticulture.

 

[cannasensei]

I personally pop my seeds under the 600 on 18/6. They take the sun in all its glory just fine. My little 600 doesn't hurt a thing.
I would recommended a t5 or the like for the first week if ur worried about them getting the brunt of the 6 right off.