First attempt at hydro...a couple of questions

[n00b2112]

Hello, I have questions for someone that is experienced with hydroponic growing. I am very new at this. I just completed the ho-made stealth cabinet that have I have been working on and have 6 seedlings started. I planted 3 Bubblicious and 3 Northern lights feminized seedsIafter germinating them in paper towels.

I started my hydro with ph adjusted RO water with no nutrients the first day. I added a very small amount of the grow and micro nutes the second day then went to 1/4 strength on the 4th day. Today is day 6. I have had to add ph down every day so far and I don't know if that is normal. the ph seems to creep back up to 6.75 or so every day and I have added a small dose of ph down to get it back down to 5.75. I have a ppm meter and don't really have a full grasp of how it works. It is set to 442 mode. The ppm seems to be between 350 and 600 so far. The ppm went up a bit overnight and I hadn't added anything? so I added water only. I am afraid to add lots of nutes because I have read that is a common noob mistake. I only have cfl's on now because they are still small and I am afraid to blast them with the led's too soon. They all look healthy to me, but I don't have experience to know how they should look.

If anyone could offer some advice I would really appreciate any help. I am just kind of worried I will do something wrong and kill them. Actually, I am thrilled that they are growing and the hydro equipment seems to be working as it should. I will try to attach a photo of the cabinet that I made up.

Thank you for reading my post.

 

[greendad]

I'm pretty sure u don't need nutes first 2 weeks and if it using cfl the farthest they should be is 6in

 

[greendad]

Looks like first pic on the left back row first pot seedling looks like it's stretching

 

[HunterHunt]

Hello and welcome to 420!! Im not experienced but i do a lot of reading and research! I am on my first grow also. I do have some information and some tips that hopefully will help you out and help you become successful!

First off! You seedlings does not need any nutes what so ever for the first 2 weeks just plain pH water. I would do a reservoir change immediately. Especially if you have 600 PPM for those little babies.

PPM is parts per million and its how diluted the water is. First i would take a PPM of just the water you are using so you have a number to go by. That number is what u will subtract from the PPM after you add nutes to give you how many PPM of nutes you have in your solution. (Ex- if your water is 75 PPM and after you add nutes the PPM is 275 then you have 200 PPM of nutes.)

Here is a PPM chart for you to kinda go by and fine tune.

Seedlings, Early Sprouts just water

Early Vegging 150 to 400

Full Vegetation 450 to 700

Early Blooming 750 to 950

Full Mature Blooms 1000 to 1600

Any time you are making a reservoir change you dont want to change it to fast or make a dramatic change. Slowly raise the PPM by 50 or 100 PPM over the course of the day. I usually go up around 50 ppm at a time.

Ok moving on! I dont know how big you are wanting to get your plants but thats to small of an area for 6 plants... They will run out of room and light. (this is personal advise and from my grow). Personally i would only grow 2 plants or 4 max in that space of yours. I have one plant in my space. But thats all up to the grower, the type of grow, Strain, and training you are going to do.

CFL (what im using) Must be close to the plant! You want them 6 -10 inches or so away. It looks like your babies are stretching for the light! You want them close enough not to burn them. You will be ok with just 2 or 4 CFL while they are seedlings and then add more and more until you reach what you want. Im currently using 8 2700k CFL (For flower) and 4 6500k for a total of 12 CFL all 26 watt each.

Check my grow out and let me know if you have any questions! Im on day 32 and my one plant has filled my box.
Papaya - CFL - Stealth - DWC - Hydro Grow Journal

 

[n00b2112]

Thank you both for the information. I am draining my tank now and will replace with ph adjusted water only. I was planning to try training them with a scrog screen when they get big enough. I didn't expect all 6 to survive so I will probably take the best looking 3 of them once I can see how they grow. The back row is nirvana fem. Bubblicious and the 3 in front are nirvana Northern Light. I will move the cfl's closer as you said. I have a 600 watt led light that I will use when they get a bit larger. I looked at your pics and hope to have plants that look like that eventually. I plan on using the right side of cabinet for mothers and clones when I get that far. I have never done any of this so your help is very much appreciated. Thank you so much for your input!