LivinLife's DWC Aurora Fem Grow Journal 2017

[LivinLife]

Let me start by saying we are newbs (couple, but wife is doing the writing)...first time growers and first time hydro/DWC. So we are prob going to overthink and do some dumb crap in this process. Bear with us. This is our setup:

-4x4 tent
-DWC 16 Gal tote w/8 gal filled (2-3 inches of space between pot & water)
-Hood Cooled 600w MH/HPS Lights
-600w dimmable ballast
-temp controlled Ice Probe (couldn't get temps lower than 80 otherwise)
-Humidifier
-6" exhaust fan on timer
-6" carbon filter
-8" intake fan attached to window w/hard ducting
-2 6" Oscillating fans
-Humidifier
-4 air stones & 2 air pumps
-GH Flora trio
-Hydroguard
-Z7 (just purchased today)
-APERA PH/TDS Digital meter
-Rapid Rooters & 4" net pots
-2x Aurora Indica Feminized seeds/plants

Tap water measurements: mountain spring fed water (no well or city water...very rural)
PH: 6.9-7.3 range
TDS: 11-22 ppm (typically around 19ppm)
Conductivity: 23-26
Salinity: .02

Setup is in an upstairs spare room. Exhaust is just vented to the room due to tiny window. Put the intake from the window for fresh, cool air. We used hard ducting instead of flexible from window to tent.

Can't really get humidity above 50%... most days it's between 40-45%. We've put wet towels under the light, bowls of water, humidifier, etc. We do have all wood walls/house so it just sucks up the moisture. We even put a 2nd humidifier in the actual spare room to see if it will help.

We had to put an ice probe in the reservoir to keep water temps below 72. It wasn't getting below 80. It's monitored/controlled and sits between 65-70 now. We also insulated the tote with R-3 Frost King insulation and covered the tote top with reflective ducting tape.

Our exhaust fan is timed for 2 min on/1 min off which has helped keep air temps around 74-76.

Our light is now on 600w and 18" above top of seedlings. It was on 400w for about 7 days (from germination start).

We've already run into issues and will put that in another post.

Germination:
-3 Feb started in the actual DWC setup (not in cup or towel). Put the seeds straight into the rapid rooter.
-6 Feb seeds popped, but not yet all the way through top of rapid rooter
7 Feb cotyledons out. We count this as Day 1 (for reference in this journal and easy to keep track). Light turned on at 400w.


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

DAY 1 (Cotyledons partially opened), but no full leaves yet. It was easiest to start our counting this way since it was the first day we turned the light on. We didn't take pics until around day 4.

Sooo remember when I said we'd prob do dumb crap? We started out with a clear tote. Dumb thing #1. It resulted in brown algae really quick. Plus the water temps were in the 80s despite our tap water coming out of the faucet at 55. We didn't even think about it being clear until we saw brown. So we sanitized the crap out of the water pump on day 2, Bought a new dark grey tote, new water and air hoses (dumb thing #2 coming up), hooked it all back up and started semi over.

Dumb thing #2: clear air line hoses. Couldn't figure out why I had very minor brown slime in the new tote (this was today). So Amazoned some black air tubing for Tuesday. Also purchased some Z7 as well just in case. Sanitized the crap outta everything....again!

Dumb thing #3: transplanted plant #2 because we thought it got infected and the rapid rooter was bad. It had beautiful white roots (about 7) inside the plug. So we stressed the crap out of it. You'll see the leaves in the next posts. BUT it's still growing strong and a lil better.

All in all: BIG learning experience and lots of forum searching for answers.

M-morning N-night

Air Temp: 76 M 72 N
Water Temp: 75 M 78 N (hadn't changed totes yet)
Humidity: 40% M 47% N
PH: 6.13 M 6.15 N
No nutes







Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

DAY 2

Late afternoon Tote change & sanitize, added 2 more air stones to total 4, insulated tote and added ice probe.

Cotyledons are fully open w/partial first node. 400w MH light

AIR TEMP: 75M 74N
WATER TEMP: 66M 65.6N
HUMIDITY: 44M 45N
PH: 6.01M 6.1N
No nutes


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

DAY 3

Plant 1 stretched a bit whiled stressed out Plant 2 stayed stressed and small. Moved light down to 18" above plant 1.
--plant 2 was out of plug first and first to fully open, but then slowed to a stop. Plant 1 caught up and passed.

We decided to do a 24/0 cycle instead of 18/6 to see if plant 2 would eventually catch up.

AIR TEMP: 75M 74N
WATER TEMP: 66M 65N
HUMIDITY: 44M 45N
PH: 6.3M 6.3N
No nutes

Plant 1

Plant 2

 

[LivinLife]

DAY 4

Not much today. 2nd node is visible. Bigger on plant 2 which is the stressed one. Kind of strange to me. Plant 1 popped and sprouted after plant 2, BUT grew its first node faster. Plant 2 early riser, grew first node slower, became stressed, BUT growing 2nd node faster. All bets are off with predicting what we will see daily.

AIR TEMP: 76M 74N
WATER TEMP: 65.5M 65.5N
HUMIDITY: 45M 40N
PH: 6.36M 6.34N
No nutes
1 TBS Hydroguard
Won't have Z7 til Tuesday along with black airline tubing

Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

Day 5

Plant 2 has healthy 2nd node growth, but first node leaves are multi-colored as you can see in pics. The 2nd node popped up after 12 hours. Definitely the runt of the two.

Plant 1 stopped stretching since we lowered the light. It looks a healthy green and first node leaves are a bit bigger. 2nd node isn't as large as plant 2s. Go figure!

Water is clear and no slime.

Can't get humidity past 45%. It's pissing me off. Hubby is not stressed about it. Any suggestions?

We turned the light to 600w. It's still 18" away. We turned the exhaust fan on high to offset the higher wattage. Still 2min on and 1 min off.

We haven't had to adjust PH but once in the last few days. It's been below 6.5.

AIR TEMP: 75.7M 76N
WATER TEMP: 66.6M 66.9N
HUMIDITY: 43M 42N
PH: 6.1M 6.35N
No nutes


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

Day 6-Feb 11th

The water temp raised due to increased wattage. Not surprised. 2nd nodes are growing, growing, growing! Even the runt. We had to turn on the intake fan today. We don't have it on 24/7, but do have one small oscillating fan attached inside when it's off. We are going to buy another interval timer so we don't have to mess with it. Our bank account is tired!!!

We had to change out the reservoir today. Refer back to dumb thing #2 in second post above. Very minor brown algae on the inside. Sanitized water pump again...thinking we should just take it out since we scrapped the manifold. Couldn't get it to just trickle out (drip irrigation) instead of "drowning" the rapid rooter. Should we use the water pump and manifold to create more bubbles or is it just a waste since we have 4 large air stones inside? Worst case, we may just use it to pump out water for reservoir changes.

Plant 1 has pretty white roots coming out of the net pot. All around it. They are not all quite past the pot, but you can see them easily when you take the pot out. They are coming out of the sides instead of the bottom though. There are a couple that are a little longer. Plant 2, no visible roots yet.

Took measurements mid way today due to water change. Paranoia has set in.

Also, sprayed Home Defense all around the room (not inside the tent) just in case. Not trying to attract bugs of any kind. Maybe more paranoia on my part.

AIR TEMP: 81M 70N
WATER TEMP: 70.7M 63.2N
HUMIDITY: 46M 40N
PH: 6.23M 5.88N
No nutes

Will take pics of our setup tomorrow so y'all can see the tent layout, etc.



Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

Setup pics

Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[bignugz420]

I like your set up nice and clean and not a bunch of wires everywhere. I thought i was the only one that kept a nice clean room inside. Tents and out. My third tent is coming so ill have a huge perpetual harvest

 

[LivinLife]

DAY 7 Feb 13

We have visible ROOTS! Plant 1 has a lot. Plant 2 aka the runt has 1 out the bottom.

AIR TEMP: 76M 72N
WATER TEMP: 65.3M 66N
HUMIDITY: 35M 42N
PH: 5.51M 5.73N
No nutes

Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

I like your set up nice and clean and not a bunch of wires everywhere. I thought i was the only one that kept a nice clean room inside. Tents and out. My third tent is coming so ill have a huge perpetual harvest

Thanks! We are OCD. Lol The chords that hang the equipment drive me nuts, but it's a necessary evil. We will be moving the air pumps outside the tent on Wed. Maybe someday we will get to 2 or more tents. Don't realize how expensive this setup can get! In the meantime, I'll be happy if we don't kill the plants!

We are fortunate to have a 1/2 bath in that spare room so that's where all the nutes, meters, extras are.


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[bignugz420]

Thanks! We are OCD. Lol The chords that hang the equipment drive me nuts, but it's a necessary evil. We will be moving the air pumps outside the tent on Wed. Maybe someday we will get to 2 or more tents. Don't realize how expensive this setup can get! In the meantime, I'll be happy if we don't kill the plants!

We are fortunate to have a 1/2 bath in that spare room so that's where all the nutes, meters, extras are.


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

I currently have 110 that's only 4 foot by 3 foot by 7 foot the house 1000 watt H vs air cold sealed hood a minute I also have another 10 that's 4 foot by 3 foot by 7 foot 2 has a 250 watt HP s and a 300 watt led and now I am buying a 315 watt CMH because the spectrum on it is amazing that's going in a 4 foot by 4 foot by 8 foot gorilla 10

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

 

[bignugz420]

and yes it's very expensive but you gotta pay to play brother

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

 

[LivinLife]

and yes it's very expensive but you gotta pay to play brother

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

I feel you on that...worth the weight in gold growing your own


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

Day 8-14Feb

Just growing daily. Nodes are bigger...roots a lot longer.

AIR TEMP: 75M 73N
WATER TEMP: 63.5M 64.3N
HUMIDITY: 32M 37N
PH: 5.81M 5.81N
No nutes
TDS: will monitor more closely when nutes are being added

Can't get humidity to go up. The exhaust/inline can just keeps sucking it out. Not sure what to do?

Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[bignugz420]

I would put your exhaust on a timer and speed dial. Turn it down so it's not running full strength..And have the timer go on/off thru out the day. I have 2 carbon filter and 2 Inline fans going at once in my big flower tent. So one goes off when lights do and it keeps the tent from getting to cold during lights off. My heater only turns on during lights off and barely at that only a 8 degree difference from lights on.

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

 

[bignugz420]

But I can tell your going to have nice node spacing. Tight brother. Which is ideal any thoughts on plant training yet. LST is my favorite

that's a 4.5 week old white widow

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

 

[Bangabong]

Very nice setup for a first time grow! Do you have a filter, or screen on your intake air to keep critters out? Try to not take it "too" serious and to enjoy the ride. Mistakes will be made along the way, but you will learn something on every grow. Remember it is called "weed" for a reason, most strains will grow and give you something inspite of how you screw it up. The learning part just helps you get the most out of each strain. The seedling stage is usually a very vulnerable stage, don't jack with them too much until they have a good foothold on life. That is a great strain to grow, I think you will be very happy in about 55 to 60 days from now. Happy growing!!

Sent from my SM-T710 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[LivinLife]

I would put your exhaust on a timer and speed dial. Turn it down so it's not running full strength..And have the timer go on/off thru out the day. I have 2 carbon filter and 2 Inline fans going at once in my big flower tent. So one goes off when lights do and it keeps the tent from getting to cold during lights off. My heater only turns on during lights off and barely at that only a 8 degree difference from lights on.

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers

We have the exhaust fan on a cycle timer and the lowest setting it will go. We turned it to cycle 1 min on/2 min off. Is that too much, ya think? The temps have been staying in the mid 70s except at night when it's cooler outside.

The weather here has been crazy...one day it snows, next it's in 70s, next it rains. So it's been hard to predict what to keep the fan cycle on to keep temps good.


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[bignugz420]

We have the exhaust fan on a cycle timer and the lowest setting it will go. We turned it to cycle 1 min on/2 min off. Is that too much, ya think? The temps have been staying in the mid 70s except at night when it's cooler outside.

The weather here has been crazy...one day it snows, next it's in 70s, next it rains. So it's been hard to predict what to keep the fan cycle on to keep temps good.


Sent from my iPad using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Your tent has to stay at a good environment for your temps and humidity. I run lights on at 75 and 30 humidity. Lights off is 68 and 40 humidity. My tent has 2 carbon filters and 2 Inline fans. So 1 is timer off with lights other stays on. I also run lights at night so I can control temps easier. Plus electric is cheaper at 2am than 2pm

my new dwc Afghan Kush run and flowering mothers