Matticusss - White Widow - DWC - 2015 LED Grow Log

matticusss

New Member
Ok so since i had to trash the previous grow i figured i would start a whole new thread for the second grow. This is White widow from Green House Seed Co. I purchased a stealth grow box from Unique Hydroponics online its the Yield Machine Max with the UfO LED light package. the box's dimensions are 4ft tall by 17.5in wide by 13in deep.

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it came with a 180 watt UFO LED that is 60x3.
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this is what it looks like assembled

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The Reservoir is a 5 gallon storage tub that has been painted black on the outside. it has 9 2in netpots that it holds in the lid. ( I however do not recommend growing all 9 ) In my first grow which was a total fail on my part, i only used 3 out of the 9 slots available. this box would be excellent as a cloner! but for this grow, temporarily ill only be growing one in there so i covered the rest of the holes with tin foil to also help reflect the light.

In less than a week I will be changing the entire system up.

Just got paid and ordered a whole new setup and it will arrive in less than a week. so I will describe what i bought and once it gets here ill update with pics of the whole setup but until then ill keep posted with what i have growing in the box.

the new setup includes:

1- Grow tent Dimensions 4ft x 4ft x 6.5ft

2- 4in vent fan with carbon filter for the grow tent it recycles the rooms air every .14minutes according to the dimensions of the room and the rate of the fan.

3. 4 Black Widow Grow Buckets from ModularHydro.com (3.5 gallon bucket with 6in netpot lid, drain and fill spouts with plugs, extraction syringe for checking ppm ph and adding nutes, and new Air Induction Technology to increase the air bubbles inside the bucket essentially putting the roots in a cloud of air. and all required air pumps and tubing.

4. Ordered a marshydro 300 watt full spectrum 9 band UFO LED light, so i will be using both UFO LED lights for this grow once it arrives. that will be a total of 480 watts UFO LED lighting.

5. And last but not least Im using CALMAG+ and General Hydroponics 3 part series FLORAMICRO, FLORASGRO, FLORABLOOM.

I germinated 1 white widow seed using the paper towel method, placing the container with vented lid on my cable box on 5/30/2015 at 5pm. On 6/01/2015 the seed was transplanted to rockwool cube and placed inside the grow box. the base ppm of my water is 100 from bottled RO water. I added 5ml of CALMAG+ to 2.5 gallons of water, PH was 5.7

Seedling sprouted today 6/04/2015 around 1pm.

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one of the Cotyledons was pulled off as the seed emerged through the rockwoll the seed shell was still holding onto it. so it only has one of those now and another small leaf already growing inside. I added nutes to the water started with 1.5ml of each nutrient. the ppm now is 357 so im going to add 1ml of each nutrient more to try and bring it to the 400-500ppm range. ill post later when i check again and post the results afterward.

Once i get the shipping info for the items I will germ more white widow seeds .
 
Im hoping and praying that i learned my lesson from the last grow, My problems were that i nuked my autoflower plants with nutrients. and since autoflowers don't have time to repair and they were really damaged i woudnt get much of a yield I decided to toss them all. Now im starting fresh. A lot of my problem was using tap water during the water changes, all the minerals from that plus my nutrients is what did it.

So for this grow i bought RO water that's bottled, has a base ppm of 100 and I forgot to mention that with the buckets that i purchased from Hydroponics, Hydroponic Systems, Reverse Osmosis Water Filter Systems I also purchased one of their compact RO Systems. It was a great deal and a hell of a lot cheaper than the other systems. it does 100GPD its a 3 stage system and is less than $100 and theyre replacement filters are $22 which isn't too bad. they use coco charcoal as a filter. I figured with 1 gallon of water at the store being $1 this is worth a shot. Once i get it ill test it and let you know how well it works. I in no way shape or form work for any of the companies i mention I just merely state exactly what im using and where i got it from. I got the tent at LASHOP.com, the light at Aliexpress.com. mainly just googled the hell out of systems and then compared them to my budget.

Grow Box Cost - Around $450 for everything its a turn key system
Grow tent Cost withfan filter from the same site- $180
300 Watt light - $94
RO System - $89
4 Black Widow DWC Buckets - $ 130

Sorry i forgot to put all that in the original post.

I also have Big Bang seeds from Green House Seed Co and will be growing those my next grow

the seedling that's already growing will just be a couple weeks ahead of the others and ill mark that on the bucket.

I appreciate any and all help and advice as this is only my second hydro grow. I will try my best to keep things updated daily from here on and stay with it till I either toss em or harvest em.
 
Yeah i do too but im upgrading my setup and have all the right meters and calibration stuff for them. And a better understanding of ppm and hydro. Plus this new RO system should be better than the bottled RO water im using. Its base ppm is still around 100. The website i bought it from is online only but they are actually located 4 miles away from my house according to google maps. They have a video using theyre 2 stage RO system with our city water here in las vegas. The tap water ppm was 418 in the video and after running through the system it was only 18ppm. Thats a hell of alot betterthan the bottled RO water im using from the bottling station. And that was the 2 part system i ordered the 3part system just to make double sure my plants are getting the best. Plus a major downside of my last grow was my impatience.

And heres that pic i said i would post. Ill post another one later tonight after about 8 hours.

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ok so heres an update, I received my 4ft x 4ft x 6.5ft grow tent today, it also came with a 4in inline fan rated at 176CFM and carbon filter for the fan as well. I setup the tent and fan and filter and heres what it looks like so far. And Lola, my little white widow seedling is doing great, roots are shooting out everywhere even coming through the top of the rockwool. the roots are crisp and white and healthy. even being damaged coming out of the rockwool and having one of its cotyledons ripped off and its other leaves nipped as well it has healed nicely and bounced back with a vengeance. Sorry for the rambling before making this post I medicated on a nice dab of Alien OG, I highly recommend it. the black widow DWC system will either arrive tomorrow or Wednesday and so will the 300 watt led light. once i get everything and set it up i will post more pics

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i also bought a fan from Walmart and added it into the tent as well to help increase air flow, now am i suppose to open the vents inside the grow tent or leave them sealed shut?

Another question, im going to be transferring the seedling im growing into the new bucket system, its a 3.5 gallon bucket with a 6in netpot lid, i currently have the seedling in a trimmed grodan cube sitting in a 1.5in netpot and the roots are already shooting out the netpot, will it be safe to wait the 2 days to transfer it to a bigger grodan cube? Or am i just screwed and have to move the whole netpot over?
 
you have a blower with a filter sucking out causing negative pressure if you got a few of those holes the ones to stick your inline or a flex tube through leave it open so air can go in as the blower/filter combo sucks air out you got fresh airflow coming in
if you seal everything up its gonna have a harder time replacing the air that's going out if that's makes any sense
 
ok i have the tracking numbers for the light and the grow bucket system, they both will arrive at some point in time tomorrow. then i get to figure out how im going to arrange the lights. Which leads me to a few questions,

1st question, Apollo horticulture gl100 300 watt led panel uses around 150 actual watts, and the 180 watt ufo led light from mars hydro that i have uses 100 actual watts, how many plants is that amount of light good for, if they are both full spectrum lights?

2nd question, given the lights that i will be using, is my grow tent too big for my lights?

this whole actual wattage to stated wattage and each plant needing a minimum of 45 watts thing is kind of confusing and i think i have it figured right for 4 3.5 gallon grow buckets, in a tent that's 4 ft x 4 ft. its just the size of the tent is my concern to the small amount of lighting im using.

my plant looks great i have started germination of 3 more seeds since the buckets will be arriving tomorrow. I am germinating 2 more white widow feminized seeds from GreenHouse Seed Co and 1 Big Bang Feminized seed from GreenHouse Seed Co. so far they haven't popped yet but its still been less than 24 hours as i started them via the papertowel methos last night before heading to bed.

the reservoir is around 77F and ph i keep between 5.5 and 6.0. The roots have grown like crazy!!! They are growing in every direction they can out of the rockwool cube, even through the top of the cube, it looks like another sprout is coming up next to the plant. When those buckets arrive they should come with rockwool cubes that i can transplant this plant into after taking it out if its tiny little netpot.

I will post pics later tonight of the plant and her roots.
 
thanks for the advice chronic, i opened up the vent on the bottom in the back and the bottom vent on the sides so that air can be drawn in through the bottom and pulled into the filter in the top. im trying to decrease the light that would come into the tent through the vent since its sleep cycle is during daylight hours ( for my convenience). So i will also be adding a black curtain into the room where my grow tent is to help limit the light going into the room.

So i guess im giving the big bang a second go around hopefully this seed actually makes it, the last one was a dud and that was the feminized seed not the autoflower, i am using the last of my feminized big bang so hopefully she germinates well and so do the white widows.

I have been trying to figure out a way to have a perpetual grow going on using my box and my tent, using my box for cuttings/seedlings until i harvest my tent then throwing them in the tent until harvest, im just not sure how to accomplish that with the box being so small, wouldn't i need a separate tent?
 
ok i have the tracking numbers for the light and the grow bucket system, they both will arrive at some point in time tomorrow. then i get to figure out how im going to arrange the lights. Which leads me to a few questions,

1st question, Apollo horticulture gl100 300 watt led panel uses around 150 actual watts, and the 180 watt ufo led light from mars hydro that i have uses 100 actual watts, how many plants is that amount of light good for, if they are both full spectrum lights?

I would say depends on the coverage over the plants I was using 500 in my 4x4 but I had less now im actually at 700 not actual watts but the way they list the lights for sale height to the tops will define how many plants you can fill under the lights and get sufficient lighting
sometimes I have 1 or 2 in there at the start of bloom kinda under everything but that's only if I start too many and don't have space but as others come out they take its place, I would say main thing is the coverage you can get at the right height will determine how many plants you can put in there

2nd question, given the lights that i will be using, is my grow tent too big for my lights?

not if its a 4x4

this whole actual wattage to stated wattage and each plant needing a minimum of 45 watts thing is kind of confusing and i think i have it figured right for 4 3.5 gallon grow buckets, in a tent that's 4 ft x 4 ft. its just the size of the tent is my concern to the small amount of lighting im using.

I usually have 3-4 plants in my 4x4 even before I was at the wattage I am at now
all it is now is I have more light less dark corners but ive done it with a lot less wattage

my plant looks great i have started germination of 3 more seeds since the buckets will be arriving tomorrow. I am germinating 2 more white widow feminized seeds from GreenHouse Seed Co and 1 Big Bang Feminized seed from GreenHouse Seed Co. so far they haven't popped yet but its still been less than 24 hours as i started them via the papertowel methos last night before heading to bed.

the reservoir is around 77F and ph i keep between 5.5 and 6.0. The roots have grown like crazy!!! They are growing in every direction they can out of the rockwool cube, even through the top of the cube, it looks like another sprout is coming up next to the plant. When those buckets arrive they should come with rockwool cubes that i can transplant this plant into after taking it out if its tiny little netpot.

I keep my ph around 6.0 - 6.2 in veg and 5.7-6.0 in bloom I use organic nutes so it fluctuates daily and I adjust daily
if you can get the temps down a bit to the lower mid 70's would be better most people say 69 but
ive run it in the mid 70's alot but I also use either aquashield or hydroguard

I will post pics later tonight of the plant and her roots.

thanks for the advice chronic, i opened up the vent on the bottom in the back and the bottom vent on the sides so that air can be drawn in through the bottom and pulled into the filter in the top. im trying to decrease the light that would come into the tent through the vent since its sleep cycle is during daylight hours ( for my convenience). So i will also be adding a black curtain into the room where my grow tent is to help limit the light going into the room.

So i guess im giving the big bang a second go around hopefully this seed actually makes it, the last one was a dud and that was the feminized seed not the autoflower, i am using the last of my feminized big bang so hopefully she germinates well and so do the white widows.

I have been trying to figure out a way to have a perpetual grow going on using my box and my tent, using my box for cuttings/seedlings until i harvest my tent then throwing them in the tent until harvest, im just not sure how to accomplish that with the box being so small, wouldn't i need a separate tent?

its easier to go perpetual if you can have the buckets on separate schedules which is hard if your doing rdwc
as for the vent I leave a couple open but no light gets in cause im not opening the window im reffering to the rectangle that's velcro'd to the outside I use the round hole with the cinch and I leave it sagging down outwards so light doesn't go in I think the other reason would be no one really goes in that room but me so there isn't always light on in the room only in the tent.
 
wow i just read the previous posts i made from today, chronic Im so sorry man for you having to decipher my stoner posts from earlier. But on a serious note, thanks for the advice I think I have just been putting so much planning into everything I blanked.

Is there a way I could use that box atleast to hold cuttings and veg them under light and if they get too tall, take a cutting again and start over so that i can keep it at a certain height and growth stage to coincide with the grow tent? that way i could keep a semi perpetual growing is what im thinking.

Today i was looking at KIND LED and holy crap they have a k5 1000 series led light that looks out of this world, atleast according to the specs. Definitely saving up to get that one, it will save me from having to use my alarms a lot. it has 8 different timer settings that can control multiple spectrums of light, you can also change the intensities as well use a remote controller and that's a great plus especially for disabled people like me who have a hard time reaching up in the top of the tent. its 1000watt and uses 630 actual. it uses a mix of 3 and 5 watt diodes and has light reflectors to give each bulb more intensity. its fricken expensive so im gonna have to save a couple retirement checks but by the end of harvest and beginning of the next grow ill have it. and i will see how that compares to all the cheap lights im using now. Im not endorsing this company in any way its just one that ive been researching and like. also if anyone is using it or has used it or can review it i would like to know if it lives up to its hype or falls majorly short. it could save me lots of $$$ either way.

thank you to all who are following all the advice and help ive received using this site and these journals have helped out tremendously. you learn a lot more than just reading other journals, since your getting advice on real time issues and problems and getting help from people using items your thinking about buying, they can either say its crap don't use it its a waste of money or they can swear by it, I like that kind of advice and im pretty sure everyone else does too. So again thanks for all the info, im going to go check on the lady and then repost with pic.
 
wow i just read the previous posts i made from today, chronic Im so sorry man for you having to decipher my stoner posts from earlier. But on a serious note, thanks for the advice I think I have just been putting so much planning into everything I blanked.

Is there a way I could use that box atleast to hold cuttings and veg them under light and if they get too tall, take a cutting again and start over so that i can keep it at a certain height and growth stage to coincide with the grow tent? that way i could keep a semi perpetual growing is what im thinking.

you probably could I don't see why not you just keep it short by trimming or taking cuttings and clones flower alot faster than see so it would be easier to go perpetual just that fact also will determine how long you want to veg as a clone wont stretch like a seed plant when you put it into bloom because it will bloom much faster

Today i was looking at KIND LED and holy crap they have a k5 1000 series led light that looks out of this world, atleast according to the specs. Definitely saving up to get that one, it will save me from having to use my alarms a lot. it has 8 different timer settings that can control multiple spectrums of light, you can also change the intensities as well use a remote controller and that's a great plus especially for disabled people like me who have a hard time reaching up in the top of the tent. its 1000watt and uses 630 actual. it uses a mix of 3 and 5 watt diodes and has light reflectors to give each bulb more intensity. its fricken expensive so im gonna have to save a couple retirement checks but by the end of harvest and beginning of the next grow ill have it. and i will see how that compares to all the cheap lights im using now. Im not endorsing this company in any way its just one that ive been researching and like. also if anyone is using it or has used it or can review it i would like to know if it lives up to its hype or falls majorly short. it could save me lots of $$$ either way.

I would say if its a new product wait and see what happens and since you have to save and it might take a bit watch and see if others use it and what kind of issues they may or may not have as there was the intelligent light with all the bells and whistles but it ran hotter than most and had alot of issues on paper it looked great a remote settings you can do customs settings everything sounded great but the people who used it had constant issues with them and bad customer service, so just beware and be aware give it some time and see whats happens with that light

thank you to all who are following all the advice and help ive received using this site and these journals have helped out tremendously. you learn a lot more than just reading other journals, since your getting advice on real time issues and problems and getting help from people using items your thinking about buying, they can either say its crap don't use it its a waste of money or they can swear by it, I like that kind of advice and im pretty sure everyone else does too. So again thanks for all the info, im going to go check on the lady and then repost with pic.

I put the answers in your quote marks so I have to do this cause it says I have to at least add 1 character for it to post :rofl:
 
cool thanks yeah id rather take cuttings from these plants and keep them going then to keep buying seeds, those things are expensive. so i checked on my little lady and holy crap her roots have doubled in length than from this afternoon.

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yeah that's why i posted about the light so that way anyone that's using it or uses it over the next 3-5 months can inform me as to how it is or i can see more reviews about it on this site as they come available.

Tomorrow i receive the black widow dwc bucket system from modularhydro and that's the system ill be transferring the white widow into as well as the germinating seeds that i have to go in the other 3 buckets. ill then be moving the ufo light into the tent along with the other light.

I also receive my RO system from modularhydro. I will be setting that up as well and using it to fill the new buckets with fresh RO water. Hopefully I will have enough water pressure in the bathroom in the room. I will be hooking it up, upstairs and sometimes water pressure isn't the best on the second floor. it says i need 40 psi in order to have it run properly. I will update with pics of everything after i receive it and set it all up and transfer everything, busy day ahead.
 
UPDATE: the big bang seed has already popped and has a long taproot so i phd some regular tap water since i had no more ro water and the ro system hasn't quite arrived yet. I let it sit for a couple hours and then put in the big bang seed, the taproot was starting to grow in a weird direction i almost wasn't able to get it in the hole in the rockwool, i was afraid of breaking the damn root. the other 2 white widow seeds have cracked open and the taproot is barely starting to come out, i will be keeping them on top of the cable box until they grow out more. after placing the seed in the rockwool I then placed in a netpot and then placed that inside the grow box. It will sit in there until I get the buckets today and transfer it into it.

What is a way that I can transfer the rooted white widow seed without killing it by breaking roots?
 
Alright I just received the light its the Apollo gl100 300 watt LED light that i ordered from amazon. All lights are working and I just finished setting it up in the tent. I took pics of it as well as of the vents that i opened in the tent to allow for more arrow to be drawn into the tent. heres the pics

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once the RO system and the buckets get here I will transfer the plants and the 180 watt Mars Hydro UfO LED light over into the box and hang it with the Apollo light, the Apollo light is angled in the room just a few degrees instead of being flush with the tent opening, i did that to make room for the UFO LED but also to help spread both light footprints out evenly across the whole tent.

I will be making a scrog, I made it 2.5ft x 2.5ft and need to get some fencing material to zip tie to it to make the screen. However my question is since I have never done it before should i even attempt it this grow with the white widows and big bang or should i wait for another harvest and just bend these ladies over like a gentleman?
 
Now I have done some more research and have been looking back at the mars hydro lights, and compared them to other ones, I am actually really liking the mars hydro 1600 watt, it has a 780 actual watt, when compared to the kind led light that's a lot more money its a 1000 watt with an actual watt of 630. The Mars Hydro light doesn't have all the extra features and fancy gadgets as the kind led and the difference between 1600 and 780 compared to 1000 and 630 is definitely no comparison in how much actual wattage is being used compared to the advertised amount of wattage. However 780 actual watts in my eyes is still more than 630 actual watts, so I think im going to have to sacrifice all the conveniences and bells and whistles for the Mars Hydro 1600 watt when i upgrade. for the amount of watts and my actual growing space That is all i would need to max that space out. And its 1/3 of the price of the fancy one. However When I decide to double or triple my grow space I will definitely pick that one up since it will save a lot of time using all those fancy things it can do. I just wanted to give my 2 cents on the matter on what i decided to do. However gonna have to wait till harvest time tog et the new light, who knows maybe there will be a stronger one from Mars Hydro by September.
 
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