Stevehman's 780W LED - DIY 4 in PVC Recirc - Caramlicious Grow

[SteveHman]

Re: stevehman's 780w LED, DIY 4 in PVC recirc, Caramlicious Grow

NEPharmer,
I have a simple DIY suga/yeast with a line running into the cab behind the fand to give it a little extra gas. I will be buying a regulator and 20lb bottle next week and will use it on one of my DNE cycle timers set for daylight use only. I'll have to get a test kit to measure the levels so that I'm not wasting gas or over doing it.

Poked my head in there earlier and it looks like they shot up another inch over night. I need to raise the ceiling of the cab ASAP. I have a punchlist of things to do on this before the end of the month. Need to prepare for the SoCal summer, this being an attic grow and all, heat is going to be an issue soon. (new res chiller, more insulation etc... the box draws air from inside the house, so will get A/C when the temps go up, but the res is in the attic space, so I will wrap it in isulation and go with a 1/4 hp chiller).

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow with the updated numbers.

 

[HarryCanyon]

Re: stevehman's 780w LED, DIY 4 in PVC recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Looks great so far. As I am still planning for my first grow, hope you dont mind a couple quick questions:

1) I notice your air circulation is that pair of PC fans. Do you have other ventilation? I ask because you mention adding some CO2. I was planning on using a tent with circulation of air 2x per minute, and not into the same room as the tent, so for me CO2 would be an expense that was litterally being blown away. My local hydro shop swears by it (though they have a ton of tanks and equipment right up front they are trying to sell...).

2) In my intended grow I need to make things as "hands off" as possible, since I am out of town for 2-4 days at a time...A LOT. I like your new res and float valve, but I am concerned about the valve. I have had one in a koi pond before and it was crappy. Last thing I need is to overflow the system and have water dripping on the neighbors below where my grow will be...that is sure to bring unwanted attention. What are your thoughts on it's quality and reliability?

Thanks!

 

[SteveHman]

Re: stevehman's 780w LED, DIY 4 in PVC recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Looks great so far. As I am still planning for my first grow, hope you dont mind a couple quick questions:

1) I notice your air circulation is that pair of PC fans. Do you have other ventilation? I ask because you mention adding some CO2. I was planning on using a tent with circulation of air 2x per minute, and not into the same room as the tent, so for me CO2 would be an expense that was litterally being blown away. My local hydro shop swears by it (though they have a ton of tanks and equipment right up front they are trying to sell...).

2) In my intended grow I need to make things as "hands off" as possible, since I am out of town for 2-4 days at a time...A LOT. I like your new res and float valve, but I am concerned about the valve. I have had one in a koi pond before and it was crappy. Last thing I need is to overflow the system and have water dripping on the neighbors below where my grow will be...that is sure to bring unwanted attention. What are your thoughts on it's quality and reliability?

Thanks!

Harry,
I have air coming into both ends of the box via 4inch ducting and built a plenum that has 2 120mm PC on each end drawing air in. Then I have 4 more 120mm fans below the tubes pointing up through the canopy and then a 10 inch fan blowing across the top of the canopy. On the top of the box is an 8inch exhaust plenum going to a 4 inch vortex fan exhausting out through a roof vent (I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow to show you). I have plenty of air movement in the box, almost all of the leaves are gently swaying in the breeze.

For the valve issue, there are two solutions I can think of. Place the valve high enough in the res to accommodate the full capacity of both the res and the top up res. So, I have a 27 gallon res. I only fill it to about 13 gallons, the PVC hold another 7 gallons. The whole system holds 20 gallons of nutes (which I think is a good amount to recirc). I have enough space in the res to hold all of the liquid from the backup.

Now that only works if the valve fails on the inside of the res. If the valve fails on the outside it will leak all over. You can pick up concrete mixing tubs at HD that will hold your res and it will catch any leaks. Probably a smart thing to do even if you don't have the top-up res.

Best of luck on your grow.

 

[SteveHman]

Re: stevehman's 780w LED, DIY 4 in PVC recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Harry,
Almost missed the point of your question on the fans. CO2 is heavier than air, having the space somewhat airtight, at least at lower levels is important. You also need some movement of air to get the CO2 off of the floor and into the canopy where it's needed. You could turn your exhaust fan off while your pumping in the CO2. If your exaust fan is high enough it may not be too much of an issue since the heavier CO2 will stay more towards the bottom. That is one of the reasons I will be getting the CO2 tester, to make sure I am not wasting $$ and keeping the ppms in the 600-1000 range. The plan is to run it on the cycle timer, not sure what times yet (10 min on 60 off?).

 

[NEPharmer]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Could you just put a valve on it to shut it off when the lights go out, for now anyways?

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Day 19 in 12/12:

Res temp 73 (can't wait until the new chiller arrives)
pH 5.62
ppm 965
ec 1938
temp 81
RH 57%

Added 15ml of Micro, 30ml bloom. 30ml Hydroplex, 20 ml Cal?mag, 15ml Silica Blast and 30ml of Sweet to bring the reading up to:
pH 5.5
ppm 1107
ec 2214

I left the system alone for the whole weekend to see how it runs on its own. I drained the 5 gallons in the top-up res, so it looks like 2 days is the max away time unless I add a larger top-up res.

There were no major surprises waiting for me this morning, just a nice sea of green. Here are the update pics. Here's Betty. I couldn't get the ruler in there because she is getting too thick. I put marks every inch on th esliding door frame. The long black line is 12 inches, you can see she is at 17 now. Most of the others are 4 inches or more taller:

Here's a shot of the canopy:

This plant is right in between the GLH 300 (on her right) and the Advanced 180 (on her left). She appears to be leaning towards the 180 from Advanced? Interesting!

Here is a cola in the making:

And a close up of the top bud on Katy:

I'll be sprouting some seeds for Grow 4.0 next week so that I can get a few moms to clone out. I am thinking 3 strains, 6 clones each. I'll post a list of the strains once i have the rest of my seeds in.

 

[HempRocket]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

They're budding REAL nice dude.

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Day 21 in 12/12:

Res temp 71 (can't wait until the new chiller arrives)
pH 5.56
ppm 986
ec 1965
temp 81
RH 56%


The top-up is working perfectly and keeping my res levels where they need to be. The downside is that I am using a 5 gal bucket as the top-up. I ordered a vita-vittles pet food container online for $34 (free shipping, no tax). The container is 14x14x13 which equals 11 gallons in roughly the same footprint as the 5 gal bucket. That will give me about 5 days of freedom without having to worry that the system will run dry while I'm gone.

Here are some random pics of the girls. It looks like the stretch is done. Started out with 6 inch clones and they now range in height from 18-22 inches which was my goal. I think going clone to bloom for height restricted grows is the solution. We'll see if yield suffers, but in a SOG setup I am hoping to get 1.5-2 oz per plant (X 18 plants).

Starting to get a little frosty and getting a bit sticky too. I should do some trimming of the lower branches but everything looks very healthy even the lower buds are doing great. I've seen opinions both for and against trimming and I'm still on the fence. Maybe I'll trim lights under one of the GLH lights and not the other?

The plants under the Advanced LED are looking like they are putting on more weight than their sisters. Interested to see how they will stack up at final weigh-in.

 

[NEPharmer]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Looking great, it will be interesting to see if triming the lower portion will increase yeild or not, either way, these are all things that will help you dial in your system for future grows. /ood job!

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Day 26 in 12/12:

Res temp 67
pH 5.75
ppm 1064
ec 2093
temp 80
RH 53%

Was out of town for 4 days, came back and everything was looking healthy. Lots of bud growth. I added weak nutes to my top-up res to keep the ppm's around 1100 and it looks like it worked. The one downside is that the top-up res has a little slime in it now. I will put some H2O2 in there to make sure I kill any anaerobic bacteria. I'll just have to make sure to let it completely convert to H2O before letting it hit my res, I don't want to kill off any of the bennies in there.

I should have my new-and-improved top-up res this week. An 11 gallon petfood container from vittles vault (look on Amazon, they are pretty cheap, free shipping and are food safe).

Here are a few pics of the gilrs. I will try to get a few better shots up tomorrow. Particularly a shot of the buds directly under the Advanced vs. the GLH lights. The Advanced seems to be getting bigger than the GLH (I wonder how well their 300 would compare against GLH's new lights--I have neither but would gladly accept 1 of each to do a side by side )

I'll also get the ruler in there to measure some of the buds so that you have an idea of size. All of the girls have stopped stretching and are filling in. Looks like the plan to keep them in the 18-24in range worked out.

I'll be germinating some seeds this week for Grow 4.0. I have too many strains to choose from now, so will take suggestions from the list of seeds I posted earlier. I'm thinking 3-4 strains, with 4-6 clones each. I'll grow out the moms and then take clones so that they are ready to go into 12/12 the day after this grow finishes.

 

[HempRocket]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Looking good! Seems like your plants are moving along nicely. I will be keeping a close eye on your grow and the lights. Not much info out there on the advanced units so glad to see this.

I am thinking that if I were to purchase all over again, I would go with 3 of the Advanced lights. Although GLH has new lights this year that may be close. The 180 from Advanced is keeping up with the 300 from GLH in the side-by-side. To be fare though, the area is small and the lights are 8-12 inches above the canopy. Once I get them raised up a few more inches it may make a difference.

Really would like to see a good comparison grow between the two though. (I'd be happy to do it, my system would be good since every plant has the exact same nutes, and I could use clones form the same mom. I could put a light barrier between the lights).

 

[NEPharmer]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

LOL, I think a side by side would be great, this is a perfect room for it! Lets see who's light can produce! If it were my company I would gladly donate a light for a side by side, they sell lights!

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

LOL, I think a side by side would be great, this is a perfect room for it! Lets see who's light can produce! If it were my company I would gladly donate a light for a side by side, they sell lights!

I agree. I love watching some of the comparisons by Irish and others, but most of their grows are in larger tents or rooms. I have a feeling my grow is more inline with the size, scope and budget of the average grower and knowing which lights will produce the best results within those parameters would give potential buyers the information to make an informed decision when dropping a grand or so on lighting.

I'm doing a little updating on the grow space before Grow 4.0 kicks off at the end of this grow. Maybe the "new and improved" space will attract a couple "sponsors".

 

[NEPharmer]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Good luck, I'll be watching for that for sure.

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Day 27 in 12/12

Quick photo update. I'm changing the res tomorrow so I didn't take all of those readings.

Here is a girl directly in the middle of the Advanced 180 LED, about 8 inches below dead-center:

This one is directly beneath the GLH 300, dead-center about the same distance from the light:

This one is between the two lights (the net pot is actually closer to the GLH light). It looks like she is stretching towards the Advanced LED:

Some more buds under the Advanced:

Some more under the GLH:

And lastly, some extra clones that will be going to a friend once he has his card next week:

I think there needs to be a serious comparison between the new GLH and the Advanced 180s.

 

[NEPharmer]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

I'm definately interested, how much time do you have before the next grow?

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Depending on the harvest date of this one (Apr 27 is day 63 in 12/12), I will start the day after on the next grow. I am sprouting seeds this week to start the moms for the clone-army.

I have about 20 different strains in the seed bank and will pick 3-4 to mother out and clone. I am taking suggestions on which 3-4 will be the lucky ladies.

Here's what I have:
Dutch Passion The Ultimate Feminized
Dutch Passion Twilight Feminized
Barneys Farm LSD Feminized
Barneys Farm Pineapple Chunk Feminized
G13 Labs Gigabud Feminized
G13 Labs Hypnotic Feminized
G13 Labs Sour AK Feminized
G13 Labs Blue Venom Feminized
Big Buddha Cheesus Feminized
EVA Seeds Missing Feminized
TH Seeds Burmese Kush Feminized
T H Seeds Kushage
T H Seeds S.A.G.E Feminized
T H Seeds Heavy Duty Fruity
T H Seeds Darkstar
Dinafem Seeds Diesel
Dinafem Seeds White Widow
Dinafem Seeds Powerkush
Dinafem Seeds Blue Hash

And Caramelicious which is my current grow.

I am leaning towards Gigbud as one of the 4, it is supposed to finish pretty quick.

I'll mother out 4 of these strains in my mother tent (arriving this week). They should be ready to clone in 3-4 weeks after that, then into 12/12 the last week of APril, 1st week of May.

Before that though, I will be covering the walls with diamond foil, raising the top another 6-24 inches (the roof is pitched, so it will be at an angle, that may actually help with heat, it will all rise the the high point where the exhaust fan will be). And I will be adding CO2. Should be a good setup for a comparo.

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Day 28 in 12/12:

Res temp 69
pH 5.3
ppm 1252
ec 2521
temp 81
RH 53%

Did a partial res change. This system doesn't lend itself to a full change. Although, even if it did, I would still do a 50% change. A few of the local growers swear by doing that. I've done it for the last grow and had great results (considering the size of the res I had, 8gal on an aero).

The res has tons of air and I have plenty of bennies growing in there as well. I give the system a sniff every day and it smells as fresh as the 1st day, no sign of any off-smells. I pull 10 gallons out and replace it every 2 weeks. Most growers suggest a full change weekly. If this goes South on me I will definitely change routines on Grow 4.0, but for the time being I am sticking with a 50% every 2 weeks.

I monitor temp, pH, ppm and RH every morning. I try to limit my time in there to less than 10 minutes a day (I spend more time typing up the journal that gardening).

I changed out my top-up res to the vittles vault. This thing is shorter than the 5 gal bucket, has roughly the same footprint, but holds 11 gallons. I also noticed that my 5 gal bucket had some slime in it. I am sure that is a result of have mild strength nutes in there for topping up. I will not have any pre-mixed nutes in this one--just straight R/O H2O.

I also removed the foam filter from the pump to see how it looked. I gave it a little squeeze and it was loaded with dark brown stuff. I am guessing that is some of the beneficial bacteria and fungus as well as some of the liquid karma. I am sure it is acting like a biological filter much like an aquarium.

ANyway, on to why you are reading this, the pictures.

Here is the new top-up res. Make sure to drill a small hole in the top, these things are air tight:

Here are some random buds from the group:

Here are two leaners, trying to get over to the Advanced side:

And some clones I packaged up in some coco and perlite to give to a friend when he gets his card tomorrow:

Things are ticking along without incident. Plenty of air flow, no sign of any PM (even though the space is maxed out with growth) and no smell outside of the box. As soon as I slide the door open though, you get a nice slap to the face--smelling much stronger than the last grow.

I am putting some beans in to water tomorrow to germinate in preparation of grow 4.0. (I'll start a separate journal for that one next week).

 

[Mr. Krip]

Re: Stevehman's 780W LED, DIY 4 in PVC Recirc, Caramlicious Grow

Steve, your girls are looking great and sounds like you have things well under control!