First Time Grow - 400W HPS - DIY Veg + Flower Closet & LP Aeroponics System

decente

New Member
Hello and welcome to my first ever grow journal! :welcome:

This is my first time attempting to grow my own high quality product. After reading lots of journals here on 420 and other sites, Im amazed how much knowledge you can gain just from learing what others do successfully. So now Im ready to post the progress of my own journey and to learn even more about growing this awesome green herb..! :ganjamon: :bongrip: :yummy:


My goal and challenges:

  • Learn to grow my own high quality medicine
  • Need to be steath, meaning low noise, no smells
  • Limited space
  • Low maintenance, meaning I should be able to leave the grow and go away for the weekend with no problems


My plan:

  • Starting from seed - taking clones and keep them in a seperate vegging area, continously moving vegged plants to bloom room.
  • Strains this round will be Nemesis and BigBud



The setup:

Modified closet, consisting of two compartments, one small for vegging space, fan and all the electrical stuff, the larger room for flowering.

Vegging/clone compartment - L: 20 inches W: 20 inch. H: 40 inches. So quite a small area.
Lights: 125W CFL with reflector
Medium: Custom made LP aeroponics/NFT setup - From my understanding true aeroponics means a advanced high pressure system, so my setup will be more of a low pressure/NFT approach. Custom made 20 pod box, 792GPH pump, custom built PVC rail with misters.

Flower room: L: 35 inches W: 20 inches H: 67 inches.
Lights: 400W HPS, vented reflector, dimmable digital ballast (400/250W also with super lumens settings)
Medium: Custom built LP aero, with external reservoir. 792 GPH pump.
Main ventilation: TD-silent 223 CFM extractor fan hooked up to reflector and Rhino 300 filter.

Nutrients: GHE Flora series, ph up/down additives

Here is the schematics for my setup:

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So the closet have been modified to fit my little grow op. All the cracks have been filled with silicone, aswell as weatherstripping around the doors - in order to seal it tight from both air and light leaks.

I have cut out holes needed for ventilation and fans, then fitted most of the inside with insulating/dampening mats and diamond refletive material.

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Here are some pics from building the aerocloner/veg box:

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The selection of proper totes are limited where I live.. Since its clear plastic I had to spray paint the lid, to block out light from reaching the res. Also the lid have these bumps all over, so water was leaking through with the 2" pots in. To solve this I cut PVC piping to properly fill the holes and for the net pots to sit in, then sealed with silicone.

Now as of today this is still a work in progress, I have yet to build the aeroponics setup in my flower room, and properly fit all circulating fans and misc electrical. Waiting for my 125W CFL lamp to arrive, so I had to build a temporary lighting fixture. I used three 20W CFL lamps and sockets I had lying around, then fitted those to a PVC pipe, I used some zip lock ties and hooks to hang the whole thing up.
How it looks finished sitting in the closet:

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I germinated the seeds using the papertowel method. I dont have any rockwool cubes at the moment, so I just put them in some soil under a dome. After a few days they stretched, the roots had started to develop and looked really good, so I decided to just transfer them to my aerocloner, removing the soil first of course.


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Sitting on the bottom of the aerocloner, the pump made more noise than Im comfortable with, so I had to do something about the vibrations, causing the noise. I used some weatherstipping rubber bands, and suspended the pump just above the bottom - this worked really well and the noise level was reduced by at least 80%.

So I have my seedlings going in my aerocloner, and they seem to be doing well so far..! The strains I will be growing for now are Nemesis, a Indian/Nepal hybrid and BigBud, mostly indica. They are now on day 5, in the seedling stage.

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Thats it for now, I will try to update my journal at least once a week. Maybe I will post on the building of my flower room setup aswell. :smokin:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

So my new light has arrived..! :yahoo: 125 CFL with reflector that I will be using for my vegetative growth, and they seem to be loving it..! :love: The little seedlings has grown quite a bit, they are now on day 8 since beeing put in my aeroponics system (on day 11 total, from beeing popped).


So exciting to watch them grow, even from day to day..! :D

I have also germinated two bag seeds, and put them in the aero aswell.


The rubber bands you see sticking up from under the lid, are what I used to suspend the pump with to reduce vibration noise. I will sure do that from the beginning next time, its just so much less noise..! So if noise is a concern to you, I absolutly reccommend suspending the pump, instead of letting it just sit on the bottom.
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Thanks alot Pantagruel! :) I see you have some good stuff going on yourself, looks great! :grinjoint:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

You got my DIY builder of the month vote. Outstanding build. I am a PVC user my self lol
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

You got my DIY builder of the month vote. Outstanding build. I am a PVC user my self lol

Wow, thank you! :Namaste: I didnt even know there was a DIY of the month vote on here :) Yeah, PVC's are awesome, for everything but smoking that is.., haha :ganjamon:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Time for a little update..! :D

The Bigbud's and Nemesis are now on day 17 from beeing put in the cloner, and looking pretty good I think. The two bagseeds are on day 10 and has grown ALOT in that time. I changed the res. and added nutes two days ago, 20ml Gro and Micro + 10ml Bloom, using GHE Flora series. PH at 5,5.


You can see here, the two BigBud's are doing very well, large growth on both. The Nemesis are another story, one is large, the other medium and one small.. lol ! Whats up with that?? They have all been grown in the same way so far, whats the reason for the difference in size?
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Nice and green. Watch out for BigBuds. She will explode on you lol.
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Thanks, CO Finest! :) Well they have all exploded in the last few days, im running out of space, and I only have 5+2 plants, lol..! :p

I figure they really liked the increased amount of nutes, they are even starting to stink up the place now..! I had to temporarly modify the air outlet and use my carbon filter (which is for the flowering room) to keep up the stealth.
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Wow, I cant believe how its only been about 3 weeks.. my veggies have litteraly exploded! :yahoo: :morenutes:

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I have also finished building my flowering setup:

The tote was clear plastic, so I had to paint it to block out any light. The res are connected with a quick release on a garden hose, for easy access and removal. This time I suspended the pump with rubber bands from the beginning, to get rid of the vibration noise. Still, its a little noise from the water splashing around in the tote holding the plants, so I gotta figure something out to deal with that..

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Gotta have that fire extinguisher... Safety first..! :ganjamon:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Ok so its getting really crowded in my small veg space, my girls are growing so fast soon I cant close the door lol..! :)

My plan is to start flowering in 10 days from now, that gives me almost 5 weeks of total veg time, counting the day I put the seedlings in my aero unit. Now Im thinking I may have to move some of them to my flower space already, and veg them further there under the HPS until i start the 12/12 cycle, just to free up some space. Would that be ok, I mean to go from CFL light to HPS, but keeping them on the same 18/6 cycle?

What do you think? And when can I start taking clones, could I do this during veg?
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

I decided to move all my plants to the flowering area under the HPS - but maintaining the same light cycle 18/6. The HPS is running at 250W, as the temps are going too high at 400W for the moment, I need some additional cooling..! I figure my girls will start stretching alot under the HPS and Im planning to start flowering in one week from now.

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I modified a cheap mechanical 24h timer, opening it up and changing the gears so that speeds up and runs one revolution in about 1 hour instead of in 24hrs. Then I set it to on 4 times pr. hour, running about 1 and a half minute each time. The timer cost me $4, and the mod is pretty easy to do - saved me alot of $$$ compared to a recycle timer which starts at $60-70. Working good so far..! :)

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Bigbud's are growing really well, HUGE fan leaves..! The Nemesis are doing good also, especially one of them growing really nice and bushy, great looking roots also.

Check out the stalk, getting nice and thick:

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Roots:

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Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Update! Turns out all of my 7 plants are ladies, yay! :D They are now on day 19 in flower, 54 total.

Welcome to the jungle, lol! Its crazy crowded in there, my space is only 35" x 23" x 70" (LxWxH) - next time I will do a SCROG with maximum 2 plants.

I think my aeroponics are working great, the roots are massive, healthy white color.

The plants drink ALOT though, I need to replenish my res. like every 2-3 days. That beeing said, its waay to small, only 6,6 gallons which is ridiculous for 7 plants. But Im fortunate to have great water quality, so PH is stable between 5-6. I dont have a PPM or EC meter, just following the GH Flora schedule at half the strenght in the beginning, now Im running at 80%. Seems to be working good so far..!

I do get some yellow tips at the tops, with the new growth, not sure what's causing it, so if anyone knows feel free to post..! :)

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Top of the largest Nemesis:

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One of the BigBud's, the bagseed sativa in the background:

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Nemesis again:

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Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Harvest day is getting so close now, I can literally smell it! Day 43 of flowering and 78 total and the buds are really starting to fatten up now :D :D

I figure the Nemesis have maybe another 2 weeks before I can harvest - the smell at this point is amazing.! Fragrant earthy "kush like", lovely! The Bigbud and bagseed sativa will probably need some more time.

Here are some pics:

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Loaded with frosty goodieness! :ganjamon:

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Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Amazing man i love the way you set up your journal lots of information! Thumbs up!

This makes me want to know more about soilless solutions!!
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Nice looking fantastic. How do you keep the roots so white??? What nutrients are you using?? My DWC looks like crap compaired to yours.
Looks like it's time to build aeroponics sprayer like yours lol.

Hello there, and thanks alot! :)

Well this is my first ever grow, so I dont really know, lol! The roots are like clean, super white, even at this point, Im surprised myself, but I think it comes down to the fact that they get lots of air so they can breathe properly. I spray them 4 times pr. hour, for about 1 and a half minute each time. Im also making sure my water soultion are nice and clean, changing the res. and cleaning it every week.

Im running the GHE Flora series, Micro, Grow and Bloom, following their recommended feeding schedule at about 80%.

Go for it, aeroponics are awesome! :headbanger:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

Amazing man i love the way you set up your journal lots of information! Thumbs up!

This makes me want to know more about soilless solutions!!

Hey Robert, thanks alot for your kind comments :Namaste:

Im not at all experienced, but I have invested alot of time to read and learn about aero/hydroponics and growing in general before I started.

Its a jungle of information out there, so from all that I built a setup that seems to be working good for me. Im happy to share my growing experience and knowledge, since I have learned so much myself from other peoples journals :)

Peace! :grinjoint:
 
Re: First time grow - 400wHPS, DIY veg+flower closet and LP aeroponics system

QUESTION, please.

I have surplus lighting , 400 watt MH horizontal bulbs/electronic ballasts. MY bulbs are 10K and are about 2000 hrs burned-in
I have co-2 bottles from kalkreactor setup that could be modifed for hydro use.
I have flourescent VHO tubes, 5.6k and 6.0k also with icecap electronic ballasts. All this from former saltwater aquarium use.

I also have a 4' aluminum hood with 2-MH sockets and 2-flourescent bulb sockets. The hood has fan cut-outs for exhaust.

How am I fixed for my 1st , "never tried this before" approach?
 
How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial: Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

:Namaste:
 
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