First Aquafarm Hydro Grow

[Fenderbender]

Hi everyone.

This is my first indoor/hydro grow..
The aquafarm was gifted to me from a friend and I've been trying to grow plants with Belgian summers for a couple of years, It can be done but it's not always a happy result plus it's a a battle with many variable conditions..
Being fed up with that I thought let's give this a try.
Got a a Homebox tent 1mx1mx2m
Lumatek ballast with Lumatek dual spectrum bulb 400w
a cooltube. not really necessary but I thought maybe could come in handy, I'm just venting out via the cooltube.. I usually see them set up differently but I guess this is okay?
I'm using those clay pebbles, rockwool starters and Canna Aqua nutrients Vega & Flores, I also have Rhizotonic and PK13/14.

Plants are now starting 4th week after switching to 12/12
I vegged them for 3 weeks with one week extra starting from seed. I've topped them once
I think I've had some problems with nutrients & ph, little bit of over feeding? roots have grown into the nutrient soup, maybe a bit to wet as well, i don't have it modded with airstone and such..

I know I probably shouldn't have tried two plants in the same farm.. but i thought, see if this works next run.. i'm just going for one.. and veg it longer.

I also have pretty hard water.. ec is 0,8 from tap and pH is 7
this is the make up for my city
Parameter/Average/Unit/Norm
Aluminium (Al)< 20µg/l200
Ammonium (NH4)< 0.3mg/l0.5
Calcium (Ca)151mg/l270
Chloride (Cl)60mg/l250
Fluor (F)< 0.4mg/l1.5
Conductivity 872µS/cm2100
Iron (Fe)< 20µg/l200
Potassium (K)2.6mg/l-
Led (Pb)< 5µg/l25
Magnesium (Mg)20mg/l50
Mangaan (Mn)< 5µg/l50
Natrium (Na)12.7mg/l200
Nitraat (NO3)29mg/l50
Nitriet (NO2)< 0.015mg/l0.1
Sulfaat (SO4)110mg/l250
Oxygen (O2)6.90mg/l-

Some people suggested I should get other nutrients, for hard water?
I can't add much without my EC getting high quickly and I also feel I need to use a lot of pH- to get my water down to 5,5-5,8/6,2 region.

I don't have my water on temp.. and temp in tent varies between 22-25°c with lamp on and around 16°-19° when the light is off.
RH is between 30 and 50% when the plants were small it was difficult to get a high humidity I used a plastic box over them to create a sort of propagator condition. Now that they are bigger humidity rises a lot with the light off.. it gets even over 50% I try to keep it less with venting more since they are now getting ready to bloom..

My first impression is.. well it requires some monitoring and adjusting and learning this indoor hydro grow.. It does work though.. never had plants that grew like this... i hope I can get them through the flowering period and finish them.

Any tips, suggestions, questions very welcome.. i'm here to learn..

The strain is Channel + from Medical Seeds in Spain. 50/50 hybride


cheers

 

[Rifleman]

I'm in first! But you might want to ask a mod to move it to the journals forum.

 

[OlderGrower]

I am in 2nd and not last I am sure.

 

[Fenderbender]

Hi guys

The light just went on, so I got a look.. seems the bud sites are +- 1,5/2cm higher than yesterday.
Argh I need these girls to start making some white hairs and stop expanding like this. It's getting bushy.

Question, I've heard some people giving a day of darkness before making the switch to 12/12
Why is this?
I did not do that.. I just switched, plants were pretty small, like in the first picture, that's a week after I made the switch.. first I was worried, that they may be too small or turn out to small.. now I'm thinking easy does it.. as I imagine they will still grow plenty during flowering.. not that these are big plants but it's getting dense.

 

[Fenderbender]

And todays pictures..the roots as they are now..

Although the setup wasn't cheap in total if you count all the bits and bobs and help.
it's really simple..
There's one digital timer that switches a relay for the e-ballast
3 analog timers those standards old ones with the circle of tiny switches
one for either controlling the tent ventilation outwards. one for the pump for the aquafarm and one for the oscillating fan, but that is on all the time now.

The nutrients and testing fluids and the meters weren't cheap.. I went for the Milwaukee stuff
but everything works and I'm kinda amazed at all the cleanliness and neatness of it all.. no soil mess, and no bugs or scary things for the moment.. in the windowed porch or outside with soil it's alway bugs a plenty.
I like the measuring and adding fluids together..

I really wonder how these will turn out.. and if.. all kinda things might still occur.. and I did burn the plants early on with giving them a week of very high nutrients before I realised that this can't be right..
And I think I'm doing okay as I love the way they grow.. so fast.. and so compact.. I've seen plants grow huge outside but never this stubby lush.. I like it.. fingers crossed.

Is it okay for me to remove some older fan leaves that look a bit meh? and maybe in a few weeks even some more at the buds if they cover too much wel other buds?

 

[Fenderbender]

Does anyone know if there is any danger to the roots?
As they are constantly submerged in the nutrient solution, so I guess I'm doing more of DWC than a classic Hydro run???
But I don't have my aquafarm modded like some do.. who get an extra pump and airstone in the reservoir. what I do now is take them out every day so they sit in the air for 15 minutes.

 

[Fenderbender]

That's yesterday.. maybe still signs of overfeeding? little yellow tips.. sides get some dark shades?

 

[Fenderbender]

And today.. the bud sites are still getting higher steady every day.
But I'm not doing much, gonna let her run for a few days more.
She got fresh nutes yesterday
Canna Aqua Flores A+B 6ml each on 14l water
Canna Rhizotonic 5ml
Canna PK13/14 5ml
Canna PH- Bloom

I know strange measures, but that gives me an EC of 1,1 and the pH was at 5,8

 

[Fenderbender]

Also the left side of the right plant is up there with the left plant, but the right side of the right plant is lacking.. not enough light there? that's the part were the socket of the bulb is with the vent tube..

 

[Fenderbender]

And three more pics from early beginnings..

I've just thought off putting a heavy rubber band in the plant to weigh down the branches a bit and spread open the canopy.
Good Idea? yes no?
It's not drastic but you can tell it's a bit more open in the last two pics..

 

[Fenderbender]

hmm they are looking kinda strange today...

 

[Tead]

Does anyone know if there is any danger to the roots?

Temperature is a big threat. I can't do active hydro in my hot-ass grow room. My res would always be a 80f. Res temps need to stay around 70f.
Also, taking the baby out for 15 minutes seems a bit risky. It will also get MUCH more difficult as your grow progresses.

 

[Fenderbender]

I know, there's probably more danger to the roots with taking them out, but I just lift them and they hang and put them on a bucket which they can rest in..
My water is cold, I thought about getting a little aquarium heater so i can put it in the 18-22°c range 64-71°F

But there is no worry in half of my roots being submerged all the time??
the other half is between the clay pebbles and only get a bit of dripping every hour.
So I assume are oxygenated enough.

And you're right if they get bigger and the roots as well it's gonna get more difficult.
Maybe I should put the aquafarm on a little rise so I can drain via the tube in a tray.. or I thought about making an external reservoir.. and a pump that transports it from the farmreservoir to the external one.

 

[Fenderbender]

I'm in first! But you might want to ask a mod to move it to the journals forum.

Well I pm'd a mod of this forum.. but well don't know how busy they are prolly busy.
So any mod reading this, if you could move this thread to the Journal forum? or should I start a proper one there.. maybe next grow..

 

[Tead]

They'll take care of moving your thread soon enough. They're quite good about such things. No worries.

This is a top feed system with a res in the bottom.... yes? I believe the idea is to keep the water like 2 or 3 inches from the bottom of the netpot.

 

[Tead]

I see your cool tube with the opening inside the tent. This may work just fine, but be sure to keep airflow going thru the cooltub. The heat from the bulb would get trapped in there with really hot temps if you don't keep a flow going thru it.

 

[Fenderbender]

yes a top feed drip system, this one

And Indeed I keep the water under the netpot..
but all the roots you see in the pictures above are already the ones that grew through the netpot and into the nutrient reservoir.
So I got a large reservoir full of clay pebbles & roots on top and then a serious amount of roots that now sit straight in the nute soup..

 

[Fenderbender]

I see your cool tube with the opening inside the tent. This may work just fine, but be sure to keep airflow going thru the cooltub. The heat from the bulb would get trapped in there with really hot temps if you don't keep a flow going thru it.

Ah good point.. when the light is on the fan is extracting.. when the light is off it vents every half hour. for 15 minutes.. the extracting fan is a bit too strong I think.

Yeah I was looking for the easiest setup.. I have seen the cooltubes setup with it's own separate air intake, but that's a lot of tubing and an extra fan.. I thought just sucking the air out through it would be okay?
The 400watt bulb doesn't get massively hot though, but probably if there is still air, it could heat up quickly as you say..

 

[Fenderbender]

The weeds run out of control..
I went out and got some demineralised water today.. hey it's got no conductivity and is at pH 8
They drank well last night, reservoir was half, I topped up with 10l of the demi water at 0,8 strength and pH 5,8
But I think they will appreciate the absence of harshness of the tap water for a bit.. I'll see how they respond tomorrow.
White hairs a slowly coming.. but I think she still wants to grow..

 

[Rifleman]

Looking very nice.