Dropa Dope My First Grow Journal 400 Watt RDWC 02/17/2010

[Dropastone]

I want to start off saying that I'm growing some bud I grew last summer behind the house. It was some bag seed I got 7 - 8 years ago. It was some real good stuff or I wouldn't have saved the seeds. I vacuum sealed the seeds and tossed them in a drawer and forgot about them until last year. I only grew three plants, one turned out to be a male and I had to yank it. Later on the second one turned hermi and I didn't catch it in time and yanked that as well, I got a few seeds out of the last one but not many. She turned out real good, I got some real nice and thick dense buds off of her and got close to a QP of smoke. It could have been better considering I didn't water or fertilize her all summer because I didn't want my neighbors watching me mess with it.

So now I'm starting my first indoor grow with the seeds that came off of her. I'm sure this time around it will be much better than last year because I can take better care of them now and give them plenty nutes when they're ready for em.

Now with that being said, I want to talk about my setup. I got little over $900 invested and would like to invest some more but it will have to wait until I get a cpl of harvests under my belt. I'm growing in a 3' x 3' x 8' closet that I've washed down with light bleach and soap solution. Next step was to paint the closet with flat white paint, it took two coats and a whole gallon of paint. I took the shelving that was in there and laid them across the baseboards to make a nice platform to set my buckets on plus I'm not trying to ruin the carpets underneath.

Equipment

400 watt MH/HPS switchable ballast with a cheap bat wing reflector

4 bucket rwdc setup with control tank each bucket is 2 gallons and the whole system holds 5 gallons of water.

2 Hydrofarm 160 cfm blowers one for intake and one for exhaust.

1 16" oscillating fan.

1 Hanna grow check meter it reads pH and ppm and is in the res all the time for constant monitoring.

2 aqua culture air pumps with 1 6" air stone in each grow bucket.

1 timer controlling the light and oscillating fan.

1 timer controlling the intake and exhaust fans.

1 timer controlling the recirculating pump.

Time for some show and tell.

I hung the ballast and timer on the ceiling to keep it out of the way along with a hook to hang the cords on.

The oscillating fan I had to hang it high on the wall because of my limited space. The exhaust I attached to the entry point of my attic. If I need a carbon filter I'll cross that road when I come to it.

As for the intake placement, I had to think about this for a little while. Did I want to go through wall or the door. If I went through the wall I would have had to buy some duct work and go through both sides and that wasn't something I really wanted to do. So I decided to go through the solid wood door because it was a lot easier to hook up. I saved the cut out and figure I can put it back with some wood putty and repaint if I decide to sell the place.

I hung the timer for the water pump on the wall and I also got my 2 air pumps and Hanna grow check meter plugged in there as well going 24/7

I got my timer for the intake and exhaust on the opposite wall.

I got my grow check meter on the back wall along with 3 different thermometers hung at 3 different levels with a humidity gauge built in.

here is my rdwc setup. If you look I got my first little babies in there, those pics are coming up.

Here is a pic with the light about 18" above the plants.

That's it for the setup.

Now on to the babies.

All four are looking healthy but in the last pic I have some discoloring on the 2 main leaves. I don't think it's from the lamp because the others are doing just fine. I think it's because when it sprouted the shell of the seed was stuck on it pretty good and I had to help a little to get it off.

02/23/2010

I germinated them on the 16th of February with a paper towel on a plate put into a Ziploc bag. I put them in my computer desk drawer right next to my tower. It gets nice and warm in there and had the seeds germinated in a little over 24 hours and the tap roots where about an inch long. I put them in my 5" net pots with about an inch of hydroton in the bottom and the rest with coco coir. My net pots are about 2 inches above the water line. I started them out with the drip until I seen roots in the water. Now I just have the tube stuck in through the lid so my system will continue to circulate. I got the pump running 24/7 now.

Water

Right now I'm using Culligan water in the 5 gallon container. Its pH is 7.0 and ppm is 0.00. My well water is just to hard and I don't want to spend the money on an RO just yet. With the Culligan water about 5ml of pH down and it's good to go. I haven't started any nutes yet, just plain ole pHed water but when I do I got GH nutes for em.

Well that's it for now, I'll update in a few days or so. If anybody want's to comment on my setup or on my grow please feel free and I'll be glad to any take any advice or criticism that comes my way.

Peace.

 

[colbalt...blue]

loving the look especially that central res. hows does it work, does it top up the other buckets when they get low? oh you said ... it circulates, and bubbles aswell?
you got the light 18 inches above, i was told to put my lights about 6" above? be good to compare notes, or are you planning to bring them down? as you know it's my first DWC grow too so what the fuck do i know.

is your check meter fully automated, humidity an all? is it linked to the fan speed? soz for all the questions but 3' x 3' x 8' is what i've just set up so i'm salivating.

cheers for being nice about my girls, i posted the pics as a worried mum coz i need to know whether i should bump up the nutes asap. subbed ...

 

[marijuananation]

LOOKIN GOOD !!
I love the set-up you have going on !! (very Clean)
Subscribed !!

 

[Dropastone]

loving the look especially that central res. hows does it work, does it top up the other buckets when they get low? oh you said ... it circulates, and bubbles aswell?
you got the light 18 inches above, i was told to put my lights about 6" above? be good to compare notes, or are you planning to bring them down? as you know it's my first DWC grow too so what the fuck do i know.

is your check meter fully automated, humidity an all? is it linked to the fan speed? soz for all the questions but 3' x 3' x 8' is what i've just set up so i'm salivating.

cheers for being nice about my girls, i posted the pics as a worried mum coz i need to know whether i should bump up the nutes asap. subbed ...

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my thread. There's a small water pump in the central res, it was designed to be a drip feeder but once the roots hit the water you don't need it anymore but I keep it running so it will recirculate my system. It will recirculate my system in about an hour.

As for the light I started it a lot higher and have been lowering it on a daily basis. I want to make sure I'm not burning up my babies. As it sets right now my temps at plant level are around 85 - 90 deg. So I'm just gonna leave it right where it is.

The meter just reads pH and ppm and it's supposed to take the water temp into consideration when determining the ppm. It's just a plug a play no math required to figure out ppm.

Sorry I can't give you any advice on nutes just yet. This is my first indoor grow in 20 years. I had a hydro setup about 20 years ago at my mom and dads place (my dad is a smoker too ) but it was very primitive to today's standards. So I'm learning all over again myself.

I can suggest that you go to the website of the nutes your using they usually have a feeding chart there to help you out. I'm using General Hydroponics nutes the same stuff I used 20 years ago and they have a nute calculator on there website for every stage of growth.

LOOKIN GOOD !!
I love the set-up you have going on !! (very Clean)
Subscribed !!

Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad to have you aboard.

 

[colbalt...blue]

thanks dropastone, big learning curve, sure the nutes table gave me a ball park figure, but these little monsters are growing so fast that the nute guide must be way out ... checked the EC and it had plummeted since the water change a couple of days ago, bumped up the EC and this morning droopy leaves were erect and they seem to have a richer green gleam to them. hopefully this will be an end to the slight brown patches that appeared on lower leaves?

so your system recirculates? this must be a real plus when changing PH, EC and changing water. do all your buckets have low drains that run back to the central res? if so, do they combine and return through one inlet or four?

i get a bit nervy when i have to prise off the lids in case they suddenly spring off and one of the sisters goes airborne across the grow room. your res has got me thinking ...

neat meter. i've rigged up a homemade fan speed controller to adjust the speed and come on full blast as and when humidity and/or temp reach certain levels. it works but i'm still adjusting it so i'll find out how much use it is and whether it was worth the effort.

i'd loved to have a smky dad. maybe i'll be one instead.

 

[Dropastone]

Here are the buckets before I shortened them. They're all connected to the main res. The pump inside pumps the water out of the main res out through the drip tubs into my grow buckets and the whole system gets recirculated one time an hour.

In this pic I shortened the return tubs to maximize space. The way I had it originally the buckets where to close to the wall and you can see the drip tubes going to the net pots.

 

[Dropastone]

Yeah it's way cool, my dad and I have been smoke buddies for a long time. I figured out that my dad smoked way before he knew I did. When he found out he said "So that's where all my bud has been going". It's all good though, I've paid him back like ten fold.kiss-ass

 

[colbalt...blue]

neat dad, but ten fold, now that's the sort of kid i want ... thanks for the pics and explaino of your bucket system ... given me some good food for thought.

still a bit worried about my girls (only natural). they are all in a separate res, yet all display this browning, one of them has two of its main fan leaves going crispy, sure the new sprouts are lush but ...

gotta nail this one soon so i know for the future. gonna leave them overnight, i've bumped the nutes up to 1.6 EC as recommended for weeks 3-4. dropastone when it says week 1-2 do you think they mean from when you incubate or when you introduce them to the hydro? coz i gave mine a week in the incubator and i realise i haven't factored this in.

your using 2 gallon buckets (about 10 litres i'm guessing). nice and compact, be interesting to find out how much bud they turn out. smallest i could source were 16 litre buckets, short and stocky about 10 inches high and just over a foot across at the lid. here's a pic of one next to a standard 20 litre bucket ...

 

[Dropastone]

What kind of lights are you using? And I'm not sure on the nutes just yet. Some people say not to give them any nutes for at least 2 weeks. So if you had them in a humidity dome for a week and in your bucket for a week it should be okay just start them out at like a 1/4 strength at first. Other people say not to give them nutes until the 2nd or 3rd node.

I gave mine about a 1/5th strength today 2.5ml of each in 5 gallons of water and I will just have to see what happens. I think it will be okay, I hope.

 

[colbalt...blue]

i've been using CFL 125watt 6000K, but i don't like the coverage. i've got a T5 rig being delivered in the next few hours. i'll use them side by side. yeah i started them on quarter strength in the incubator. everythings been perfect untill a few days ago, but its hard to pin down coz so many adjustments are taking place it's hard to know what's effecting what. i was hoping dmoose was going to get back with a suggestion that's why i posted the pics.

I gave mine about a 1/5th strength today 2.5ml of each in 5 gallons of water and I will just have to see what happens. I think it will be okay, I hope.

hope so too ... mystery seeds ... exciting.

 

[Dropastone]

So far everything is looking good. On Wednesday the 24th I thought I had given them 2.5 ml each of the GH nutes. I guess I was getting a little anxious and misread the dropper that came with the nutes. I thought it was a 10 ml dropper and it turned out to be a 1 mil dropper and I actually only gave them .25 ml each. Anyway once I figured out my mistake I did my first res change on Friday the 26th and I gave them 2 ml each of the GH nutes and that's less than a 1/4 strength. At the time I also had noticed that my seedlings seemed a little weak and they were leaning quite a bit so I put some hydroton on top of my coco to help them stand up straight.

I woke up Saturday morning and checked on my babies, just one day after giving them some nutes and I could see a big improvement. I'll bet that they almost doubled in size and are looking real healthy. I'm just glad I didn't hurt them seeing that they were only 9 days old. It just seemed that the straight pHed water wasn't doing them any good at all.

All in all I'm glad I decided to start the nutes even after all the threads I've been reading about other growers starting nutes to early and burning up their babies.

I'll post some new pics in a few days. I'm gonna make Wednesday pic day for this thread so I can document a week by week change in my babies growth. Until then.

Peace.

 

[colbalt...blue]

it's sounds like the right move. i fed mine from seedlings, just mixed up a weak solution and dripped it till it ran out the bottom of the cube a few times a day. looking forward to seeing how they have beefed up. ps. mine too have doubled, i've gotta sort out a low humidity problem some time soon ...

 

[Dropastone]

Yeah I hear ya with the humidity problem. I'm only @ 30 % and would like to be around 50 %. Just for an experiment I put 4 solo cups in there filled with water and after a week they're almost empty. But I think I'm exhausting it just as fast as I'm putting in the air. I've read some posts where some growers put a bucket of water in their grow rooms to raise the humidity but I don't have that much room. Spring is getting closer and with that will come more humidity.

I don't know where your at but I'm getting sick of all this cold weather snow and I can't wait for spring. I'm getting a bad case of cabin fever.

Posting pics in two days.

Peace.

 

[Dropastone]

Update

Well I've been doing a lot of reading about water temps and I had the feeling that my temps were way to high. So this afternoon I took a res temp and I was right, my temp was 85-86.5 between my four grow buckets. I was hopping I could make a water chiller myself for a lot less but I couldn't find much online or on rollitup, so I had to break down and buy one. I found this one on ebid for $185 with shipping. I really didn't want to spend any more than I already have but what are ya gonna do. I already have a nice chunk invested in my grow op and I don't want to be worrying about root rot or water oxygenation. So here is a description and a pic of what I got.

Aqua Euro USA Aquarium Nano Chiller CL-85 for 12g

Micro Electronic Chiller CL-85 by Aqua Euro USA. Finest electronic titanium water chiller and heater, great for freshwater and saltwater, digital display for precise temperature control, uses microchip technology to keep tank cool, automatic switch between heat & chill, great for Nano Reef Tanks, ultra compact in design, ultra quiet (virtually no noise), energy saving, environmentally friendly, includes rubber feet, 1/2 inch fittings included and very easy to set up & easy to operate. Dimensions are 8.25"x10"x7", 80-160gph, 120 watts.

I hope I made the right decision. It will cool 12 gallons of water and my res is only 5 gallons so it should be enough. On the plus side of things I should be able to get rid of the drip pump in my res. The new water chiller should move enough water around on it's own. I'll post the results when it arrives and get it all hooked up.

 

[colbalt...blue]

i've read 18 - 21 degrees C water temp is optimum but can go as high as 28 degrees C IF you are aerating. can't do the conversion into Fahrenheit ... it's too early ...

that unit looks the biz will come in handy if you bake in the summer. do you have a high temp in the house? coz your intake goes through the door ... does it drawn from a heated room?.

my fan takes the temp down slowly ok ... but the humidity just goes in an instant with it on. suppose it also depends on the weather outside as i'm drawing from an unheated room that has the window slightly open. looking at maybe buying a humidifier but i'd need one with a hydrometer. and besides i don't have much room. we'll see ... i'll try and see if i can adjust the fan and find a happy medium.

... and my babes are getting big an chubby ...
spring's under way where i am ... hope you see scantily dressed girls walking down the street real soon ...

 

[Dropastone]

My grow closet is in my bedroom and I blocked the vent off so It doesn't get any heat in there. I keep my house @ 74 year round and my bedroom has been staying around 68 with the vent blocked off but I do open the bedroom door at night when I sleep to warm it up a little. So it has been pulling cool air into the closet. And yes my closet is so small when my fans kick on it sucks most of the humidity out in minutes.

18* - 21* Celsius = 64* - 69* Fahrenheit and that does coincides with what I've been reading. I've also read that anything over 75*F or 24*C that your in the danger zone for root rot and bad oxygenation do to heat and it will cause slowed growth.

As far as the scantily dressed girls go. In my neighborhood I get lots of em. It seems that my neighborhood is a mecca for walkers and dog walkers and I've never seen anything like it. I do like to walk my dog in the spring and summer. I've got a 130 pound soon to be 3 year old male English Mastiff and I get stopped all the time because they all want to see my boy.

Here is a pic of my boy.

And another but he's a only a year old in this pic.

My neighbors have a male Neapolitan Mastiff and this is my boy checking him out and getting ready to pounce.

Peace.

 

[dmoose]

Dropastone - Damn, sorry you had to break it down! But since it is, this would be a great time to make a few modifications. First, $185 for the chiller is AWESOME! It will be a great benefit.

A few things to bring the room temp, and res temp down............. I would either paint the lids white, or cover with something to stop the black buckets from absorbing all the heat. Put the water pump on a timer and run 15 min on, 15 min off, or anything but 24/7, since you have bubbles in each bucket. Lower the oscillating fan to blow upward between the canopy and the light. Mount BOTH blowers up top pulling air through the grow area, and let the intake be passive (just holes). It looks as though the shelf is higher than the intake hole? If so, when you add the blower up top, also remove the weather strip at bottom of door to increase intake instead of adding more holes. If you can safely move the ballast either below the shelf or in the attic, I believe that would help as well.

Try to incorporate as much of the heat reducing suggestions as you can and do a dry run for 24 hours to see the diff in temps. The chiller will def help cool the res down too. Keep in mind, that when you have a full canopy, the buckets will not get direct light, and wont heat the res so much.

I will subscribe and keep a closer eye out for you, but send me a IM when looking for a quick answer. Sorry?

Good Luck! +rep

 

[LEDZEP]

Dropa, nice setup man, me likey. Glad to see you got things up and running. Looking good so far, keep up the good work. Things move real slow in the begining, but then after about 2 weeks they start to grow so fast its amazing. Just keep them happy and there is nothing to it....

I go the same chiller you got, its the best invesment ever, no more worries about the res temp. It will heat and cool to meet the target temp you set it to. Just dont forget you have to hook a pump to it to move the water through it. Some peeps left some bad reviews and it looks like they never hooked a pump to it, I'm sure you got that figured, I just thought it was funny reading people saying... "the unit reads 72 and runs all the time but the water is like 82 and we only have a 8 gal tank...don't buy this unit it doesn't work" You'll see that it works great and no more worries, If you can, set it up outside the room where it is cooler, so it doesn't have to work so hard.

Check out my grow you'll see some pics of the setup, just click on my sig, plus you'll see how fast the growth pics up after the 3rd-4th week.

Peace Out

 

[Dropastone]

What's up dmoose. I'm glad to have you aboard and I'll take all the help that I can get. I think you miss understood my last post. I haven't broke down my setup. I had to break down and by the chiller. Although you do have some valid advice.

I would either paint the lids white, or cover with something to stop the black buckets from absorbing all the heat

Yes I've also thought of this but only after I had it set up and going. I'm gonna have to get a cooler or something and fill it with water, stretch a cpl of 2 x 4 across to set my net pots on while I do this because I would have to break my whole system down to do it. In the mean time I have some mylar that I'll put over the tops of my buckets.

Put the water pump on a timer and run 15 min on, 15 min off, or anything but 24/7, since you have bubbles in each bucket.

In my way of thinking I keep the pump going 24/7 to keep my nutrient mix well circulated and the pH stable. But I will go ahead and do the 15/15

Lower the oscillating fan to blow upward between the canopy and the light.

You know that's been weighing heavy on my mind and I think I'm gonna try to work on that soon. The only problem is my closet is only 3 x 3 and my fan sticks out 10" from the wall and 12" if tilted.

Mount BOTH blowers up top pulling air through the grow area, and let the intake be passive (just holes).

That's a good Idea too but I was under the impression that you shouldn't have any light leaks. If I did that I would have light leaking into my room during the night cycle. It would work if I put black plastic over my windows to block out all the light.

It looks as though the shelf is higher than the intake hole?

Actually the blower sets just above the the shelf.

If you can safely move the ballast either below the shelf or in the attic, I believe that would help as well.

That shouldn't be to hard I think I could mount it to the opposite side of the blower so it sets in the attic and cut a notch for the cord.

Try to incorporate as much of the heat reducing suggestions as you can and do a dry run for 24 hours to see the diff in temps.

Man this has all been great advise. I think I'm gonna stew on it while I'm waiting on my chiller to arrive because I'm probably gonna have to break down my hydro setup to install the chiller. At that point I can make those alterations to my grow room.

I have been thinking about cutting a hole in the top of the res to pull the water out an then hooking the return hose back to the drip hub, that way I can just get rid of the drip pump all together and still have an efficient recirculating system.

I may have a problem with one of my plants as well, there are some brown spots on it. I really I don't understand this because the other 3 plants are just fine.

Tomorrow they will be two weeks old and I'll post some picks.

Thanks for all the great suggestions

Peace.

 

[Dropastone]

Dropa, nice setup man, me likey. Glad to see you got things up and running. Looking good so far, keep up the good work. Things move real slow in the begining, but then after about 2 weeks they start to grow so fast its amazing. Just keep them happy and there is nothing to it....

I go the same chiller you got, its the best invesment ever, no more worries about the res temp. It will heat and cool to meet the target temp you set it to. Just dont forget you have to hook a pump to it to move the water through it. Some peeps left some bad reviews and it looks like they never hooked a pump to it, I'm sure you got that figured, I just thought it was funny reading people saying... "the unit reads 72 and runs all the time but the water is like 82 and we only have a 8 gal tank...don't buy this unit it doesn't work" You'll see that it works great and no more worries, If you can, set it up outside the room where it is cooler, so it doesn't have to work so hard.

Check out my grow you'll see some pics of the setup, just click on my sig, plus you'll see how fast the growth pics up after the 3rd-4th week.

Peace Out

What's up LedZep I'm glad to have you aboard too and I'll be sure to check out your Thread. What kind and size pump do you use for yours? I'm just gonna go with an 80 gph pump but I'm gonna have to wait till next week to get mine and I'll probably get it locally. I think I should be able to find one at Lowes or Home depot or something. What do you think?