600w DWC Medical Grow- First Timer

[defcomexperiment]

I don't plan on making a thread in the discussion page, so everyone is free to comment at any time they feel necessary. right now i'm gonna drop the pictures of my setup, and when i pick up my clones in the next couple days i will continue to update. basically i'm running a 600w hps the whole cycle, i will be scrogging this as well. i am currently undecided on clones, but am thinking about something from TGA more than likely. the smaller closet with the t5 is gonna be where the mother resides. it is also where the battery backup is for my airpump that will keep em running for a 4 or more hours if power goes out. as it stands my closets are damn near silent, there is a slight hum from the fan and from the digital ballast, but it is hardly noticeable. temp is not an issue in either. thanks to boomerb hittin me off with the igloo cooler idea for the resevoirs my temps are rock steady. my water comes out of tap at 67F and i can drop it to 65F by throwing in 2-3 frozen 20oz. i observed the cooling behavior and i get about a full 1 degree drop from a 1-2 20oz. nutes will be dynagro grow and bloom. i do not believe i am going to use any kind of additives, and from what uncle ben said dynagro should do me quite nicely.

more info will follow, im kinda blew back and just wanted to get these pics up...

also, the steel cable rigs i used for mounting my lights and carbon filter are so damn handy. i work construction so i typically always have em available, they are for mounting track lighting and things of that nature. they make it so easy and clean. the loop bolts you see are 1/4" and i used a 1/4" toggle to secure them to the ceiling, imho the best way to do it. all feedback is welcome, i am new to this, and my girlfriend will be maintaining it quite a bit while i am out of town for work. also, i plan on putting the clones directly into the hydroton, and i have the water level about 1/2" under the netpots and the bubbles get em quite wet. i am not sure what medium i will get the clones in, but the place i'm going has a very serious selection.

 

[crbruton]

looks like a cool setup. im gunna be doin something mighty similar within 2 weeks time. DWC, 600w. I gots a few questions for ya. How many plants do u plan on harvesting at one time? What light will you use for veg? How many gallons is ur DW? Were those individual pumps on the wall there?? How many and what length of airstones ya using under that water bed? my plan was to invest in 1 pump and split it. ima have 3-25 gallon containers but i cant imagine the pump would have to be TOO powerful just to get some quality bubbles goin for O2. more specifically...1 pump split 8 ways. 2-12 inch airstones for each container, and 1-6 inch stone in the veg box and 1 in the germ box. U think that'd be enough?

 

[defcomexperiment]

kk so got 4 clones of trainwreck, transplanted from soil to 5" netpots with hydroton, roots were all around 3" or so. dipped in ph'd and temp'd water to remove excess soil, was very careful will filling of netpots. then i had a family bbq to go to and decided to put the humidity dome up, because they were looking a little dry. bad idea, humidity dome was the only thing i did not test beforehand. arrived home from bbq approximately 4 hours later to find 94 degree temp and two clones were laying down on my reservoir lid. immediately removed domes, and brought temp down to 78 degrees. one is beginning to perk back up which stem was leaning even. the other ones stem wasnt leaning just the leaves.

res temp: 68F
ppm: 111
closet temp: 78F

pictures are quite shit as im high as fuck and pretty pissed at myself.

 

[defcomexperiment]

looks like a cool setup. im gunna be doin something mighty similar within 2 weeks time. DWC, 600w. I gots a few questions for ya. How many plants do u plan on harvesting at one time? What light will you use for veg? How many gallons is ur DW? Were those individual pumps on the wall there?? How many and what length of airstones ya using under that water bed? my plan was to invest in 1 pump and split it. ima have 3-25 gallon containers but i cant imagine the pump would have to be TOO powerful just to get some quality bubbles goin for O2. more specifically...1 pump split 8 ways. 2-12 inch airstones for each container, and 1-6 inch stone in the veg box and 1 in the germ box. U think that'd be enough?

totally missed your question. im using hps the entire time, veg and grow. my res is a 30gal (120qt) igloo cooler ($35 walmart), it is at around 25-26.5 gallons so it will be roughly 1/2" under the netpots while roots are forming. then i will drop it to 22 gallons. those are individual pumps, millionaire 300's, very weak pump, can push air through 2 12" airstones though, and they are nearly silent. this is in my bedroom closet due to AC unit being built into the wall in my bedroom, and low noise is a must. i think i was much more concerned in having the coverage across the entire span of my reservoir which is why i used so man. the sunleaves 640gph pumps are beasts, i had two of those but they are loud as fuck. although i would put one on each res if i were you. there is math somewhere on how much pump you need per liter or whatever somewhere if you google it. btw ive got something like 16 12" airstones in there, i should have rocked 6"s but i had the 12"s from when i was gonna use the 640gph's. either way, the entire res is rockin with bubbles

any other questions feel free to ask, im gonna be chillin for the rest of the night though. the clones bein stressed kinda took it out of me.

 

[defcomexperiment]

also my closet is sticking around 86 degrees with the bifold doors shut, i've got em cracked with a fan blowing in and that keeps it at around 76... i dont know if the 4" inline fan i have with the carbon filter is drawing enough pressure... there should be plenty clearance to pull in air from the cracks in the doors. inside circulation could be bad. may get a couple wall mount fans. cutting a hole in door or wall is not an option for intake.

 

[defcomexperiment]

bah, heat issue wont be easily remedied, i don't want to cut a larger hole in the ceiling. i am going to need a 6" fan though to keep this shit cool, so tomorrow it looks like im runnin the hydro store to throw some more money into this. i am gonna buy a tent, a 6" fan instead of the 4" and vent it out the window and have the tent under my AC unit in the corner.

 

[defcomexperiment]

made a trip to the hydro store, picked up 4'x4'x6'7" grow lab tent, a 6" vortex fan, and milwaukee ph meter (been using drops, still will, plan on using both at times), and some cannazyme. already made the frame to vent the tent out of the window out of 2" styrofoam and reflective tape. now that i will not have anything going on that can get me evicted (i.e. hole cut in ceiling and venting to attic) i am not really concerned of smell and dont plan on hooking up my carbon filter. i plan on using my 4" for intake as well. bbl with pics.

 

[defcomexperiment]

ok, finished setting up the tent, sweating my nuts off all day with this shit...

 

[defcomexperiment]

roots have made it through the bottom of the netpots, and there appears to be some new leaves popping up, and the others are expanding. haha to think i almost killed all of them two days ago. pics to follow in ten.

 

[bajafox]

Are yo using insulated duct? I heard that some of the fibers can sometimes land on your buds and you end up smoking it. Not sure if that's true though

Nice decision on a grow tent, I'm using one also. Good luck

 

[defcomexperiment]

apparently the vortex fan came with mounting hardware, it just got tossed off to the side during the big unpacking of everything. after this next trip for work i will toss em on there... used a bolt with a loop on the end to hang it, but i would feel safer with more points of contact with the fan, even though i knotted the cord around a support bar.

 

[defcomexperiment]

yeap i am, as for smoking insulation, i work construction and inhale that shit all the time. either way though all ends have been sealed with tape so the insulation is not exposed, and the entire tent was wiped down before i put the clones in there. i fucking hate insulation, and there is no way i would expect my plants to suffer. it does so much for the noise, the AC unit is louder than my fans. i even put 3 feet on the intake side of the vortex and it cut the noise down 3/4's. my AC unit is still the loudest thing in the room.

also the duct for the coolhood to the window kept hittin me in the back of the neck yesterday as it was the first thing i installed, one of the reasons i was soo pissed last night..,.

 

[bajafox]

lol, I had my back in all kinds of crazy angles when I tried to get my cool tube and 6"in fan into my 2x4x5 tent

 

[defcomexperiment]

yeah im 6'4" so it was a slight pain in the ass though im used to shit like that from work, then again mine is 6'7" so i had a bit more headroom than you are unless you're a little person haha.

 

[bajafox]

hahaha, I'm avg for a Mexican I suppose, 5'8"

 

[crbruton]

totally missed your question. im using hps the entire time, veg and grow. my res is a 30gal (120qt) igloo cooler ($35 walmart), it is at around 25-26.5 gallons so it will be roughly 1/2" under the netpots while roots are forming. then i will drop it to 22 gallons. those are individual pumps, millionaire 300's, very weak pump, can push air through 2 12" airstones though, and they are nearly silent. this is in my bedroom closet due to AC unit being built into the wall in my bedroom, and low noise is a must. i think i was much more concerned in having the coverage across the entire span of my reservoir which is why i used so man. the sunleaves 640gph pumps are beasts, i had two of those but they are loud as fuck. although i would put one on each res if i were you. there is math somewhere on how much pump you need per liter or whatever somewhere if you google it. btw ive got something like 16 12" airstones in there, i should have rocked 6"s but i had the 12"s from when i was gonna use the 640gph's. either way, the entire res is rockin with bubbles

any other questions feel free to ask, im gonna be chillin for the rest of the night though. the clones bein stressed kinda took it out of me.

ohhh cool cool. i was just tryin to figure it out to compare it to things on my end. I thought I was gunna have 3-25 gal containers with 2 12inch a-stones in each. but urs looks way deeper than mine so i musta been wrong. probably more lik 15-20 gal. I was just plannin on investin in maybe 2 pumps and puttin a splitter on each. im gunna look up what u said about the formula. what type of reflector are u rockin for ur hps? i was able to get a brand new adjust a wings double parabolic reflector for 56 dollars. ITS WORTH 180! lol. for ur seedlings u just have some fluorescents?

 

[defcomexperiment]

ive got the euro air cooled hood or whatever from htg, it was an ebay listing, temps are staying at about 75-77F @the plants with the light @18" above the tips.

 

[defcomexperiment]

hahaha, I'm avg for a Mexican I suppose, 5'8"

haha! sounds about right.

 

[defcomexperiment]

during the moving of the res i pumped out the majority of the water from the res and h202's it. i figured this was noteworthy, but i figured it was good to do because of the transfer of water to some buckets in my bathtub. plan on possibly doing this one more time before flower. starting off flower nutes with cannazym, and possibly something else, and stopping h202 treatment prior to all that. plants were still looking good and temps were stable. kind of high humidity i guess at 60, but i'm about to order a nice big dehumidifier for the room.

 

[bajafox]

I've been looking into getting a single DWC setup for my tent since I might have room for it. I finally got the check I was waiting for, time to go pick up my new ballast and start flowering this weekend

Can't wait to see the results of your DWC grow