m420p
Well-Known Member
Nice! I'm sure this setup will be just fine, who knows, might be good enough for you to stick with. Looks like it would run solid as long as it didn't leak. Hope it treats you well like the casino did for me tonight
.
1st time journal: 6 plants, rdwc, 1000w, lemon skunk
- Thread starter booort
- Start date
.
BleedsGreen
Well-Known Member
Looks good, good luck and keep us posted.
Some time after my last post, I found a slow leak in one of the bucket's bulkheads and a control cooler. A day of trips to hydro shops and home depot, finally it is fixed and leak free. I am never moving a bucket again. The bright side is I was forced to finish the veg room so I would have a temporary home while I took things apart. I never want to see another bulk head connector again.
The skunks had a Calcium or MG deficiency I think, they started perking up a little after I upped their nutrients. It looks pretty visible in the LS1 pic.
Feeding 90% strength veg formula, full CalMag and some liquid karma/silica/aquashield too. Using this "super stoner's" recipe I found for Botanicare line here on these forums. Got some pondzyme in there too. Water temps around 72 degrees, but haven't added any frozen containers to the ice coolers yet.
day 20 for the Skunks:
Day 24 for the bagseeds:
Another room over view shot for my reference later:
The skunks had a Calcium or MG deficiency I think, they started perking up a little after I upped their nutrients. It looks pretty visible in the LS1 pic.
Feeding 90% strength veg formula, full CalMag and some liquid karma/silica/aquashield too. Using this "super stoner's" recipe I found for Botanicare line here on these forums. Got some pondzyme in there too. Water temps around 72 degrees, but haven't added any frozen containers to the ice coolers yet.
day 20 for the Skunks:
Day 24 for the bagseeds:
Another room over view shot for my reference later:
Everything seems to be going OK, added the table cloth in hopes that it would help keep water temps a little lower (thanks for suggestion m420p). Even if it doesn't help with water temps, at least it looks cleaner.
Used 2 x 4s I had to build a frame so I'd have something to rest a home made screen on top. If that doesn't turn out well, I would at least have something to attach strings to in order to some form of LST.
Water temp was 71 degrees when I checked it 12 hours or so after adding 1 frozen 1 gallon container to each control (was at 73 degrees yesterday).
PPM is still at 550. I expected some drop in ppm 4 days after the res change, but what the hell do I know really. Not sure what this is telling me exactly. Can see the CalMag deficiency, but I gave full strength CalMag last res change, not sure if they need even more calmag, or if the spotting is a remnant from last week when I was underfeeding calmag.
pH is pretty stable, staying around 5.6-5.8. Still considering this 1/10th hp water chiller (ActiveAqua) I see on Amazon for about $300 (hydro shop owner said it's completely useless).
Not sure when the best time to top these things is. Not sure what the best course of action is for determining sex of the bagseeds and topping things then training to grow through a screen or start LST'ing. I'd guess I have another week of growth before I worry about that.
As usual, any advice from anyone is much appreciated.
Skunks day 22:
Bagseeds day 26:
Used 2 x 4s I had to build a frame so I'd have something to rest a home made screen on top. If that doesn't turn out well, I would at least have something to attach strings to in order to some form of LST.
Water temp was 71 degrees when I checked it 12 hours or so after adding 1 frozen 1 gallon container to each control (was at 73 degrees yesterday).
PPM is still at 550. I expected some drop in ppm 4 days after the res change, but what the hell do I know really. Not sure what this is telling me exactly. Can see the CalMag deficiency, but I gave full strength CalMag last res change, not sure if they need even more calmag, or if the spotting is a remnant from last week when I was underfeeding calmag.
pH is pretty stable, staying around 5.6-5.8. Still considering this 1/10th hp water chiller (ActiveAqua) I see on Amazon for about $300 (hydro shop owner said it's completely useless).
Not sure when the best time to top these things is. Not sure what the best course of action is for determining sex of the bagseeds and topping things then training to grow through a screen or start LST'ing. I'd guess I have another week of growth before I worry about that.
As usual, any advice from anyone is much appreciated.
Skunks day 22:
Bagseeds day 26:
m420p
Well-Known Member
Wow, nice, looks better than what I did with the table cloth in my last few grows. Remember, if you really start to have temp. problems, blow some colder air down there, I bought a temperature controlled timer that works perfect for it. Set the timer, place it under the cloth and hook the inline fan up to it and it will turn it on when it's past your set temp. and turn off a few degrees below it. Just another pointer. It was only 35 bucks or something online.
On another note plants are looking really good. Like how everything's coming along. + rep for using my idea
Thanks, I like the way it looks at least. As for the timer + ducting + inline fan to route cooler air under the tablecloth, I might go that route. Great advice.
I can't see the buckets getting much cooler than room temperature unless I am adding frozen containers to the control buckets several times a day. I feel like I setup a pretty good environment for them to grow in, everything except for the water temperature. Coming up on a 3 day stretch where I won't be home, so I'll see what the water temp gets up to when I can't add ice jugs. If it gets over 75 degrees, it might be time to just get a damn chiller and be done with it. Had a few replies to my post in the noob section asking if the $300 chillers work and seems like they are for one or 2 people. Why the hydro shop owner told me they are worthless unless they are $2000 I don't know.
Also wondering if the commercial air pump I got it is causing the temperatures to rise. The tubing coming out of the air pump is pretty hot. I hung the air pump from a bungie cord right in front of the AC unit, but hasn't helped much. The pump was only $40 or so. I've read the good air pumps for $150 or so are much more quiet and cooler. At that price, it might be best to just apply that money to a chiller though.
I can't see the buckets getting much cooler than room temperature unless I am adding frozen containers to the control buckets several times a day. I feel like I setup a pretty good environment for them to grow in, everything except for the water temperature. Coming up on a 3 day stretch where I won't be home, so I'll see what the water temp gets up to when I can't add ice jugs. If it gets over 75 degrees, it might be time to just get a damn chiller and be done with it. Had a few replies to my post in the noob section asking if the $300 chillers work and seems like they are for one or 2 people. Why the hydro shop owner told me they are worthless unless they are $2000 I don't know.
Also wondering if the commercial air pump I got it is causing the temperatures to rise. The tubing coming out of the air pump is pretty hot. I hung the air pump from a bungie cord right in front of the AC unit, but hasn't helped much. The pump was only $40 or so. I've read the good air pumps for $150 or so are much more quiet and cooler. At that price, it might be best to just apply that money to a chiller though.
m420p
Well-Known Member
If your water temp doesn't get above 75-78 degrees I wouldn't even consider the chiller. 80 would be my "oh shit" point. If your temp. sits below 75 degrees for the most part, I wouldn't worry unless you see root problems. If you can blow relatively colder air down under that cloth with it blowing directly at the pump, I'm sure it would work great. The cloth holds the cold air in and it worked great for me. I'd hate for you to just blow more money to not have it work but I think the chiller is a little overboard unless you you live in a hot climate and water temps are constantly above 75-78 degrees with it going above 80. Just my opinion.
Drained and refilled with nutes today, same feeding as last week (SuperStoner's botanicare recipe).
It was 8 days since the last feeding, I gave them nothing but a small 1 gallon of calmag top off in this last week since the ppm stayed exactly the same at 550. This probably wasn't the best idea as there is clearly some deficiency (Calcium/MG/Nitrogen?) and the skunks look to be hurting again. I am having a hard time grasping when to add what nutes when the ppm stays the same (and the pH stays stable, slowly rising maybe .1 every other day). I could see they are having problems, but did not know if I should just top off every other day with maybe 1 gallon veg formula + cal mag. I guess this is where the trial and error process begins.
I am also not sure on what the optimal distance is from the bottom of netpot to the water line in the buckets. Right now I would say the buckets are half filled at the most when I add 20 gallons total for all 6 plants. I'd say it's about a 5" - 6" gap from netpot to waterline right now.
Water temps rose when I was unable to check things the last few days, I broke down and ordered a 1/4hp water chiller for $420. Went a size larger than I needed to be sure it would chill correctly. Now the problem is I can only chill one set of 3 buckets. I am hoping I can just connect each control cooler to each other with a 1" connection and it will eventually keep all 6 buckets' water temp at 68 or so. If not, might be a good test to see the difference between 3 plants at optimal water temperature and 3 plants at ~74 degree water temp growing side by side then rebuild things next cycle. Chiller should be here this week sometime, need to top them as well.
Skunks day 27:
Bagseeds day 31:
Overview:
It was 8 days since the last feeding, I gave them nothing but a small 1 gallon of calmag top off in this last week since the ppm stayed exactly the same at 550. This probably wasn't the best idea as there is clearly some deficiency (Calcium/MG/Nitrogen?) and the skunks look to be hurting again. I am having a hard time grasping when to add what nutes when the ppm stays the same (and the pH stays stable, slowly rising maybe .1 every other day). I could see they are having problems, but did not know if I should just top off every other day with maybe 1 gallon veg formula + cal mag. I guess this is where the trial and error process begins.
I am also not sure on what the optimal distance is from the bottom of netpot to the water line in the buckets. Right now I would say the buckets are half filled at the most when I add 20 gallons total for all 6 plants. I'd say it's about a 5" - 6" gap from netpot to waterline right now.
Water temps rose when I was unable to check things the last few days, I broke down and ordered a 1/4hp water chiller for $420. Went a size larger than I needed to be sure it would chill correctly. Now the problem is I can only chill one set of 3 buckets. I am hoping I can just connect each control cooler to each other with a 1" connection and it will eventually keep all 6 buckets' water temp at 68 or so. If not, might be a good test to see the difference between 3 plants at optimal water temperature and 3 plants at ~74 degree water temp growing side by side then rebuild things next cycle. Chiller should be here this week sometime, need to top them as well.
Skunks day 27:
Bagseeds day 31:
Overview:
m420p
Well-Known Member
Optimal distance for the bottom of the netpot is about .5-1 inch when there are no roots showing out of netpot. After you see roots, it should be dropped down to about 2-2.5 inches from the bottom of the netpot. Mine stays constantly at about 1.5 inches from the bottom because it was hard for me to determine where the water line would sit when I drilled the holes in the buckets but it works for me.
Going to post pics and update tomorrow, but I am having a big problem and hope I might be able to get a suggestion or some help.
Several of the buckets are not getting water fed through the 1/2" poly tubing that is pumped from the 400 GPH water pump. I spent the entire evening troubleshooting this and am stumped. 4 of the 6 buckets are getting water circulated with the 1/2" tubing, but the farthest 2 buckets from the pump don't get water flowing to them. Occasionally, water trickles in slowly to these last 2 buckets, but 95% of the time nothing comes out.
I reconnected the 1/2" tubing that is circulated with a 400gph water pump in a ring around all 6 buckets with a "T". I then connected 6 more "T"s in the ring, and 6 elbows so the 1/2" tubing runs straight up the side of the buckets. Finally, connected an elbow right where the tubing enters the hole in the bucket near the top. The farthest 2 buckets in the ring get no water pumping to them. No kinks in the tubing, it runs pretty much flat across the floor so I don't think it's an issue with the 1/2" tubing being slightly elevated preventing good flow.
I previously had 3 buckets connected together with a 400gph pump and 1/2" tubing, and another 3 buckets connected separately with ANOTHER 400gph pump. This worked fine until I removed a control igloo ice cooler, and started using one control cooler (easier to chill one cooler than 2). When I first connected it with a single control cooler, I was using 2 water pumps to circulate water. The water level was uneven. One set of 3 buckets' water level was a good 5" higher than the other set that were connected to the second water pump. Too much water was flowing to one set of buckets, and not enough to the other set (with exact same water pumps). Each of the 6 buckets connects back to the control cooler individually. I would have thought identical water pumps would flow the same amount of water but I guess not, maybe because the run of tubing is longer for one set of buckets than the other.
Can a 400gph pump handle pumping the 24 gallons of water the system holds to all 6 buckets?
The total length of the 1/2" tubing is about 10 feet in a ring. If I got in there and reconnected things so the 1/2" tubing is a shorter run, would that most likely get enough flow for all 6 buckets?
One more thought, if I submerged the pump in the control cooler instead of connecting it inline - would that give any better flow?
Several of the buckets are not getting water fed through the 1/2" poly tubing that is pumped from the 400 GPH water pump. I spent the entire evening troubleshooting this and am stumped. 4 of the 6 buckets are getting water circulated with the 1/2" tubing, but the farthest 2 buckets from the pump don't get water flowing to them. Occasionally, water trickles in slowly to these last 2 buckets, but 95% of the time nothing comes out.
I reconnected the 1/2" tubing that is circulated with a 400gph water pump in a ring around all 6 buckets with a "T". I then connected 6 more "T"s in the ring, and 6 elbows so the 1/2" tubing runs straight up the side of the buckets. Finally, connected an elbow right where the tubing enters the hole in the bucket near the top. The farthest 2 buckets in the ring get no water pumping to them. No kinks in the tubing, it runs pretty much flat across the floor so I don't think it's an issue with the 1/2" tubing being slightly elevated preventing good flow.
I previously had 3 buckets connected together with a 400gph pump and 1/2" tubing, and another 3 buckets connected separately with ANOTHER 400gph pump. This worked fine until I removed a control igloo ice cooler, and started using one control cooler (easier to chill one cooler than 2). When I first connected it with a single control cooler, I was using 2 water pumps to circulate water. The water level was uneven. One set of 3 buckets' water level was a good 5" higher than the other set that were connected to the second water pump. Too much water was flowing to one set of buckets, and not enough to the other set (with exact same water pumps). Each of the 6 buckets connects back to the control cooler individually. I would have thought identical water pumps would flow the same amount of water but I guess not, maybe because the run of tubing is longer for one set of buckets than the other.
Can a 400gph pump handle pumping the 24 gallons of water the system holds to all 6 buckets?
The total length of the 1/2" tubing is about 10 feet in a ring. If I got in there and reconnected things so the 1/2" tubing is a shorter run, would that most likely get enough flow for all 6 buckets?
One more thought, if I submerged the pump in the control cooler instead of connecting it inline - would that give any better flow?
BleedsGreen
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you know the answer, You need a bigger pump, the 400 is not providing you enough pressure to push out to the 2 furthest buckets.
Good luck! You will be great at this in no time, just keep at it, don't let it frustrate you.
Good luck! You will be great at this in no time, just keep at it, don't let it frustrate you.
Thanks man, just finished taking everything apart, going to put a 1" connection between all buckets and use both 400gph pumps instead of buying a bigger pump. I'd assume an additional 1" connection between all buckets would keep the water level equal no matter what now.
I am planning on placing this 1" connection about 3" below the bottom of the netpot, right about at the ideal water level. Just like it should have been done initially like m420p did. I can't see this creating any problems with water flow, this is the best route I think to make sure all 6 bucket's water level is the same.
Correct me if I am wrong please. Going to start drilling more holes soon.
I am planning on placing this 1" connection about 3" below the bottom of the netpot, right about at the ideal water level. Just like it should have been done initially like m420p did. I can't see this creating any problems with water flow, this is the best route I think to make sure all 6 bucket's water level is the same.
Correct me if I am wrong please. Going to start drilling more holes soon.
bagseeds:
skunks:
1/4hp water chiller works great. Tested it with a 10 gallon sterlite tote filled with 90 degree water, within an hour it was down to 66 degrees.
Dealt with a few leaks, and had to take everything apart again several times. No longer are these two sets, all 6 are connected to one igloo chest now so it can be chilled easier.
No worries m420p, think I figured it out. I am sure there will be plenty more questions for you to help with in the future.
Going to build a wood frame and screen so I can attempt some LST or scrog. I had planned on resting the screen on top of the 2 by 4s shown in the pic above. Building it out of 1 by 1 pieces of wood for the frame and string spaced at 3" square holes.
I am unclear on what height the screen should be. I thought the plants would be taller by now at 4-5 weeks from sprout and am concerned that 10 inches is too high and it will take another 2+ weeks for them to reach the bottom of the screen.
Also unclear on when to start flowering. I need to weed the males out from the 3 bagseeds. Wondering if I should switch over to 12/12 for a few days to determine sex, then switch back to 18/6 to let whatever females are left to grow into the screen.
Maybe it's best to just let them veg for a few more weeks since I have the space?
I am unclear on what height the screen should be. I thought the plants would be taller by now at 4-5 weeks from sprout and am concerned that 10 inches is too high and it will take another 2+ weeks for them to reach the bottom of the screen.
Also unclear on when to start flowering. I need to weed the males out from the 3 bagseeds. Wondering if I should switch over to 12/12 for a few days to determine sex, then switch back to 18/6 to let whatever females are left to grow into the screen.
Maybe it's best to just let them veg for a few more weeks since I have the space?
BleedsGreen
Well-Known Member
Let em veg and wait to sex em in another few weeks, you can tell before going to flower if you have the room to let em veg long enough.
Spittn4cash
Well-Known Member
Wow..nice bushes! that grow room is pretty badass.
Keep it green!
-Cash
Keep it green!
-Cash
doubletake
Well-Known Member
Looking really good in there now supper clean keeps getting better and better you going to have some nice monsters when you kick them over to flower keep up the good work.