2x4x5-botanicare-400w HPS-CO2 enriched-ebb & flo

i am doing a perpetual grow utilizing two 2x4x5 grow tents. i use 3 gallon grow bags filled with a 2:1 ratio of coco : perlite. i use botanicare's line of commercial nutrient system (cns17) grow, bloom, and ripe. all my watering/feeding water comes from RO stations at a nearby grocery store.

my veg tent is a simple setup including:
1- 125w "cool" floro
1- 40w tube floro (t8 )
1- TMP brand temperature control
1- small fan
1- 4" duct fan

Flower station is a little more complex:
1- 400w HPS
1- TMP brand temp/humidity/CO2 control
1- 20lb CO2 tank w/regulator
1- 4" 170cfm inline fan w/4lb carbon filter
1- botanicare turbogarden ebb & flo (25 gal res)
1- medium fan

i am currently growing nirvana feminized strains. bubblicious(my personal favorite) and ak-48. both are great. i popped some seeds about a month ago. nothing too special. when the ak-48 was about a week old and had 3 or 4 nodes i put her in the flower room. a few weeks later and now she is in full flower. i allowed the bubblicious to veg a few weeks longer and took a clone off her to use as a mother. bubblicious went into flower about 2 weeks ago and is showing nice signs of flowers. plus the clone i took is looking amazing. it will make a good mother plant once i top.

i really love the community here and the feedback. i will include pictures right after i post this. thanks for looking and come back for updates. things are just getting exciting.

chroNic

the following pics are of my 3 plants. the largest being the ak-48 frowered a week out of seed. the medium sized plant is a bubblicious from seed that was vegged for 3 weeks. and last the smallest is a clone from the bubblicious that will be used as a mother plant

my ak-48 is a little burnt from my light being too close and the Ph was off but these are slowly being corrected. i have everything running great. 5.8 ph.

the following pictures show my simple veg room. pics will include my floros, exhaust fan, and growing area.

this is a picture showing how i transport RO water also the nutes and Ph buffers i use.

this last set of pictures i will update with are of different items within the flowering room. enjoy

I'm subscribed! .. i have the same exact tent. I'm gonna have alot of questions for ya. I've been trying to figure out how to run a 400 in the small space of the tent. I'll be taking notes .... are you using a cooltube??

ataxia said:

I'm subscribed! .. i have the same exact tent. I'm gonna have alot of questions for ya. I've been trying to figure out how to run a 400 in the small space of the tent. I'll be taking notes .... are you using a cooltube??

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thanks for the confidence. hopefully we can all learn from my grow. experts are summoned for advice on this grow.

as far as cooling the tent. that 170 cfm in-line fan ducted to another room is sufficient. i am just using a regular old bat-wing style reflector. i can tollerate higher temps cuz i use CO2.

You might do well to look into Liquid karma. It has some natural chleates in it that improve the uptake of nutes into your plant. I like Botanicare's sweet, calmag and hydroplex aslo.

except for CO2 refills i am completely out of funds. i have to wait for my first harvest to get any kind of nutrient.

anyone want to discuss yields?

last harvest i noticed bubblicious was heavier. that weed gets me googoo.

any suggestions what i can tweek in the tent - using what i already have?

once again thanks for the comments. keep them coming

i've noticed with tenderness and care a grower can get outstanding results with the equipment at their disposal. i've grown this way before and i get about 3oz off a plant and i can have 3 plants flowering. since this is perpetual i will harvest a plant once a month and replace it with a well rooted clone. i have a mild smoking habit so i figure a third is for personal use.

just wanted to make an update.

culled 2 nodes off my clone(motherplant). also topped.

trimmed bottom growth from both flowering plants to allow good airflow and encourage primary growth.
i dont know if i ever mentioned, but i top the plants 1st week of flowering due to height restrictions.
-ak-48 is done stretching but ended up 10" from bulb. i just barely supercropped the tallest buds -1/8th". hopefully this will promote flat-
fat buds.

oldest plant (ak-48 ) is making a recovery but i still feel the problem will affect me until harvest.
middle plant (bubblicious) doing very well. stretching phase.

also- i have waited until this week to use C02 enrichment.
i have only been topping my res with 5.8Ph RO water with 20ml/L bloom. i want to try to change my res as little as possible. just remove water and replace regularly.

i hav seen a ton of page views. leave some comments peeps. later

not a lot has changed.

i've taken 2 clones off my mother plant.

bubblicious is stretching up to 3 inches a day and should stop soon.

ak-48 is done stretching and packing on pistils.

i have just been letting my system be automatic. all i do every few days is check ph, top off the res, and turn the plants.

previous grows i use the 5" pots that came with my turbogarden. during those grows my buds ended up being so big they would tip over the light weight pot. i'm excited to see yield from these larger containers. thanks for the views everyone

small update. tonight i supercropped the tallest buds on my bubblicious plant. once again this should stop vertical growth and focus on secondary growth. when i say i supercropped the bud i cut off less than 1/4" off the two tallest colas. nothing too special just thought i'd add.

also i had mentioned taking clones. its been a day and a half and one looks very healthy and crisp.. i fear for the other, i think it may have gotten an air bubble in the stem and has begun wilting. should i wait or toss it?

well its been a week since i started this thread. i haven't recieved much feedback on my grow, but thats ok. must mean i'm doing it right.

last night i inserted dowel rods into my grow bags and used them to tie twine around the plants. i did this to bring the branches of individual plants closer to the stalk because branches were overlapping. they were brought together just slightly. i dont want to deny light to any part of my plant but i've noticed unproportioned growth when overlap happens. this is really the only update i have. i plan on changing my res water within a week so i will upload pictures then.

i have a small question. i dont have a ppm meter and won't be able to afford one for some time. when i top off my res i make full strength solution to try and compensate for nutrients lost during uptake. is this good enough? any suggestions

pmpknhd79 said:

i have a small question. i dont have a ppm meter and won't be able to afford one for some time. when i top off my res i make full strength solution to try and compensate for nutrients lost during uptake. is this good enough? any suggestions

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Your plants look really good right now. To answer your question, if you res change each week, there is no need to top off with nutes when you're adding water between res changes. If you took a PPM reading, that isn't telling you which specific minerals that your plants are consuming so by adding more, you could possibly burn your plant. Keep up what you're doing, pay attention to your plants. They look good so just continue what you're doing.

hey thanks for replying. i dont think i mentioned but i only change the water once a month in my res. i know this is probably pushing it but nutes and RO water gets expensive when ur broke. in a week when my monthly water change comes up i dont plan to remove all the water-maybe 75% then filling with RO mild nutrient solution.

i may be wrong but i dont think weekly water changes are necessary if u top off with strong solution. on the other hand-during flowering the plant uses less nitrogen which can build up. on my monthly 75% water change i allow the system to run a few times without adding nutes and this works as my flush.

by the way i appreciate the compliment about the plants. they practically grow themselves, lol. automated systems rock.

i guess i kinda sound lazy when it comes to my water changes but i like a laid back enviroment and i think my plants benefit greatly-the reason i say this is, i see growers worry and worry about what they're doing wrong and try all these remedies to try and fix the problem when all they need to do is sit back, check ph, and let those babies grow.

pmpknhd79 said:

hey thanks for replying. i dont think i mentioned but i only change the water once a month in my res. i know this is probably pushing it but nutes and RO water gets expensive when ur broke. in a week when my monthly water change comes up i dont plan to remove all the water-maybe 75% then filling with RO mild nutrient solution.

i may be wrong but i dont think weekly water changes are necessary if u top off with strong solution. on the other hand-during flowering the plant uses less nitrogen which can build up. on my monthly 75% water change i allow the system to run a few times without adding nutes and this works as my flush.

by the way i appreciate the compliment about the plants. they practically grow themselves, lol. automated systems rock.

i guess i kinda sound lazy when it comes to my water changes but i like a laid back enviroment and i think my plants benefit greatly-the reason i say this is, i see growers worry and worry about what they're doing wrong and try all these remedies to try and fix the problem when all they need to do is sit back, check ph, and let those babies grow.

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Interesting approach. Generally a res change every 7-10 days is what you want to do. Your approach is keeping the plants healthy and green, subbed for results.

just got home with a full co2 tank and 8gals of RO water. should be set for a while

i know this is kind of a noob question... and i think i already know the answer but here it goes. when using co2 what are the max temps? i've read before that with co2 you can hit the low 90's and growth is not impaired. is this safe? i've noticed an increase in temps lately(probably due to the heat) and my exhaust fan will not turn off-this means the co2 valve doesn't turn on. so i increased the max temp on my controller to 93. atleast i get fill time now. but i am on edge worried about temps. any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

also: i dont think i described my exhaust ventilation situation. i live in a 2 bedroom apartment where the second room is used for storage and in the closet is my grow tent. needless to say no holes can be cut, venting outside would be awkward. and i have to be able to conceal at a moments notice. i have my 170cfm fan hooked up to my carbon filter on the inside of the tent. i connected it to about 5' of dryer ducting that blows air into a 10x10 bedroom-following so far? i keep my tent zipped up and the closet doors shut. naturally i run ac and leave my door to the bedroom open. is the mixture of old and new air sufficient? i mean that fan is pretty heavy duty for my actual growing space. i feel it draws in a lot of fresh air and expels it quickly. thanks again