40 - 60 site commercial setup started Just have a few Q's

Hello everyone, I'm new to the site and I can't tell you how much the RIU community has helped with my first grow..

I am growing white widow from Nirvana. I started 5 seeds and got 4 females.
3 of these are on week 6 and the tallest is at week 7.

Soil is FF Ocean Forest. great stuff.. Every other watering i fertilize with 1/2 strength botanicare karma and pro grow.










They are under a 400w MH and a 150w HPS on the side. These are basically going to be mother plants for my big hydro system.







A couple of days ago i built this bubble cloner for the first set of cuttings. There are about 4 airstones located under the side with the clones. They run 24/7. Clones are on day 2. Distilled water with 1/2 to 1 tsp of h202 per/gal. Also just a bit of bloom nutes 1/6 strength.





The system is a drip system where each site has its own drip line with no emitter just a gentle trickle from the tube.


The pump is an eco 396 gph. I think i have it all figured out with the exception of some devices i need to buy like meters for EC, PH, and also a RO filter.

I do have one question: Once is place the rooted clones into the system, Is it ok to have the nutrient pump running 24/7 ?? Reason being is that i do not have an expensive recycling timer for say 4min on 1min off.

I just want to make sure the roots are getting enough water but not drowning or drying out if i use a different pump schedule.


Well.. I guess that about does it. Let me know what u think i should do. Any help would be very appreciated.

Peace.

That looks really good. I'd say that you'll want a little space between the tubes, at least 6 inches, if your lighting area will allow for it. Although it looks like you have small net pots, so I guess your plan is to keep the plants small. I doubt that system will hold a plant larger than 2 feet tall anyway.

Thanks for that, and welcome to Rollitup!

HTH

Thanks potroast. Yeah i thought the same thing to about spacing the tubes out a little bit more. I got the idea from commercial's big 60 or so apartment grow! pretty sweet setup..

My plan is to transfer the clones when they are ready then veg for 2 weeks and start flowering. I dont need them to get any taller than 2-3 feet bc im going to just flower the top 3/4 of the plants.

I do need help with one thing though:
Is it ok for me to let the nutrient pump run 24/7 to feed the 3in net pots???

There are some conflicting reports on watering. I use a 300gph with a 8 station drip manifold. I run mine 24/7 right from the get go, but I veg mine under cfl's. I think it has to do with how much oxygen is available to the roots.
Personally I do not think that watering 24/7 in hydro is a problem as long as everything else is dialed in.

Good luck mate,
Unity

Hey thanks unity, do you have a similar system to mine?

About the oxygen availability, from what I have been reading I would assume that since the PVC is open at both ends that there would be sufficient O2 for the roots to breathe. The only thing that concerns me is if I run the pump 24/7 I was thinking it might give the roots too much.
Idk

thnx, Peace

lovin the set up ... are u usein cfls under your plants ?

I had a similar set up,but not as big,I kept the pump 24/7 you dont want
the roots to dry,I had the pvc closed at the ends and kept half full of
water,I always been told you dont want the roots exposed to light?

agreed with boomster. close off the ends, 24/7 is just fine, ive done 24/7 in drips, aero, and an nft (i do have a ridiculously expensive recycle timer, but "earl" claims these unnecessary). Get urself a bubbler stone and stick it in the rez just to be safe.

ok guys, thanks.

I will definately close off the ends of the pvc pipes.

BOOMSTER, how did you maintain the level at halfway inside the pipes?

I also had another idea
Say u let the water fill up to halfway in the tubes...

What about putting a mid-size airstone inside the halfway flooded tube about every 2 plants or so..

It's like a rec. drip aero dwc
And since im worried about the roots not getting air it might help that situation..

What do you guys think?

What i had was short pipes with 4 plants,and each one had its own pump
in the bottom of the pipe.At the ends one end was a pvc screw cap,and the other end
had plexi glass to make it easy to see the water level,but you could use
screw cap on both ends.One advantage having separate systems is
if you screw up with the nuts, in one you dont screw them all up,been
their done that.About the O2 issue i never had a problem,remember you
are using rock and not soil so air is passing through the rocks,hope this
makes sense,I see that you are using black tubing,good choice,never
use clear tubing,I did one time and allege grew and clogged up tubes

Ok I understand. Thanks for the info. I should be loading it up with clones soon.

I had short pipes, 4 plants in each,and each one had a seperate
pump,The ends i had one side capped off with a pvc screw plug
and other side had a plexi glass,so you see the water level easy,
you could cap both ends,keeping it seperate sections is good,because
if you screw up your nuts you dont screw up all your plants,About
the air i never had problem,remember you are using rock not soil
so you always have air going through your roots

to make it soo you keep some water in the tubes..is pretty easy...close the ends up...but befor you do that by a 5 dollar ebb and flow drain valve and installe it inside the tubes and raise or lower it to how high you want your water level...however the way you have it already..you best just turn that system to a NFT system...its basicly on its way to being one...

Thats a good idea.. didnt think of that.
What would i need to add or remove to turn it into an NFT??
I've heard a lot of great stuff about NFT

Thanks again for the info. Peace

i think it pretty much already is 1 dude. Cover up that res. when you turn ur light on. It may be healthy to give your roots some dry time to receive extra o2, but it probably will not be necessary.

Well alright..
So i think what i'm going to do is put ebb/flow fittings inside the ends of the pipes on the res. side. Then i'll cap off the pipes on both ends.

This should allow the pipes to get about half-full of water or less.. While still recirculating nutrient solution 24/7

There will be plenty of airstones in the res.

Let me know if this is a good idea or not

Hello again..
I just wanted to post an update on whats been going on.

5 or 6 of my clones have developed sufficient roots to be placed into the pvc system.

I also built a new cloner and blacked out the sides and top. I've picked up a 1000w MH and should be getting 2 1000w HPS soon to flower. Im going to combine all 3 for a good light spectrum.

I am going to take enough clones tonight to fill up the new cloner.

Im also planning on transplanting the rooted cuttings into the pvc system.

As you've seen I'm using 3in net pots with hydroton.

Since i've never done this before, What is the best way to transplant the clones into the hydroton in the 3in net p??

hold them at the top or middle of the pot. Fill in the sides and top with clean pebbles.

Skip the pebbles
and use neoprene,
and coco coir ,
in 2 inch net pots.