818 headband a.k.a Sour OG 2000w RDWC. First grow!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my grow!


This has been one hell of a ride so far and I haven’t even started growing yet. I was expecting to have everything ready to go a month ago, but a combination of unanticipated obstacles as well as procrastination due to fear of ruining something have kept me from starting a journal and growing until now. I would love input from those of you that have the experience and if you see me making a mistake I would greatly appreciate you all let me know. I am hoping to keep this grow as simple as possible so please keep that in mind when offering advice.


After much going back and forth I decided to start with 818 headband feminized seeds a.k.a sour og. The setup they will be in:

1. 9x5 Gorilla grow tent - This was pricier than I liked to pay, but it did seem to have a few advantages. I really like how I can get the height up to 10 feet or so and any other tent is 7 feet maximum; however, this grow that will not benefit me as I will be scrogging and keeping the plant short. For this reason the extension is not being used and I have a height of 6’7. I do have some buyers remorse, I will soon learn if this tent is worth the additional $350 or so.
   
   
2. 2 x 1000w HID lights - That’s almost 45w per square foot. I am using the T8 Lights of America fixture for the seedling stage. When I transplant them to their final destination I will turn the MH lights down to 50% and bring them closer to the plants and as the plants grow I will gradually increase to 100% and raise them.
   
   
3. Active Air 720 CFM 8” fan - I also have a generic carbon filter and silencer attached to it. Barely makes any noise and the suction on the tent seems to be very minimal. I almost have a Mercury 4 titan control that I may use (I don’t understand how setting the bottom half with the day/night and idle times work).
   
   
4. ¼ HP EcoPlus Chiller.
   
   
5. Nutrients - General Hydroponics 3-part. I have calmag for flower; I am using RO water.
   
   
6. Meters - Oakton EcoTestr ph2. HM Digital AP-1 TDS meter. Purchased with calibration solution.
   
   
7. Pumps - EcoPlus 1000 GPH inline pump. EcoPlus 396 GPH Submersible pump (for chiller). 112 watt 110 LPM air pump.
   
   
8. The system - 6-site UC RDWC setup
   
   
   1. 6 x 10-gallon totes
      
      
   2. 1” rubber flow lines with ¾” return lines (later told flow should be double return. Next time).
      
      
   3. 4 x 6” net pots and 2 x 10” net pots (bought 4 and found the 10” were cheaper)
      
      
   4. 4 x 8” Hydrofarm air stones. 1 x 8” generic air stone. 1 x 12” generic air stone.
      
      
   5. 1 x 27-gallon tote for control reservoir. There is a pvc pipe connected to the return tube with holes in it to slow down the flow. Also have ¼” float valve connected to main 27-gallon reservoir.
      

I’m going to germinate the seeds in rapid rooters (any day now. maybe today?!), then move them into a cloner I made (maybe. I may just put the 6 rapid rooters in a small tray and move them to their final destination when the roots get big enough). Here are some pics:

And it begins...

I only bought 6 seeds and not all of them germinated so I am deciding on what to do now. Will be back soon to update

Looks like my headband seeds turned into Blue Dream clones; how crazy is that!? I will transplant them today

Looks good. Love your setup with the individual scrog screens. Interested to see how you do,
Subbed.

My system does not seem to be circulating at a proper speed and I was hoping some of the more experienced rdwcers could give their input. The 1000 GPH pump seemed to be way too fast because the return flow was faster than the flow out of the control reservoir. I added a pvc pipe and put holes in it to slow down the stream (pictures above), but water doesn't seem to be circulation well. The pH is different when I check it in the reservoir vs the individual buckets.

Nice subbed for the show keep up the good job

818 is killer and yields good. She soudl be a fav for awhile. Good luck with the grow

The system is flowing at a good speed now. This is what I have:

PPM: 420
PH: 5.5
Day Temp: 85 degrees
Humidity: 35%

The next day (Today) I checked and the water is at 415 PPM and 5.9 PH. My chiller is keep the water at about 68 degrees. The roots seem to be slowly creeping out of the bottom, and some more than others. I will take pictures of the roots in a couple days.

818 Headband is a great choice, Good Luck !!

Everything is staying relatively constant, which I think is a good sign. Temperature dropped a few degrees, but that's about it. Oh, and roots! They are started to form nicely. The plant also seems to be growing and I expect to top them relatively soon.

Nice, looks good.

Sent from my SGH-T399N using Rollitup mobile app

All the numbers are still staying withing range. Temp, PH, and PPM are all staying constant, except I left the lights running at 50%...oops. They have all bushed out and developed nice roots except for one; one main root coming down, not sure why that one is struggling. The roots also don't seem to be as white as before. If you can see in the picture with the roots the shorter roots look whiter than the longer ones, I assume because the shorter ones get more oxygen; is that correct?

I also think I am ready to top some, but wanted your opinion. The picture with my fingers looks like it's ready to be topped.

All other advice is welcome.

Once they have like 5 sets of leaves, i usually top just above the 4th set...

Sent from my SGH-T399N using Rollitup mobile app

I would like some advice:

The temperature in my room seems to be to high (high 80's low 90's) after turning my lights to 100%. I have another 6" fan, possibly 400 cfm or so, that I hooked up on the other side as you can see in some of the pictures, but this does not seem to be helping. I was thinking that I would connect some ducting to the exhaust and have it blow into the other room (it's currently blowing into the same room, making it quite hot). I don't know if this will solve the issue as it gets hotter in the summer though. I have a few other options and would like input on what is best.

1) I could buy air cooled hoods (or cool tube, don't know the difference)
2) I can buy an small AC unit
3) ?

What do you guys think?

kesaber said:

I would like some advice:

The temperature in my room seems to be to high (high 80's low 90's) after turning my lights to 100%. I have another 6" fan, possibly 400 cfm or so, that I hooked up on the other side as you can see in some of the pictures, but this does not seem to be helping. I was thinking that I would connect some ducting to the exhaust and have it blow into the other room (it's currently blowing into the same room, making it quite hot). I don't know if this will solve the issue as it gets hotter in the summer though. I have a few other options and would like input on what is best.

1) I could buy air cooled hoods (or cool tube, don't know the difference)
2) I can buy an small AC unit
3) ?

What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

i would suggest air cooled hoods over cool tubes. you definitely should get some air cooled hoods. environmental control is one of the most important aspects in growing. i would go with both your options, air cooled hoods and a small a/c unit. it's nice to just set the a/c to your desired temp and never worry about the temperature of your room getting too hot. 90 degrees outside? no worries, a/c unit will just stay on a little longer and your desired temperature will be maintained.

They thrive at around 78F with a humidity of 45 - 50%, when not using Co2.
I just added Co2 to mine, will see what temp and humidity levels they like best.

kesaber said:

Looks like my headband seeds turned into Blue Dream clones; how crazy is that!? I will transplant them today

Click to expand...

wait are you still growing the headband?

6nipples said:

wait are you still growing the headband?

Click to expand...

No. 5 of the seeds germinated, I have a 6-site RDWC. I have 5 of the headband seedlings alive, still deciding what I want to do with them.

I've been busy tweaking a few things in my setup and haven't had time to update. I took the pictures, but that's as far as I got. I was having some pretty serious heat issues; they would get up into the low 90s. I corrected that by attaching ducting to my exhaust and directing it out the window. On the other side I installed a window fan to bring cool air into the room (not the grow room) and opened the mesh screen on that side. I also have my lights turn off between 2-8pm. I will probably still need an A/C come flower time during the hotter part of the summer, but for now temps seem to be within range.

Another problem I had, which was rather frustrating, is my handyman knocked over my ballast and broke it, so I had to order a new one. For a few 4-5 days my plants were running off of one 1000w light, which I'm gudoenessing is why some plants are further along then others. I actually bought a whole new lighting setup because it was $40 more and I may need to replace something else down the line.

My PPM stayed around 420 so I didn't change it, until one day I found it at and decided it was time to do a res change and increase the nutrients, I was less prepared for this as well. I got it 850 PPM and a pH f 5.9. I actually added too much pH down and it was reading at 5.2, so I added some tap water to bring it back up since I read mixing pH up and down was a bad idea. I was aiming for a ppm around 700, but I ran out of time because my lights went out and my green light is still on the way. I'll check on it tomorrow to see how the plants are responding.

As you can see, some of them are starting to grow through the screens already, and they were topped at multiple sites not too many days ago. If there is anything you guys think I should be doing differently please let me know.