Anything else?

D

Delo

Member
i need some advice and opinions on everything i have.

150wHPS (i use this threw my whole cycle of grow)
GrowBig FF
TigerBloom
Olivias Cloning Gel
complete hydro setup (hardware not adding the water)
- two 5gallon buckets for 2 plants.
PH up and Down
80$ PH tester (it looks like a blue stick)
rockwools
and a walk in closet. 7ft x 4ft x 10ft
 
S

sexyroots.for.all

Member
To begin with, your space is pretty substantial compared to most and Im not sure that I can say a 150W HPS bulb will be sufficient. Light fades exponentially so with every foot you move away from the light, you lose a substantial amount of energy. E = I/d^2 would be the formula for determining illuminance, and not that you should plug numbers into this equation, but you can see that your distance is squared meaning the light will fade very quickly even over short distances. I personally would recommend a 600W metal halide bulb and switching over to HPS during your 2nd week of flowering. This light will be able to be kept at a distance of 3 - 4 feet from your plants and still allow them to recieve what they would consider to be full sunlight. If power is a concern, then CFL's are your best bet since a 150W HPS bulb is inadequate for anything more than 1 plant. The 600 mentioned will be able to run maturing plants wth a Deep Water Culture system that you are talking about. The most essential elements for DWC systems though are the airflow being given to the roots, which most of the time tends to be on the low side because people buy air pumps from pet smart which ARE NOT MADE for hydroponics. Here is a link to a product that I have had good experience with in the past. Also, a good airstone will help immensely since pet smarts airstones ARE NOT MADE for hydroponics.
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/commercialairpumpwith8outlets70ltperminute.aspx
http://www.greners.com/hydroponics/components/air-pumps-aerators/micro-pore.html

despite their small appearance, these products will increase the yield of your garden more than any specific nutrient regimen will. I personally try to stay away from fox farm, but have heard good results. Although to reduce the risk of deficiencies, I recommend that you add a vitamin additive like Advanced Nutrients B-52 during your veg cycle and Bud candy during flowering. There are of course more choices, and I strongly reccommend that you add an enzyme such as Sensizym by advanced or Sm-90 or Hygrozyme. These will all keep your systems clean and roots healthy, which is a must for any good DWC experience. Hope all goes well and +rep if you feel this helped you out enough :)
 
D

Delo

Member
sexyroots.for.all said:
To begin with, your space is pretty substantial compared to most and Im not sure that I can say a 150W HPS bulb will be sufficient. Light fades exponentially so with every foot you move away from the light, you lose a substantial amount of energy. E = I/d^2 would be the formula for determining illuminance, and not that you should plug numbers into this equation, but you can see that your distance is squared meaning the light will fade very quickly even over short distances. I personally would recommend a 600W metal halide bulb and switching over to HPS during your 2nd week of flowering. This light will be able to be kept at a distance of 3 - 4 feet from your plants and still allow them to recieve what they would consider to be full sunlight. If power is a concern, then CFL's are your best bet since a 150W HPS bulb is inadequate for anything more than 1 plant. The 600 mentioned will be able to run maturing plants wth a Deep Water Culture system that you are talking about. The most essential elements for DWC systems though are the airflow being given to the roots, which most of the time tends to be on the low side because people buy air pumps from pet smart which ARE NOT MADE for hydroponics. Here is a link to a product that I have had good experience with in the past. Also, a good airstone will help immensely since pet smarts airstones ARE NOT MADE for hydroponics.
http://www.hydrogardencenter.com/commercialairpumpwith8outlets70ltperminute.aspx
http://www.greners.com/hydroponics/components/air-pumps-aerators/micro-pore.html

despite their small appearance, these products will increase the yield of your garden more than any specific nutrient regimen will. I personally try to stay away from fox farm, but have heard good results. Although to reduce the risk of deficiencies, I recommend that you add a vitamin additive like Advanced Nutrients B-52 during your veg cycle and Bud candy during flowering. There are of course more choices, and I strongly reccommend that you add an enzyme such as Sensizym by advanced or Sm-90 or Hygrozyme. These will all keep your systems clean and roots healthy, which is a must for any good DWC experience. Hope all goes well and +rep if you feel this helped you out enough :)
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thanks for the advice.
im going to work on getting all of those. im buying a T5 4ft fixure, so i should be good for vegging right?
electricity is the big issue for right now because my roomate really doesnt want me growing. i asked about MH and HPS and he said it could blow his bill to the sky.
if you could, can you just give me a list of things to buy as far as all the nutes and addings you were talking about?

how do i do that +rep thing?
 
herbose

herbose

Well-Known Member
Scales in upper right hand corner of every post. I suggest you try it at least twice right now so you get the feel of it LOL.
Do you have a TDS meeter? If not you'll need one.
 
D

Delo

Member
herbose said:
Scales in upper right hand corner of every post. I suggest you try it at least twice right now so you get the feel of it LOL.
Do you have a TDS meeter? If not you'll need one.
Click to expand...
tds meeter? never even heard of it. what does it read?
i was told i only need a PH and PPM meter. is the ppm really that important? because my hydro store only has a ppm for 150 around that range. its the double one.
 
S

sexyroots.for.all

Member
Yes, PPM (parts per million) and TDS (total dissolved solids) instruments are extremely important! In order to monitor the strength of your solution, which is the amount of total dissolved salt-metal particles (and various other particulates), the reading given will indicate how you proceed in your growing. For example, if you make a nutrient solution at 800 ppm at week 3 of your veg cycle, you want to ensure that your next weeks nutrient solution is at the same strength or 100-200 parts per million higher assuming that 800 ppm was a tolerable nutrient level. The plant will always let you know if you need to add or take out nutrients, but a ppm or tds or E.C. (electrical conductivity) meter will help you prevent your plant from ever having to tell you what it needs :).

ps, scales in the right can say all they want, but im sure your great advice really helped him out herbose. have a good one m8
 
S

sexyroots.for.all

Member
Also, for vegging a 4ft T5 fixture should be fine, but make sure that the lights are as close to the plant as possible without touching the plants to the light since the intensity of CFL lights are diminished to begin with, but effective frequencies of light for growing. In terms of your nutrients, if budget is a concern and you still want to see effective results, use a simple formula with consistently stable yields: 3 part General Hydroponics in addition to a vitamin additive such as B-52 by Advanced nutrients. These 2 different nutrients should be sufficient for your veg stage, and then once you move into your flowering, switch to an HPS bulb and use Bud Candy by advanced nutrients which is a B-vitamin additive like B-52, but contains many other trace elements which are important for increasing the terpenoid concentration in your plant. (terpenoids are responsible for the aromatic properties of your product) ;). Remember to make a new nutrient solution every 10 days because this will keep your solution fresh for the plant and your pH around 5.7: very important not to go over 6.3 or lower than 5.3. Yep btw, a MH or HPS bill will show up on your bill. You can calculate it by figuring out how much your electricity costs per kilo watt hour and then finding an online calculator that tells you how much your bill will be increased by if you run the light for x hours a day
 
D

Delo

Member
sexyroots.for.all said:
Also, for vegging a 4ft T5 fixture should be fine, but make sure that the lights are as close to the plant as possible without touching the plants to the light since the intensity of CFL lights are diminished to begin with, but effective frequencies of light for growing. In terms of your nutrients, if budget is a concern and you still want to see effective results, use a simple formula with consistently stable yields: 3 part General Hydroponics in addition to a vitamin additive such as B-52 by Advanced nutrients. These 2 different nutrients should be sufficient for your veg stage, and then once you move into your flowering, switch to an HPS bulb and use Bud Candy by advanced nutrients which is a B-vitamin additive like B-52, but contains many other trace elements which are important for increasing the terpenoid concentration in your plant. (terpenoids are responsible for the aromatic properties of your product) ;). Remember to make a new nutrient solution every 10 days because this will keep your solution fresh for the plant and your pH around 5.7: very important not to go over 6.3 or lower than 5.3. Yep btw, a MH or HPS bill will show up on your bill. You can calculate it by figuring out how much your electricity costs per kilo watt hour and then finding an online calculator that tells you how much your bill will be increased by if you run the light for x hours a day
Click to expand...
hold up hold up did u just say u can see it on the bill?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
so it says the name HPS on the bill paper???? ive bin telling my roomate im not growing and its prlly just him. because he leaves everything on 24 7. 2 times out of a week hell shut things off.
 
S

sexyroots.for.all

Member
No! :P it means that your bill will show the increase in power usage, but no, of course it won't show up with MH or HPS. Most of your household appliances run over 600W so it doesn't raise any alarm bells either ;)
 
decrimCA

decrimCA

Active Member
sexyroots.for.all said:
No! :P it means that your bill will show the increase in power usage, but no, of course it won't show up with MH or HPS. Most of your household appliances run over 600W so it doesn't raise any alarm bells either ;)
Click to expand...

great advice sexyroots - hope lots of beginners see this thread. +rep

:clap:
 
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