Bubbleponics Grow Journal Oct. 24 (LSD / AK Fem)

Diabolik

Member
Hi everyone,

I would first like to start off by saying how big a fan this wonderful site, especially the posts by Roseman and the other Bubbleheads.

I just recently purchased and started growing with the 6 Gallon Bubbleponics System.
Dual Spectrum Bubbleponics™ Complete Kit
I also opted to upgrade to the Duel Spectrum II lights.

Let me start by saying, so far this system has been fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!

My Setup:


I have a closet which is about 11 ' long by about 2' wide. At each end, the wall sticks out and I have about a 2' inset. This is the area I have decided to use as my grow area. I went to the store and bought rolls of
ReflectixReflectix Duct Wrap 12 in x25' because at the time I couldn't find any Mylar. Using reflective duct tape, I adhered the reflective wrap onto the 3 walls, top and bottom. I then added a peice to the front to create a roll up / down door. I also installed 2 pully's to raise and lower my 2 lights.

Q1 - I have been thinking alot about ventilation lately. When the door is about halfway open, but the closet closed. The air temp stays between 80-90 and the humidity is around 40 or so. When I roll down the "door" it's almost completly sealed and reflective all around my kit. Temperatures then seem to go to about 100-110 after a few hours, so I try to open it often to keep the temp down.

I am probebly going to install 2 computer sized fans, at the top (the doorway only rolls up about halfway) hoping the hot air will rise, be vented out into my closet, and new air can be circulated in.

Let me know what you think of this setup, and if there is anything drastic I should change.





My Plants:

My roommate picked up a 2-3' clone off a buddy of his. She sit's in his closet under a florecent bulb, also she is planted in soil.

I bought 2 feminized seeds off the internet, LSD and AK-48.

About 2 weeks ago, I germinated both seeds using the paper towel method. Both seeds were ready for planting 48 hours later, and I planted them in the waiting Rockwell cube's. LSD was quick to thrive and was also the first to germinate, however AK-48 seemed to be a bit slower. After constant checking over the last 2 weeks or so LSD is about 1 1/2" or so tall with 2 sets of pointy leafs, and AK now has 1 set of pointy leafs, and 1 set of round leafs, even though she is only about 1/2" or so out of the rock wool cube.

Thursday, we also decided to cut and plant our clones. We picked our 4 best bottom clones, cleaned off the bottom leafs and dipped in root hormone. (Stim-Roots #1) As you can see, they currently take up the 3 back spots and the middle front one.

PH:

It seems I am having a little issue with managing my PH. The only downfall of the Bubbleponics kit, is that they included those horrible paper test strips. I am currently looking to invest in a cost efficient Digi-meter, but in the mean time I went and bought a little bit more accurate Drop PH tester kit from a aquarium store. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I am finding it really difficult to compare the exact colors on either set.

When I first filled my tank and started the germinated seeds, I filled my tank with tap water, which sits around 7.0 PH. When I was sent the BP SH kit, it was missing a few crucial peices. (which they were quick to send replacements for, no issue) On wensday Oct. 21, I decided it was time to drain the water and replace it with PH adjusted water.

I attempted to add 6 X 1 gallon jug's of 6.6 - 7.0 PH water to the resivour, which I was conserned about because of the early stages of my seedlings. After checking a few hours later, my PH was above 7.0. Since then, I have been checking and adjusting the PH as needed, in the tank. I am pretty sure, it was advised not to add PH up or Down the resivour directly, but I find after I check after a few hours, it has raised again.

I have been testing (6.8 - 7.4) first.
Then adding a very small pinch of PH down, into the 6 gallons in the resivour.
And checking again usally changing the PH to about (6.4 - 6.:cool:. I have wanted to then lower it again, to get it to around 6.0, but as I said, this is when it is around 6.8-7.4 and the process has been repeating it self.

I'm not sure if it's because we just added the new clones, and the system is stabilizing it self. Maybe when I close my roll down door, it becomes to humid and this raises the PH.

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or comments on who I can resolve this PH issue, lower it and keep it maintained at around 5.6 - 6.4 it would be appreciated.

So far, my plants seem to not be drastically effected by all of the changes and conditions I have mentioned. A few other small issues.

- My hose from my irrigation head, to my pump keeps getting disconnected when I raise the lid, or at least I think it's only when I lift the lid.

- I figure from germination to this point is aprox, 2 weeks. Are my seedlings, where they are supposed to be at, growth wise? How can I help promote faster growth, espeically on little AK who as I mentioned is still quite small.

I plan to add 1/4 of my grow nute pack to the water later on today, with probebly another 1/4 in tomorrow. Do you think this will be too much for my little seedlings? And when should I put the remaining 1/2 in? Is there a typical schedule or rule of thumb, for adding nutes after this week? 1 pack a week ect?

- Currently my 1 veg bulb, is aproximately 8" or so above my tank. Would it be benifical to add a 2nd one beside it, and run 2 at all times?

- Should I leave my roll down door, open at all times to keep humidity down, down all the way and raise humidity levels, or do as I currently am, which is a mix of both. Are those fluxuations as mentioned before, going to be a issue for my plants?

Also I should probebly mention, that my lights are on, for a 24/0 cycle currently, until I am ready to flower. Then I plan to switch to 12/12 with 2 flowering bulbs.

Finnaly I would also like to mentioned, that I am by no means an expert speller, or grammertician. So please, all help, advice, comments, suggests will be accepted with open arms. I look forward to growing an amazing crop of bad ass plants. But please, if your critisim is not constructive, don't bother posting it.

Thanks again to everyone, and I look forward to updating this grow journal as I move foward, and participating in the bubblehead community.




This is a recent update to my post above.

As I mentioned, I have been trying to lower the PH by approximately .3 - .5 every 6 - 12 hrs or so, until I get to a steady 5.8 - 6.2.

When I sat down, and wrote my earlier post, I had just finished lowering the PH in my system using the method above, to about 6.4. This was at approximately 11:00 a.m.

I just checked again at 3:15, and it is once again is at around 7.0 - 7.4.

Why is PH raising so dramatically on a fairly even basis? And what could I do to lower it, and keep it stable?
 

Diabolik

Member
Oct. 26 2009 10:15 a.m

PH: 7.6
Temp: 80 F
Hum: 47

LSD: 1 1/4 "
AK-48: 1/2 "

As per Roseman's advice, I now am going to mix a gallon or so of 6.0 water, and pout about a ounce or so over my Rockwool cubes every 2 hrs or so. Hopefully this will help lower my fluctuating PH and help to keep my reservoir a bit more stable.

I was also thinking about putting some ice cubes in my reservoir to help cool the water down a bit. When I put my hand in to check the water, it was very warm.

I'm also wondering exactly how I should go about giving nutes to my babies. Saturday and Sunday I mixed 1/4 of my Grow Nutes, and Micro Nutes, strained them through a coffee strainer to remove all small particles, and then added that gallon to my tank.

I have included updated pics to show how far along my babies are now.

 

Diabolik

Member
Oct. 26 6:30 p.m

PH: 6.0
Temp: 84 F
Hum: 50

I just recently finished draining out 1 gallon of water from the reservoir, and adding back in 1 gallon of 6.0 PH water. When I checked it, it was again close to 7.2. So lowering it by approximately 1.2 is quite a bit, but since I only added 1 gallon of 6.0 water to 5 gallons of 7.2 water I am hoping it balances out. I will also be watching my plants very closely, and at any sign of curling or yellowing leaves, I plan to re drain and refill using 6 gallons of 6.4 water.

However, now when I am testing my reservoir PH (with the 1 gallon added) it's reading 6.0

I also added in my 1/4 pack of grow and micro nutes at this time. (mixed and strained in aprox 950 ml of water, and strained.

It should also be mentioned, that earlier today I filled up a water bottle with tap water (7.0 - 7.2) and lowered it down to 6.0 and pouring a ounce or so over each rock wool cube, at 2 - 3 hour intervals to help and lower the PH of them.

I know I am probably asking retarded questions, but I'm just trying to be as active and efficient as I can, being as this is my first time.

As always comments and feedback are appreciated.
 

Stgeneziz

Active Member
what's your tap water like? have you ever tested it? you might wanna try buying R/O water from the store and see if that helps. It's PH should be stable after adding nutes, I use it and it's worked out well.. =)
 

npsant

Active Member
Hay Diabolik, as I know it you don't start using nutes till there are a few set's pf leaf's the plants before starting them on nutes, just plain ph'ed water till then!

I took my plants in the lid and set them on another tote tank, and took the whole tank and pumps and tubes along with the tank and cleaned all real good, inside tha tank also, put the tank back in place and filled it to the 6 gal mark I made on the inside, then ph'ed the water, waited for about 15 minutes then check again needed lowering just a bit, did that and ended up with water in the tank at 6.1, start to finished 10 minutes.


Good luck
:joint:Np
 

Diabolik

Member
what's your tap water like? have you ever tested it? you might wanna try buying R/O water from the store and see if that helps. It's PH should be stable after adding nutes, I use it and it's worked out well.. =)

Yea, my tap water tests at 7.0 so I'm constantly adding PH down to it, to lower it to 6.0 - 6.8. I might give the R/O water a shot, next grow if I keep having problems.

And yea NP, if I keep having these crazy PH fluxuations, I've already pretty much set up a night mid-week to drain and replenish properly PH'ed water.

Thanx for the replies :)

Right now the water seems to be stable at the 6.0 mark. I'm hoping I that the 1 gallon will dilute into the other 5 leaving me with 6 gallons or so (and respectable cubes) of 6.2 - 6.6 water. Or even better would be, my seedlings might not suffer from the drastic PH drop, and it stays at 6.0. But, I'm trying to watch as carefully as I can, and be ready at the signs of stress to drain and replace my water.
 

npsant

Active Member
I put a filter on my water tap that helped lower it by a small amount so I don't need to us as much pd down, can run through it fast other wise.
 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
Problem with the ph is probably your water. I have hard water and with all the minerals in it, it can take a while to get it to settle down. That room is way to hot and therefore your water is way to hot. You want it around 73-75 for the best grwoing in hydro. You may benefit from a regular wal mart oscellating fan and you readlly need to vent the heat out of the room.
 

Diabolik

Member
Ya, I think that's a very good point Crazy, as of the last few days I have been rolling my "makeshift door" 3/4 of the way or so, this leaves about a 18 - 24 " opening where I believe the heat is escaping. I also plan to install very soon, either 2 computer sized fans, one for air in, one for air out at the top of my door, or I was possibly thinking about install a bathroom like fan up top.

Let me know what you think might work best.

11:30 p.m

Earlier when I added that 1 gallon of 6.0 water, I was pretty worried, thinking my plants might not handle that drastic change. So, I played the waiting game and decided to check again before I went to bed. The PH is back to 7.2, this was like 3 hours ago! and I added 1 gallon of what I believed to be 6.0 water. I also have now, poured 1 ounce of 6.0 water onto the cubes, 4 times today and still no change.

My ladies, still seem to be doing fine, even though all the mad scientist adjustments to my PH.

What are my next steps?

Should I try to maybe empty my entire system, and resupply it with 6.0 water, in hopes to offset the high balance of my non soaked cubes? Or will that be too much stress for my baby seedlings? Maybe I should remove the Rockwool cubes (with seedlings / clones in them), and let them sit in a bowl of PH lowered water for a hour or 2?

Let me know what you guys think...
 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
If I were you I would get myself a container that will hold about 10 gallons. Put 7 or 8 gallons in it and ph balance that water and see if you can get it to settle down. If you can, add that to your res. It's better to do it off to the side than to play with the ph as much as you have had to. If you can't get it to settle down then some RO water may be needed. Another point to make is that chasing ph is a generally bad idea. If you start out at 7.2, try to knock it down to 6.8, if that doesn't work, try it again the next day. The drastic ups and downs only cause more drastic ups and downs and it really hard to get it to settle down almost ever. This is your first grow and you have to be patient and do things slowly.
 

Diabolik

Member
That is a very good point Crazy, and eventually I do plan on getting a 2nd reservoir, but that's when I get some more cash, and isn't first on the list.

As of yesterday, I decided I'm only going to be adjusting the PH in the morning and in the night. I'm going to mix and pour one ounce of 4.0 water over the cubes every 3 hours or so today to hopefully bring down the PH. Believe me, I wish I wasn't chasing the PH as much as I am, but until I get those RW cubes stable, I think it's going to be a constant battle.

Thanx for the advice :)
 

Diabolik

Member
Oct. 27 2009 11:30 am

PH: 7.2
Temp: 79 F
Hum: 52

LSD: 1 1/2 "
AK: 1/2 "

I just finished mixing and adding 1 ounce of 4.0 water (as close as I could tell using those strips) to each of my cubes, plan to do that in a few hours again. My plant's are still continuing to grow, but isn't a 1/4 " a day pretty slow at this point? Also there seems to be a bit of discoloration on LSD's leafs. As you can see though, other then the slow growth, my babies seem to be growing up well (so I think) AK just developed another set of leafs, and I think if LSD keeps going at this rate, I might have to start topping this weekend.

I again, might empty out 1 gallon or so of water today, and add 1 gallon back of 6.4 water or so.

I have included updated pics to show the current stage of growth.

 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
Time to add 1/4 strength nutes to your grow. You have 4 'real leaves and both plants and that's the sign to add 1/4 strength nutes. That will fix up the discoloration on the LSD. Jut popped 4 LSD plants myself, put them in the system last night and they greened up on me overnight. Love the LSD strain! Very vigorous and forgiving of newb mistakes. The AK48 is on my list of seeds I want for future grows. The nutes may affect your PH in a positive way (down). Use the grow and micro at 1/4 strength only for now. Are you using the SH dry nutes?
 

Diabolik

Member
Yea, I've been using the SH dry nutes, and I have been giving them a 1/4 packet of micro and grow since saturday. 1/4 Saturday, 1/4 Sunday 1/4 Monday.

I accidentally mixed my nutes on Saturday, when I did the drain and replenish on my system, and had to dispose of half a bag or so. So Saturday /sunday I used the remaining 1/2 (1/4 Sat, 1/4 Sun), started a new pack yesterday (planning to use it up 1/4 a day, finishing on Thursday) and then I was going to drain and replenish again Friday or Saturday depending. And when I replenished the water back in on Fri/Sat I was going to include a full packet?

Lol, I'm sure that paragraph made absolutly no sense, but that's the best way I can describe my "gameplan".

In regards to the seed varieties, so far I have been very impressed with my LSD seed. It was first to pop, and been ahead of AK every day I check on it, not to take away any praise from AK. I thought for sure, I was going to loose that seed, but in the last week amongst all my crazy mad scientist PH changes, it still seems to be thriving now too. I can't wait to see how they turn out, over the next week or two.
 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
Wooooh! Too many nutes in too short of time! You want 1/4 nutes for about the first 4-5 days to see how they do and then add 1/4 more only if they take the first nuting well. You're stepping a bit too fast there. Don't add any more nutes just yet and if you get a chance I would suggest you drain a gallon and fill with about 5.5 nute water only.
 

Diabolik

Member
Wow, thanks a bunch mostlycrazy, I had no idea. I thought I was supposed to feed my babies 1/4 pack a day and work my way up to 1 full pack.

Does anyone know a spesific feeding / nute schedule that I can follow?

And also, I'm going to prob add in another gallon or so (and remove a gallon) of 5.5-6.0 water. Hopeing the 1 gallon will dilute into the other 5 lowering my ph but .4-.6

thanx again
 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
In general, I do something like this. 4 leaves - 1/4 nutes, 8 leaves - 1/2 nuts and then up it every res change by 1/4. When you are new it's time to go low and slow on the nutes so you won't have to fix nute burn. When you get some experience with the plants then you can speed from stop sign to stop sign.
 

Diabolik

Member
October 27 2009
6:25 p.m

Today I decided to make a few major adjustments. After having constant fluxuations keeping my PH down, I went and bought some R/O water, 2 X 5 gallons. Then I emptied my system and replaced it with 5 gallons of the R/O water. The last Gallon, I mixed in exactly 1/4 of a Grow Pack and 1/4 of a Micro Pack and then added that giving me 6 gallons.

The SH guy told me apparently a lot of people having been having issues with High PH and the R/O water almost always fixed there issue. I have also been pouring 1 ounce of 4.0 water over my cubes every 3 hours, in hopes of lowering their PH. I'm kinda try the R/O Water, I've heard mixed reviews but I guess we will find out...

I also decided to add a 2nd 12 " air stone to my tank and attach it using a coupler to my air pump. And I added a Duel Spectrum flowering light bulb, so now I am running 1 flowering 1 vegging.They are hanging side my side aprox. 10 " from my plants.

LSD is starting to get a yellowish streak running down it's center 4 leafs, I have included a updated pic. And AK just started growing it's other fan leafs but not getting much taller. I promise myself, if my babies make it threw and stabilize I'm going to smoke a big one in their honor, and relax.


 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
Amost looks like a mag deficiency. The RO water may help that as mag is locked out by too much calcium ( the wrong kind - not chelated) which in turn reduces available iron. Run with the RO water for awhile and see if that frees things up. If not, disolve 1 tsp of epson salts ( it's heavy in mag) for the whole res (mix well in warmish water until disolved) or get some cal-mag ( that's what I use so I've never seen this problem with my LSD). Good idea in adding the air stone and more lights!
 

Diabolik

Member
Amost looks like a mag deficiency. The RO water may help that as mag is locked out by too much calcium ( the wrong kind - not chelated) which in turn reduces available iron. Run with the RO water for awhile and see if that frees things up. If not, disolve 1 tsp of epson salts ( it's heavy in mag) for the whole res (mix well in warmish water until disolved) or get some cal-mag ( that's what I use so I've never seen this problem with my LSD). Good idea in adding the air stone and more lights!
Yea, Crazy I think that's exactly what it is. Also, I think all those extra nutes and fluctuating PH might of put my babies into a bit of transitional shock.

However, since I have been running the R/O water, my system is at a stable 6.0 -6.2. The guy at SH said that it shouldn't be a drastic change and my plants should perk up soon.

Thanx again for the advice, it might of saved my babies :)
 
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