|FCG|Frank's 1st Grow: Royal Haze | Area51 LED, CO2, Bubbleponics

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
Ive been on the Dyna series since ive began supplying myself and have recently just started using the Grow solution the whole way through. Just about as simple as you can get. Most ppl say you dont need any micronute sup's but I am still considering branching out and mixing things up a tad.

Good luck Frank!

..what do you need a light rail for, youre in a tent right? Like biscuit said- you dont seem too concerned about your cap with the setup you're building, maybe keep it held back for a 8x4' or 10x5' down the road.

EDIT: I don't know what relevance I saw in this earlier, sorry; pretty sure I was just thinking out loud lol
I remembered why I ordered it. I was looking at lightrail3.com then checked their facebook and saw a 25% off coupon, so decided to jump on it. I sometimes make impulse purchases when I'm high.

The PAR200 inda gro is 26" long but the canopy will be 48" in length, so I had figured on that magical night that a lightrail might be useful (and kind of cool) to make sure the light covers everything evenly.

I'll probably include it in the tent since I have it now but once I get a bigger tent I'll use it in that one.
 

Beefbisquit

Well-Known Member
6 gal (~22L)
I was planning a drain every 10 days.
So, about 55ml of Sensi Grow/Bloom every 10 days... and 22ml of each additive every 10 days.

Average Flowering is about 9 weeks, or 63 days. 6.3 water changes, x 55ml = 347ml for one flowering cycle. I'd say you're going to use a bit more than that, due to top-ups, etc. But 1L should last you two grow cycles.

For the additives, 6.3 water changes, x 22ml = 139ml each flowering cycle, if you were to use it for the entire flowering cycle. Most of them, you will not use the entire time.

You can see how the cost is really quite reasonable.

You can also leave out some of the more expensive nutrients if you want to.


Younger plants are going to require waaaay less nutes too....
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Frank, get a book man. You don't want to start hydro without proper knowledge and/or a guide you can refer to instead begging for help here. Believe it or not, Barnes and Noble has a nice selection that can be ordered on line. I just bought Jorge Cervantes newest. It's quite extensive.
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
I have Cervantes' Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible and I read it cover to cover.

Are you talking about another one?
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
Scotch, here are revised costs after speaking with AN directly.


This chart is for a 6 gal DWC with a drain and replenish every 7 days.

For a full grow and the whole shabang you're looking at 85$-166$ in costs per grow. If you forego all the fancy supps and stick to nutes+basic sups (B-52, voodoo) the AN nutes cost less than 35$ for an entire grow.

Thanks Beef for clearing some things up and I for clearing the rest.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
*shwoo*

Those numbers look a lot better. Much more realistic.

I would suggest Ed R.'s book, probably the most progressive and informative one I have read out of my four 1 1/2" thick books.

-Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook ("Official Course Book of Oaksterdam Uni.")

Yea ^^ Petflora's got it. damn good book.
 

mamakush

Active Member
I like the layout of your first post, looks good.

If you don't mind my asking, when you stated the light sources you're using, you put (-60) and (-90) after each. Why is that? I'm not familiar with the Area 51 lights. When you say 280 watts, do you mean 280 LED watts or actual watts?
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
Hey mamakush.

-60 and -90 are model numbers.

The A51-60 is a 110W LED, and the A51-90 a 170W LED. 280W of LED wattage must equal a 400W HPS approx.
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
I got Rosenthal's book (eBook) and it made for some very interesting reading.

-Lightrails will increase yield 10-20% even if the lightrail moves a single light by just a foot. That is because as the light move the angle hitting the plant changes as well which pushes plant to grow more. I guess my lightrail was a great purchase, then. Perhaps a sign from the Gods of Kobol?
-PAR is the only trustworthy unit of measurement for our lights, so I ordered an Apogee PAR meter so I can test my lights properly
-2000umol is what the sun sheds out... a 1000W HID can output 1000umol. I wonder what a 420W Indagro outputs.
-Size or age of the plant has nothing to do with potency. I was surprised by this.
-light, CO2 and temperature are the main variables in determining yield indoors. So enough PAR, enough CO2 and proper temps. Easy peasy.

Now the book says plants use plenty of the blue spectrum and red. So why are modern LED white and red? What happened to the blue?

And how do LED provide those important UVB the plant needs to produce THC? LED don't produce UVB afaik?
 

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
"Now the book says plants use plenty of the blue spectrum and red. So why are modern LED white and red? What happened to the blue?"

They have found that too narrow of blue wavelengths had caused the notorious LED bleaching *gasp* either from the light's height, or the diodes lens. I think it was specifically 420-430nm that was trouble?

The White LED's..
-Cool White 5000-6500k
-Neutral White 4000-5000k
-Warm White 2700-4000k

..cover a much wider spectrum than most if not all led's- including that blue wavelength that was causing the bleaching. So many ppl have slowly converted to running a majority of variety of White's, and then filling in the gaps with the specific wavelengths they need/want to revamp. (430, 460, 630, 660, etc)

Sounds like it's working out pretty well too, been looking at DIY'ing a few panels in the future.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
^^ Spot on. Odd that 420 is not good for the plants, but that's a fact, Jack

The problem with PAR is that it was misunderstood. That combined with the fact that the other spectrum diodes were not readily available or efficient

White contains all the colors, in which percentages depends on whether the bulb/diode is CW... NW... WW
 

Scotch089

Well-Known Member
You couldn't shed some light on the UVB topic could yah Flora? My knowledge of UV+IR is too vague to state anything as fact; besides I know small amounts are great and too much will stunt growth.

Glad to know somebody else is on here at this time of day.. Lol
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
Hardcopy of Rosenthal's book got here.

Isn't funny how it's just 2 years old and already outdated on some stuff? Medical textbooks become out of date every year, but botany? It's an amazing science :D
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
I spent all day planning my second grow area (4x8 tent, DIY RDWC.. yihaa!) and I haven't even started the first one yet... it's frustrating having to wait for your things to get to you.

On another note, I thouht I'd share this bit with the forums. I wrote it myself and it might come in handy for other growers who need a quick fact sheet:

Cannabis requires five things to grow effectively
1. Water
2. Nutrients
3. CO2
4. Light
5. Temperature/Humidity

All these components must be satisfied for growth to be positive and a deficiency in any of these will limit or stop grow altogether. The way to satisfy these components will change according to the medium in which you grow your plant.

In a DWC system, keep all components within the following optimal value range. Going under minimal value or over maximum value for any component will result in growth impairment.

1. Water
Water pH in reservoir: between 5.6 and 6.4, optimum levels 5.8 - 6.2
Water temperature in reservoir: 65°-70°F

Water should be as soft as possible (low PPM count out of tap). RO water is recommended for hydroponic grows. Add Cal-Mg in your res if you use RO water as 0 PPM water has no ability to buffer and can cause rapid imbalances.

2. Nutrients
Start 1/4 dose, following bottle instructions. You'll need basic 2 or 3 part nutrients for vegging and a different kinds for blooming. Supplements and additives are optional but can enhance yield. They will only help if all other needs are satisfied.

PPM Levels: 100-250 (Seedling), 300-400 (Early veg), 450-700 (Full veg), 750-950 (Early bloom), 1000-1600 (Full Bloom) + water PPM

3. CO2
300ppm minimum at all times, 1500ppm optimal with enrichment.

4. Light
Your lights must satisfy two sub criteria:
  • Spectrum: 400nm to 730nm as well as UVB for THC production
  • Intensity: The sun provides approx 2000 umol/sq m/s of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR). Indoor, the idea is to provide your plants with enough quanta light (another name for PAR) to grow to its full potential. The PAR requirements will change if the other values of the environment changes (for instance, if you enrich the air with CO2, the plants will need more PAR to enable accelarated growth. If you enrich with CO2 but there is no extra PAR for the plant to use, growth will not accelerate and CO2 is wasted).
You need a PAR meter to know exactly how much PAR a light emits, and most manufacturers won't tell you, because it's easier to bullshit you with wattage and lux and lumens, which mean very little in actual terms of efficiency for your lights. Apogee makes a PAR meter (the MQ-200) and it can be purchased for 335$ online. It's the only reliable tool to know with 100% certainty you get enough of the proper light for your plants. Or ask a friend to buy a PAR meter and measure his lights then buy the same model of lights. Horticulture is a science and like any other science if you want good results you need the right tools.

How you provide those PAR is up to you. Minimally, most varieties of cannabis will do well with 400-500 umol/sq m/s of PAR. However, plants can easily use 1000 umol/sq m/s of PAR under the right condition. This is the value you are shooting for: 1000 umol/sq m/s of Photosynthetically Active Radiation readily available at the top of your canopy.

To get that PAR, you'll need enough HPS, MH, T5 (or other fluorescent) or LED lights to get it.

Minimal values needed to get enough PAR for satisfactory growth:
CFL: 30w/sqft in veg, 40-60w/sqft in bloom
MH: 44-63w/sqft (250w will cover 3x3, 400w will cover 3x3 and 1000w will cover 4x4)
HPS: Same as above
LED: 35-40w/sqft

5. Temperature/Humidity:
Between 70° and 85°F ambient, night temperature cannot fall more than 10°F. With CO2 enrichment, warmer is better.

Humidity: Keep RH between 40-70% during veg and bloom. Somata close at 70% which hinders growth dramatically. Bring RH to 30-35% in last two week of bloom which shocks the plant into extra resin production. Optimal RH is 65%.
 
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