--FIRST GROW-- Homemade, Aeroponics/Deep Water, 2x 1000w HPS, 47 Plants

Hi Everyone!!!

Bond here... Mr. Bond. Thanks for checking out my post! Personally I am very excited about the potential of my fairly new garden. Here are the basic stats about my garden! Following, I will post pictures and keep updates for those interested. I am learning a lot myself but if you have questions and/or comments I would love to hear them.

GARDEN STATS:
Plants: 47, all are OG Kush, cloned from a single mother, each in 3" netpots
Plants: Clones came in rockwool cubes, nesting in netpots surrounded by Hydroton

Delivery Method: Aeroponics & Deep Water Cultivation

Garden: Inflatable pool for reservoir/base of garden
Garden: Homemade wooden lid, moisture sealed, netpot holes drilled out

Light-1: 1000w Digilux HPS Digital Lamp, 155K Lumens, with Enhanced Blue Spectrum
Ballast-1: 1000w Quantum MH/HPS Digital Ballast, Dimmable (1Kw, 750w, 500w), 120v/240v, Actively Cooled
Hood-1: CAP XXXtreme 8" Vented Lamp Hood with Alumabrite Reflective Coating

Light-2: 1000w Sunleaves HPS Lamp, 140K Lumens, Typical Red-Orange Spectrum
Ballast-2: 1000w Sunlight BudgetGro II HPS Ballast, 120v/240v, Passively Cooled
Hood-2: CAP LumeWing Reflector Open-Air Lamp Hood with Basic Reflective Coating

Aeroponics: 8 x NutraMist Ultrasonic Dry Foggers (Single-Head)
Aeroponics: 2 x 40mm 12v DC Fan blown into (2) Ported Plastic Boxes for fog circulation (positive internal pressure)

Deep Water: Hefty Aquarium Air Pump with 6-Head Air Distribution Manifold
Deep Water: 5 x 6in. Airstones for Circulation of Air through Nutrient/Water Mixture & Roots

Atmosphere: 18,000BTU Window-style Air Conditioner with Auto-Temp. Control
Atmosphere: Ceiling Fan, Box Fan, Corner-standing Fan with Movement
Atmosphere: 8" Exhaust Ducting from Light-1 to 8" ActiveAir Booster Fan (471CFM)

Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients Sensi Bloom A&B, Sensi Grow A&B
Nutrients: Large CO2 Cylinder with Basic Pressure Regulator

Misc.: Multiple Analog 15min. Timers (4), Digital pH Meter, Digital TDS/PPM Meter, Small Liquid Pump for Nutrient/Water Mixture circulation, Large Liquid Pump for pumping Nutrient/Water Mixture into/out of pool

GARDEN GROWTH:
Vegetation Cycle: 3 Days @ 24/0
Flowering Cycle: Aiming for 10 Weeks @ 12/12 before Harvest, Currently on Flowering Week 2

BASIC IDEA:
Drop in clones, manually water plants until roots sprout through netpot (about one week), low vegetation cycle to reduce overall height of plants, foggers help nuture roots as they grow, roots grow down through air space (fog) to aerated nutrient/water mixture, roots gather water/nutrients both through 1) direct water/nutrient contact with root bottoms [deep water cult.], and 2) direct fog contact with secondary roots suspended from plant bottom to top of water [aeroponics]. Expecting 1oz. per plant, Attempting for 2oz. per plant (dry weight). Expecting long curing time (1mo.?) to really bring out the THC!

UNIQUE OBSERVATIONS THUS FAR:
- The room is always cold thanks to my great AC unit! Constant measurement of a maximum of 80F at plant canopy from the first day, never hotter. Temp. ranges from 68F-80F depending on light cycle and AC operation.
- Some plant roots are late-starters compared to others. Can't rely on the fog alone to get the roots going. Assistive watering must be done until roots sprout out of netpot.
- Plant root behavior and performance seems almost directly related to distance between netpot, fogger, and _especially_ the airstones.
- On certain plants, primary taproot with secondary roots "blew up" and grew about 1-3" in one night once the taproot tip hit the water below.
- Currently water level is about 6" below bottom of lid, about 4" below bottom of netpots.
- I used an inflatable pool for my base/reservoir, but I'd recommend strongly against it!!! Find something hard. I haven't popped mine, but I did have to refill the air in it about a week and a half in. It would be catastrophic for my garden, and the room, if it developed a hole and leaked out while I was away.
- I have lost two of the plants due to rooting issues. I believe I have a way to avoid this next time around.

PICTURES!:
Picture 1---
You can see in this photo, the clones are being put into their netpots and surrounded by Hydroton. This is a good shot of what the lid looks like without all the netpots in it. You can see the pool below.

Picture 2---
I believe this is Day 1 or Day 2. All the netpots and plants are in and getting started. The two thick black hoses in the foreground are inlets/outlets for the heavy-duty water pump, to transfer water/nutrients to or from the pool/mixing area. The thin black cables along the side are grommeted power cables for the foggers.

Picture 3---
This picture was taken today before posting this. It shows the ever-so-f'ing-sweet Light-1, and the mediocre Light-2. Currently on Flowering Week 2.

Picture 4---
This picture was taken today, shows the vented exhaust exiting Light-1 and being sucked into the closet.

Picture 5---
This shows the basic power setup for the foggers, fogger fans, airstones/air pump, Light-2's ballast, and internal water circulation pump. Various timers are mixed in there as well.

Picture 6---
The ever-so-f'ing-sweet Quantum dimmable digital ballast for Light-1! God I love this thing. Plus it's actively cooled with an internal fan so it stays pretty much cool to the touch.

Picture 7---
A close-up of the top of the cola on one of the plants. At this point all of the plants look like this up top. The color is a little off because it's super bright in there with 2x 1000w's!

Picture 8---
A close shot of the upper 3/4 of a plant. There are at least 10 buds on this section. You can't see them all because of some of the leaves, but they're waving for the cameras!

Picture 9---
Here is a shot of one of the plant roots. This plant's roots actually grew from about 1/2" out of the bottom of the netpot, to THIS, in 36 hours. No exaggeration here! You can see the taproots at the bottom have begun to curl/go sideways. This is currently where they hit the waterline and lose gravity, but begin the nutrient vacuum!

Picture 10---
I love gardening!


In closing, for now...
So what do ya'll think? Am I off to a good start? Would you happen to have any questions or comments for me? Any specific flowering aids/nutrients that have worked well for you guys? ::

Have you done a setup similar to this? I would LOOOOVE any specific advice you could share with me. Especially in regards to nutrients.

Thanks everyone! I'll be keeping this updated!

dude for a 1st grow i would have to say i dont believe its your first, take it as a compliment good shit bond....you should make your own strain "007kill"

Hey, thanks solarguy! I love your idea about the strain. Eventually when I get to learning seed germination and cross-breeding, I will save the 007kill name for the best strain I can come up with! Hehee...

lol true make sure you message me, you can send me a sample lol

Bond, Killer setup, I'm thinking about getting a 600w digital ballast (never grown w/ HID before), maybe a lumatek, nextgen or phantom, etc and a 600w digilux HPS, I know you haven't had it for long but hows it working out?

Thanks In.The.Basement! I wish I had a basement to grow in. Not being too experienced with other types of lighting in the grow room, I would still strongly recommend HID lighting. The heat isn't as bad as people make it out to be, especially if you're planning on using a lower 600w setup. Heard some good stuff about the Lumateks, but I've heard some bad stuff about them too. They are only passively cooled, so they can get pretty freaking hot, something you'd want to avoid on most any transformer.

If you're going to get into HID, I think a Quantum 600w HPS/MH Dimmable Digital Ballast + Digilux 600w HPS Digital Bulb would be probably the sickest setup you could get your hands on! I cannot say enough for the quality of both the materials and workmanship on these products. The Quantum Ballast is actively cooled and only slightly warm to the touch, nice! You're only looking at about $25 more for the Quantum over a Lumatek. In terms of investment protection, the Quantum ballast has a 3yr. warranty and the Digilux lamps have a 1yr. warranty. I did have my Digilux HPS lamp blow out in week 2, but my hydro-shop guy swapped it out on the spot, saying that the Digilux warranty was a no-hassle deal. Since then I have had zero issues, and he said they come back to him the least of all the brands he sells. No issues at all with my Quantum ballast, it's probably the best part of my setup!!!

To take it one step further you could throw a Digilux 600w MH Digital Bulb in there for your veg cycle. Even if you don't do this right away though, the Digilux HPS lamps have an Enhanced Blue Spectrum that does help compensate a bit for not having MH or Flouro. Even with the Digilux 600w HPS you're still looking at 95,000 lumens.

What is your grow space like? How many plants you think you could fit?

By the way, a great place to buy from... http://shop.houseofhydroponics.com/ Very competitive pricing vs. other popular sites out there.

Great customer service and pretty low shipping charges if you aren't local to SoCal.

Well my space is only 3x3x5.5, i'm doing a SOG so don't really want the blue, i may either go with a magnetic ballast or get a dimmable switchable digital one, don't have as much money as i thouht i was going to, i still may shell out and get a digi, but not sure. Do you know if the dimmable quantums take other wattages?

My experience thus far in doing SOG, even if you don't have a lot of vertical clearance, you'd still want some blue. It's not tons in the Digilux lamps, but it's just enough to help along root growth and avoid rooting issues which is very important in my eyes. As far as the dimmable Quantums, I'm pretty sure they intake the output wattage + overhead. For example, if you've got a Quantum 600w but dim it down to 450w, you're probably only drawing about 475w... I've heard the Lumateks will use the maximum intake current even if you are only outputting half as much on the dimmer... As far as using smaller wattage lamps in a dimmer mode (i.e. 1000w ballast, dimmed to 750w, running a 750w lamp), I've heard people advice against it. The manufacturers usually state to only run the maximum wattage bulb in a dimmable ballast. Also, determine what ballast you'll get before picking your lamp. The Digilux bulbs are made for digital ballasts, and I have heard of some issues relating to running them in a standard/magnetic ballast.

Hope I helped! If not, feel free to throw things at me. LOL

Mr. Bond

Wow. I also can't believe this is just your first grow. This is an amazing thread and it's obvious you have spent a lot of time before trying to learn what you need to do to grow well.

Nice work on the Sensi A&B regimen. I'm surprised you didn't add anything else, but it is your first grow, so you probably don't want to make things too crazy or complicated. In the beginning, I was the same way.

CAn't wait to watch the end of this one.

Hey decrimCA,

Thanks for the support and positive words. I started with AN Sensi A&B and am out... when I change the nutrients soon, I'm planning on replacing with AN Connoisseur, AN Big Bud, and AN Sensizym. Someone in another post advised against using AN Bud Candy in an aeroponics setup but didn't clarify. Maybe it's just too sticky for the foggers? Not sure as I've never used it.

I should be posting a decent update soon. I can see the trichomes starting to sprout around the cola on almost all of the plants. Planning on getting my CO2 tank filled in the next 24 hours. Already have the regulator for it, so once it's filled, its ON baby! Woo. That should help fatten up those beautiful hairy buds.

Thanks for staying tuned and I'll have more pics soon! Cheers!

Mr. Bond

Sorry, I don't mean to be negative but this is a disaster waiting to happen. First you need to get all that electrical off the floor. I would try to find something else to use for a rez. Inflatable pools aren't designed to support weight on top and they all will eventually leak. I'd hate to see you with a swimming pools worth of water on your floor. Also its not good to use wood for a lid, it will grow mold and warp with moisture. If it is pressure treated it will contain chemicals. I would use less plants and spread them out. Those plants don't look so good, I don't see any branches. Not bad for a first grow but I would definitely look into another hydro setup for the long term. Good luck

kingSalami said:

Sorry, I don't mean to be negative but this is a disaster waiting to happen. First you need to get all that electrical off the floor. I would try to find something else to use for a rez. Inflatable pools aren't designed to support weight on top and they all will eventually leak. I'd hate to see you with a swimming pools worth of water on your floor. Also its not good to use wood for a lid, it will grow mold and warp with moisture. If it is pressure treated it will contain chemicals. I would use less plants and spread them out. Those plants don't look so good, I don't see any branches. Not bad for a first grow but I would definitely look into another hydro setup for the long term. Good luck

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Hey KingSalami,

I would say thanks for your feedback, but seeing as how thats only your first post, you obviously provide nothing to this community aside from snarky critiques with little to no substance to back it up, at least that is your track record so far. If you had actually read my original post, you might have realized that the reservoir lid is sealed from moisture, preventing things like mold and warping from happening. In fact, at this size, wood seems better as a lid then plastic does. Unbraced plastic lids would bow under the weight of 48 plants, and braced plastic lids can't have holes drilled in them and maintain support. Just because you had a bad experience using wood doesn't mean others are as inexperienced, some of us actually _have_ woodworking skills. Additionally, if you knew anything about the SOG method, you would know that the plants aren't supposed to have secondary branches. It kind of goes against the whole idea if you're shooting for a single 12-18" cola on each plant. I also mentioned that I don't recommend others use a pool, as I didn't like using it myself. I've already got a different reservoir in place. As for the electrical on the ground, there is absolutely no problem with it there, considering it is almost all DC.

Anyway kingSalami, I got this system started with a budget not much larger than your single plant in a 5-gal bucket, if you've even grown anything at all. While you're playing with an ounce or two I'll be harvesting my 5+lbs. If you even have the cohones to write back, bring alone some pics of your grow room since you're obviously the expert here. Until then, I'm going to call you Capt. Obvious since you can only point out obvious menial shit with no evidence to back it up. And thank you for your good luck wishes, but you don't need luck when you have skills and resources.

Mr. Bond

NO MISTER BOND I EXPECT YOU TO DIE.sorry i had to say it.kick ass gro bro i wish i had the space for something like that.grow on

LOL thanks vtatvrider... I love the Goldfinger reference!!! Cheers!

Mr. Bond