Grape God, 400w SCROG, & a Waterfarm!!! Oh boy!

Chem Dawg

New Member
Ok so I know this Waterfarm thing has become quite the trend so I had to experience it for myself. After following the great threads of SCOTTYBALLS, Dayzt, and a few others, I went out and made the purchase . This will be my first hydro run as I'm an all organic soil guy so I'm hoping all goes well. So far I must say I'm enjoying all the involvement that hydro has required @ this point. I'm a hands on kinda guy so I'm thinking this may get addicting. But let's get the show on the road.

Setup:

400w multi-watt / dimmable ballast ( 250w-400w )
Standard wing reflector
2' x 3' x 5-1/2' Tent
WaterFarm ( Obviously )
Oakton Eco 1 Ph tester
Oakton Eco tester TDS low
Flora Nova Bloom
General Hydroponics PH up & down
Pure 100 R/O system
My exhaust is going to split off my 500 CFM fan with filter that scrubs my main grow room. It has a fan speed controller so with that and the split to the other room I'm hoping it doesn't skin my small tent. But well see when I get my flange , flex pipe, and split.

I soaked the Hydroton for 24 hrs in tap water and rinsed a few times in the tub, but I didn't let it run a week in the Waterfarm . But I noticed the dust build up on the bottom of the res and just cleaned it out between res changes a few times and now it seems to be running clean after about the third cleaning.. I figured since the roots hadn't hit the lower res yet it would be fine to clean.
The ppm of my tap is 190 with a ph of 6.8. Is it ok that I soaked and rinsed my Hydroton in this? I started running distilled water threw the water farm which had a ppm of 10 and ph of 6.8. I did not ph down the water. Now with the R/O my ppm is 10 and ph is 6.7. Should I ph down to 5.6 or so? Today is day 6 from Germination and the seedling is looking a little pale at the edges. What do you think?

sorry pics coming ASAP.
 

mr2shim

Well-Known Member
Hello, and welcome to the waterfarm club! In my opinion you don't really need pH down ever, my current pH is 6.9 and my plant is doing amazing at that pH. I worry MUCH more about ppm's because that's whats really going to kill your plant fast. Too high of a ppm too long will destroy your root system and cause your plant to either die or grow incredibility slow. I can't quite tell what's up with your seedling by the picture, it's a bit blurry. Nice setup you got gong on there, I'm using micro and NB This time around, last grow I only used NB and the plant seems o really benefit from adding the micro. I wouldn't use nutes for a week or two on that seedling just to be safe. It's got plenty of stored food in the Cotyledons. I would advise against using tap water for any grow, unless it's really low in ppm. (below 100) I use distilled/RO water for mine, but I see that you have a very nice RO filter. That AK and VK are amazing! I'm sure you'll knock this waterfarm grow out easy.

p.s. I'm subbed. :D
 

Chem Dawg

New Member
Day 7:

Water- 0 ppm

FNB - 400 ppm

Ph- 5.7

Res temp- 69f

RH- 40%

24/0 lighting schedule for the next week then I'll cut it back to 20/4.
 

Chem Dawg

New Member
Hello, and welcome to the waterfarm club! In my opinion you don't really need pH down ever, my current pH is 6.9 and my plant is doing amazing at that pH. I worry MUCH more about ppm's because that's whats really going to kill your plant fast. Too high of a ppm too long will destroy your root system and cause your plant to either die or grow incredibility slow. I can't quite tell what's up with your seedling by the picture, it's a bit blurry. Nice setup you got gong on there, I'm using micro and NB This time around, last grow I only used NB and the plant seems o really benefit from adding the micro. I wouldn't use nutes for a week or two on that seedling just to be safe. It's got plenty of stored food in the Cotyledons. I would advise against using tap water for any grow, unless it's really low in ppm. (below 100) I use distilled/RO water for mine, but I see that you have a very nice RO filter. That AK and VK are amazing! I'm sure you'll knock this waterfarm grow out easy.

p.s. I'm subbed. :D
Hey thanks for joining me man! Got to your reply a tad late As far as when to introduce the FNB but well see how she does. She seemed a bit pale to me compared to my soil grows @ that stage so I figured I could add a little nutes. I know SCOTTYBALLS fed @ 7 days but different strain and I'm sure different conditions. Hopefully the Ganja Gods love me! As far as the PH I always thought that a happy range for hydro is 5.5-6.0. 6.9 sounds deadly. But I'm going to do my best to keep it in that 5.5-6 range if possible. I hope u stick around bro because I'm sure I'll have lots of questions, but hopefully minimal problems. I'm on my was to your thread
Nirvana Ice thread now....
 

mr2shim

Well-Known Member
How much nova did you add? I think 400ppm is WAY too high for that little seedling, I'm almost 4 weeks into veg and I'm only at 350ppm. Remember with hydro less is ALWAYS more. If I were you I'd drain that fire water out and add something lower, like 100-150ppm, I used 1/4 tsp for 2 gallons of water with my seedling. Last grow I was a bit more aggressive with the nutes and I did get pretty bad nute burn early on.
 

Chem Dawg

New Member
How much nova did you add? I think 400ppm is WAY too high for that little seedling, I'm almost 4 weeks into veg and I'm only at 350ppm. Remember with hydro less is ALWAYS more. If I were you I'd drain that fire water out and add something lower, like 100-150ppm, I used 1/4 tsp for 2 gallons of water with my seedling. Last grow I was a bit more aggressive with the nutes and I did get pretty bad nute burn early on.
Gotcha man. I'm on it ASAP. How long would it take to show effect on the seedling?
 

mr2shim

Well-Known Member
Gotcha man. I'm on it ASAP. How long would it take to show effect on the seedling?
Not completely sure about that one. It's something I've been wondering for a while. I assume they have a steady uptake kinda like the way we breath in out air but the amount of water it uptakes varies upon a lot of factors.
 

Chem Dawg

New Member
Not completely sure about that one. It's something I've been wondering for a while. I assume they have a steady uptake kinda like the way we breath in out air but the amount of water it uptakes varies upon a lot of factors.
Well after looking over your SD grow it looks like it took about 2.5-3 days for the tips to shown burn.
 

forgetiwashere

Well-Known Member
DUDE!! flush it mr shim is spot on 400ppm is way too high yet i also made that mistake. effects of the burn will show within 24hrs but u dont want it to get that bad and i would advise flushing with fresh for a day before adding anything again. otherwise u could end up with salt lockout like i did aswell. oh and that yellowing of your leaves in the earier pics is from the hydroton they will get over it. if you check out my grow in my sig i made all the mistakes so its a good guide what not too do.
 

Chem Dawg

New Member
DUDE!! flush it mr shim is spot on 400ppm is way too high yet i also made that mistake. effects of the burn will show within 24hrs but u dont want it to get that bad and i would advise flushing with fresh for a day before adding anything again. otherwise u could end up with salt lockout like i did aswell. oh and that yellowing of your leaves in the earier pics is from the hydroton they will get over it. if you check out my grow in my sig i made all the mistakes so its a good guide what not too do.
Thanks for the input man! Flushed with 50 ppm R/O water @ 5.5 Ph.. These are the Bennies of a journal! Hope it's not to late as this was done about 24hrs ago @ this point.. But I'll hope for the best...
 

smokeymcpotz

Well-Known Member
Im glad to see people finally giving grape god a chance in their room. Its some grapefruit dank fasho... Ppl barley wanna let the shit dry before they get it lol
 
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