Hi Guys my first grow (wiv pics). Having problems though

Hi guys so me and my freind recently decided to start a grow 2gether at hes.
We have 2 white rhino and 1 La Dna plants growing. in a 1m square room I have a 250w phillips SON-T bulb (if that means anything to any of you guru's) which i am keeping three foot away as is quite hot .A small fan I also have three trifle bowls full of water to keep humidity up. and I'm using miracle grow all purpose organic compost.

Im using Clear orchid pots (while Its my first time clear pots are helping me to judge when to water cos im scared of stiking my fingers in there.) I started them off in clear drinks cups at first.
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Everything was going great at first but having problems with 1 of the plants.
The second plant that came through seemed to grow a lot quicker than the first so I raised it up to th light becuse it seemed to be stretching for the light and lowered it when it slowed down. It has now gotten yellow specles and 1 of the ends, of the leaves has stunted in growth. I dont know whether its a ph problem or if it burned a little. I have now increase my height from tips of plant to 3 feet. where it was about 2.2 b4
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I have also notice since taking this picture a glossy area on the leaf that is turning yellow.

I do not know th NPK for the compost, i'm either blind or stupid bt I cant see it on the bag and in my newbieness have used 100% compost no perlite or anything. I have used some nutes when I transferred them to larger pots.

I think I need to check the PH levels Quickly and Cheaply. Where can I get a cheap Soil ph testing kit and I watched a small video in the 101 asked Q's section showing a water ph testing kit with ph up and down included. I dont have any hydro shops close at hand so where could I get these Items from IN THE UK? B&Q maybe?

My Q's
1.Does any 1 think the clear pots will be a problem?

2.Where can I get ph testing kits?

3. Where could I get a big roill of that carbon filter stuff from the 101 q's section?

4. Is the light im using good enough?

5.Could I buy a bigger light bulb and put it into the lightbox im using? it was a gift and not sure how to tell if it supports brighter bulbs.

6.is 1mx1mx1mx1m big enough to do 3 plants?

7.Where Can I get ph up and down from? In the Uk

8.How big pots will I need to move upto. Im currently on 15cm?

9.Should the two small leaves that first come out of the seed at the
ottom of the plant turn yellow cos mine are pretty bright.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. heres a few pics of the other plants sorry about pic quality and size I only relised after id posted how big they were I will try to do better ones nxt time my camera phone is rubbish.

p1 White Rhino (fem) 2 weeks in. my favorite of the 2 white rhinos slightly behind even though it popped first but leaves look a lot greener on this 1
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p2 Whit rhino (fem) 2 weeks in signs of yellowing
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p3 DNA la (fem) now been transferred to bigger pot -4 days in
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tht is one fucklong post jsut gotta say,
answer 1: clear pots can be a problem roots are extremely light sensitive and it could kill them, i would recomend putting them in a larger non see through pot

anser 4: the light you are using should be fine, looks like a HID light and at 250W its plenty for 3 plants

answer 5: i would not recmoned putting a bigger bulb in it, if theres a 250 in it i would say that it is a 250w attatchment

answer6: that area is plenty enough to grow 3 plants in, however the height is an issue you will not be bale to grow plants naturally in there and keep them a safe distance from your bulb(by natural i mean no SCROG or LST) and you should look into topping followed by LST - low stress training, it get syou a great yeild and uses very little hight.

answer8: those pots are not enough for ur plants they wuill quickly outgrow them, you should get atleast a few gallon pots, basically as big as you can fit and that arent very tall as you are restricted in height.

answe9: those 2 little leaves are not important now, they are expected to die off
jesus christ that took me a while to answer sorry bout the quesitons i didnt answer as i live in Australia and idnt know.

Everything looks fine to me. Took my 3gs like 20 seconds to load that post

Conepuller is right get them out of the clear pots. Algae and fungus like the nutrients you put in there just like the plant and can kill your roots theres a reason they grow in the ground. And if your having problems telling when to water make a little hole with your finger about two inches deep and feel in there if it's dry. Water your plant till water comes out of the holes in the bottom. Well thats my opinion. Good luck

thanks 4 the replys guys ya sorry about the size. I might edit it l8r when i get up and try to figure how to make them links rather than full pics its those that take up all the space lmao.

I think i will order a little gadet off ebay 4 measuring soil ph light and moisture levels. In the meantime I think I will rap thick black paper round the pots to ensure no root damage. I'll also be able to remove that to check moisture as they have only just been repotted and dont want to over stress

I think I can get Ph up and down and testing kits at an aquatics supply store near mine.

Glad to hear that the little leaves are supposed to go yellow. what about the stunted leaf at the top though?

The cupboard is also about 8-9 feet tall I just took a picture to where the light is I have it hooked up by big thick wire that links onto rope in my attic to the roof so I can easily raise it.

What is a suitible height to flower it or can I only tell that further down the line?

Do you think I should put a reflective white board at the bottom instead of the carpet?

you should get mylar or cheap thermal blankets or flat white paint and line the walls with it, the bottom is not as important seeing as how leaves absorb light through the top
and you should probably wait till down the line for that choice, but be prepared for 2X height when flipped into 12/12 and then you have to add in the distance from your light(if its starting to get uncomfortable for your hand at canopy level, than it is to close)
just my thoughts aswell - you should top/lst or somthing other than jsut leaveing them natural, it will produce a bigger yield and will maximize all the room in your space

Hi conepuller. The cupboard is painted pure brilliant white with matt emulsion. The light was just warming up and camera phone gave it an off white look.
I've also rapped some thik black plastic round the sides of the pots. Its held on with parcel tape at the mo 4got to get some ducttape while I was out Ill redo it 2mos.

The glossy patch on the leaf has now gone yellow and I think another may be forming on the opposite leaf.
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I managed to find soil (B&Q)and water ph testing kits and some ph up and down and activated carbon crystals (local aquatics supply store)
I measured the ph in all three soils on the yellowed white rhino and the baby Dna the Ph is too high.
On the second White rhino it gave a brown colour which looked to be right on the scale it just showed medium potash but was on the same level as ph7.
What is potash?

I understand how to balance the ph with up and down on your tap water but how do I fix the soil that is in there now?
Do I have to water it at a 6 till I see it coming down im a little bit confused on this or what is thhe best solution to get me back to a neutrul ph?

Also how do I put in those mini picture albums which you can click thumbnails to see enlarged view?

Tnx for any advice you guys might have in advance and heres some pics for you lot I've done a height comparison pic 2 with a bottle of ouust lol

P1 White rhino (fem) 2 weeks 4 days in- Still kind of small though seemes to be putting more into leafing than growing
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P2 white rhino (fem) 2 weeks 4 days in. Looking more yellow bit by bit has a ph of 8 or over
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P3 DNA LA (fem) coming along nicely but also needs Ph level dropping on it ph of 8 or over
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do a google of potash, it is K, potassium. i just gave mine sum this morning as i havent bought any mollases yet
potash
Analysis
41% Total Potassium (K) as Sulphate
17% Sulphate (S) as Sulphate
and ive never used Ph equipment b4 =/ ad some dolomite lime to your soil i think (that stuff either lowers or raises, i think it lowers not sure hah)
so instead of flushing it with 6 till it drops, go and buy sum stuff ot lower it
ph of 8, surprised there not dead =/, they look pready healthy for 8
hah sorry for the dodgy answers, just not on the ball today

Hello again conepuller & Pot lovers around the world

After your comments I decided to recheck the PH levels and got alot different results First I used the gizmo in the first pic which told me between 6 and 6.5 for all of them.
I then did another 2 tests with the fluid CSI type test and got in the same region.
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I gave it a second dose of nutes cos its not been done for nearly a week with the ph at 6.7 cos I believe I'm going for 6.5-7 to up it a lttle. I dropped it with ph down in the solution.
I've seen this gadget that may be more suitable cos it does soil and water.
http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy213/TheStigAFC/gadget2.jpg

I know you say you dont mess about with the PH too much but do you thnk it would be a worthy buy?
The small water testing kits cos 7quid for 40quid as a one off payment seems like great value and hope it would have more accurate results and easier to distinguish between the levels.
What worrys me is its on the cheap end of the ph testers and I hope it dosnt reflect in the results. As I dont trust the first gadget to much
If any one else has experience with similar products pls leave you two cents.

I have tried to looking into LST and topping.
I get lst thats bending it gently with string etc to a horizontal position and new stems will grow verticaly up.
Topping is still confusing me though as Ive watched two videos and the cut in different places and looking at uncle bens guide to four colors. It says grow to the sixth and then cut to the second or something.
What does it mean cos on th picture it just looks like it has been cut right across the main stem. Is that right or wrong?
I'll defo do the lST thing though Ive seen this setup and would like to know everyones opinion on it.
http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy213/TheStigAFC/lstsetup1.jpg
http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy213/TheStigAFC/lstsetup2.jpg

Please all advice or tips are welcome on any topic from anyone, as I am total noob and trying to do as much research in as little time as possible. The forums here are a huge help but take a long time to get through.

All seem to be growing wellish all have yellow spots and patchs. I think maybe it was some form of nute burn. So I tried to flush out some of the extra nutes by giving them a flush with some water.
so heres my three week pics.
Plant1 WHITE RHINO (FEM) 3WEEKS OLD 2day (p1-4)
Plant2 WHITE RHINO (FEM) 3WEEKS OLD 2day (p5-7)
Plant3 DNA LA (FEM) 1 Week old 2day (p8-10)

All seems well this week. Flushed plants again and dont seem to have any fresh burns
Topped 1 rhino with uncle bens method, did the DNA too but chopped a leaf off 2. (recovirng now) results look promising
Plant1 WHITE RHINO (FEM) 4WEEKS OLD 2day (p1-3) topped wiv UB method (repotted)
Plant2 WHITE RHINO (FEM) 4WEEKS OLD 2day (p4-7) topped at the top. (repotted)
Plant3 DNA LA (FEM) 2 Week old 2day (p8-10) topped wiv UB method
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ALL COMMENTS WELCOME