Secret Rooms Bio Bucket Closet

[BigToke]

…………the fact your ppms is climbing has nothing to do with your tap-water ~ remember I did say that if you did not use a float valve that there would be no way to stabilize your ppms, the fact is there are many reason that your ppms are climbing:

• Evaporation…….
• Plants taking up more water than nutrients………that’s normal.
• Float valve offers added stability that otherwise cannot be achieved.

R/O water is just fine………..but imo not as good as tap-water in most cases and will not solve your problems, you have done a fine job in the construction of your Bio-System, now all you need to do is just finish the final stage of it and things will run a lot better for you ~ well what every you do Secret I’m sure you will do just fine………..I’m just trying to help out. That’s a good update and from what I can see most of them looks to be kicking in now.

 

[Secret Room]

Big Toke>>> Your probably right on having the float valve set up to keep it stabilized. The Rubber Maid tub is not real stable and I am concerned about when I put the frozen bottles in that I will cause problems with the rise in the water stressing the container where the float valve is located.I need to get a chiller and add the float valve where there won't be any variation in water level.(that will be down the road the next grow or two) until then I will have to make do.
I also have to get my cloning down because the best plant is the one clone that made it which I have to get a clone from to get another mother plant. The other dirt grown plants just are not as healthy they were stressed by the transition. All in all they are growing at least. When is a good time to switch them to 12/12 I don't think these Paradise strains have much stretch.

 

[BigToke]

Haya Secret ~ I understand the problems that your having but it looks as thou your doing your best and I hope thing work out for the next few grows I do, that way you can get the things that ya need ~ as for the switching to 12/12 I’m not sure on the height of your closet it looks like eight foot? If so, it has been my experience in the Bio-Buckets and in the strains that I have grow that they never really stop growing………………..they will go though a two week starching period and after that they will not do to much growing but they continue to grow somewhat right up until the end unless you use some type of growth regulator that will stop the grow of the plant were you want it…………………if it were me I would flower at 14 to 16 inches and you should end up with a two & half foot plait with some really nice buds on it

 

[rule35sub1]

I have the same rez that you have, it can take it. I have mine bowing out like mad and no problems at all. It is a tough container. I also went through the whole adding frozen 2 liter bottles to drop temps, pain in the butt that is.
Since I added an AC to the grow, no more temp probs.

 

[BigToke]

Hows about another little update Secret on how things are going…………..

 

[Secret Room]

Big Toke>>> Here's your update: PPM700 it's been 700 - 750 today it's a solid 700 I have not added anything except R/O bottled water. I'm trying to get my PPM down. They are looking healthy, when I added the epson salt{in the beginning} to try to get the magnesium up, it's perhaps still lingering in the water. PH 5.9
water temps are around 70 - 74 depend on time of day between ice packs. I have to take cuttings today to get replacement mother plants. I hope the Nebula's are female they have settled in. At last the little runt is starting to show new leaf growth, I think it is just too late I might veg another week before flipping to 12/12. Just noticed that my elicent fan is not blowing as strong as I think it can.I have adjusted the fan control to full and it does not seem to be putting out the cfm like it should. Maybe my fan controller is defective or it not the right one for it. It's rated 5amp. I will later take it off and wire the fan back direct again and see if it's the controller or the fan.

 

[Guest]

SR-

The problem with your blower might not be the blower or controller. There are a lot of other factors that affect air flow. The more resistance to air flow, the less efficient the fan will be.

What do you have the fan pulling and blowing through? The carbon filter (how thick is the layer), flexible ducting or smooth, ducting diameter, length of the ducting, is the ducting straight or does it have a lot of curves/kinks? Flexible ducting reduces air flow about a 25% compared to smooth. Every turn and bend in the ducting reduces air flow that much more. The longer the ducting is, the less air flow. The smaller diameter of the ducting, the less air flow.

I am using 7" diameter sheet metal type ducting with 2 45 degree bends between the blower and the exhaust hole. The length of the ducting is about 6' total. I have a 2" layer of carbon that the air is pulled through.

It is more efficient to pull the air through the carbon filter than to push it.

If you have one blower trying to handle lights, carbon filter, garden, and a fair distance of ducting, you may need to add a booster fan to the system. These are the inexpensive in-line fans you can get at Home dePot or Lowes; they are designed to take already moving air in the duct and help it along.

 

[Bonzo]

wooohooo SR, looks like things are startin to take off a bit there. so cool! Youll get all the little kinks that are left worked out. Its hard biuldin a totally new system and gettin it spot on the first time,i think your doin a mighty fine job so far. Keep it up and stay vigilant and there gonna go crazy!

peace

bonz

 

[Secret Room]

Well I sprung a leak{drainage coupler location} with one of the buckets in front, good thing for the shut off valves. What I did was just stick the runt in it and place the larger plant in the other bucket it was in originally. I might put a air stone in it and just exchange water once or twice a day. I'll change out the bucket when this grow is done.

Ambre>>> It might be O.K. the fan I have it on full and it's cooling good enough. It might be my imagination that it's not blowing as good as I remembered.

Bonzo>>> I can see that the strong clone I put in is really growing fast. I can see if I had 4 more clones that were equal it would have been a amazing grow. It's a good learning experience, I have made mistakes but I am learning from them. This is a wonderful forum here lots of good advice, we are all able to learn from one another and share our experiences with growing.

Added the air pump and a air stone and will turn the water valve on once or twice a day to freshen the water.

 

[sysprog]

Great progress SecretR, things are definitely coming together!

 

[Secret Room]

Another update: The little runt is showing life. One of the Nebula's just never really took off after rinsing the roots and placing in bucket. I don't know if I'm going to flip to 12/12 Sunday 13th or Tuesday. I have been spraying a bloom booster supplement which the directions say to start 5 days before changing to bloom and 10 days into the switch.

 

[Secret Room]

Update: Timers on 12/12 now. Changed bulb from 600 SolarMax conversion to a Sylvania GroLux HPS bulb. I took out 18 gallons of water cleaned out tank and replaced with R/O water. Using Lucas Formula brought the nutes to 1050 on the 700 scale or 750 on the 500 scale EC of 1.5. PH is 5.9. Are the nutrients high enough for bloom cycle or do they need to be higher????

 

[Guest]

I'm joining late but that's cool, just read from the start...great thread. Great job building the system and best of luck with the grow! I'll be watching as these babies put some flowers on

 

[Guest]

On factor 7 conversion, my TDS for flowering is around 1150-1200.

 

[BigToke]

Using Lucas Formula brought the nutes to 1050 on the 700 scale or 750 on the 500 scale EC of 1.5. PH is 5.9. Are the nutrients high enough for bloom cycle or do they need to be higher????

lets see if I got this right, you dumped eighteen gallons and put fresh back in and put your ppms at 1050 that sounds good to me ~ I usually bring it up a little each day for the first two to three weeks and find just how much they can stand each strain is different and will tolerate ppms at different levels.

 

[Secret Room]

Update: ppm 1120 PH around 5.9
2 of the Nebula's ended up being male
Good news is the runt Sativa Spirit is making a comeback. So I have 1.25 Sativa Spirits and 1 Nebula.

 

[HOVAH]

they all look really good Secret , keep on keeping it on...
1HOVAH

 

[BigToke]

Niccccce way to go Secret………

 

[2buds]

Good Job SR! A lot a hard work going on there. Merry Christmas all, I'm kinda politically incorrect these days!

 

[Secret Room]

Thank you Hovah, Big Toke & 2buds on your compliments, here is another picture update: 21 days at 12/12
pic 1 is Sativa Spirit runt pic 2 is Nebula pic 3 is Sativa Spirit
The Sativa Spirit as soon as lights flipped it just started to fill in. The Nebula stretched and is now filling in. The runt is doing well it was not topped like the other two. The nutrients have been between 1120 and 980 depending on the topping of the tank with water.