15,000 watts and a few questions. Suggestions?

[Thaniel]

I guess things look okay so far, but I usually start having problems around this time. Today is day 15 of flower, the strain is Hindu Skunk. I probably should have done a lot more pruning. The canopy area is about 15 feet by 13 feet. Are my lights too close? How far should they be from the tops of the plants.

System is a RDWC. I'm using tap water now with Pure blend pro at 15ml/gal plus about 2.5ml/gal of cal mag. PH between 5.8 and 6.2ish. I'm using the drip ph tester because I have had nothing but problems with digital, so I just know I'm around 6.0 for PH.

Temp is about 76 during the day and 70 at night. I have a chiller in the res that keeps it at 70. Plants are fed 15 min on and 15 minutes off all the time via 2 small pumps, and then onto 2 feeders for each plant.

My most happy upgrade was the installation of a regenerative blower instead of all of the stupid air pumps that I used to use. This is so much easier.

 

[Thaniel]

Another question, in that last photo, notice the color difference in a few of those light bulbs that showed up in the photo. Does that mean that they have gone bad and should be replaced?

Thanks!

 

[MedResearcher]

Impressive grow room, very clean. 13 x 15, your close to 75 wpsf with 15k. I think that spacing is fine, gonna get some really big/dense nugs. If the tops start to bleach... then your too close With that much concentrated light though you probably could raise them an extra few inchs to prevent bleaching and still have plenty of light.


How are you controlling the climate, is it Co2 enriched? That much light might be worth it to Co2 enrich, although I think a great saying is... if its not broke... don't fix it..

Nice room all and all

Mr^^

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

shits looking great! put your hand under your lights for one min and see if it burns. I keep my 1000's pretty close, looks like you have the aircooled hoods setup nice so if everything feels ok you should be great. 12-18 inches for a 1000 is what I run depending on needs at the time. I

would think for a grow that size you would know if your lights are at the proper height, but hey maybe you jumped the gun. Also seriously no digitial PH meter? Did you try a bad model? I don't see how you could like drops over 100% accuracy. Watching my PH in my RDWC system is how I monitor food intake and dial strains in. Your girls look happy and healthy, the growth of RDWC is something else isn't it? Keep it up and keep us updated, looks intersting.

 

[Thaniel]

Med, I'm pulling fresh cold air through all of those lights to heat my home. Since its a sealed system, no need to clean that air. As far as keeping temp regulated for the room itself, I'm using a huge filter with blower on a thermostat, which can be seen hanging in the middle of the room. I hate how I have to run an extension cord all the way to the middle of the room, and then hook into it the thermostat control, and then another long extension cord all the way back to the blower, but it is quite effective.

 

[MedResearcher]

If the bulbs have more then 6 months of flowering usage on em, I would swap them out. My yields had dropped a bit from forgetting to change bulbs, put new bulbs in and it came back.

Some people run the same bulbs for years..... but they usually only run 1 lamp not 15. All the work and expenses included in a 15k grow don't skimp yourself with old bulbs imo.

 

[Thaniel]

PK, What do you use for a digital meter? I guess the best one that I had was a blulab, maybe I'll just go pick one of those up. I don't know, I just got used to the fact that drops are consistent, and don't require calibration.

About distance to light, see, I thought that the rule was to get them as damn close as possible, but with my last crop I had stunted top growth, not bleaching. And that I think I blame on light being too intense.

 

[Thaniel]

Also, PK, how exactly do you monitor food intake via PH? I guess if ph rises that means that the plants are eating a lot, yes? These girls seem to be feeding a lot right now as well, because I've had to dump in a lot more nutrient lately in addition to my 15ml/gal in order to keep EC to about 1.5. Maybe it should even be a bit higher?

 

[Orygun]

Man this is beautiful

 

[MedResearcher]

Last suggestion/comment

You didn't mention your humidity. With the growth rates of DWC and the size of canopy, its gonna put a lot of humidity off further along into flowering. Along with the massive size of the colas that will grow. I would suggest to have an overkill ability to keep the RH in check, as far as getting mildew/rot late in flower.

I didn't 100% understand your climate controls, but if you need a Dehumidifier ever. I would suggest the Santa Fe Classic. They work great, well worth the price. I bought 1, then bought a 2nd a couple weeks later since I was so impressed.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I use a smart meter, green colored hand held. With a system like that, throw a countinous meter in the controller

Also why are you feeding on a schedule, why not recirculate 24 hours?

What size air pump you running? I got a pretty god deal on ebay on a 550 watt 450L/min air pump that blast air into my buckets.

I run my chiller to keep the water at 68F, any reason why you don;t lower the temps a hair and increase dissolved oxygen? Or is your chiller keeping it at 70 mean it is running ta capacity to 70?

Awesome setup man, you should make this a show

 

[Thaniel]

As soon as outside temps get a bit warmer, I'm going to have to hook this thing up. Anyone ever used one of these before? I've always hated portable AC's, but I think this is a beast. We'll see. I got it real cheap.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

2 weeks in flower, 1.5 ec, your perfect

If the PH goes up, they are eating faster then drinking, you can add more food.

PH goes down, your nutrients are to high, drop nutrients.

If you want to get nerdy about it you can log each strain at each stage and after a couple run throughs with her you will have her dialed in.

 

[Thaniel]

PK- I don't know, no reason for not recirculating, I guess I thought maybe 15 min on 15 off was a good idea. ?

My chiller will go lower, how about I'll meet you in the middle and go 69?

I'll get a photo of my air pump in a few minutes. Incredible thing it is.

Med- My humidity only seems to be a problem during lights out. I have a hard time keeping it under 70 percent at the moment. When the lights are on, so much air is being pulled through the room that it is no problem, around 53 percent at the moment.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

Well any RDWC I have ever seen recirculates 24/7 Haha 69 is good, just make sure you understand dissolved oxygen, the lower your temps the more dissolved oxygen is available to the plants, and in DWC dissolved oxygen is the name of the game. Dissolved oxygens maximum saturation point is 58F. I am interested in seeing your air pump, when you stated what it was I was stumped. Can you run your air circulation at night as well? Fresh air coming in at night won't hurt them and can help solve your humidity problems a bit.

 

[redonk]

You should get a commercial dehumidifier with plenty of fans to keep the RH in check, those look like some dense bushes. You dont want any PM trouble. I would have circulation fans all over the walls 1-2 per 1k light. maybe a couple in between the rows. Good job.

 

[Thaniel]

Okay PK so the thing about my increased temp was I remember seeing something many years ago from Krusty, and he kept is res temp at 72 or something. I know a lot of people had serious issues with his style, but I guess he also wasn't running a RDWC as we are. Seems that he might have only had a tiny bit of water in the bottom of each of his buckets..

So, this is for you.

 

[Thaniel]

Here is the pump, it's probably similar to yours. I actually have to bleed off air because it blows too much. Maybe I should get bigger airstones. These, by the way from Aquatic Ecosystems are pretty incredible. No clogging yet.

Its a Whitewater 60 from Aquatic Ecosystems, in Florida.

 

[Thaniel]

I keep it in a cooler because it is so damn loud. Because it pulls fresh air into there from the opposite side, it keeps it somewhat cool. Actually, it still is warm, but far from hot. It gets warm regardless of whether it is in the cooler or not. Out of the cooler it sounds like a jet engine.

 

[Thaniel]

PK, the reason I do not pull fresh air into the room during the lights off is that it is simply too damn cold right now. So, I will just be using this dehumidifier for the time being.

Med, how much did one of those Santa Fe's run you? Aren't they a few thousand dollars?