SpoCannabis
Active member
Well... the title sums it up - I'm back again in the midst of the ICMag Forums. Hopefully here to stay for good this time...lol. For some reason, in the past I have been very active for periods of time and then completely inactive online for others. Either way, a lot has changed since my last posted grow log, to say the least!! After being part of a larger scale operation where we developed new ideas/methods on how to improve Blazeoneup's recirc DWC for larger scale growing, I have since changed all of my smaller grows to these new style systems as well. Bringing these improvements to these recirc DWC style systems has exponentially improved almost all aspects of the grow cycle. Hoping to share this all with you, and look forward to your comments/suggestions =). I will try and be as detailed as possible, but please, if you have questions feel free to ask.The first room that I will be logging was constructed inside a traditional 2 car garage, in a split level style home. The room dimensions are approx 10x24 (cant remember the exact measurements off top of my head, but i will update with corrected dimensions). For explanation/reference purposes, we will refer to this grow as HOUSE C or C HOUSE. (Yes, there is A & B as well that I will be logging later, and I will most likely refer to them by these names, just an FYI so I don't lose ya when Im posting about something). There is no veg room on site for this grow - rooted clones are brought in, vegged, and then flipped to the bloom cycle. This is obviously not ideal, and we are working to build a dedicated veg room for this grow that will support somewhat of a perpetual.
It just happen to be a matter of luck that the main fuse box for the home was right in the area we had intended to frame off for the grow room. The (6) 1kw HPS lights are powered by an 8 light HID light controller wired into a dedicated 50A circuit; controlled by a digital timer. The ballasts are all NextGen 240v digital ballasts, mounted to the ceiling; the bulbs I can't remember which, but they are designed for a digital ballast. We used (6) "BlockBuster" 8" air-cooled hoods; the orientation is two rows of 3 lights. Two Main movers, and four "trolly" movers, all on 6ft tracks. All the ventilation piping between lights is hard-pipe round metal HVAC piping (flex tube used elsewhere); this really helps airflow, as well as overall structural support for light system. Mounted to the ceiling is Can150 carbon filter, and for air movement we have chosen a Vortex 8".
We are currently getting away with using a 9K BTU air conditioner with temps ranging 78-80 during the 24 hour light cycle. During the summer months, we switch to a 12K BTU unit that seems to keep the temps in our desired ranges. Our passive intakes are located near the floor on the wall that is adjacent to the unused area of garage. We have several wall-mounted oscillating fans for air movement. During the flowering stages, we also move in modular cages that we have built and use on all of our grows.
All of the system is hard pipe PVC/ABS pipe; even the feed and air lines. Each bucket is raised off the ground, with a 2x6 wood frame for support, and to reduce used ground space. The main 3" drain is located directly under the 5gallon bucket and connected via 2" powerhead through bottom center of bucket; and each row (4) of 3" line/buckets is then connected to the front main, which is then connected to the controller. Each bucket was built with unions on both ends of the 3" drain pipe - allowing us to change the configuration of the system in the event of a change in "venue" - i.e. no wasted parts during tear down and setup. At the end of each row (4 rows of 6 plants), we have installed a spicket for hose attachment for top watering; and also an inline water pump for easy drain/refill during flushes, etc. The feed lines and air lines are all 3/4"; I will post some good pictures that display exactly how nutes/air are delivered. For nutrient delivery, we are using a MagDrive 900gph pump, located within our 27gallon "tuff box" controller (raised off ground with wooden frame). The RO water supply comes directly through the wall via ABS piping and shutoff valves, from our "wash room" which contains the RO filter and (3) 55gal RO water rez's.
For air delivery, we have done away COMPLETELY with the traditional air pumps, as they do not efficiently supply proper air on a larger scale operation. What did we come up with??......... SPA PUMPS!! Lol
These things are amazing, and relatively inexpensive as well!! You can pick up a real nice one for about $120. They can run on either 120 or 240 and pump A LOT of air!! In fact, our 1HP unit that powers this room, has to be turned down with router controller to LOW, otherwise it will easily blast the water completely out of the buckets hahaha!! The only real downside to these pumps that we have found is that they are somewhat loud, so if super stealth is your gameplan, these aren't for you. However, they aren't extremely loud - you cannot hear anything standing outside the garage door. We have found that the plastic housing units, like the Spa Twister are much quieter than the metal housing units. ALSO, we have come to find out that because these units are designed to run for short periods of time, and not 24/7, they have a tendency to burn up if you don't cycle them. We have since put them all on a Digital Recycling Timer (DRT) on a 45minute ON / 15minute OFF schedule that seems to work really well.Ok, I'm sure some of you are sick of reading all this info, and want to get straight to the "Cliffs Notes" section & pictures, so here ya go!! Let me know if you have any questions/comments/suggestions... thanks for stopping in!!
System Specs
- 24 x 5gal buckets
- 27gal controller
- 55gal rez connected via float valve
- MagDrive 900gph pump running 24/7
- SpaTwister 1HP Spa Pump (running on DRT 45/15)
- 9,000btu portable A/C
- Can150 carbon filter w/ 8" Vortex pulling through filter/lights and into "y" with A/C and outside
- (6) NextGen Digital 240v Ballasts
- (6) "BlockBuster" 8" air-cooled hoods
- 8-Light HID Controller
- RO Filter w/ (3) 55gal Rez's
- Sentinel 8 site propane burner for co2, controlled auto via PPM
- Black/White Poly "treatment"
- (6) Light Rails w/ 2 motorized units / 4 trollies
Room Dimensions - 10' x 24' (APPROX)
I'm still running the Botanicare line -- Pure Blend Pro (Grow/Bloom), Liquid Karma, AquaShield, CalMag, and Clearex for flushes (every 2 weeks). I switched out Botanicare's Sweet for Humboldt Honey, which I am confident is a superior product. I have also added Gen Hydro's SubCulture-B & SubCulture-M which really makes the roots explode nicely, and a 10ml per gallon dose of 3% H202 which helps the roots absorb the dissolved oxygen in the water, and also helps prevents bad bacteria from developing. Still using BUSHMASTER for the stretch and GRAVITY for bud hardening in late bloom.
We are currently three days away from the end of a 5 week veg cycle (root pics were taken during first week of cycle). This is also very unsual for us when growing in this system; we typically see a 3 week veg cycle. However, on this run due to a shortage in rooted clones instead of using soilless hydro rooted clones as we normally do, we were forced to use soil clones that we opted to transplant into 3gal smart pots. We then put the smartpots into the 6" netted pot lid, covered with small layer of Hydroton, and top fed nutrient solution daily until a solid root mass grew out of the bag/netpot and into the bucket.
Strains
- Querkle
- Dairy Queen
- Agent Orange
- Strawberry Honey
- Diesel Maui Dawg
- Jack Herer
- Jilly Bean
- Vortex
- Cheesequake
- Pink Moon
- Purple Mr. Nice
- The Truth
- Afgoo
- 91 ChemDawg x Bubbleberry
That's about all I can think of at the moment... I'm sure I've forgotten some things, but hopefully the pictures can help out as well - sorry for the poor image quality, I didn't have my nice camera with me. Thanks again for visitin!!
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So happy to see you!!!
