Cloner Additives - Help!

[ganjalfthegreen]

Hello all, Question is, how soon can I add h202, and silica (Grotek Pro Silicate) to a cloner if I am not able to get res temps any lower then 74?... Lowdown on the setup... x2 - 36 site cloning machines /w 300 GPH pumps each, no timers (yet)... Each takes 10L / 2.64 gal to fill just up to bottom of sprayer manifold... Inside an 8x8 tent, under 400w MH, 18" away from tops... Girls planted from seed, now roughly 4", 3rd nodes starting... Outside tent temp is @ 64, Inside tent is 69, Res temps are 74... Running Hollands Secret 3 part Veg nutes at 350 PPM /w R/O... Have been unsuccessful to get the res temps any lower short of freezing water bottles and dropping them. Very sketched about Bacteria, the dreded slime, etc... Have tried pointing portable A/C directly at the side of the units to get temps lower but room gets/is too cold, plus added power costs... Purchased h2o2, read to add 3 ml/gal to res so i halfed that, added, and next morning all girls were yellowed, lost 25% of them... Changed res to plain R/O for a few days, integrated veg nutes back in and now they have recovered... As for silica I cant find much about adding it to cloners, most say 3rd week of veg but thats with cuts, not early stage veg from seed... Any input?

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Sorry i dont know why there were no line breaks, I added them.....now im that guy...

 

[turtle farmer]

When it came to my ez clone,,less is more..
Running straight water worked best until someone here recommended EWC tea in the cloner.
Freezing water bottles helps,but its a pain in the ass..a chiller worked best,but only without anything added to the cloner..adding stuf to the cloner clogged up the chiller.
Get a timer on the cloners,they dont need to run continuos--I use a CAP for 1 minute on and 5 or 10 off,i'd have to look at my notes when i find them..the timer cooled the cloner a lot.
Good luck

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Yeah Im going to order a few timers asap... Its bullshit all the contradictory info I have read in the last few days regarding safe temps.... Ive read the standard "safe" zone is 60-74, anything over 75 is asking for trouble, then i read posts from some "experienced" growers about 68 being far too low and that 69-74 is ideal and no worries about slime so wtf?!?! I understand the lower the temp the better for o2 its just a matter or getting there without adding a chiller and putting the power bill even higher...

Any issues with pumps burning out with running 1 on 5 off or those shorter intervals?

 

[Avinash.miles]

less always has been better for me. i use dip & gro liquid cloner w nothing at all in the cloner res at all.... w great results if water temp stays where its suposed to be...
frozen bottles in the rez is a nice idea to cool it, just stay on it!

 

[vertigo0007]

Ewc tea is excellent. Ice bottles help. Dm zone or physan20 work great too. Plaun water is the key ime. Some use plain well water, i use plain tap. The cycle timer is a must imo. But u dont have to buy an expensive one. Ive been using the same 20$ growcolt timer off ebay for a couple years.

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Thanks vertigo, ill definately look those up. The ice bottles are not an option lol. Tried it out this morning, 10L in the reservoir, one 90% full 500ml frozen bottle, and one hour later it was melted completely, res temp went from 74 to 68... Obviously if i was to add another bottle with the lower temps it would last longer but im not able to sit at the project all day swapping bottles, and certainly not going to drive every couple hours to do so...With a bigger rez, and some frozen 2L well maybe a different story....ill opt to spend cash over waisting time anyday...

 

[Rolledup4s]

I run mine 24/7 and keep the rez around 70. You tried raising the light up or going with a t5? I keep my cloner under a 125w cfl about 12"-16" away.

 

[downtoearth]

When cloning, you really don't need that much light on them. In fact like most people are saying, less is more. I have had better luck with less light in the past. This would also help alleviate your heat build up somewhat. T5's a perfect for this.

 

[Avinash.miles]

my cloner rez runs 24/7

 

[Mtn Dew]

1/2 oz Hormex and a pinch or few drops per gallon of bloom (Phosphurous makes roots) and temps of 70-75F in the res. This always did the trick for me . Folair spray with a drop or two per quart or small pinch of bloom . Trim leaves to allow more humidty to be used from the plant. 18/6 lighting. I use this method with various types of cloning never have issues and see roots in 5-10 days depending if i use rooters/ cubes or aero/bubble cloner. I folair feed my cuts once a day or more til transplanted with the mix . Its so dilute it just keeps them from going yellow and builds a faster root structure

 

[justanotherbozo]

not tryin' to start anything but there are other methods of cloning that don't require ANY of that stuff nor any pumps that can fail and that actually like to be in the 80 degree range.

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=42847&highlight=walmart"]World class cloner new at walmart [/URL]

...i'm a fan of simple.

bozo

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

thanks for all the input.... The light is not the source of the heat, the fact that there is a 300 GPH pump running in only 10 L of water 24/7 is. Problem is now fixed anywho but thanks for all the great input. hard to explain but basically the 2 cloners are side by side, ac is on fan only as room temp is already on the low side, used reflectix like bubble insulation to create an enclosure against the cloners, fan is on medium and forces cold air against the side of the cloners and this has brought the temps from 74 this morning to 68.4 currently. If this was summer, way different story. Planning on purchasing t5s for next round!

 

[downtoearth]

Good deal man. Good luck.

 

[dj.scotfree]

I built my own cloner using rubbermaid totes.. it is a 20 site cloner with up to 3 plants per neoprene collar.. making it a potential 60 site cloner.. I use t5 lamps.. I just use RO water with a drop of superthrive per gallon with a lil Liquid Karma (not sure of amount.. usually half the recommended dose.) I then raise/lower the ph. I usually get roots in 4 days- 2 weeks. Like most of the people say.. less is more! I might be a lil overboard with nutes but it has worked with 98% success for me.. when using healthy cloning stock. I have started to run a timer on my cloner during the summer months. Hope this helps! Peace. DJSF

 

[ThePizzaMan]

If you cannot fathom cloning with another method, which I highly recommend you do....swap the 400w for a T5...get a a real ezcloner or turbo cloner with a bigger reservoir...or make your own(look up stink bud)....get a cycle timer....lower the temperature of your room. You can also brew your own EWC tea...should allow you to run the res at a much higher temp....like over 80f!

Or....you can just sprout your seeds in pots full of coco fiber...and not worry about any of this shit!

You soon find that there really is nothing EZ about ez cloners!

Cheers

TpM

 

[justanotherbozo]

...lol, i remember my bubbler days, ...i had a lot of fun and i learned a lot of stuff but it didn't take too long before i got sick of futzing with the damned thing and just found me a simpler way to go without losing reliability.

...i guess that was some 4 years ago now.

bozo

 

[BrownThumb]

...i'm a fan of simple.
bozo

I dig your creation, very clever and apparently very effective. I probably should have gone this route, but I have never played w/ hydro, so went that route for now. You're smart man, good job!

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

I added an airstone to each of my cloners, put the air pump in the room outside the tent where temps are 64, and was able to cut out the AC fan all together. So long as you have the cold air to draw from I see no need obviously to run a chiller until summer..

 

[justanotherbozo]

I dig your creation, very clever and apparently very effective. I probably should have gone this route, but I have never played w/ hydro, so went that route for now. You're smart man, good job!

while i appreciate the kudo's man the truth is i'm standing on the backs of others who came before me, ...none of that is original to me bro, i just followed in someone else's footsteps (there is a link in that first posting of mine to the original Walmart cloner thread) and there are MANY here on the mag who use the Walmart special for cloning, lol, you can't argue with simple, easy, cheap AND reliable.

...and my bubbler was no better than a hundred others i've seen floating around this site, ...shit, some of them are what inspired me to build my own, lol.

...but that's old news from back in the early days when i was still floundering around learning the basics and trying to find a way to grow that worked for me, back when i was still complicating things rather than simplifying them.

...now i'm just dialing in and learning to tweak my shiznit.

bozo