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Big John's Trees

Big John

Big John

Member
I picked up an infrared thermometer and tested my leaf surface temps. Good news is it looks like the leaf surface temps are averaging around 6-7 degrees cooler than the readings off the thermometer/hygrometers I've been using. It's a cool little tool for sure, will have to do some testing to make sure it's accurate.
 
D

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
holding out on me, eh? i found this by accident!

very nice job on the build and engineering!

i think 4 tailpieces is right for that volume. you may have to add a little more pump capacity.

i don't cruise forums much anymore. i check "my posts" for updates there but now that i've posted here i'll see it.

i own 2 of the analog green air recycle timers and they work ok but the sentinel drt-1 or the new equivalent is what you want.

precision adjustments in seconds.

i've been running one in the flower room for about 10 months.

those are some huge containers and i think you'll find about 4.5-5" of media depth to be about right.

with screened turface i'm finding a full flood every 90 minutes keeps the medium nearly ideal.

good luck and thank you for trying this!

d9
 
Big John

Big John

Member
Icdog which digital timer? I've got to get another recycle.

delta9nxs said:
holding out on me, eh? i found this by accident!

very nice job on the build and engineering!

i think 4 tailpieces is right for that volume. you may have to add a little more pump capacity.

i don't cruise forums much anymore. i check "my posts" for updates there but now that i've posted here i'll see it.

i own 2 of the analog green air recycle timers and they work ok but the sentinel drt-1 or the new equivalent is what you want.

precision adjustments in seconds.

i've been running one in the flower room for about 10 months.

those are some huge containers and i think you'll find about 4.5-5" of media depth to be about right.

with screened turface i'm finding a full flood every 90 minutes keeps the medium nearly ideal.

good luck and thank you for trying this!

d9
Click to expand...

What took you so long :biggrin: All the thanks go to you for pioneering this system d9! It would be an honor to have you following along.

The timer is not so precise, I think it's about 2 hours off time right now. I'd love to get a better digital timer and a bigger pump/res and switch these ones to a veg ppk setup. I ought to do that soon or my schedule will fall off before it even gets started.

The medium depth is about 2" from the lip, so probably 5-6" deep.
 
SecondAttempt

SecondAttempt

Active member
Big John said:
You know, it might not have the professional greenhouse look of the sentinel drt-1, but it has all the features I need. I may have to order one and test it out. Good find man.
Click to expand...

That timer looks good... I have a Art-de or whatever it is and the knobs aren't very accurate...

The mistking looks okay but only 8 events a day means feed every 3 hours max. I'm feeding every 2 right now.

So much good tech out there for us though if we just keep looking/sharing our finds.
 
Big John

Big John

Member
SecondAttempt said:
That timer looks good... I have a Art-de or whatever it is and the knobs aren't very accurate...

The mistking looks okay but only 8 events a day means feed every 3 hours max. I'm feeding every 2 right now.

So much good tech out there for us though if we just keep looking/sharing our finds.
Click to expand...

Yeah that part about the mist king is a bummer, otherwise it sounded great. Just think, if it had enough events you could program your night cycle floods for a longer interval than with lights on. Wait wait, I got it! Wire up a 12 hour timer to a DPDT relay, each of the leads goes to a mist king, then split your pumps power wire, one to each mist king. And then... ok this may be getting a little too complicated :p

I love how the vert forum is like one big think tank, everyone putting their heads together and trying to figure out solutions and come up with new ideas. My grow would look a whole lot different without y'all.
 
Big John

Big John

Member
14 days flowering update

It's getting crazy in here.

They're drinking a ton. Control reservoir EC is around 1.0 mS, bulk res .4 mS. The PH seems to self buffer in the system to the low 5s, though the bulk res is around 6.5-7.

I'm thinking they could keep stretching for another 2 weeks. Here's some comparison photos from 7 days to give you an idea of the growth rate.

View from the door at 7 days flowering.

picture.php

View image in gallery​


View from the door at 14 days flowering.

You might remember this photo from a page or so ago taken at 7 days of BD #2.

Here she is at 14 days.
 
icdog

icdog

Member
Big John said:
You know, it might not have the professional greenhouse look of the sentinel drt-1, but it has all the features I need. I may have to order one and test it out. Good find man.
Click to expand...

Ya, let me know if you get one and how it works. They are hard to find in Canada.
 
forkup

forkup

Member
Dunno how I overlooked this but damn nice op man. Killer setup, I like the big tubs! The drt-1 is expensive for a timer but should last a long time and it makes adjustments sooo easy. The temp gun will allow you to plug leaf temps into the vpd formula giving you more accurate results.
 
Big John

Big John

Member
disciple said:
could also be that the pH drop in system vs. bulk res is showing water being taken up at a greater rate than nutes (or evaporation with that massive media surface area)... not too significant as it seems the continual fresh solution topping up via the float valve is keeping things nice and in check.

Ok so again your garden looks great!!

if, when you look at it in person, you see any leaves clawing down a bit (both edges of leaf curling down plus the whole leaf curling downwards from the petiole/leaf stem).... kind of skinny look... and if you do see this and want to find out whether you can get those leaves to flatten out.... you could dial down the ec in your bulk tank.

that happens in this type of system if you have hot temps or super hot nutes (high ppm - which does not appear to be the case). the big difference between your input and what you find in the system might have something to do with hot temps in the garden... water is in high demand and there's only so far you can dial back ppm before it messes things up with high light... as full bud set kicks in the gap between input ppm and solution ppm should narrow and the pH will stabilize closer to 6... if you have a way to increase CO2 right now... you could do that.
Click to expand...


I think all recirculating hydro systems would climb in EC if you addback at the same EC throughout. Any evaporation from the turface is probably a good thing with the relatively low RH (and high VPD) in the room.

There's definitely some leaf clawing and tip curl going on. The room is actively exhausted so increasing co2 would be difficult. Thanks for the tip man, I will see what dropping the ppms does. Just topped off the bulk res with plain water, put it at .22mS, will see where that gets to in a few days.

It's been hot as hades out here lately but I've gotten the room temps a little more under control. Right now it's ranging between 72 and 82, though it briefly hit 90 a few days ago.

I'm really hating this cap art-dne timer, it is inconsistent. I will have to replace it asap, probably try out the CT-1.
 
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