MWZ's 600w RDWC SCROG White Widdow

[mwz]

Welcome!!

This is where I will detail my new grow. The spec's are as follows:
- 600w HPS w/ cool-tube + fan
- clay balls medium
- Recirculating Deep Water Culture (RDWC) system
- An air pump for each bucket
- DeLonghi Penguino A/C
- carbon filter + inline fan
- 1980's bar bridge w/ plastic fake timber. To be converted into mother chamber.
- Pondering couch.

My last grow yielded 2.5lb dry weight from two unknown sativa clones in a 4.5 month grow. I would like to do a similar yield, but a bit more efficiently. Here's some pics

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[mwz]

The system



The pondering couch,
where much thinking is done
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[mwz]

At the moment, I am concentrating on improving the ventilation. I'm adding a cool tube to the 600w to control the summer temps better. I've also added an air conditioner / dehumidifier. I'm going to run a SCROG net too. The nutrients are the Canna suite including boost. The beans are White Widow normal from Nirvana seeds.

I'm in the process of thinking up a way to automatically top up my system with water.

 

[lazy gardener]

get it done son! shit yielded a boat load, goood job I'm jealous

 

[mwz]

Cannabutter, made from all of the leaves from both trees
. .

Some pics of my new fan and cooltube
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[mwz]

Veg & <2w Flower
TANK
Canna Vega
Flairform - PythOff (http://www.flairform.com/Products/pythoff.htm)
Flairform - Silka Magic (http://www.flairform.com/Products/silikamajic.htm)

FOLIAR
Seasol - organic seaweed concentrate
Rhizotonic

>2w Flower
TANK
Flairform - Silka Magic
Canna Flores
Cannazyme
Canna PK14
Canna Boost (I bought a liter today!)


My plan is to foliar hard during veg.

PythOff is a chlorine additive. I'm going to use it during veg because you're not supposed to use Cannazyme until week three. I'm going to flush the system and switch to cannazyme for flower. I'm a bit paranoid about root rot, so I think it's best to be cautious and take a preventative approach. The other benefit is that Rhizotonic is much more economical to foliar apply.

I'm currently building a reserve tank, which through a float device will automatically top up my system on a daily basis. The top up will be purely with plain water. I need to limit the amount of times I need to go to my grow space. I feel that by only carrying water in 3 times per grow, as opposed to 12 times per grow, will significantly lower my chance of being noticed.

 

[NKOTS]

hi there

nice setup, looks like a lot has been thought through on that couch!

got two Qs if you don't mind:

1. i am a hydro ignorant rabbit so could you explain in simple words how the RDWC differs from classic DWC?

2. what do you think about that fan? i know you probably like it since you bought it but could you please share some info about its efficiency, power consumption and noise?

happy growing

 

[mwz]

Hey Rabbit! Welcome to the thread

Recirculating Deep Water Culture is a system which is a hybrid of the DWC and recirculating top feeding systems.

Recirculating top feeding systems pump water up to the medium, where it drains by gravity back to the reservoir. The roots sit in the medium. There is no air pump.

Deep water culture systems have a small amount of medium, which the plant sits in. Roots drop down into liquid charged with dissolved oxygen. There is no water pump.

RDWC fuses the two together. The root ball sits in the top pot, which is filled with medium. Water is pumped up and drip fed to the plant. The water trickles down, into the bottom pot. When the roots are long enough, they drop down and sit in the pot. The water in the pot is charged with dissolved oxygen, added by a continuous running air pump. The action of pumping the water up top also mixes the nutrient and adds dissolved oxygen when the water splashes down back into the bottom pot.

The advantage of this system is that the growth in early veg is more efficient and semi automated in comparison with hand watering DWC. Another advantage is that if either pump fails, there is a backup air or water pump which can run until the situation is rectified. Although, you could say that running twice the amount of pumps increases your likelihood of pump failure. When the roots hit the bottom pot, the growth is explosive.

A major downside to the system, is that it is complicated in comparison to DWC. I quite enjoy using this type of system and I can't see myself swapping to anything else, with the exception of aquaculture. However that's a whole new kettle of fish!!

The fan specifications are as follows:
The fan is a Blauberg Turbo 150. It's a new German fan my local hydro shop is trialling. He gave it to me for the price of regular fan (200), so I'm going to give it a go! I quite like how it has two speeds.

Max Speed
552m^3/h
320 Pa
2450 r.p.m.
0.34 A
230~50 V/Hz
76 W
33 dB @ 3m

Min Speed
467m^3/h
275 Pa
2350 r.p.m.
0.24 A
230~50 V/Hz
54 W
27 dB @ 3m
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The fan is going to get hooked up to the carbon filter. Here's a pic of my carbon filter, light fan and air con.

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[EastCoastHaze]

Very nice thread for sure. Detailed as a mofo and that's the,type of threads I like to see. 2 1/2 p off that 600W is mint. I use to run dwc a few years back and been thinking of doing it again. Can't wait to see these white widows in full,bloom.

Count me in for the ride.
Subbed

E.C. Haze

 

[Synthesis]

This is a very intelligent set up and is sure to give you massive yields

Keep us posted with the pix - cheers!

 

[ozzieAI]

i will be watching this one...good luck with it

 

[mwz]

Thanks for the kind words I hope you enjoy the show!

While 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' is good advice, I think 'if you can make improvements, then do so!' is better!

While you can cut corners, with regards to ventilation, it will bite you in the long run. Up to now I have been plagued with poor ventilation over summer. I've spent a considerable amount of time, money and energy ensuring I can keep a perfect climate all year round.

The ducts were pulled as tight as possible. I also used steel collars where I could to ensure the ducting was pulled tight. I also used 'Y' connectors. The air con dumps into the exhaust, it's all connected together. Its quite complex, reason being I didn’t want to jigsaw holes in the roof. As I rent, I want to minimize the amount of fixing I need to do to the room.

This is a before of my ventilation.



These pics are the after!

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[mwz]

All living organisms exist within theoretical sets of environmental parameters known as fundamental niches. In nature, plants and animals never reach their true potential, instead existing within a subset of the fundamental niche, known as the realized niche.

Indoor gardening is interesting because you can control the environmental parameters, and grow the plants close to their fundamental niches. So, what parameters are in a niche?

The many parameters of a plant include pH, amount of light, intensity of light, amount of nutrients, medium stability, temperature, humidity, susceptibility to pests, requirements for carbon from running the fans etc etc

Each of these parameters have an upper and lower range, in which the plant will happily grow. If you go outside of this range, for any parameter, the plant will suffer. This can be tested by pouring highly acidic liquid on your plants.

This is the concept I am using for my current grow, both in it's design and implementation. I've thought of what my plants need in quantifiable terms, then I ensure those needs are met. I measure the parameters to keep a track of them.

 

[mwz]

Ready to roll. Will be germinating the beans next week

To do:
- buy new hoses for system
- buy net for scrog. Note to self: I allready have timber
- install inlet ventilation (purchase parts from home depot)
- get light and fan installed on mother chamber
- buy bricks to jack up tank and pots

 

[NKOTS]

Ready to roll. Will be germinating the beans next week

hi there

very nice, looks like you got everything sorted out! happy growing!

 

[Able Mind]

Nice freekin setup man... real clean.. pulling up a chair...

 

[mwz]

Popcorn bud is awesome for rolling cigar joints!!!! A few layers of tobacco on the outside and green on the inside, makes for a nice cigar to share with friends. It smokes like a cigar, isnt as strong, so you can take massive puffs to really enjoy the act of smoking. It also smokes really well with a glass of 18 year old scotch

 

[noyd666]

got ya lol. howdy mwz, looking cool again.

 

[[]310TEC[]]

interesting construction i wish you many fun and good workin'
i will lookin

 

[mwz]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]And we are off to an excellent start Thanks for the kind words guys, I hope you enjoy the thread!

Success! Both White Widow seeds germinated in under two days.

[/FONT]

Critical factors for germination are optimal humidity and temperature. There's a range for both. I keep my relative humidity at 90-100% and my temperature at 27 Degree Celsius.

A thick grey wool like material sits between the base of the humidity crib and the heat mat. This material must be kept wet for the thermostat to work correctly. I drench this once per day and the moisture slowly heats and evaporates into the humidity crib.

The germination medium I am using are 1.5 inch rock wool cubes. I soaked the cubes in de-mineralised water with a pH of 5.5 for five hours prior to seeding. I poked the hole with a pencil to widen it. Then placed the seed in pointy end down, ripped off a tiny piece of rockwool from the side and losely covered the hole with it.

When the seedlings poke their heads out of the top of the medium, I will cut back the humidity.
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