big plant ppk

[farmari]

Farmari, why not not then use a water pump/air pump, opposed to manually doing so?

Tom I'm not sure what you mean? Maybe I misspoke earlier. I use pumps to move water. What would an air pump be for?

And no, res changes aren't necessary whether it's DWC or PPK but I'm not aware of what the PPK does that makes res changes any less necessary than other forms of hydro... if someone could explain it to me then please do!

 

[TerpeneTom]

I referenced your prior post. You stated that you drain the 55 gallon drum occasionally by hand to mix it up. Figured you could use something more automated and frequent, although I do understand it costs energy.

Would the continuous circulation be advantageous? Would the benefit outweigh the cost? I have considered implementing an aquarium filter within my ppk reservoir for continuous circulation and cleansing.

 

[farmari]

I referenced your prior post. You stated that you drain the 55 gallon drum occasionally by hand to mix it up. Figured you could use something more automated and frequent, although I do understand it costs energy.

Would the continuous circulation be advantageous? Would the benefit outweigh the cost? I have considered implementing an aquarium filter within my ppk reservoir for continuous circulation and cleansing.

Sorry, please ignore that post then because I didn't mean to say that. I don't have any 55gals, I wish I did! I was suggesting it as something possibly helpful but have had no personal experience with.

What I do have personal experience doing is periodically using a water pump to move the solution out of my PPK system into a few extra totes, and immediately pumping the solution back into the system to remix it. But it was kind of dumb for me to mention that because it's not really a useful suggestion for anyone using a saturation flood pulse feed, as it probably already circulates the solution more than enough to alleviate possible imbalances of ph/ppms between individual buckets and the res.

Maybe you could add a filter to the pump in your res? So the solution would flow from pump to filter to feed tubing. I have one of those inline irrigation filters but the fittings wouldn't match up. But if your feed lines are 1/2" diameter or more then I wouldn't worry about it. You could set up a dedicated filter but it would be totally unnecessary in most circumstances.

 

[Snook]

Hey, i've been remiss on my following of D9s PPK threads.. I see he hasn't posted since December.. did I miss something? i'm reading some that is or maybe was, contrary to his findings an explanations and all his pictures are gone (again) from this thread. if its not for posting here, please PM me..

 

[flat9]

Snook look back a page.... I posted pics of his most recent build.

 

[Snook]

Snook look back a page.... I posted pics of his most recent build.

flat9 I do not need help or pictures with PPKs been onem for years since first PPK thread.. you and others have deviated from what D9 has taught.. trying to make it better I hope but more like muddying the water. don't like to be/sound like a dick but.. hydroton? and rez changes? pumps to turn over rez juice? wheres that coming from.. not D9. sounds like wholesalers trying to infiltrate...

 

[flat9]

What the heck are you talking about?

 

[flat9]

Dude I am using the exact build D9 used for his big plant ppk with the most updated tailpiece. If you want to convince yourself otherwise, that's your prerogative, but it's pretty nutty.

 

[flat9]

flat9 I do not need help or pictures with PPKs been onem for years since first PPK thread.. you and others have deviated from what D9 has taught.. trying to make it better I hope but more like muddying the water. don't like to be/sound like a dick but.. hydroton? and rez changes? pumps to turn over rez juice? wheres that coming from.. not D9. sounds like wholesalers trying to infiltrate...

Yeah still utterly confused. I'm using Napa Floor Dry (#8822) after a thorough wash, cycle timers, etc. Everything is exactly the same as D9, less the fact that I use standard hydro parts (3/4" grommets to make seals, 3/4" vinyl tube, barb fittings, 3/4" manifolds, etc.) whereas he uses garden hose, Carlon liquidtight fittings, and Carlon conduit boxes. The actual functionality, however, is precisely the same.

I'll gladly help you out if you have any questions, as will others on this board who have used similar builds, like Desert Hydro. But try to do some homework first...

 

[TerpeneTom]

Hello,

Would implementing an aquarium water heater be beneficial if my water temperature was below 72 degrees or so? I know d9 posted saying plants grow significantly slower when exposed to low water temperatures, but didn't learn what temperature would be ideal within the PPK unit?

Also, what temperature is ideal for dissolving/mixing nutrient salts? My water comes out of the R/O unit at around 66 degrees, so I do intend upon acquiring a 25 W aquarium heater for the initial mixture of salts.

Thanks!

 

[TerpeneTom]

How does d9 germinate seedlings? Would rockwool suffice? For I would be transplanting the cube as well into the ppk module.

 

[flat9]

The roots here are not the same as the water-type roots in NFT or DWC. Even if they were the same, in those systems you have to get below 60 F to start causing an problems in my experience (I did RDWC before). In a PPK, the perched water table level will be in the bucket below the tray itself, and as such the roots will be absorbing nutrients from the media (which wicks up moisture) rather than being soaked in a nutrient solution as in the former methods, so I doubt the nute solution temp really matters that much. Also, for me, the nute temp doesn't deviate from the ambient temp of 65 F lights off to 80 F lights on (these temps what keep my girls happy ... I'm not running CO2), so I wouldn't need a heater anyway.

Germinate any way you like ... won't matter as long as there are roots when you throw it in the system. Ideally, though, you want to have a nice proven mother plant to take clones with. If you look back in the thread (search for 'meristem') you'll read that D9 took huge tops of his mother plant and cloned them directly in the PPK (there used to be some great pics but he took them all down, frustratingly). I'm just cloning in coco solo cups because this way has never failed for me (whereas a DWC cloner I made didn't work well at all). I'm throwing solo cup clones right into the system, figuring 16 oz of coco won't hurt anything in roughly 6-7 gallons of 8822.

I'll upload some pics soon, as this thread is seriously depressing without the pics!

 

[TerpeneTom]

Thanks, flat9.

Amen about the pictures, if I had not built the unit at the time I did (when pictures were available) I would not have been capable of doing so.

 

[flat9]

Here are pics of the growth rates I'm experiencing, and this is my very first PPK run. Well, first successful one, anyway! I tried building it before in December but growth was pretty stagnant... I think it was due to me not sufficiently washing the 8822 because I gave the medium another very good wash and tried again.... now things are rolling pretty well on par with DWC growth rates.

Anyway, the pics are of phantom cookies at days 01 (rooted clone), day 09, day 18, and day 28. A few pages back I think I said the third pic was day 16 but I miscalculated now that I look at at it. Anyway, as of day 28 (yesterday) she was about 24" tall. I think I'll let her go another few days here and flower her.

FYI, that's a BSLED SP112D-315W unit (same thing basically as Hydrogrowled Penetrator Pro 189x) ... actual draw with kill-a-watt meter was about 275 watts.

 

[TerpeneTom]

Does anyone inoculate their media (turface) within the ppk with compost teas?

Thanks for the pics, falt9.

I just purchased some Floranova Bloom for charging my rockwool with prior to sowing.

 

[Kiloz]

Here are pics of the growth rates I'm experiencing, and this is my very first PPK run. Well, first successful one, anyway! I tried building it before in December but growth was pretty stagnant... I think it was due to me not sufficiently washing the 8822 because I gave the medium another very good wash and tried again.... now things are rolling pretty well on par with DWC growth rates.

Anyway, the pics are of phantom cookies at days 01 (rooted clone), day 09, day 18, and day 28. A few pages back I think I said the third pic was day 16 but I miscalculated now that I look at at it. Anyway, as of day 28 (yesterday) she was about 24" tall. I think I'll let her go another few days here and flower her.

FYI, that's a BSLED SP112D-315W unit (same thing basically as Hydrogrowled Penetrator Pro 189x) ... actual draw with kill-a-watt meter was about 275 watts.

Dude thats some one impressive bush you got there!

 

[TerpeneTom]

Could someone recommend a piece of equipment for effectively and efficiently raising humidity within a 4X4X7 tent? I have a household humidifier, but that is not sufficiently reaching the 70% that is needed (from ~30% ambient, and after the pulse alongside the humidifier comes to ~45%).

I've heard Foggers, but I'm not certain that would be feasible within a 4X4X7 tent?

Thanks.

 

[Snook]

Could someone recommend a piece of equipment for effectively and efficiently raising humidity within a 4X4X7 tent? I have a household humidifier, but that is not sufficiently reaching the 70% that is needed (from ~30% ambient, and after the pulse alongside the humidifier comes to ~45%).

I've heard Foggers, but I'm not certain that would be feasible within a 4X4X7 tent?

Thanks.

here is the humidifier i'm using. It might be the fogger you speak of : http://www.thehydroponicstore.com/centrifugal-humidifier-hr-15/

it puts out allot of water. (can its' volume output be controlled by a rheostat?? I do not know)

you must also have a controller to turn it on and off when RH% is too low or high, I use Titian : http://www.thehydroponicstore.com/brands/Titan-Controls.html

(I am not recommending the wholesaler and have never used them, the link is for description and make purposes only)

your dilemma is if you are bare bulbing it (and you put the humidifier in the tent) the water out put could be too much for your bulb to take and burst. if you put it outside the tent you must keep the RH% in the 'room' long enough for the humidity in the tent to reach your desired %.

either way you need the controller.

I too have tried lesser humidifiers, their reservoir is too small and output too little..

 

[hotboxes]

I picked one up at wally world for 40 dollars a cool mist one no visible vapor, slowed my exhaust fan down put that sucker in there when lights on and shazam RH up to 55-65% not perfect but a hell of a lot better than 15% that it was at.

 

[TerpeneTom]

Thanks for the recommendation, Snook. I am running horizontal and expelling all heat created by the bulb outside of the room via an independent fan, and then am using a carbon scrubber and fan combo to recirculate the air (C02 and Humidity).

Thanks, Hotboxes. Looks like it will be a fogger though.