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Fully Automated RDWC System - Ultimate System Overhaul!!!
- Thread starter Zumie
- Start date
A few years ago, I experienced an utmost violation of all that is good about having that inner circle of trust among friends, you know, that elite group of people that you call your "homies" ....well maybe I am simply suffering from a violent case of addictive tendancies and the couple of days waiting before I can flip the girls is too much for me, and so I was compelled to do something to prevent another serious "Smash n Grab" job which cost me am entire crop, countless equipment, And my whole stable of genetics.....after that I told myself awwww hell no!!! not my spot again...
Enter the solution....
http://www.lorextechnology.com/Wireless-camera-system/outdoor-wireless-security-camera-system/2138.p
Enter the solution....
http://www.lorextechnology.com/Wireless-camera-system/outdoor-wireless-security-camera-system/2138.p
Today is their last day under the T-5s, due to a few more odds and ends that need finishing in the main room, and because I want to veg them out pretty large before flipping them, I set up a 4x4 with a 1000W MH. I think another week or possibly 2 will be perfect and allow the roots time to grow laterally in their net pots allowing contact with water levels
Attachments
Looking good man!
Good idea with the cameras. Standard precaution as well as a massive pit bull for me!
So I just got knee deep into setting up and programming the "brains" that will be more or less running the show in my room....I am not sure very many people have looked into the options for environmental controllers available in the salt water reef aquarium market....well I did a ton of research and decided on a particular system known as the APEX system made by Neptune Systems. In a nutshell, this unit will continuously monitor PH, EC, ORP, and if you really desire, the actual dissolved oxygen levels in your hydro system....(the O2 meter runs an extra 500 bucks). By mounting these measurement probes in my RDWC system, I can then program the computer for my desired water specifications regarding PH EC Temp, and ORP....in doing so, the system then will automatically adjust the levels right back to the desired ranges upon reading any values that may have crept outside of my targets. This requires a great deal of setup and additional equipment, but by employing 3 peristalic pumps, a copper wort style chiller system that runs prop glycol, an finally a float valve operated top off reservoir, I can effectively set thibgs exactly at the ideal level for explosive growth, and the need to constantly check and adjust my water characteristics is essentially gone!!! Then by also employing a traditional sentinel CO2 sensor equipped room controller, which simultaneously monitors and adjusts the "non-aquatic" environmental parameters such as room temp, RH, and CO2 levels I have got pretty much the whole system dialed to the Tee from top to bottom and capable of actually maintaining that perfect environment with minimal tinkering by me. What's also rad about the system is that it is network capable, enabling me to monitor, record,, and even adjust anything from anywhere in the world by using my iPad and the Neptune app. I am cautious about the potential for things to go wrong but I am going to run a few days of testing the ability of the room to says in a particular state before adding the gals.
For those nerds like myself who just love feeling out on this kinda high tech shit which ultimately I am hopeful will significantly enhance my results, I strongly encourage you to look into this system or one like it. I'm sure that as I keep posting on this thread you will get a first hand look at whether or not this is too good to be true, or if it really is just as gangster of a setup as I hope it to be!
For those nerds like myself who just love feeling out on this kinda high tech shit which ultimately I am hopeful will significantly enhance my results, I strongly encourage you to look into this system or one like it. I'm sure that as I keep posting on this thread you will get a first hand look at whether or not this is too good to be true, or if it really is just as gangster of a setup as I hope it to be!
I don't see how it stops a smash and grab, but at least you will have good pictures of the smash and grab, sort of like the pictures that I seen on TV when the bad guys pull a smash and grab at a jewelry store.
Amazing set up. I am impressed to see what money, legalization, a lot of hard work, experience, and determination to excel can produce.
Joshua Ntr
Member
Awesome thread.
Ttystikk
Member
Hope all is well, haven't seen you in a few days. I'm planning to automate my grow too, using Growtronix. It isn't reef keeping equipment, but it will run the grow room environment as well as the RDWC system, and allow me to fully integrated all aspects of their operation.
I do hope you're not running 100% glycol. The reason it's recommended in any solution strength at all is A. freeze protection and B. lubrication. If no part of your water chilling system ever goes outside, you simply don't need freeze protection. Lubrication is only necessary with larger machinery and higher pressure than typically seen in home use.
Keep in mind that glycol does NOT efficiently transfer heat; it only acts as freeze/boil protection. Transferring heat is what WATER does very well, so the less glycol a user can run in their chilling system the better it will work. Almost never does a home user need to run more than 20-25% glycol, exceptions being northern climates/mountains where temps not only dip to zero, but remain there for days at a time or more.
I do hope you're not running 100% glycol. The reason it's recommended in any solution strength at all is A. freeze protection and B. lubrication. If no part of your water chilling system ever goes outside, you simply don't need freeze protection. Lubrication is only necessary with larger machinery and higher pressure than typically seen in home use.
Keep in mind that glycol does NOT efficiently transfer heat; it only acts as freeze/boil protection. Transferring heat is what WATER does very well, so the less glycol a user can run in their chilling system the better it will work. Almost never does a home user need to run more than 20-25% glycol, exceptions being northern climates/mountains where temps not only dip to zero, but remain there for days at a time or more.
Fellas!!!
Please forgive me!!! Its been far too long, and with that said I have both good and bad news .. . . the bad news is that the day before transplanting my gals into the new lab, I was running a test of how quickly my dosing system would be able to make the adjustments to things like PH and PPM. . . . I noticed that even after over an hour, I was getting readings in my epicenter that were 500ppm or more above some of the furthest away buckets. . . I couldn't figure it out, and then I noticed that the PVC manifold and primarily the return line that goes from the back end of the system back up to the epicenter was installed on the wrong fucking end, meaning that the water was not really traveling down to the end of the system at all . . .Im not one to pass the buck, but I will say that I outsourced the basic system set-up (the instructions are about as simple as a lego set) to a firend of mine. Anyway this required a serious repair...I had to saw off both the return line nozzle and re-plumb it back on the correct end of the system so that it would properly circulate the water.
That's been completed, and a few additional upgrades have been added, as I mentioned there was also some good news....well the good news is, the gals have simply been waiting for me patiently in Veg mode, and are now Begging to be transplanted because they are monsters. . .so good news is Yall didn't miss shit!
I am going to transplant all of the gals this evening and I cannot wait to share some photos of the finished 12-month plus project in all its twisted glory!!! The "few additional upgrades" I mentioned were in the areas of aesthetics, cleanliness, and general gangsterism. I really hope I have not lost everyone's attention, because shit is just about to get real round these parts. Stay tuned!!!
Please forgive me!!! Its been far too long, and with that said I have both good and bad news .. . . the bad news is that the day before transplanting my gals into the new lab, I was running a test of how quickly my dosing system would be able to make the adjustments to things like PH and PPM. . . . I noticed that even after over an hour, I was getting readings in my epicenter that were 500ppm or more above some of the furthest away buckets. . . I couldn't figure it out, and then I noticed that the PVC manifold and primarily the return line that goes from the back end of the system back up to the epicenter was installed on the wrong fucking end, meaning that the water was not really traveling down to the end of the system at all . . .Im not one to pass the buck, but I will say that I outsourced the basic system set-up (the instructions are about as simple as a lego set) to a firend of mine. Anyway this required a serious repair...I had to saw off both the return line nozzle and re-plumb it back on the correct end of the system so that it would properly circulate the water.
That's been completed, and a few additional upgrades have been added, as I mentioned there was also some good news....well the good news is, the gals have simply been waiting for me patiently in Veg mode, and are now Begging to be transplanted because they are monsters. . .so good news is Yall didn't miss shit!
I am going to transplant all of the gals this evening and I cannot wait to share some photos of the finished 12-month plus project in all its twisted glory!!! The "few additional upgrades" I mentioned were in the areas of aesthetics, cleanliness, and general gangsterism. I really hope I have not lost everyone's attention, because shit is just about to get real round these parts. Stay tuned!!!
sweetleaf69
New member
Now that is what I am talking about. 
