HP Aero and LEDs

[malendro]

So I had a small microcab, two tents, and a bunch of growing stuff and I wanted to be stealthy and efficient.


here it is, the stuff:



the stuff takes shape:

the venting strategy, and insulated ducting were chosen to cut back on noise.

The small tent is the "machine room"


Damping mat treatment on/in fan housing, plus silencer


Preview:




Tending to the young ones:

 

[malendro]

Fast Forward like 5 months

Fast Forward like 5 months

Start of Week 1


Couple of weeks later


End of week6

 

[aridbud]

Awesome grow!!! ;o)

 

[malendro]

Waterworks

Waterworks

The waterworks:

8gal reservoir
HP diaphragm pump
Accumulator
80psi Pressure switch
Solenoid for backflow prevention
Filter Housing with 5micron poly filter cartridge
Solenoid for irrigation control

Not shown is the business end of the aeroponics system:

6 red misting nozzles by Tefen
(Thinking of adding more)

Recirculation occurs by gravity, water flows back into the reservoir and it's quality is maintained by :
Two air pumps with micro pore diffusers.
A hydor power head to keep a current inside.
And A Milwaukee pH controller with diluted pH up

 

[malendro]

Waterworks 2

Waterworks 2

Better view

 

[malendro]

Solenoids detail

Solenoids detail

Here you can see the pressure switch and solenoids better

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

Upskirt

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

Sorry for just posting one pic per post, I'm just not sure how to upload multiple attachments from my phone

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

A view from the tops

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

Left side

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

Right side

 

[malendro]

56 days in

56 days in

With the white light raised

 

[malendro]

So what lights are we running here

So what lights are we running here

Lights

Haight Solid State PPF-400
Haight Solid State PPF-800
2009 Lights with about 25000h hours in them

Kessil H-150 (purple) - but blue side is dead, so red

Apollo Horticulture 384W Purple Sun -half of it died the first month, but it has the best warranty with instant replacement for a couple of years

Custom built full spectrum light:
Cree CXA2530 2700k 85cri
MakersLed architecture
1 chip or driver died in the first week and I'm awaiting it's replacement

 

[malendro]

Nutrients

Nutrients

Weekly Schedule

Bloom

8gallons. 1120ppm total

ProteKt Silica (2.5-5 xg) 40 ----62ppm
Connoisseur Base (7.2 xg) 56&56 ----614ppm
(Weeks 1-2) Bud Igniter (7.2 xg) 21 ----40ppm
(Weeks 2-4) Big bud (7.2 xg) 56 ----90ppm
(Weeks 5-8) Overdrive (7.2xg) 56 ---??ppm
Bud Candy (7.2 xg) 56. ----46ppm
Growmore SeaWeed extract(5 xg) 40 ----100ppm
Terpinator (10 xg) 80 ----60ppm
SM90 (2-3 xg) 24 ----00ppm
Hygrozyme (8 xg) 64 -----60ppm
(Weeks 3-5) B52 (7.2 xg) ----60ppm
Mad Farmer NUTS (fulvic) (5-10 xg) 40 ----10ppm
RAW P powder (3ml) -----00ppm
Great white (2scoops every 3 weeks)

**Cal-Mag plus (5ml xg)
was added after week 4 to try and correct the white spots appearing on leaves. Although the Connoisseur says it has cal and mag.



Vegetative

8gallons ----0ppm. 530 total

Silica (2.5-5 xg) 20. ----50ppm
SensiGrow Base (7.2 xg) 30&30 ----280ppm
CalMag (5 xg) 20. ----120ppm
SM90 (2-3 xg) 24 ----00ppm
Hygrozyme (8 xg) 64. -----10ppm
Bud Candy (7.2 xg) 56. ----??ppm
Great white (2scoops every 3 weeks)
B52 (7.2 xg) 30. ----60ppm
Fulvic (5-10 xg) 20. ----10ppm

 

[malendro]

Feeding schedule details

Feeding schedule details

The feeding pressure stays somewhere between 40-80psi.

The feeding cycle is controlled by a Sentinel MDT that triggers the solenoid ON for 5seconds and keeps it OFF for 4minutes.

pH is controlled by a Milwaukee controller that triggers a small pump with its own Diluted pH up reservoir.

pH has a tendency to go down if left unchecked, and the 5 plants consume 1gallon of water per day.

A new reservoir usually has 1200TDS but TDS also has a tendency to go up If extra water is not added. The TDS has peaked all the way up to 2500TDS at the end of some weeks.

 

[malendro]

So what are we growing

So what are we growing

A very cool guy gave me a pack of seeds he called Guava Kush.
He also stated that they were just seeds of OG Kush produced by using Colloidal Silver methods that just happened to smell of guava.

Hence Guava Kush...

10 seeds where started, 5 became females

Those 5 females or their clones are now approaching harvest. 1 if each.

Plan is to test for potency and decide which to keep.

 

[malendro]

About that microcab I mentioned

About that microcab I mentioned

This is the cab on the right.




Powered by a Kessil H350 magenta, and passcode locked

 

[malendro]

The mothercab's innards

The mothercab's innards

The mothercab is also High pressure aeroponics, but without an accumulator.

The PVC pipe is a 1.2g reservoir, then there is a 1micron poly filter in a housing, a diaphragm pump, and another 6 nozzles on the business end.

Nozzles are also the red kind from Tefen but these had to have the ball valve option to keep the lines pressurized between on cycles.

Recirculation is provided by a tiny hydor Pico100 that is controlled by a water level sensor + a timeout timer that corrects for false starts.

Water quality is maintained with an airpump, and the pH is also automatically controlled by a Milwaukee controller, hydor pico100 pump, and pH reservoir combo.

Ventilation is provided using axial and centrifugal PC fans.

The root chamber is custom designed and built in acrylic.

There are currently 5 plants living in there 4 of which are "bunking" together on the same plant site

 

[malendro]

One more pic from the mothercab

One more pic from the mothercab

 

[malendro]

Eliminating smell

Eliminating smell

Before you read below, you might want to know I have a 6" vortex powerfan as the heart of my ventilation system.

Up until this point I had been using the cheapest commercially available carbon filter with a 6" flange: They call it The Goblin and it retails for about $70.

Mine entered service sometime in May, to start helping out with the smell of the vegging garden. I can now say that I never truly felt satisfied with its odor scrubbing ability, and by the first month of flowering I had already decided to bring out my small Ozone generator to help with this task. It might be safe to say that around 90% of the smell was scrubbed when this thing was on its prime time.

90% means the smell was noticeable inside the room where the tents are in, but not outside this room.

By last week the smell was immediately noticeable as soon the house was entered, and although keeping the O3 running continuously solved it, which the light duty device is not supposed to do, I decided to go all in and buy the carbon filter that had gathered the most praise and glory in our internetz. The #1 choice seemed to be the MountainAir brand, and that is exactly what I went with: $200 for a 6" flange, 20" long MountainAir



In the picture you can see how I easily adapted it into the existing system without bothering to exchange/remove the mediocre Goblin. Now my air filtration system is both a puller and a pusher, with a silencer in between (did someone order some stealth?). I think I will just leave the goblin going even on future grows, performing the job of a prefilter.

The results were apparent almost instantly, and within 2 hours the smell was only noticeable inside the grow tent, thus exceeding the 90% scrubbing rate I described for the Goblin. At this point I decided to turn off the O3 generator, and once I get to my place tonight, I will be able to give it the definitive test with a clean and alert sense of smell