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Blah's First Ppk

Mr Blah

Member
Still working on things. Got fund issue but slowly moving on.

Wanted to ask a question about maintenance. Do these PPK sites have to be cleaned out after each run? Or drained after each run?
Wont the ppm's clime if it doesn't get flushed/cleaned out?

I do remember reading in one of the long PPK threads about someone leaving the sites alone for over 4 or 5 months. All the while swapping out plants for perpetuals.
 

Mr Blah

Member
Thought I would update this as I am trying to figure my water supply. Plants are doing fine....they are just doing as there is no nutes to them since I planted them in there. Just gave them my well water for a few.
This is the set up for RO water (which will be combined via goodyear hose) and vegging reserve tank.


Hoping that 10 concrete blocks and a couple 2x8"s will serve as a bench of 120+gals of water....:laughing:
 

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gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
:laughing::laughing::laughing: take a last good look at those clean unwarped hardwood floors!!

you'll enjoy the ppk once u figure out your setup.

to be honest, its kinda weird, i feel like im almost neglecting them. but im not.

there really isnt much to do once things are transplanted an trimmed up topped etc... its almost a feeling of not as connected as i once was before with other systems i ran. honestly...

b well an good luck
 

gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
Still working on things. Got fund issue but slowly moving on.

Wanted to ask a question about maintenance. Do these PPK sites have to be cleaned out after each run? Or drained after each run?
Wont the ppm's clime if it doesn't get flushed/cleaned out?

I do remember reading in one of the long PPK threads about someone leaving the sites alone for over 4 or 5 months. All the while swapping out plants for perpetuals.

hundred or so hydro runs under my belt, an unitll recently i got about 4-5 ppk runs under my belt. but now im with a constant 5 rooms running ppk. ranging from 4 lights ,multiple 6 light rooms an a seven light room.

just been vacuuming buckets out after each run, an hand wiping down any walls/surface with build up. a quick rinse with water...... no bleach....no hydrogen peroxide....no cleaners. then vacuum out the brown rinse. but i do add barely straw powder or extracts an BB during cycles. enzymes an or bb to aid in slime or dead root breakdown. i feel like im maintaining an aquarium of sorts


if your ppm is rising, that means there not eating all the food being supplied, therefore whatever element or elements are staying behind in the water. those elements eventually will cause antagonisms. so i would not advise to keep using the same water over an over.

i usually watch whats going on. if i am getting a rise in ppms i try not to feed as high strength. if i get ph spikes its usually too high of strength feed.

sometimes my water goes 10 days to say 100 gallons. other times i get 20-30 days with a rez now. watch for yellowing, watch for calcium def, watch the pistols as you always want bright white pistol development to the very end. pistols start going red on ya you fucked up somewhere along the way. learn to read them an the ppk system will get your life back...

bsafe
 

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
Still working on things. Got fund issue but slowly moving on.

Wanted to ask a question about maintenance. Do these PPK sites have to be cleaned out after each run? Or drained after each run?
Wont the ppm's clime if it doesn't get flushed/cleaned out?

I do remember reading in one of the long PPK threads about someone leaving the sites alone for over 4 or 5 months. All the while swapping out plants for perpetuals.

hey! i just use a stiff bristle round or cylindrical shaped brush and give them a fast scumbuster routine.

we are draining between runs which drains down to about 1/2" or so because of the hoses, them give them a fast scrub with the remaining solution just to break the scum off of everything, then using a shop vac to get the rest of the dirty solution out. refill from the mixing drums.

if you don't want to wait for the system to refill throught the float valve it's a simple matter to install a ball valve and an extra length of the 5/8" garden hose to bypass the float valve and fill much more rapidly.

your blocks and boards look good and are strong enough. you might want to protect that nice floor like gmanwho mentioned. i've done whole rooms with a pond liner wall to wall and a piece of rip stop tarp on top of that.
 

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
:laughing::laughing::laughing: take a last good look at those clean unwarped hardwood floors!!

you'll enjoy the ppk once u figure out your setup.

to be honest, its kinda weird, i feel like im almost neglecting them. but im not.

there really isnt much to do once things are transplanted an trimmed up topped etc... its almost a feeling of not as connected as i once was before with other systems i ran. honestly...

b well an good luck

welcome to the most boring way to grow in the world!
 

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
hundred or so hydro runs under my belt, an unitll recently i got about 4-5 ppk runs under my belt. but now im with a constant 5 rooms running ppk. ranging from 4 lights ,multiple 6 light rooms an a seven light room.

just been vacuuming buckets out after each run, an hand wiping down any walls/surface with build up. a quick rinse with water...... no bleach....no hydrogen peroxide....no cleaners. then vacuum out the brown rinse. but i do add barely straw powder or extracts an BB during cycles. enzymes an or bb to aid in slime or dead root breakdown. i feel like im maintaining an aquarium of sorts


if your ppm is rising, that means there not eating all the food being supplied, therefore whatever element or elements are staying behind in the water. those elements eventually will cause antagonisms. so i would not advise to keep using the same water over an over.

i usually watch whats going on. if i am getting a rise in ppms i try not to feed as high strength. if i get ph spikes its usually too high of strength feed.

sometimes my water goes 10 days to say 100 gallons. other times i get 20-30 days with a rez now. watch for yellowing, watch for calcium def, watch the pistols as you always want bright white pistol development to the very end. pistols start going red on ya you fucked up somewhere along the way. learn to read them an the ppk system will get your life back...

bsafe

yep, just steer the working part by adjusting feed strength in the volume/mixing tanks.
 

Mr Blah

Member
Cool!:woohoo:Thanks guys.
Getting my spirits up. Harvested a room downstairs and waiting for another to finish up.
Once this PPK is done and properly done the way I need it to be I will be follow all the good advice from other PPKers.

A good thing about the RO system installed I can start feeding them and getting my first documented readings to have a starting point.

The floor is that thin Pergo shit. This is in the mother in laws apartment kitchen et. No mother inlaw living here so as long as I am careful with the water I should be OK.......? Are you guys talking about water damage or structural damage from the weight?
 

gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
Cool!:woohoo:Thanks guys.
Getting my spirits up. Harvested a room downstairs and waiting for another to finish up.
Once this PPK is done and properly done the way I need it to be I will be follow all the good advice from other PPKers.

A good thing about the RO system installed I can start feeding them and getting my first documented readings to have a starting point.

The floor is that thin Pergo shit. This is in the mother in laws apartment kitchen et. No mother inlaw living here so as long as I am careful with the water I should be OK.......? Are you guys talking about water damage or structural damage from the weight?


def talking about water damage. things leak. floats get stuck. oh man. i've had some crazy shit happen an most of my rooms have reclaimed rubber roof down. started putting in drains to.

im the master at leaving the water on.....

good luck an bsafe
 

Mr Blah

Member
def talking about water damage. things leak. floats get stuck. oh man. i've had some crazy shit happen an most of my rooms have reclaimed rubber roof down. started putting in drains to.

im the master at leaving the water on.....

good luck an bsafe
Oh, Ive left my share of valves on with water pouring out of top off tanks but down stairs where there is concrete floors with a center drain. No big deal....Upstairs I have to have 100% ZERO accidents. I understand there will be something that will happen and trying to anticipate what might go wrong and figuring out what I will do if it does.
The only thing so far is the condensation from the cold water lines dripping on the floor. SHould change when I get my 3ton mini put up next week.
 

delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
promise you can kiss the pergo goodbye unless you cover it with something. i have only grown indoors and with hydro so you can only imagine how much damage i have done.

it's not a question of if, it's more like when and how bad!

structurally you're ok.
 

gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
flooded the understairs neighbors 3 times. could be why they left... :) but hey, now i have 2 12x12 rooms .. an i still use less water then them

one of the better ones when water leaked 3 floors to the basement, 12 hours later it set the whole building heat alarm off, strobe lights & horns. firedept show up at 2am. shows a basement alarmed. nothing became of that. i am legal, but still would have to deal with some shit.

then another leak..... leaked to a lower floor an was dripping in the actual smoke alarm. set the floor smoke alarms off. run down to check wtf is going on. ohhh water, run back up, stop the leak, run back down to shut alram off. cant.. try taking smoke alarm down, getting electrocuted cause its 120v an has battery backup... rip it off..


fun fun. needless to say, certain alarms now have like 10" pieces of rubber above them now. removed the alarm. placed rubber roofi piece against the ceiling then put alarm back. rubber hangs over sensors slightly to make an " umbrella " . thats what i learned

bsafe
 

Mr Blah

Member
Wow...you guys could write a book... I worked for the state for about 20+yrs before I changed careers and had to work in critical departments with no room for mechanical era.....I know we are only human but I am going for no accidents.
There is no smoke alarms (big two story garage that I built) but I do have a 1800watt HPS vegging room right under.
Thinking of swapping out to Led's....maybe that will be less of an issue as I could/try to retrofit something to protect them from a possibly watery air attack.

Had to shut the booster pump off manually until I get the other crap to have the RO automated. Took about 8 hrs to fill 40+- gals at 60psi and about 50F water temp.
Now I got to drain my shitty well water (220+-PPM) out of the PPK control bucket and fill with the new (0.02) RO water. But before adding to control bucket and system I will add a Tbsp of each Nutrient and wait to see what the PPM's and PH (which is 5.6 now) are and go from there. Than let her drip in till I get tired of waiting and get a 5 gal bucket and help. Later I will take your advice D and just bypass with bigger hose and valves.
 
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Mr Blah

Member
Let the 40+-gals sit with the nutes in it for most of the day while I trimmed. Just checked it and read 350PPMs and 6.8ph ( I think I need to calibrate it).
I am going to either put some regular well water in the mix or put more nutes to bring the Ph down....or I am going to throw in PH down....
Which door do I choose guys??:biggrin:
 

ICRSN

New member
Just that I enjoy your style of updating. That keeps the thread an interesting read. It reminded me of him. Sorry for inconvenience.

Good luck with your water issues.

-
icrsn
 

Mr Blah

Member
No inconvenience ICRSN.
Glad you like it.
Basically I started this for the soul reason of taking the latest PPK method and adapting it to what I need and hopefully helping a few others alone the way.
Thanks
 

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