Δ9-THC's closet 4 bucket DWC

Δ9-THC · Nov 27, 2006

Hey. Thanks for checking out my thread :wave:

. This is my first time growing hydro, and more or less my first real attempt at growing myself some medicine :woohoo:

. I'd like to thank everyone here on the IC forums for providing enough information to get me this far. Please feel free to scrutinize, comment, question or whatever you'd like on my pictures and setup.

Regretably, I wasn't able to take pictures whilst setting up my 4 bucket DWC system. Didn't try to do anything fancy, 19gal reservoir, 4 5gal. buckets with 5.5" net pots, hydroton, mag3 for circulation, air pump and diffuser in the reservoir. I have a fan on a temperature controller to keep the nutes below 68ºF, though I've heard 58ºF is ideal. I'm running a 400w HQI MH ballast with a regular GE bulb. I'm currently using RO/DI + the Lucas formula worth of GH nutes, though I'm waiting for my TDS pen to arrive, so until then it's guesswork I suppose. Unfortunately, my grow space is extremely limited which is never recommended, it's ~2'x5' and 5' tall.

What counts: Strains are blueberry and grapefruit, both clones. The plants are at 3 weeks on 18/6 (wow.. time flies

).

More later! :joint:

bounty29 · Nov 27, 2006

Plants look good but... that light is awful green. Are you sure it's not a Mercury Vapor light?

mushupork5 · Nov 27, 2006

thats a nice setup you have there!! you are off to a great start. you might want to move that light a little closer to the plants.

bounty- it looks like its a MH in there and the camera is just not white balance properly. its the first hydro grow, but not the first grow.

Guest423 · Nov 27, 2006

nice...got my seat...i wish you luck....i've wanted to do something similar but i'm kinda spooked.....i got organic soil dialed in but want to try DWC sometime.

Δ9-THC · Nov 27, 2006

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I must say, there are fairly few mysteries about hydro, but it seems like the way to go to me. Though I thought the plants might take off a bit faster, I would say the growth compared to soil is excellent, though no doubt soil can be dialed in as well.

Bounty29: The light is a "mixed vapor" metal halide. In person it's quite white, much whiter than I was expecting. I think the green tinge is due to the camera, but you have a valid point, the light may be really rich in the blue/green region. Might be fun to collect some spectral data on it (did this with some bulbs on my reef aquarium once).

Mushupork5: Thanks! I'm going to try to get an air cooled light canopy this week. The reflector is a batwing I had lying around. Any recommendations as far as good deals on air cooled stuff? I'm hoping that with this small a space having an air cooled fixture with another piece of glass over the bulb will help reduce heating. I also need to work on some air circulation since it'll be getting stinky soon.

Time2Unite: Sounds like you've got more experience than myself, so if I can pull a success out of this one, surely you can as well. By the way, nice gallery! That cloner is awesome, I've been thinking about building something like the commercial units.

Guest423 · Nov 27, 2006

hey thanks thc, yeah either buy a cloner like mine or make your own...either way you won't regret it! i was surpised when i looked at my own gallery lol...i forgot i had all them pics towards the back! later bro

Sonic Death · Nov 28, 2006

looking good thc. i hope for the best for you!
Smoke

100outof100 · Nov 28, 2006

Hey man, great grow!

I also agree with moving the light down abit....But get rid of those WHITE LIDS! :yoinks:

! I am surprised noone has said anything. All that light getting through is no good for your water, and increase's the bacteria you dont want! the BAD bacteria! :dueling:

So my reccomendations would be to ditch the white and go reflective, or black :woohoo:

Note: I have not seen it around but I have been using a black lid covered in Mylar Reflective foil. It has worked 100% more effective, my plants are 16 days into veg and are 7 " tall but have 8 nodes....working on 9. I dont know if there are any disadvantages to the mylar lids but my plants are BUSHY as hell.
I will Have my thread open tomorrow night as I am waiting on my pictures, but check in and see! :yummy:

SORRY FOR THE DETOUR!! KEEP ON THE GREAT GROW MAN!

Δ9-THC · Nov 28, 2006

Hey, thanks for the advice. I'm a little confused. Bacteria don't grow on light

. Is algae growing in the nute solution a common problem? I'll try to get some mylard on the lids regardless.

100outof100: Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to check out your thread when it's up.

When do you guys think I should switch to 12/12? I'm thinking maybe this week, as I don't have a good feel for how fast these are going to grow during flowering and how long these strains need (I'm pretty new to the whole conisseur side of it.. just starting to look beyond the name).

Δ9-THC · Nov 28, 2006

Hey guys, I also posted a question in the legal section. Undoubtedly some of you are from California, so check it out if you get a chance, thanks.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=43077

Δ9-THC · Nov 29, 2006

Oops. TDS meter just got here. Says my nute solution's at 1530ppm. I'll have to make some RO and dilute that down a bit.

mangled · Nov 29, 2006

nice system you have going
i would say flower them in about 2 more weeks since i assume your not going to top or lst?

Δ9-THC · Nov 29, 2006

Mangled: Thanks, it's working for me so far and hydro's a heckof alot of fun and is quite a learning experience. No, I'm not going to top em. My roots just started to really reach into the water, so I'll have to see how the growth rate goes from here. I think I'm going to go with the somewhat of a loli pop method so I can cut some clones and try to get some bigger buds.

What do you guys think of enzymes like sensizyme?

I'm also thinking to put together a small carbon scrubber, but I'm still looking around at DIY ideas. Any suggestions? The TDS meter I got on eBay for $15 is pretty cool too. My RO water is only 24ppm, a bit cleaner than I was expecting.

Can't wait to start 12/12 and post some flower pictures up here.

Guest · Nov 29, 2006

hey hey bro and welcome to DWC :wave:

off to a great start man
heres a soloution to your light leak drama, just get a black drip tray for a standard pot plant, cut a hole in the middle then whack it ontop of your white lids

oh and 68F is the ideal res temp, whoever told you 58F is a fool :yoinks:

keep up the great work and all the best

Δ9-THC · Nov 29, 2006

I heard 58ºF from the videos on urbangrower.com. His reasoning is somewhat believable I think. He says that at 58ºF oxygen dissolves considerably more in water, but one must be careful as 54-56 can spell root death. Thanks for the kind words Eulogy. Marijuana aside, I think plants in general are amazing. Growing hydroponic is astounding to me. I can't believe the growth rates that are achievable! I go to class, come back and there are 2 more leaves formed at the apical meristem than when I left.

The only thing I notice is that you have air stones in your buckets. I don't. I do have one in my reservoir, but that's it. Also, where is your water level in the bucket compared to the bottom of the net pot? I think mine is ~1-2" below it and my nutes are pumped in through the black lines at the top.

Guest · Nov 29, 2006

lol the what leaves on the meri what haha

"apical meristem " hehe
on the lower temps from personal experience id say my plants would just get shocked and go into lockdown so to speak...like putting a tropical fish into cold water....

ahh yes them shots there empty, the buckets i mean, and these ones (my new ones as pictured) are more of a krusty bucket type setup, which involves less water depth then a pure DWC. my mistake, was just to show you how i use the drip trays as light stoppers

. normal DWC rig would have water level 1" give or take below the netpot, which would normally be alot smaller too ha ha.

PS i ussually have cleaner buckets too :yoinks:

they been sitting around for a while and i was still testing at that time

....

EDIT best thing you could do (apart from adding C02) would be to add yourself them stones in the buckets.......thats a true DWC. and will give you much greater aeration at the root zone.....peace
keep em green!

Δ9-THC · Nov 29, 2006

Cool, thanks. I can't even get my nute temps down to 58, so no worries there. I already let in the frigid fall air from outside to keep the room cool.. the drawback being I'm cold now too! I would add CO2, but I live in the same room as my plants and have little desire for asphyxiation, though it's probably a remote chance. How much of a benefit do you think CO2 really is? I'll see if I can get some more air stones for the buckets by the time the root ball gets really big.

Δ9-THC · Dec 6, 2006

4 weeks 18/6

4 weeks 18/6

Hey, just thought I'd post a few more pics. I'm at about 4 weeks of 18/6 and I think I'm going to switch to 12/12 at lights out, think they'll stay short enough for the closet? Too short perhaps? Sorry, I haven't gotten to covering the lids yet! I'll do so, I promise. Nutes are around 1400, I've been topping up the rez with DI water and correcting to 1400 with bloom only.

..and grapefruit

And here's the only real problem I've had to far. All of my plants show this to some extent, but this one (far right plant of 4) is by far the worst. What is this? I tried to rinse off the infected/damaged region of the stems with peroxide a couple times a day, but it didn't seem to help.

Peace.

Guest · Dec 6, 2006

I would wait at least anouther week or two i think it could really help your yeild, are they sativa's? if so flower them sooner.

Δ9-THC · Dec 6, 2006

Slips: They're Grapefruit: sativa, and Blueberry: 80/20 Ind/Sat. What do you think?

Δ9-THC's closet 4 bucket DWC

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