6 Bucket RDWC system 1K HPS Hydrohut

phattybudz · Oct 10, 2010

First let me say props to Blazeoneup!

Well it has been a long time since I've posted anything because I have been having all kinds of problems with soil the last 6 months...

Nutrient lockout issues, spider mites, powdery mildew

So I'm sick of dirt and now I'm trying hydro...I got Forbid and eagle 20 for the mites&powdery mildew. Just popped them into the buckets today after a lot of tinkering.

Running a 220gph water pump for the 1/2'' feed lines with 3/4'' return lines, and 185gph to run the 1/10 hp water chiller. Controller is a rubbermaid 18 gal with a float valve that will connect to a 30 gal rez... total system volume is about 35 gallons right at the netpot level. Eco-8 air pump with flexible air diffusers and 2 airstones in the controller. 400 Watt CMH for veg and 1k HPS for flower, separate 3x3 veg chamber will be ebb&flow. 6'' vortex for the carbon filter and 6'' for intake w/pantyhose for filter.

4'' rockwool cubes into hydroton for medium.
Trying to keep things simple on the nutes, running Floranova onepart Grow/Bloom, Roots Accelerator, Sm-90, and ph up. Maybe shooting powder if things are looking healthy in week 6...

Shooting for 800ppm to start things off, ph about 6... I have a ph/ppm tester but I don't entirely trust it... seems like I calibrate it and the next day it's off. That's the only thing that concerns me about this grow.

Oh yeah strains are Chemdawg-4, OG kushX????, and Bubblegummer from female seeds. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!! It's been a long time since I've had a good harvest but I have high hopes for this system.

BUNDY & COKE · Oct 10, 2010

Looks good mate...

phattybudz · Oct 12, 2010

Soooo... day 2, things are looking good root-wise, but the plants look light-green on the new growth and my mix went from ~800ppm to 1150, and the ph rose from ~6.0 to ~6.5... which I have no idea how to interpret.

I have this cheat sheet:
"Basic cheat sheet:
Ec goes up, PH goes down=plants require less nutes.
Ec goes down, PH goes up=Plants require more nutes
Ec stable, PH goes up=Equilibrium=Good thang."

But there's no "ec up, ph up" option lol..
Rez will be ~30 gallons an inch or two below the netpot, and I will be using mostly RO water at ~20 ppm if my meter is to be trusted, and comes out at a low ph around 5.4 or something, which seems weird. Anyways I'm putting ph down in now and mixing up a new batch of nutes as well but that may take a while since my 200gpd R/O is so F'in slow. Here they are on day 2 and a shot of my rockwool veg. Gotta say I am loving rockwool & floranova after doing soil for a long time.

phattybudz · Oct 22, 2010

Day 11 update: Roots are booming, I have steadily been increasing the nutes and they have been sucking it up... PPM is at 1130 now (I am using 20% tap water so my pre-nute mix is 80 ppm... so 1050 of nutes, with sm-90.) Plan on switching over to bloom in 3 days with FN bloom. They look a little light green on the tops still to me though, maybe I'm just being paranoid?

They're at about 1.5 feet, I'm pinching the tops now and waiting til they get to 2 feet to flip. Can't wait, it's been a long time since I've had a harvest.

Greenstar420 · Oct 22, 2010

Hey bro thats lookin good, I'm lookin forward to seeing those ladies in bloom! What strains you running?

phattybudz · Oct 25, 2010

Thanks Green, I am currently running Chemdawg 4 clones from bluesky in oakland, a phenotype of bubblegummer from female seeds, and an OG kush cross that resulted from my last grow... Not sure what she got fertilized by maybe lemon skunk, hindu skunk, or powerhouse because I had a couple of hermies on that run. I've also got a different phenotype of bubblegummer and pure ak from female seeds in the veg chamber.

I just setup a 6'' magnum xxxl hood to better fit the 4x4 and started feeding them 1000 watts. Will flip to flower soon as they reach the scrog screen I put over em!

sneaky101 · Oct 25, 2010

Looking great phatty!! I got tired of all the nats and troubles with soil and went to hydro as well. I'm considering getting a tent and a 1kw lamp too. I have a couple of questions for you about it to help my decision making process. I was concerned about temps with that many watts in a 4x4 tent...what are your inside and outside temps? How crammed is it in there? How many girls do you think you could fit in there with all the other equipment, mainly tubes running around?

Good luck with your grow, they are gonna explode once you flip the switch. I was soooo suprised how quickly they grew up once the stretch started. Your gonna have a nice yield!

phattybudz · Oct 28, 2010

Hey thanks Sneaky

As far as the temps, I just plugged in my thermometer so I'll let you know after a few days... I am using a 6'' vortex to exhaust and another one for the intake which is cold air from beneath my apartment which helps too. 1k is definitely the way to go for a 4x4 though no question, and the magnum xxxl reflector is worth every penny.

There is plenty of space for my 6 dwc buckets, could do 8 or 9 but I think that would be pushing it I think, I have done sog in the past and had issues from crowding like mold etc.

I certainly hope I pull a nice yield because it's been a while...

There is a problem though! My bubblegummer clone is showing some yellowing on tips and between veins too... her roots are much smaller than the other girls, they are outgrowing the shit out of her and she's probably not going to make it out alive... they are hungry and she's being overfed. This is why you're supposed to run one strain in DWC! I actually think she'd be fine but she started off a little shocked because she dried out in rockwool and lost a bunch of leaves when I threw them all in.

I can't decide if I should just handwater my chemdawg mom in rockwool in place of her or just weave the other plants into that space... one more run of testing strains and I will select my 2 moms to rotate so I won't have this problem in the future.

Day 17 veg
Here is the bubblegummer, I know it's hard to see sorry for the HPS...

Chemdawg 4

And my beautiful ogkush mystery hybrid

peterjoseph88 · Oct 28, 2010

Hey phatty nice lookin setup, can't wait to watch these things explode.. how was the strain selection and overall quality of the clones at bluesky

shibbysurfrider · Oct 28, 2010

hello,
I also grow in a 4x4 grow tent and have a quantum 1000w ballast. How do you keep your temps down? I run an 8'' 735cfm Inline trhough 6'' insulated ducting, though Yield Master II air-cooled hood, though carbon filter and my temps are 78-82 with the ballast at 750. I was running an A/C into the tent and running it at 1000 W no problem. But i saw my Power bill and OMG!!!!

My ambient room temp is usually 75-78.

Grow looks good. I've never used your nutrient line, but Anything over 1000 ppm in veg scares me. And in hydro your pH should be 5.5-5.8 for optimum nute uptake. Good Luck and happy Growing!

phattybudz · Oct 29, 2010

Thanks PJ... I think bluesky does a pretty good job of keeping a wide range of good strains, but you have to get there early or you won't get a shot at the good ones generally speaking.

Shibby is there anywhere you can bring cool air in from? I have a 6'' vortex for active intake sucking air from underneath my apt from a hole in the floor (landlord put it in, it's almost perfect but the air is a bit humid which I'm worried about...) temps stay around 75 at the canopy. Also depends on where you live though... OH are you running it at night? I always try to run my flower cycle at night to help the temps.

I thought 1000 was a bit high too but they are eating that shit up like nobody's business... I really like Floranova so far. It is at 1400 now and the healthy girls are at about 2 feet. I closed the valves to the bubblegummer to isolate her from the girls and gave her some fresh water but I don't think she's going to be able to keep up, I will probably just weave the other plants into her space, I overvegged them anyways!

I'm dropping to 15 hours of light tonight then 12 tomorrow. I've been keeping the ph from 5.4-5.8, seems to want to stay there without me adjusting it which is nice. I'll post up some new pics without the HPS once they go 12/12. :thank you:

phattybudz · Oct 30, 2010

Tore out the bubblegummer and I'm weaving the other plants into her space...they still look pale green on the new growth (roots are great, still growing but not as fast as I want them too maybe...) the ppms dropped from 1400 to 1350 today so I bumped it back up to 1450/5.7 ph, and they get their first official 12 hour dark period when the lights go off.

Also I have to find someway to bring the humidity down, or I am going to get killed on bud rot. :no:

SirSmokalot · Oct 30, 2010

looks amazing man.
get a lil dehuey... adds some heat though.
or if u vent the tent get an overkill exhaust fan and a humidity controller if ya really wanna dial it in.
good luck with the water. i'll be attempting it someday soon with a UC system. i cant wait really.

phattybudz · Nov 2, 2010

Here's day 2: last night I bumped them up to 1540 ppm and they are down to 1490, they are still hungry I think (light green/yellowish on tops, so sign of nute burn or other issues.) so I'm giving em more food... going to change to bloom nutes at the end of the week a little nervous about how much to start them on...and the one in the corner isn't growing as fast for some reason, bothers me. Mites&pm are still nuked from the forbid&eagle20. Props to Krunchbubble.

phattybudz · Nov 16, 2010

Day 16 of flower...

They are looking pretty goddamn good, especially considering I left the state for 4-5 days. Loving DWC. I think they are burnt a little bit on the tips which pisses me off because the ppms have steadily been dropping since putting them at 1350... I dunno maybe 1300 is the magic number for these girls.

Now running floranova bloom, sm-90, drip clean and multizyme.

Chem4 from bluesky:

I know these pics suck I will improve on the next ones!

phattybudz · Nov 22, 2010

Here is day 22, as you can see things are budding nicely! Some minor issues, but I'm very pleased for a first run so far.

Here is a shitty pic of the veg but I'm hoping somebody can point out what this problem is -- light brown crinkly edges on old-mid growth... current ppm 900 and ph 5.6...

I can take a better pic if needed, anybody know what causes that? They are growing ok otherwise...

Also I'm having an issue with ph which hasn't seemed to affect them yet, but it is annoying and worrying me: I refilled the rez at 1260/5.8 ph, next day rez shows 1210 ppm and 5.3 ph. What the fuck?

microgram · Nov 22, 2010

Whats the temp of your res when you filled it versus the temp it's at now? Temperature will make PH fluctuate. As per the crinkley leaves? no idea. Maybe that oscillating fan is too much? What minor issues have you had? fill us in

phattybudz · Nov 29, 2010

Temp stays at 68 all the time.

Ph is stable now, weird. Mix might have been a little strong but ppms were steadily dropping so IDK..

The problems -- the ph thing, I burned em a bit at the transition, and deficiency issues, I'm thinking mg... I read that it's recommended to bump the ph up to 6.0 for days 20-30 if you're having mg problems with lucas formula so next time I'll try that.

See the yellowing here? Chemdawg big and og at the bottom. Day 29

phattybudz · Dec 8, 2010

So... day 38 now. Things are going OK, but I still feel like a goddamn noob. yellowing on some mid/top leaves, some bottom leaves browning and dying off...Ugh. I don't even wanna talk about it, just going to post pics, I obsess about this too much already. Might give Floranova one more try next run or I might give maxibloom a try, I don't know...

Veg first: Had to kill my moms because there's no room and I figure I'll just clone these beasts before throwing em into flower. Cloned the diff. phenotypes of AK I had before I cut em though.

Bah!

InNvBoarder · Dec 8, 2010

Well first id like to say i dig your set-up. I recognize those dead leaves. i bet that the brown tips that look dead and crunchy are still pretty soft huh? Its phosphorus deficiency. Prob caused by a ph lockout problem. Ive had this issue plenty of times and it sucks!!! Make sure your ph is stable and pk those bitches for a week or two. MOAB works great but Kool Bloom also works good. Never tried the shooting powder but im sure that would be ok too.
Why are you feeding your plants 1300 ppms in veg? You soon will lean that less is more. Hitting them that hard and your gonna cause lock out issues left and right. If a plant dosent look healthy the answer isnt always juice them harder but figure out why they look like shit and feed them what they need. My ppms only get to 1300 once in wk 5 of flower and it goes down slowly every day. Ive run whole chops and never had the ppms get over 1000 and still average 8-10 zips every 30-40 days.

6 Bucket RDWC system 1K HPS Hydrohut

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