4'x8' Ebb N Flow Grow Show

[rasganjah]

Greetings fellow growers and ganja enthusiasts! I'm rasganjah, from Cali and I'm a Medical Grower and a partner in a Medical Marijuana Collective. I've been growing indoors for about 2 1/2 years now, but i'm just getting into hydroponics. Let's session the sacred herb before we continue shall we?

I'm new to ICMag with only a couple threads and a handful of posts, but I'm diggin' the Irie vibrations so far and I decided to share my current grow. I have a 5k watt flower room and a 2.5k watt vegetative room. We're gonna focus on the Flower room for now. It has 1 4'x8' flood table lit up by 2 1k watt HPS lights. I have room for another table as well but have a few soil plants finishing up atm but when they are done I will be running 2 tables. I have 100 gal. res but I only fill it to 80 gal.

The plants start in rock wool and veg to 12" and then go into 2 gal. Smart Pots filled with hydroton. There are 30 plants at the moment but I will be doing more like 40 next time. Also I will cover the table with Panda Film next time to block out all the light so the roots can stretch out of the pots even more.

I'm using General Hydroponics Flora 3 part nutrients. I'm following a custom nutrient formula by "Useless", and I'm incorporating MOAB as a booster.

The room also has a Sentinel CHHC-4 Environmental Controller, an 18.5k BTU A/C unit, 2 50lb. Co2 tanks, a 1.5k watt heater. The room is sealed and all reflectors are vented with 2 400+ CFM centrifugal inline fans and insulated ducting.

I think that covers it pretty well. If you got any questions feel free to ask.

We're just about to start week 5 of 12/12 with these girls. They should go just about 8 or 9 weeks I think. The strain is Cotton Candy Kush.

Vegetative.

12/12
Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

That brings us current. Just a bit of info to clarify something. I started out in Vegetative using General Organics nutrients with a lot of problems. I also tried to run it in my Hydro res for the first week of 12/12 with a bunch of problems. I flushed for 3 days and switched to the 3 part Flora nutrients and the "Useless" formula and have had excellent results.

 

[Zendo]

Looks damn good...subscribed for sure!

Thanks for the heads up, I was just thinking about trying a tray with the GO, and was wondering how that would work in a flood table.

Looks like you just saved me some $.

What is the 'useless' formula?? {nevermind, I remembered that google exists..}

 

[green_thumb...]

Nice! I love the SP full of hydroton,cotton candy kush sound sticky and tasty.

I'll be following along.

Also can you further explain the useless formula?

Can it be used with AN 3 part?

 

[rasganjah]

The Useless Formula

The Useless Formula

I would be glad to explain the Useless Formula further. The formula is tailored for the GH Flora Series 3 Part. It will not work, or at least has not been tested or tried with any other nutrient line because it was specifically formulated for the GH Flora Series 3 part. "Useless" is the username of a grower and breeder that is online on a few different forums. I am a regular member of GrowKind.com and also a mod there and that is where I met Useless and learned about his formula for the GH FLora 3 part. Here is a link to the original Sticky on GK. http://www.growkind.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35174

Here is the nutrient regimen I use and how I control PH with little or no ph up or down...

So OK - feeding schedule week by week. This is the GH weekly feeding program, slightly tweaked. I will only call out the volume of each part per gallon of water in the following manner: grow, micro, bloom, ppm range. Example - 5-2.5-2.5-400/800 would mean 5 ml grow, 2.5 ml micro, 2.5 ml bloom and a ppm of 400-880. Remember it's per gallon. You Euro's can easily convert to liters. 4 liters is just a little bit over 1 gallon. It should also be noted that I use the hardwater micro due to my tapwater. I suggest using the hardwater micro in place of the regular micro if your tap water is over 200 ppm total or you have over 70 ppm Ca. RO water users should use the regular micro.
Veg -
week 1 5-2.5-2.5-400/600
week 2 10-5-3- 600/800
week 3 12-6-3 800/1000 (continue week 3 formula if additional veg time is required.)

Bloom
week 1 6-6-10- 800/1200
week 2 3-7-12 - 1000/1400
week 3 3-8-14 - 1000/1400
week 4 3-8-16 - 1000/1400
week 5 (discussed in detail below*)
week 6 0-7-20 - 1000/1400
week 7 0-6-20 (see bleow**)
* During week 5 if not using a booster like Superbud, Bushmaster Kabloom etc. run 2.5-7-18. I use MOAB (Mother of All Blooms) or BushMaster at 50% of recommended strength, and use 1.25-3.5-9 for the fert base.
**If running an 8 week strain you should only run the ferts during week 7 for a maximum of 3-4 days. This gives you 10 days for flushing. I should note that if I use ferts for a few days in week 7, I take the lants over the 8 week mark. Personally I flush for a min of 14 days. But 10 is bare minimum imo/ime.

The ppms work out almost exactly. I tend to lean toward the lower side of the range, unless I have a really heavy feeder that I know can handle it.

At every ressy change out I add in 5 drops per gallon of 35% food grade H2O2. During flush use ph adjusted water at 5.5-6.0
I will add epsom salt at week 1 of bloom if the plants are heavy feeders AND I see signs of an Mg def. Otherwise I won't use it. The only time I have ever had Mg def is during transition. The GH 3 part is a little low on Mg, but the PBP and Canna nutes are way lower.

Now- how to control your PH...
There are a couple factors that cause your PH to drift. The most common is running the nute solution too strong or too weak. If it's too strong, your PH drops. If it's too weak the PH rises. You have to find the balance point. If you find that the formula above is say, a little strong, and say you have a 20 gallon ressy, mix the nutes for 18 gallons. If it's a little weak, mix it for 22 gallons. You follow?
The other common mistake is mixing your nutrient solution and trying to adjust the PH right away. You have to allow time for the ph buffers in the nutrient solution to do their job. Mix the nutes up, and bubble or circulate for 12 hours before even looking at your PH. You will find the PH to be almost right on target.
I use little or no ph adjusters. (Except during flush). I use tap water, with a starting PPM of 300-400 and a starting PH of 7.4-9.0 (Thats crazy you say! The water is too hard, you will never get stable PH and you will have too much Ca, causing a lockout of Mg!) Bollocks I say.
Every week, on Friday I drain the ressy and fill with plain water. I let that run overnight giving the plants a little flush. This also allows the chlorine and ammonia to evap. On Saturday morning, I mix the nutes into the ressy. I DO NOT adjust ph at this time. Let that run as is overnight. On Sunday morning, I check ph and adjust if needed. Usually don't have to.
Doing things this way has saved me from constant PH drifts, and using about 150 ml of ph down every ressy change, and a little here and there throughout the week to keep it in the desired range. Now, the most I ever have to use is about 30 ml.if any at all. (I have a 35 gallon ressy btw) My Ph stays at a constant 5.5-5.8.

If you are still having PH issues using the above method, an alternative is to PH adjust the plain water to 5.5 BEFORE you add nutes.


Well, that's how I do it. Bring on any questions, happy to answer them for you.
Cheers and good growing to everyone.

I am following the formula to the letter at the moment without deviation. I am Using MOAB just like Useless, although many menbers of GK have used his formula with the GH 3 part and use different bloom boosters than the MOAB, but it's what Useless himself uses, so I am going with it too. I'm having phenomenal results so far and I couldn't be happier.


Now onto the General Organics. I am sure that some people love this line, but I have been thoroughly unsatisfied with it. I have had nothing but deficiency problems during flower with all my soil and soilless medium plants and when I tried to use it with the Hydro Table it was an absolute nightmare and almost cost me a crop, if it wasn't for the Useless 3 part I would have lost them for sure. Take a look at the vegetative pics and even the week 1 pics and you can see the leaf curl and twisting and pH spotting on the plants. The pH was impossible to control and forget about an accurate TDS reading when there are a ton of suspended solids from the organic nutrients. All in all I love Organics for soil and even soilless mediums, but not so much for hydro. And as for Organic Nutrients I have had far better results from other lines. I'm gonna go and give Bio Bizz a try for my next run with Organics.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

rasganjah

I really like your grow. In the fourth photo, underneath the table, it looks like the reservoir is divided into three partitions. Could you explain the function of this design?

 

[cody2white]

Taggin up

 

[rasganjah]

rasganjah

I really like your grow. In the fourth photo, underneath the table, it looks like the reservoir is divided into three partitions. Could you explain the function of this design?

I see why you might think that, however those are just molded in supports to strengthen the sides of the res. It's one large 100 gal. res. Nothing tricky going on there. It has a dual output air pump aerating it and a small 200 GPH pump constantly circulating the solution. The flood pump is a Hydrofarm 500 GPH.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Hey thanks. This has been an informative post.

 

[rasganjah]

Hey thanks. This has been an informative post.

You're welcome. I'm glad you found it interesting and informative.

 

[rasganjah]

The hydro is going quite well. No sign of any real problems. I think I'm pushing the threshold of what the plants can take nute wise. We just finished week 5 of 12/12 and they got MOAB all week and all I can say is, DAMN, that stuff seems to work awesome! The buds swelled up bigger than the week 6 1/2 soil buds. They're super sticky and frosty, and they smell like candy. I did some research on the strain and from what I could find, it's a cross between Cotton Candy X OG Kush . Cotton Candy is a cross between a Blueberry X Afghani. Here are the pics.

Sorry about the quality of this pic, but it shows a size reference for the buds.

 

[NorCal]

Flushing and veg time?

Flushing and veg time?

Just wondering how long these were vegged for and what you do to flush these babies and how often you do so. I've been thinking of making the switch from coco to ebb/flow with smart pots and hydroton. Been in coco for years but for some reason I always seem to get mg deficiencies. Tried hydration before and liked it a lot.

 

[jimbojones5678]

Your plants look great, nice work so far.

I've heard really good reviews of this strain, looks super sticky already.

The other common mistake is mixing your nutrient solution and trying to adjust the PH right away. You have to allow time for the ph buffers in the nutrient solution to do their job. Mix the nutes up, and bubble or circulate for 12 hours before even looking at your PH. You will find the PH to be almost right on target.

I found that little jem to be a useful piece of advice, I don't really suffer bad fluctuation but it's a good thing to remember.

I'm a bit new around this forum as well, seems like a good place.

Best for the rest,

Jimbo

 

[Useless]

 

[rasganjah]

The man with the plan!

The man with the plan!

Hey Useless! Hey there buddy! For making this possible. The formula is working great! Following it pretty much to the tee.

Just wondering how long these were vegged for and what you do to flush these babies and how often you do so. I've been thinking of making the switch from coco to ebb/flow with smart pots and hydroton. Been in coco for years but for some reason I always seem to get mg deficiencies. Tried hydration before and liked it a lot.

These were vegged for about 3 weeks I think. I was having issues at first. I started off using General Organics nutrients, but they gave me a lot of problems and the plants grew very slowly. I anticipate with the Useless' formula that they will need no more than 2 weeks or so (depending on the strain) to reach about 12" tall.

Flushing.... They get a res change out once a week and are allowed to run for 12-24 hrs with just Plain water and H2o2 then they get their next week of nutes. Final flush will be a full 14 days of plain pH adjusted water.


jimbojones5678- Thanks for stopping in. I'm glad you gleaned some useful information from my thread. I'm still learning hydroponics but so far I'm loving it! As far as your Mg def. is it in early flower that you mostly notice it? If so you could try adding some epsom salts during the transition week to 12/12 and se if that helps.

 

[rasganjah]

Update

Update

I just finished week 7 of 12/12 for these Cotton Candy Kush girls. I have only flowered this strain one time before and I had some problems with that grow, so I'm really not sure exactly how long she will go. I'm thinking in the 9 week range. That would mean I should be starting my flush with the res change later today. I may let these nutes run just a couple more days then start my flush. I think it went 9 weeks last time.... Or was it 9 1/2 weeks?? I dunno. They look to have at least 2 weeks left.

What do you guys think???

 

[rasganjah]

Start of week 9 update.

Start of week 9 update.

Did a resy change this morning and the flush starts today. It's the start of week 9 and I think they will finish at 10 weeks, so that will give me a full 14 day flush. They look pretty good. Big dense SUPER STICKY buds. They smell so sweet! I think 'm going to get my biggest yield to date. I was hoping for at least 2 pounds but it looks like more than that to me. I guess we'll see.

Lots of pics for you to check out.

1 whole plant that wasn't topped.

1 whole plant that was topped.

Feedback is as always appreciated and encouraged. I welcome any and all questions or comments.

 

[DigDuggreen]

Really beautiful man congrats on your awesome grow!!!

 

[DANK_BOTANIST]

Lookin great bro!! i had a question,, on the day u clean ur rez and u said u use plain water for a day,, do u ph adjust that water on that day or wait til after you add your nutes and wait for it too settle??

 

[rasganjah]

Lookin great bro!! i had a question,, on the day u clean ur rez and u said u use plain water for a day,, do u ph adjust that water dor that day or wait til after you add your nutes and wait for it too settle??

Thanks to both of you who posted for your compliments.

I usually pH the plain water to 6.0 the day I do the res change out. Then the next morning I add nutes and let that run for at least 6-12 hours then I check and adjust pH as necessary.

 

[rasganjah]

Some Bud Porn.

Some Bud Porn.

Got Some Good Bud Porn for you guys N girls out there in Ganja-Land! This is the Cotton Candy Kush (Cotton Candy X OG) in the flood table today at 9 1/2 weeks. Hope you enjoy.....

I was wishing for 2 ounces per plant with a total yield of somewhere around 3.75 lbs. but expecting closer to 1 ounce per plant with a yield of somewhere around 2 lbs. What do you guys think???