800W Octagon - starting & need help

[p0opstlnksal0t]

hopefully the rockwool will be ok. i still the the bioballs are the way to go, they do not change the ph in anyway unlike rockwool or hydroton. they are completely inorganic and non porous. they only act to disperse the falling water. how did you fill with rockwool? is it rockwool cubes or something? you dove into the deep end with this system, its gonna take a newb quite a bit of time to dial in a system like this. i say a sprinkler head would be better than a drip. it allows a greater amount of water. i would start on feeding 3 times a day for 15mins. then observe and make adustments from there. you need to run this system dry for a week or two before throwing plants in to see how it acts.

 

[Diamond Dave]

hopefully the rockwool will be ok. i still the the bioballs are the way to go, they do not change the ph in anyway unlike rockwool or hydroton. they are completely inorganic and non porous. they only act to disperse the falling water. how did you fill with rockwool? is it rockwool cubes or something? you dove into the deep end with this system, its gonna take a newb quite a bit of time to dial in a system like this. i say a sprinkler head would be better than a drip. it allows a greater amount of water. i would start on feeding 3 times a day for 15mins. then observe and make adustments from there. you need to run this system dry for a week or two before throwing plants in to see how it acts.

I like the Bio Ball idea, but would think you would need to water every other hour. The balls will not retain water. There will be some water left on them, but I would not think enough. But of course I have not used them before so am speaking from the cheap seats.

What about 75/25 hempy inside the towers? Anybody have thoughts positive/negative about running it that way? I was thinking about going in that direction so I would not have to deal with a rez or water every hour or so. You should only have to water ever other day. Also the cost is much cheaper than bio balls, hydrotron or even rockwool.

I know that is not aeroponic, but my interest in this thread is more related to the octagon aspect of growing.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks
DD

 

[stateek]

before you run out and buy a whack of bio balls check this link.

http://wernersponds.com/biofiltermedia.htm

it is a comparison of different bio filter media and the cost of each per cubic foot..

bio balls run about 56 bucks per cubic foot compared to nylon pot scrubbies which run between 10-12...

just a thought

 

[ericsson]

hopefully the rockwool will be ok. i still the the bioballs are the way to go, they do not change the ph in anyway unlike rockwool or hydroton. they are completely inorganic and non porous. they only act to disperse the falling water. how did you fill with rockwool? is it rockwool cubes or something? you dove into the deep end with this system, its gonna take a newb quite a bit of time to dial in a system like this. i say a sprinkler head would be better than a drip. it allows a greater amount of water. i would start on feeding 3 times a day for 15mins. then observe and make adustments from there. you need to run this system dry for a week or two before throwing plants in to see how it acts.

Hey P0op!
I will give the bio balls a try next time (unless I go made before & chop the thing to bits). A also found somthing called ceramic granulate (in a hydro store) which is suppose to be chemically neutral and pH balanced @ around 5.5 - 6.5.

As for the rockwool - I chopped it into small qubes, soaked it for 4 days in ph 5.5 RO (well, had to add pH - every now & then to bring it back down, as it would rise to 6.3-6.5) & just dumped it wet into the tubes (after 4 days of soaking in kinda became one mass that I could rip apart). I set to watering times to 15 min 3 times a day, and after 36h I noticed that the top "floor" was dry, the middle barely moist and the lowest "OK moist". So, 3 times a day isn't enough for me. Now, what I'm worried about is that once my rockwool gets dry, it doesn't absorb water any more & it looks like I'll have to take it all out again (holly fucking shit!) submerge it and throw it back in wet, changing the times - I'll start with 20min every 3 hours and see whats up. The plants turned 2 weeks today, didn't get to take any pics - I'll try to drop some on the weekend.

Now, pH.. well, it's not tragic but not great either. I set it to 5.5, next day it's 5.8-5.9, next day after that 6.3-6.5. Can't tell much more atm cause today it the second day they are in the octagon.

I'm shitting my pants after what U.G.U wrote about PVC (btw thank 4 the mail man, I'll write back 2mmorow) and how it can fuck with the pH but I'm still hoping it's not my case (and having in mind, that with the hydroton the pH would go up to 7.5-7.8 in 24h there is a chance..). I started adding some tap water (about 10% of the res) so that the buffering abilities of the water are kept, my res is 17,5 gal UK (21 gal US). I'm not aerating it currently, as I've read that more o2 helps the pH go up. If I'll have to keep on adding pH - every day in order to keep it in bounds, I'll either have to change the medium or the whole PVC octagon (which means dirt grows untill I save up to build a new one from abs.. can't take another few months with empty hands).

Take care guys,
E.

 

[ericsson]

Well, shit ain't good..

It seems af it the pH finally is ok - around 5.7-5.9 in 3-4 days, and EC steady @ 0.7-0.8. The plants are 3 weeks now and totally stand still. Some are mutating in some funny alien way, starting to grow 2 "antennas". Here are some pic's:

I tried feeding them every 8 hours for 10mins, but the rockwool dried out nearley fully so I've been changing the times to 6h/20min, 4h/20min, 2h/20min and now it @ 1h/15min and the rockwool still doesn't get soaked - it's only slightly moist. Should I take it all out again, submerge it and don't let it dry out any more?

Whats happening to the plants? I was thinking about the PVC, but last time - before the pH got out of hand, they were growing really well for the first 2 weeks. Now there is a problem since the very beginning. Any ideas?

E.

 

[GardenCaress]

fuck, that's shitty. How do the plants feel? are they papery and dry? cause they look like they're getting enough water.

 

[ericsson]

Can't nobody help this poor, miserable motherfucker?

 

[Numboard]

I wish I could help. Its a goddamn horror show in here...

 

[Bulldog501]

im not a hydro man myself so im not that familiar with EC and PH problems beside a few limited experiences running clones in a bubler but regarding the drying out abd algea on the rockwool i would suggest closing it with tin foil or similar material
it will prevent drying out and algaes cant grow if they dont get light

interesting setup and ill be watching as i might do a similar sometime in the future

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

where are you checking the moisture level? in the center of the tube? the center holds the moisture not teh outer hydroton in the top part of the wye fittings. you need to cap the tops of the wyes with pringles can tops with slits or hit up the dollar stop to see what you can find to cover the tops of the pots to keep out algae growth and keep the moisture up. they are small make sure your not giving them too much nutes, the dont need much right now. if you go with straight bio balls or similar media you will be watering constantly on and off, prolly have to water every 30 mins or so at least it will be more like aeroponic at this point. with the media you have now just make sure the interior of the tubes are staying wet and you will be good.

i think you didnt understand my reasoning behind a bigger res. the reason you want a bigger res is a greater water volume to combat ph swings and help cushion the nutrient swings. its easier to medicate and test a 50 gallon res. with less harm on the plants than it is to do it on 1/4 the volume. with such a great amount of plants and surface area of root contact with the water, you will need a nice big res. I am hoping to have about 100 gallons total circulating volume in my fucked up coli i have in my sig.

have you given any thought to stuffing the tubes with coco? It is not easy to dial in a system like this bro, i would have been dialing in on shitty bagseed not wasting good genes right now.

 

[CannabisFox]

so sad...
he should have used perlite instead of hydroton and some stuff like we have in europe "mineral magic" to keep the ph in place.

 

[TommyTwoColas]

He really should've just listened to PoopStinkSalt and been watering every few hours (even less when they're babies, like once or twice per day) vs. the 120x per day that he was feeding them (causing root rot, algae growth on the rockwool, pH swings, etc.).

It's a shame no one made that suggestion, or the equally worthwhile suggestion of running the system DTW (for someone having crazy pH/EC levels)...............as DHF would say, "babyshit".

 

[gurnt]

have to keep a eye are 2 on this.
I made a good liven make bios for the fish farms . one of the first co to make them WATCH out they dry out fast and the bugs will die and your Ph will drop down to the 3