DR90Twin 600W Blue Cheese

[Penguin59]

Hi there Lazyeye!

I know that feeling you're experiencing mate, the childish excitement at any stage of growth haha. I miss my first run

The girls are definitely looking healthy so far man. In my experience, with Barney's Farm seeds, the plants tend to stretch a fair bit and need the lights as close as possible to stay compact. I also found that they don't require much water and will show signs of overwatering quickly. It would be interesting to hear how you go with these ones in a couple of weeks and see if this strain responds in the same way. Keep us posted.

Just checked out the specs for Blue Cheese and it's saying that the plants come out mostly short and stocky but there is one or two sativa phenotypes you could run into. Either way the yields and potency of this strain are off the chart!!! Very good choice brother

I definitely agree with Jnugg, your veg chamber should have its own fresh air supply. If you hooked that up, you could easily run the 600w as you did in your first test run. 29c-30c in the flowering chamber is perfect as the higher temps will keep humidity levels down for flowering. You'd want about 25c-26c in the veg chamber as young seedlings would struggle to thrive in 30c+ temps.

I'll have some more tips as things progress, I'll be watching buddy!

 

[Lazyeye]

What's up lazyeye,just got your pm so here I be...
Everything is looking good but I have some questions about your ventilation.

It looks to me like your fan is set up to pull air into the bottom of tent through one of the passive intakes,then over the plants,over the bulb,through ducting and then dumping that air into the top chamber...am I right about that?

Also what are the ambient temps (temperature of the room the tent sits in and draws air from)?

Also,is that a 4" or 6" exhaust fan?A 4" fan and a 400w HPS will do fine so long as the ambient temps are 65°F to 70°F add a carbon fillter and ambient temps you might want to keep @ 65°F or upgrade to a 6" exhaust fan.In order to run your lamp @ 600w youl deffinitely want to upgrade to a 6" while keeping ambient temps between 65°F & 70°F.

First & foremost I would vent each srction with it's own fan.The reason your top section gets so warm is because it appears your dumping the hot air from the lower section in the top section.

Another thing is dump that hot air into the attic or out a window or to another room,don't recirculate it in the same room that the tent sits in as that will just cause the ambient temps to rise which in return will cause temps in the tent to rise.You could straight shot aircool your light as seen in the ventilation 101 thread,then use a seperate fan to ventilate the grow with that fan pulling stinky air through a carbon filter again as seen in the ventilation 101 thread.

Welcome! And thanks for stopping by!

You are correct about the ventilation.

Ambient is 22C at the moment, can turn the radiator down even more and open the venting hatch though. No need until flowering though.

This is the fan: http://www.head-nature.com/tree/654/Exhaust-Fan-Sets/article/04246/Exhaust-Fan-Kit-355-m³-h-125mm since we're using the metric system over here I'm not sure. I think it's a 6"?

Yeah I figured as much. Last couple of days I've been thinking about getting a small exhaust and it's own scrubber for the veg chamber. Any advice? Small and cheap is the mantra for this, already busted my budget for this grow

That's my main problem! I can't! I'm in a rental apartment, I can't knock out walls etc. I'll get you a picture of the window with the venting hatch, not a "real window". I was thinking about drilling some holes (small holes) in the door, and attach an exhaust line that way, venting it all out to the rest of the apartment. But then I'd have to replace the door when I move, no idea how much that'll cost. And the door isn't located in a good position, let's just say it wouldn't be discrete to have holes in that door. Too many questions when people come to visit.

The way I do it now is I keep the door shut during the time I'm at work/not here. Just in case someone urgently needs to get in, caretaker or whatever. As soon as I come home I open the door up to let fresh air in and hot air out.

 

[Lazyeye]

Hi there Lazyeye!

I know that feeling you're experiencing mate, the childish excitement at any stage of growth haha. I miss my first run

The girls are definitely looking healthy so far man. In my experience, with Barney's Farm seeds, the plants tend to stretch a fair bit and need the lights as close as possible to stay compact. I also found that they don't require much water and will show signs of overwatering quickly. It would be interesting to hear how you go with these ones in a couple of weeks and see if this strain responds in the same way. Keep us posted.

Just checked out the specs for Blue Cheese and it's saying that the plants come out mostly short and stocky but there is one or two sativa phenotypes you could run into. Either way the yields and potency of this strain are off the chart!!! Very good choice brother

I definitely agree with Jnugg, your veg chamber should have its own fresh air supply. If you hooked that up, you could easily run the 600w as you did in your first test run. 29c-30c in the flowering chamber is perfect as the higher temps will keep humidity levels down for flowering. You'd want about 25c-26c in the veg chamber as young seedlings would struggle to thrive in 30c+ temps.

I'll have some more tips as things progress, I'll be watching buddy!

Hey buddy! Welcome!

Yeah I've been thinking about the stretch, we'll see how tall they wanna get. Planning on topping them all at the first node right from the start. This run I'll only run 4 in flower at the same time, so I got alot of space sideways.

Definitley hoping to get the indica pheno. Looking for afternoon/evening smoke As for yield I have no idea what to expect really. If I get like 200g this first run I'll be happy. And since I've never smoked before I bet it'll knock me on my ass

Yeah I agree, fresh air for veg is the next step. Much more stable running it now with the HPS turned off than before. Need to find a cheap fan and a small cheap scrubber. Might as well, meaning I wont go through as much (or any?) onagel.

 

[Bad7887]

Nice set-up. Good luck to ya.

 

[Lazyeye]

I was thinking. I found a T-connector and a Y-connector for the ducting and fan. Would this work? If so, wich one would be best? The fan should be strong enough, when doing my tests with all the lights turned on I was running on 50% max.

Would save me from buying another exhaust, wich I havn't even been able to find one at a suitable size. Just the connector and a scrubber, would be awesome if it works!

 

[5th]

What were ya looking to do with those Lazy?

 

[Lazyeye]

Connecting both tents to one exhaust. One filter in each tent, ducting up to T/Y and then ducting to exhaust. Placing exhaust at my "window" blowing the hot air towards it, being cooled by the cold air coming in.

Placing ducting from the top chamber down to floor level so that the intake gets as cool air as possible. I don't know if I'm making any sense, just an idea that I'm hoping for right now

 

[5th]

I was confused as fuck n' then BANG I pictured it.

I've no idea if that would work...

Your fan is working at X-CFM, V=volume of CFM is quite different in each grow section....ducting from the top part of the tent to the floor would create a certain amount of drag...air will travel to the exhaust via the path of least resistance...

I gotta go take an asprin now. Good luck bro.

 

[Lazyeye]

I did a picassodrawing of how I'm thinking (simplified lol). If I don't hear a "no jackass, that wont work" I think I'll give it a try. If it works it's awesome. The exhaust is powerful enough no doubt.

Also you can see my window in the other pictures, and the venting hatch. I'm hoping that physics will be on my side. Hot air clashing with cold air, making hot air colder, going down to floor level and in to the intakes.

I've been playing with the idea to plug the whole window up (in some gentle way) with some kind of board. Then attaching ducting to the board, having it as an exit only. But I don't know if that will work since it's only a small gap, roughly 1cm tall when opened to the max.

Thanks for all the help and feedback, priceless!

 

[5th]

I'm of the opinion your gonna need to exhaust both chambers with there own fan...sorry bro.

That is the most fuct up looking window I've even seen however.

 

[ThaMagnificent]

Is a filter really necessary in the veg chamber though?

 

[Lazyeye]

Argh! Partypooper!

Seriously though, care to elaborate on why? I hate feeling like a rookie...

Any pointers as to what exhaust? I can only find big ones. Found some small inline fans that would suit my needs, but apparently they are not powerful enough to be hooked up to a filter. There's always something!

 

[Lazyeye]

Bah, no edit button, just saw your post Mag.

I honestly don't know. I want to go pretty stealth about this. Some say you can go without, some say that one motherplant will stink up the entire place.

My nose is freaking handicapped so I don't trust it one bit...

 

[5th]

Theres no fucking around with slealth ma' man...you either do or you don't...no half assing it.

This probly goes against everything you've read so far...but,

When I design a cab I don't give a fuck about lights, how many plants, all of that shit ...its trivial.

So what I've been doing is starting my designs from the ventilation and working my way up. (your realising, and EVERYONE running a cab already knows, ventilation either makes or breaks a cab)

Now becuz your cab is already built...for better lack of a term. We have to work with what ya already got. If I was better at Sketchup I'd quickly do up a pic showing how the air movement works in your cab...but I'm not so lets use the pic you drew instead.

See...your exhaust fan is lazy. It wants to do the least amount of work as possible. (sounds like me actually) So instead of taking the energy to suck air into a length of duct up into your veg cab, its going to take the easy route and pull air into your flowering chamber.

It's taken me alot of trial n' error ..and luckily people here on IC to point me in the right direction as far as how to win the battle of air flow. I'm far from an expert, I do however have actual experience...so hopefully someone else can chime in and explain what I just did better.

Pesonally, I'd keep the set up the way it is. Fan on each filter, connected to a Y instead of a T, (less drag) aim it at your window as you've planned. Use the passive intakes on the other side of the tent. (you can do that right?) Good Luck.

 

[Penguin59]

EVERYONE running a cab already knows, ventilation either makes or breaks a cab

Couldn't agree more with this statement

To address what ThaMagnificent said, I'll just say that you would only need a filter in your veg cab if the strains you're growing in that compartment are in need of one.

These days I can usually get away without a scrubber in my veg cab and the wife doesn't give me a hard time

 

[Keep goin]

Hey Lazy....

You asked me in a PM to comment, so here goes...

Set up looks good. Remember a 100 ways to skin a cat, grow weed, etc.

Tent set up should work well, you bought from a high end manufacturer...should work as indicated.

In terms of dimming the fan, looks like you have solved that problem. Are you also running a thermostatic controller which is activating the fan at appropriate times (when temp is low or high?) That is probably more important than reducing the rate of exhaust. If you don't restrict the fan it will just exchange the room quicker. (not a bad thing)

Check out the DIY area on here for some cheap alternatives to just buying a thermo controller. Personally, I would just buy.

In terms of an AC just put in a window unit and you should be good. Control the temp in the surrounding room then exchange through the tent, should work well.

You can run higher temps, with the full strength light if you add CO2 into the mix.

Everything else you are doing should work fine. You have chosen a good method for your level of knowledge.

Personally, I hate rockwool and don't like having lots of material (perilite) to get rid of between rounds. So I can't comment on that directly. But as I said should work fine...and for your level of skill and knowledge...perfect.

Get a few rounds under your belt, then decide if you want to try other methods.

Just remember, keep it mellow!! Low EC and good environment will get you better results than pushing the plants to the limits with crazy boosters, and "extra" products. GH 3 part and foliar feed with their Flourolicious plus, or straight sea weed and you should get great results.

Personally, I don't like the Lucas formula myself...never understood the "need" to make a 2 part out of a 3 part ( and YES I do understand the "ratio" of the nutrients which is the "logical" origin of Lucas!) I just didn't like the results. I have commented on this in other threads saying I noticed deficiencies with Lucas which were fixed immediately by simply adding 2 mL/ Gal of the "Grow" part of the 3 part...(which doesn't really have much N in it). I have had fanatics of the Lucas formula give me shit for my opinion (don't care!) It didn't work for me! I have even been told my problem was I needed to add epsom salts...WTF!!? Seriously just add the 3rd part of the 3 part formula. The versatility of their 3 part is unparalleled!

Just run the "old school" 3-2-1 for grow, then just go 1-2-3 for bloom...I even sometimes do 2-2-2 for grow, or transition. I have a friend who runs 2-2-2 for the entire run from veg all the way through. I still like to alter it slightly throughout the grow though and "up" the bloom part of the formula as I progress. I usually end up close to Lucas for the very end of the cycle...but only the last week or so before flush. BTW with above ideas "2" is 6mL/ G.

I haven't tried the bulb you are using, but I highly recommend the Ushio opti-red 600w bulb. If you aren't satisfied with the results, or just want to try another option. I went from Hortilux to Ushio...and will never buy a Hortilux again! It's that much better.

Let me know if you have any other questions, or if I can offer any more of my humble opinions.

Good Luck
KG

 

[Lazyeye]

Day 7 - veg

So, we're one week in, first weekly update. Not a whole lot of action yet, but progress none the less! We got growth, first node is about to take form I think. And we got roots going through the bottom of the cubes. I love it! Next step is to hook them up in a hempybucket. Hopefully tomorrow or the day after. I got so much shit on my plate right now, but hopefully!

I'm kind of happy with the results so far. No amazing growth. But I don't have any nutes going, I don't PH the water (I will be shortly), and I have no fan blowing on them. All of this because of lack of funds. As I said I've already busted the budget, and got alot of things left to purchase. We'll get there, eventually.

Kind of poor picture quality today, had a hard time focusing. Don't know why. What do you guys think?

 

[Lazyeye]

KG: Thanks for stopping by!

I'm not running a thermostat on the exhaust. I want to, but they are kind of expensive. (at least for me)

Can't do a window unit I'm afraid. If you look at the previous pictures it's not a "normal" window.

I heard you can use perlite and vermiculite for 2 runs before you change. What do you use that you can use longer?

I'll try the Lucas formula this run. If it doesn't work well I'm very open minded as it's my first time. Just learning the ropes, sucking up info like a sponge

Thanks for the pointers buddy!

 

[Jnugg]

I've used.lots of different nutrients over the years like Fox Farms 3 part (and the three additives; Open Sesame, beastie bloomz,& cha-ching), pure blend pro, age old organics, gh flora series 3 part (micro,grow,bloom) just to name a few.

This round I'm using Lucas formula with GH flora micro & flora bloom at 8 milliliters micro/16 milliliters bloom,& I'm loving it not one sign of deficiencies & not one sign of over fertilization,not even a burnt tip.Check out my current growlog,the link is @ the bottom my sig - Jnugg converts and goes vertical.

 

[Keep goin]

I'm not running a thermostat on the exhaust. I want to, but they are kind of expensive. (at least for me)

check out the DIY area on here...lots of cheap ideas in there. But also check out just a thermostatic controller...not a whole room one. Plug and play for around 60 or 70 bucks. Plug in your fan set your temps, done!

Can't do a window unit I'm afraid. If you look at the previous pictures it's not a "normal" window.

Not sure what to tell you about that??

I heard you can use perlite and vermiculite for 2 runs before you change. What do you use that you can use longer?

Hydroton...you can use it endlessly!! Easy to clean (after the first time) just soak it with H2O2 and use a strainer to remove roots.

I'll try the Lucas formula this run. If it doesn't work well I'm very open minded as it's my first time. Just learning the ropes, sucking up info like a sponge

Yeah try it out...plenty of people have success with it!!

Thanks for the pointers buddy!

Good Luck