My 1st basement grow 12 bucket dwc

[plumpm0nkey]

the leak is bc of the o-rings are not holdn the water inside the valvle, can silicone the area where its leaking bc i need a shutoff on each row.

 

[kovenant]

great start plumpmonkey... wish i had got everything together and assembled as quickly. like you said - sure are ALOT of things you continue to pick up and add even after you think you have it all (i thought i had finally got everything about 10 times... then i stopped thinkin i had it all.)

you just might be able to pull off going non-chiller. the CA ocean breeze is nice and cool, you have it in your basement, and you have cold well water. thats great, hope it works for you without chiller/AC as that saves alot.

nice setup. seems you were able to get all soft-vinyl lines... which i would prefer and may switch out to next time. you said all your local hydros have 3/4" only... funny, all the ones here have 1/2" and 5/8" only, and no 3/4". i had to resort to the semi-flexible black pvc 3/4" which also didnt fit well to most of my fittings. thank god for hose clamps and teflon tape. no leaks, but really no mobility on my buckets.

im glad to have someone doing the same thing i am, at the same time. ill definately be watching ~ keep up the good grow!

 

[BennyBlanco]

Gl with your grow
how many watts are u going to have?

 

[plumpm0nkey]

im shootin for 2k. does digi do a better job?

 

[Guest]

No, only the bulb quality and watts can effect how much light is put out. Digi's tend to cost more, emmit waves, and save you a few cents on electricity.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

But digis run much cooler, are generally smaller and lighter than magnetics, and have additional features (like mine have dimmer knobs to turn them down if room gets too hot). So I guess it depends on what you mean by a "better job". There are a bunch of threads in the Growroom forum about digitals. Do some research and decide which ballast your situation is best suited for.

 

[plumpm0nkey]

coil is alot cheaper, ive been finding 1k ballast, socket, and hood for $250 average on craigslist , so maybe digi ballasts later on.


Does anyone use pure Oxygen to squirt in their soil / water ? or is adding hydrogen peroxide just as good?

 

[plumpm0nkey]

Well i installed the new valves today and no leaks, but the feed valve has a leak, i swear i will never buy shit from a out of town hydro store again, 3 bad out of 6, is not good. Im loyal to my store now, he even hooks you up cheaper than the orig price, just him that works there in a dope ass spot too. hes nice and hidden in a ally behind stores, converted some old warehouse roll up room into a wicked store. every time i go in , i ts so hard not to buy something. , but anyways, i gotta swap out that 1/2" valve and then find out about upgrading the air pump thats not making big bubble its a 600gph. 950 is much better. EVEn my water pump i thought would be overkill is barely doin the job. i want a lil sharp stream to fall into th bucket to create even more of a mix inside. i think the nextstep is 800. walmart had em on clearance too.

I hope floranova does better in water setup. i got some nute burns on my clones im spacin out the table flood of freshwater every 3 days then nutes w/ root66 with is the shit btw. My spidermite problem has clear thanks to my hydro guys speacial mix he sells. cheaper and just as effective. been sprayin everyday.

 

[kovenant]

lookin good plumpm0nkey!! nice pics of the ladies... you got a real leggy one there in at the end. looks like you have all sizes, from rooted clones through 3 foot tall or so. looks great - keep us posted

 

[plumpm0nkey]

i swear it feels like im never goin to finish this build, its always something i need and more money i gotta spend, my funds are low, but atleast i got 1 side done and 6 in the nets. I reallllly need to get a meter, ive been testn ph with strips.

 

[kovenant]

lookin good my man - keep up the good grow!

i know it feels overwhelming, trust me, but what you're putting into this is an investment! let the stress fall away as you are only doing what needs to be done.

cheers

 

[SirSmokalot]

good shit dude

 

[plumpm0nkey]

Thanks for the love! Yeah i know it must be done and once its built/bought it will be there for the next grow. Well right now im not even using the big 55gal rez since i think its just easier to add the water you need manually since you gotta drop it to keep the roots 2" above the water. On payday i will see about exchanging my airpump 600 for a 950 to make that water sizzle with bubbles.
Somehow my cloens grew roots in the water when it was submerged, so i think i got em trained for having to much water on the roots in the future.

After 1 day roots are droppin through the rocks out of the net

 

[plumpm0nkey]

so the bubbles should only hit the roots not the roots in the water?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

The roots will end up in the water no matter what you do so dont worry about that. Just keep the water level about an inch under the netpot. For my stand alone DWCs I bring the water level up to the roots to get them started instead of waiting for them to grow down to the water. They dont seem to mind either way.

 

[kovenant]

yup plumpm0nkey - i just now dropped my water level to an inch below the netpots. i had it just at the netpots (actually more like 1/8" above the bottom of the netpots) to keep the water close enough to the roots to prevent wilting of the plants above (even with the water level there, i was getting minor wilting every other day and manually top-fed using water from my controller on just those plants)

but good question - cause i was wondering if one needed to keep lowering it below the roots too (but then i thought... how, when i see people with full 5 gal buckets of root mass after just a few weeks!)

 

[plumpm0nkey]

Wow, then why do you need a rez then since your lowering the water. Soon as i get more chain i will be hanging the 2nd light frame. The plants are loving all that florescent running 24 hours

 

[kovenant]

the res is to auto-top off the controller so you can always keep the level an inch or two below the netpots. without the res and float valve - evaporation, plant use, and whatever else would slowly (and sometimes pretty quick im sure) lower and be insuficient for your plants roots.

you're running on 24? i did that my first week of veg then after some reading decided i wanted to try 18/6. 18/6 was much better for my girls - they really used the night period well and i noticed much more root growth once they had some rest - and then more top growth because light wasnt constant.

not sure any one else's opinion on 24 vs 18/6 but the later was better for this strain anyway.

get some new pics up!

 

[plumpm0nkey]

had some xtra money and bought some chain to hang the rest of the fluorescents and get those hung tonight. I forgot about my outdoor plant og kush and wasnt watered in 4 days, all the leaves where green but all droopy. gave it some foxfarm and some fresh clean pure water. Yumm.

The roots are lookn healthy on the bucket grow, doin not to bad for eyeballn the ph. Ive been closely watching the meter thread to see whats the choise meter to buy im picky

i know this isnt a hydro grow but i like to share, after 30 min the leaves picked back up, it suprised me that it can react that quick.

 

[SirSmokalot]

you have the top off rez to water your system so you dont have to do add back but once a week or so depending on your rez size. it automates your watering...all you need to focus on is ph and ppms. once your system is stabalized and ph stops fluxing, and you want to take a trip for 5 days, you can get the ppms where you need them or a little hotter than normal but still safe levels, fill your rez and go as long as you know ballpark your rezs life span before empty you are good. peace hope that helps. you only keep the water level down from the net pot so you dont get stem rot at the base of your plant. but the roots need to be emersed(spelling) in water at all times to keep them from drying up and hardening. theat is where your air stones w/ bubbles in buckets come in for o2. keep the air pump in a cool place to pump as cool as possible air into the buckets as it will effect water temp and you know you need that cool in dwc. sorry for the rant just wanted to reply to some questions and concerns