passive plant killer

[Snook]

so let me ask: would 3, 1/2" wicks (1.5") E&F fittings with tubes, (or 2, 3/4" fittings) fit simetrically around the center of the PPK pot, mo betta wick feed them babies? and maybe a 4th with 3"s of thermoloam in the center, (not in water) to help drain off pulse water?

 

[delta9nxs]

D9 made sure he got that 3000th post with that "won't expand" stuff.... hey D9, congrats on one of the most sucessful threads (and concepts of course) on ICMag. Anything that can help buy a place in the country is a winner to me.......

stagehand

actually it was accidental. (that's my story and i'm stickin' to it!)

thank you for the kind words.

 

[delta9nxs]

Ahhhh ok. Thanks for the clarification about the volume tank. I'm going to build a black box like you suggested to make things easier. For my plant containers I'm using the 3.5 Gallon buckets from usplastics.com. Blah, thought I could pre-ziptie the tailpieces cause of the 2.5" hole, but forgot about the smaller hole in the top bucket, lol.

Just want to clarify that I'm thinking correctly about your flow diagram. So instead of running the line from the control buckets to each plant reservoir, I should run that from the pump bucket? So the pulse, and the irrigation lines both come from the pump bucket, and the control bucket is just to serve essentially as a water level? Should I still place these valve stems on the bottom of the pump bucket, as I would with the control bucket? And lastly, on your volume tank, do you physically connect it to the control bucket, or do you just pump your solution into there?

i have made some incredibly dumb mistakes building while high! learned about sharp tools the hard way. one time i was drilling a piece of plastic for something fish related and i slipped and drilled a neat, clean 1/8" hole in my right palm. that's when i learned that you don't drill holding shit in your hand.

the other day i was picking my nose with an icepick when i slipped and fell on the icepick and it went up into my brain. hurt like hell. i hate it when i do that. i've had this godawful headache ever since.

you've got it right on the hook up except the control box is there to not only control the water level but to "meter" the input of fresh solution. that is the real reason you need two containers.

the volume tank has a tire valve installed in it at the lowest point. there is a line running from it to the float valve in the control chamber.

i'll try to get some better pictures up.

well, gotta go watch american idol, i'm waiting for another sid vicious.

 

[mcfly420]

this is what helped me understand...found post 2586 by searching this thread for 'draw'

"we have had quite a few folks build variations without using a separate pump chamber. and they work. but they will allow ec to climb as they let too much new solution into the control bucket each time the pump fires. this, in turn, also moves ph around.

in this scenario when the pump is in the control bucket and it fires it immediately causes a full draw down of the control bucket. this causes an immediate, strong intake to occur through the float valve from the volume tank. all fresh solution. at some point the excess from the plant reservoirs back flows into the control bucket and the system comes to equilibrium. the problem is that it causes an overfilling to occur that is above the float valve level setting.

when a separate pump bucket is used and the pump fires it causes an immediate draw down of the pump bucket only and a slow draw down of the control bucket. this allows the liquid returning from the individual plant reservoirs time to return to the control bucket before a strong draw occurs from the volume tank.

the pump bucket slowly fills from the control bucket during the time between pulses.

what all this does is limit the amount of fresh solution that is inputted with each pulse cycle."

 

[disciple]

 

[Slimm]

D9,

Speaking of Venturi effect - I have been wondering how to use these: http://www.mazzei.net/?q=injectors

I wondered if they could help with DO and mixing of the nutrients. I thought maybe they could be run with no input but air on the suction intake (rotated 90 degrees with a snorkel on top).

 

[disciple]

 

[seventhchild]

D9,

Speaking of Venturi effect - I have been wondering how to use these: http://www.mazzei.net/?q=injectors

I wondered if they could help with DO and mixing of the nutrients. I thought maybe they could be run with no input but air on the suction intake (rotated 90 degrees with a snorkel on top).

i'm under the impression that DO levels are not important with this system ?? and that mixing of the nutes occurres in the control bucket?

 

[Treebeard]

Sorry for not being a bit more active in this thread. The PPK, after a bit of dialing in, is performing amazingly well. The plants love it and so far it's super low maintenance. Been very busy with a lot of other things, and my camera just took a shit....but I plan on documenting the next round quite a bit more in depth.

The cheapest place I found 3.5 gallon buckets is plantlightinghydroponics. They have amazing prices on everything and shipping is discrete and affordable if you're on the east coast. West coast should check out bghydro I think....they price match.

I've also applied beneficial mycos and they REALLY love the turface/rice hull mix because of the rice hulls. It's truly a great environment for bennies. Anyone interested in this should check out Capulator at the farm. Best bennie mix available and very affordable.

 

[delta9nxs]

so let me ask: would 3, 1/2" wicks (1.5") E&F fittings with tubes, (or 2, 3/4" fittings) fit simetrically around the center of the PPK pot, mo betta wick feed them babies? and maybe a 4th with 3"s of thermoloam in the center, (not in water) to help drain off pulse water?

snook, i tried a version of that before i started this thread. while it worked ok it was a lot more work because of the extra drilling and did not perform any better. if you look at the math you can see that a single 1.5" tube has a cross section of 1.77 sq in. 4 1/2" tubes have a total cross section of .78 sq in. in containers no greater than about 5 gals the 1.5" tube is more than sufficient. i think we have yet to see how big of a plant it will grow.

 

[delta9nxs]

D9,

Speaking of Venturi effect - I have been wondering how to use these: http://www.mazzei.net/?q=injectors

I wondered if they could help with DO and mixing of the nutrients. I thought maybe they could be run with no input but air on the suction intake (rotated 90 degrees with a snorkel on top).

hey slimm, i don't see any benefit to using these in this application. you actually could use a totally anaerobic solution and it would make no difference.

sometime someone should do some test grows with pure o2 injection into the medium, not the water.

 

[delta9nxs]

on the pump line? that would be cool.

DO levels drop too quickly for any effect on the lines running to each bottom bucket.

I'm kicking around the idea of switching to black boxes and with the greater volume having a dedicated pump with a stand-pipe up doing a waterfall/fountain back into the black box. the pump intake would obviously have to be below the lowest water level after the pulse pump fires.

is there a benefit tho... I came here completely taken with the simplicity.....

i really don't think it's worth the effort. you know how people have talked about using the 3.5 gal bucket in a 5 and the problem is that you cut off air to the sidewalls if you do it with no holes in the outer bucket.

or alternately go ahead and cut the holes in the outer bucket and increase evaporation and algae.

well, you could take the inner bucket exactly as we use it now and take the outer 5 gal bucket and install a tire valve in it above the water line and inject pure o2 or maybe just hook up an air pump. with a seal on the lip of the 3.5 made of silicone caulk all the gas motion would have to be through the medium.

the drawbacks to pure o2 may be death due to o2 poisoning or over drying the medium.

i was looking at treebeards link and they show those cap lids for 3.5 and 5 gal buckets. they look like they are made without the little divider braces in the lid. if so they would be a better option as they would only need they one 7/16" hole for the battery tool that would serve as an overflow drain also.

when i started this i was trying to limit evaporation and algae and so was slow to drill a bucket for the overflow. after drilling i am getting more algae for sure and but the evaporation doesn't seem too bad.

 

[delta9nxs]

i'm under the impression that DO levels are not important with this system ?? and that mixing of the nutes occurres in the control bucket?

most mixing occurs in the control bucket but mixing is going on everywhere. and do levels are not important here.

 

[delta9nxs]

Sorry for not being a bit more active in this thread. The PPK, after a bit of dialing in, is performing amazingly well. The plants love it and so far it's super low maintenance. Been very busy with a lot of other things, and my camera just took a shit....but I plan on documenting the next round quite a bit more in depth.

The cheapest place I found 3.5 gallon buckets is plantlightinghydroponics. They have amazing prices on everything and shipping is discrete and affordable if you're on the east coast. West coast should check out bghydro I think....they price match.

I've also applied beneficial mycos and they REALLY love the turface/rice hull mix because of the rice hulls. It's truly a great environment for bennies. Anyone interested in this should check out Capulator at the farm. Best bennie mix available and very affordable.

great, thanks for trying it! i like those lids at plantlighting and i'm interested in seeing the results of the mycos. i've tried them several times and didn't see much difference.

 

[delta9nxs]

had a rare opportunity to take a couple of pics in the flower area.

1. larger plant on left is the arcata trainwreck at about 2 weeks. on the right is a purple kush just put in.

2. another of the purple kush.

3. isis at about 8 weeks, expect it to run 10.

4. the "dope" at about 5 weeks. well over 4' wide.

5. same plant with my hand on top of the yardstick which is sitting on the top of the medium.

6. ecsd x g13 at about 6 weeks.

7. same plant

so here we are, growing plant after plant, now a different strain in every position, all in the same system at the same concentration. no additives, no boosters, no ph adjusters. all plants very healthy and growing fast. producing huge buds.

 

[Rhyno]

Delta, I been lurking around here for a couple years and rarely post but I needed to sign in to give you major props for your work with the ppk! Simply an outstanding thread to say the least and thanks to everyone else who has been participating in this thread all these years for sharing your experiences. The information contained in these 3000+ posts is simply golden. If I myself had more posts here I would be handing out major rep to all!
Thanks again! Stay green, stay cool & stay safe.
Rhyno

 

[Treebeard]

Beautiful plants delta9nxs. Are you still running the Sweet tooth? I've got Monkey Haze, Galadriel, and Starbud in my buckets. I'm also running 2 hps and 1 mh in the middle for a mixed spectrum. After mixing nutes pH drops down to about 5.2 with my water. I ordered some of Jack's pH adjuster to up it to 5.9-6.0 and it's STABLE. Set it and forget it.

 

[Snook]

snook, i tried a version of that before i started this thread. while it worked ok it was a lot more work because of the extra drilling and did not perform any better. if you look at the math you can see that a single 1.5" tube has a cross section of 1.77 sq in. 4 1/2" tubes have a total cross section of .78 sq in. in containers no greater than about 5 gals the 1.5" tube is more than sufficient. i think we have yet to see how big of a plant it will grow.

Does it make a difference how the 'pulse' wave of water, (that on the way down, pushes 'out' gasses that are in the media which causes a vacuum like affect, sucking 'in' new/fresh O2, 'behind' the pulse wave, no need for DO in rez) makes its' way into the plants rez? via overflow out side holes ro via wic?

Pics tomorrow... it's so tight in that little tent that I cant get in to take pics that look like any more than a giant, very close, mass of green. Cut tomorrow.. there will be room then.

 

[delta9nxs]

Delta, I been lurking around here for a couple years and rarely post but I needed to sign in to give you major props for your work with the ppk! Simply an outstanding thread to say the least and thanks to everyone else who has been participating in this thread all these years for sharing your experiences. The information contained in these 3000+ posts is simply golden. If I myself had more posts here I would be handing out major rep to all!
Thanks again! Stay green, stay cool & stay safe.
Rhyno

thanks, rhyno! are you growing in one?

 

[delta9nxs]

Beautiful plants delta9nxs. Are you still running the Sweet tooth? I've got Monkey Haze, Galadriel, and Starbud in my buckets. I'm also running 2 hps and 1 mh in the middle for a mixed spectrum. After mixing nutes pH drops down to about 5.2 with my water. I ordered some of Jack's pH adjuster to up it to 5.9-6.0 and it's STABLE. Set it and forget it.

i'm maintaining a mom of the sweet tooth but i'll probably cross her to something sometime.

i've got 18 strains i'm testing one after another for a few months after which i'll make some decisions about what i want to use in the rotation. probably narrow it down to 6 strains.

why did you feel it necessary to correct ph? i'll get an immediate low ph reading in ro water, usually 5.0-5.3 but if you leave it alone for just a few hours it moves upward somewhat.

if you use jack's in ro water don't adjust ph. it's self regulating.

there is a commercial tomato greenhouse in turkey that operates intentionally at 4.6 and grows great tomatoes. i think low ph is not all that much of a problem. it's high ph that is immediately dangerous to the plants as precipitation events begin occurring at around 6.5.

looking forward to your pics.

later