v2 'dream system' DIY and diary

[GMax]

I really don't like to fight about light movers... Cause guys are proud of their contraptions... As they should be. What I've always said though, is that consistency is the key to happy and healthy plants. If you can't deliver that, you're going to have problems.

So, what's consistent about a glowing orb floating around the room? It's dangerous. period.

IMO, if you're going to move the light around, you should do with with flip/flops and stationary lamps. My $0.02 on moving light... I had a chain driven light mover once upon a time... I spent a lot of time fixing it, had burnt leaves when it would break down...

What I'm saying about making your canopy bigger is increasing the diameter and maintaining a circle. I would rather see you do 2 cylinders next to each other than w/e this business is that you're planning with the movers... I just can't picture it I guess. Anyway, if you're going to spread the light out, it would be more consistent to increase the diameter of the canopy and thereby decreasing the light intensity... Which is what you're doing by moving the light around anyway.

Freds is always preaching these small flip rooms... I really think there's something to it. It's easier to maintain environment... Including adequate light intensity.

idk dude... not saying your way won't work... I just want the best results for you.

I am not on either side of light movers..I have never owned or used one ..but I would like to have a conversation about it…

Like you said, increasing my canopy would decrease light intensity…but with a mover I feel it would decreased light intensity part of the time, but maybe even increased/closer intensity other times… compared to a constant decreased light intensity w/ bigger circumference and stationary bulb

Increasing the actual system circumference would be possible, but a giant pita.. I had to cut 80 pieces PER system that were 2 ¾’’ to connect all the 4’’ parts together…it would be possible to go back and recut another 80 that are slightly larger, say 5‘’, thereby increasing the sideways distance per row and increasing the total circumference


Here a crude drawing of what I mean



The one on the left is the current WW..the one on the right is WW 2.5.…the green circles represent each 6wye row of plants and the black line is where it is separated into two systems (that way with the wheels I can open it like a book and enter the inner canopy..)

 

[Mister_D]

Gmax - At the end of the day bobble and freds are right. The best overall results/efficency will come from more smaller and properly dialed rooms/WW's. That said if you really want to setup a light mover at some point, reaseach DLI (daily light interval). The basic idea is that a plant can only process so much light in a given time period (50 wpsf is actually a rule based off this concept). When you start moving light, you are effectively lowering each plants DLI, so to compensate you would need to up your light intensity (i.e 3 1000's instead of 2). Still you'd be better off sticking to your orignal circular design, and just building another shorter WW for the the third 1000w. Personally, I just see a light mover as one more thing with the potential to break.

 

[GMax]

MAJOR PROBLEM....please help quick !!!

MAJOR PROBLEM....please help quick !!!

Ok I have a MAJOR PROBLEM that I can really use some quick advice on… my worst fears have come true……..

I stayed at the grow last night for like the 5th night in a row…. This morning around 7am I hear a loud police style knock on my door… I walk over to see who it is from the window and it is a city worker….he bangs again, this time even louder… I don’t answer, and he wait around for a sec.. then he goes to the manhole cover in my front yard for my sewer/septic whatever…lifts it up and has a look…. Then he sits in his truck for a few minutes before leaving….

I was flustered, but I thought that was the end of it… so I go back to sleep…

When I wake up I use my bathroom and the toilet wont flush????

I go out to the living room and there is a message on my phone….

“hi this is ______ from the city of _____ water office….our utitlities foreman runs a report every morning for high consumption at any given address. And your address came up on his report. When he went to the address the water meter was spinning so disconnected the water,, if you would like to speak to hime directly his number is blah blah……”

So they have shut off my water !!!!!!

I really don’t now how to go about this now… it not like I can say that my toilet was leaking and it is fixed now.. Once they turn on the water it will go right back to spinning


Best case I can think of is to go in there pissed off redneck style like “oh I am sorry I thought this was america !!! I pay my bills wtf is this bullshit!!! My ‘wive’ was mid shower this morning and you shutoff water on her before she could finish washing her hair…etc”


Idk I feel super exposed and I don’t really know what to do

please help

 

[bobblehead]

Wow... Idk what is best for your situation... But I bet you can come up with a story and get your service restored... I would move asap though.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

I'm not sure WTF you can do GMax, being across the pond we have different laws and all but if I was you I wold march down there and cause a stink. I hope you get it all worked out.

 

[irishdude5186]

Tough luck bud. Here in Ireland there is a commercial package for water which includes high consumption. Anything like that there you could apply for?

It seems like you are now a target for them and if you lie and it doesnt stand up to scrutiny in the future you could be in trouble again and in a deeper hole with your credibility shot. So your excuse for this water consumption needs to be tight. Maybe say to them your using water to cool some equipment in your garage? You didnt hear the door bell cause you were out there w/ headphones on etc...

I think dealing with people in a calm manner is better with less potential for blowback from some annoyed clerk/water inspector that would now have a stick up their butts from being attacked.

I feel for you man!! This is shitty!! Just thank F&%K it wasnt LEO! I bet your heart skipped a beat..or 5.

 

[Weed Killer]

Once your water is turned back on you might think about getting a high end RO setup, most of the lower units have a waste ratio of 4 to 1, so if you are using 200 gallons u are wasting 800 for a total of 1000 gallons a day.

The high end units have a 1 to 1 ratio, other than that recycle your de-huey water.

Good luck, awesome grow BTW

 

[GMax]

Awesome points everyone..I still havent made any moves yet so keep them coming please…just try to answer everyone at once

The problem wont be getting it turned back on..I can make any excuse up for that…the problem is that once it comes back on, I will need a good enough excuse/story for why it is still high…

I am gonna have to find a way to conserve water somehow… I may have no choice but to run tap through the WW since RO is using too much… I am trying to decide if from faucet to soleniod DTW tap would use less compared to recirculating RO with its waste water ratio… I have been there a lot this week and have taken 2 showers as a result, but other than that, all other water use is done by the plants… and clearly more than a house of my size should be using

The high end RO is out of my budget at the moment

But moving is definitely on my top priority now…but where am I gonna go…another city where I can run up their water bill

Finding a house with a attached garage, basement AND well water is really hard in this area…to even rent, let alone land contract etc



I cant believe this is a real problem I am having


I am tremendously thankful for your advice.. Thank you everyone

 

[redbudduckfoot]

start hauling in water.

rbdf

 

[Weed Killer]

one other thing you could get a timer like what bobble is using and set it to be off during working hours 7am -6pm so if a worker comes by and checks the meter it wont be running.

 

[Kit Kat]

That's a great idea, never thought of something like that before.

 

[crazy_eagle]

I'd haul water in and then no ones the wiser..hope u figure things out..peace!

 

[silver hawaiian]

As an anecdote..

A buddy of mine runs ebb-n-gro 5 gal buckets, 10 buckets, 2k watts..

For years, he was using an RO system that produced 3 gallons of waste to 1 gallon RO.

Last year, he switched out the RO for an inline water filter, .. A little less teeth to it, but gets the PPMs in order..

A week later, the city calls him, .. "Hi sir, we've detected a significant decrease in your water usage, everything OK? We're gonna send a guy to check the meter, but have there been any significant changes in your consumption?"

Him: "Ummm, .. My daughter, .. Moved..Out?"

Them: "Oh that makes sense. No need to bother checking the meter. Thanks!"

..Now, I do realize this is the opposite of your problem, .. But maybe it speaks to a potential sore-thumb effect [down at the h2o dept] of RO, .. ?

Best of luck GMax - I'm sure you'll get it all fingered out.. Just remember - cooler heads prevail.

 

[farmhouse cat]

Thats what i was going to say. I personaly think RO water is a little over hyped. Unless your drawing off a well with stanky water or your tap water has a super high salt content (usually by the coast) then i would just start using tap. Afterall there only plants.

 

[silver hawaiian]

GMax

What's your PPM out of the tap?

I'm not a hydro guy, so these've never been my concerns, .. But with FHC weighing in, I'm a bit more inclined to trust my dirt gut, ..

Can you get away with something less'n an RO?

Honestly, even if you can make do with an inline filter (which has to cost a fraction of a high-end RO), you're talking about reducing your water usage by as much as 75%, ..

That oughtta tell those fuckers "God damn that running toilet was killing me, .. All fixed now!"

 

[Mister_D]

Gmax and silver I grew DWC for years with nothing but straight tap water. Did this in many locations all over the country. IME it's rare that water is so bad you can't grow plants with it. Much of the time the EC isn't high enough to be concerned with (less than .4 EC is usually safe). Whole house filters are cheap (~30 bucks), and they work well enough in most situations to get EC low enough to grow plants. If your starting EC is low a whole house filter will give you results close to an RO machine without any waste.

 

[silver hawaiian]

But, whaddo I know.. I'm just a dumb dirt guy

 

[DHF]

G Bro that shit sucks......I never had problems with the water co. and I used 100`s of gallons per week.....but.....My R/O waste water never went down the drain , but rather to a holding tank with a powerhead and bait aerator to help bubble off excess chlorine/chloramine till runnin back through my Aquasafe 200 gpd filters.......that way....

I was usin 100 % of my tapwater and the more the waste got filtered back through the system , the less waste cuz of the evaporation and bubblin off of the holding tanks ending up with less water and sewer bill in Hell , and coverin my ass on all utilities not stickin out anymore than the homes in the neighborhoods I rolled in.......anyways......

Many waysta skin a mule , but I`d consider moving and settin back up somewhere and start holdin onto the waste water and re-using it if I was as paranoid as you seem to be now.....

Sleepin well at night`s gotta count fer something Bro.....Hope all works out ....and.......

My guys that ran light movers with bare bulbs shit-canned the movers and went back to stationary 50 watts per sq ft......

Peace...Freds...........

 

[bobblehead]

I am not on either side of light movers..I have never owned or used one ..but I would like to have a conversation about it…

Like you said, increasing my canopy would decrease light intensity…but with a mover I feel it would decreased light intensity part of the time, but maybe even increased/closer intensity other times… compared to a constant decreased light intensity w/ bigger circumference and stationary bulb

Increasing the actual system circumference would be possible, but a giant pita.. I had to cut 80 pieces PER system that were 2 ¾’’ to connect all the 4’’ parts together…it would be possible to go back and recut another 80 that are slightly larger, say 5‘’, thereby increasing the sideways distance per row and increasing the total circumference


Here a crude drawing of what I mean

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=39030&pictureid=974606]View Image[/url]

The one on the left is the current WW..the one on the right is WW 2.5.…the green circles represent each 6wye row of plants and the black line is where it is separated into two systems (that way with the wheels I can open it like a book and enter the inner canopy..)

Yeah... don't do it w/o upping the wattage imo... You'll probably have an increase in yield, with a decrease in size and quality. I can't say definitively... but if you're taking the light and spreading it out over more plants, essentially you're decreasing the ability of those plants to utilize CO2 and H20 and you're going to decrease the sugars produced, with a resulting decrease in pant performance. IMO, it doesn't matter if the plants are receiving more intense light part of the time and less intense light the rest of the time, if energy input is decreased, the resulting sugars are decreased. Personally I wouldn't change a damn thing. Dial that bitch in! Set up another grow if you have the extra space... with adequate wattage.

Sounds like we have a plan to fix your water consumption... Inline house filter for now. That should solve your problem of not being able to keep up with supply too.



Good to know I'm not the only one around here with unexpected problems popping up one after the other... Get on that water storage for situations just like this!

 

[GMax]

thank you everyone for your replies... it is very much appreciated.. forgive me for not answering you each individually....

i got the water turned back on... i was nervous to call...but it actually wasnt that bad....

called the guy..told him i just payed my bill and for some reason the water off..he asked for my address... he was very friendly and told me i had nothing to worry about it just i used 2000 gal in the last 24hrs... he said that it was nothing to worry about and that he only shut it off because he didnt know if i was on vacation or something and was trying to save me $$.... i told him that both the upstairs bathrooms (there really only 1) were leaking and had been for the last few days and that i was on a budget and couldnt get it fixed right now and also that i have a roommate (lie) and we both had our gf living with us so there increased shower laundry etc... he told me that toilets will do that (completely believed the runny toilet story) and we can use as much water as we want, its our money, but he recommended fixing the 'toilets' because it would save you more money in the long run..gave me some tips..etc... i joked a little about how i was gonna be all upset cause i just paid my water bill, whys this happening..we had few laughs, real nice fellow... i once again told him that i was on a budget and might not be able to get my toilets fixed right away, and he said he would make a note to passover my house in the water inspections but still recommended getting it fixed asap ...told him i wasnt home but he said he would have the water back on in 5 min..then told me to have a nice day


of course i had a class i had to go to, but after class i bought a garden hose and an adapter to run the system dtw from tap for the rest of the crop... but for some reason, when i hooked it up it didnt give me the pressure to make the manifold spray...wtf

so i had no choice... hooked it back up same way as it was before


one thing is for sure...i am done with RO....that was close enough to the fire to know my ass bout to get burned... RO is obviously wasteful.... this cities tap is probably the best in my state.. i just bought a brand new 200 gpd RO that is probably gonna collect dust but fuck it ... i am gonna see if my people at the hydro store let me swap it out for a sediment filter... just not comfortable to use straight tap in the WW

some mentioned hauling water..can you elaborate??? i would have to haul about 200g a day and that seems impractical to do manually...and having a truck deliver me water seems to suspicious to neighbors....especially with our high quality tap


more than anything though i just wanna see this WW crop to the finish...this is literally the best crop i have ever grown, and it seems to be using record amounts of water...more than anything i just wanna see what it harvests...and then use all that to get a new house....

as shitty as it may be... i just spent almost all my extra money getting the second WW built and now i dont even think i am gonna fill it up.. my new plan is to be outta here before that crop would even be close to ready