Hydro Grow Room Project - Phase One

[theoldgoat]

hi all, i finally got my room sorted and got one good plant growing so far, the sex is yet to be determined and i've got two seedlings growing up nicely. sorry there's a lot of text

the older plant was grown from a super skunk seed bought from amsterdam - sensi seeds, which is also when i bought th shiva-shanti seeds. i think the first mistake was keeping them for over 2 years they were kept in a cool dry place at all times but only one of the 8 super skunk survived* and of the five shiva-shanti seeds only two ar still doing there thing.

*the skunk seeds were the first seeds i'd grown and although i'd got a reasonably good idea (in theory) of what i needed to do, putting it into practice produced different results. I think some of them suffered from over watering/nutrients and all of them were subjected to 24/7 of the light coz the timer wasn't working. in addition to that, the small room isn't yet ventilated properly and the heat from the lamp dried the room out.

anyhow, there's green grass growing so all's good

so that's the info on the plants so far. i may have some cuttings my way soon which will obviously reduce the time i have to wait for my first crop. the cuttings are apparently big bud so that sounds good!

the room :::

dimentions: (hxdxw)
total room capacity - 2.45m x 3m x 2.92m
mother room capacity - 2.45m x 0.87m x 1.8m
cloning/seeding room - 0.5m x 0.5m x 1m

the main room currently has one extraction fan drawing air in from the attic, down the pipe to approx 15cm from the floor. the other extraction fan is connected to the board that is covering the window and is connected to a carbon filter via the pipe. both of these are on a timer - 3 hrs on 3 hrs off but will be increased when the main room is being used.

:::extractions fans: 250m3/hour (i think the calculations for the extraction in the main room are right?)

the two lamps are 400 hps, approx 47cm x 46cm (l x w) and the shades are approx 61cm apart. suspended on chains that i'll raise and lower. total length is approx 132cm and these are positioned over the nft tank.

the tank is approx 154cm x 53cm (l x w) with a growing space of 120cm x 40cm so the lights should give it plenty of coverage.

with a little moving around i could fit two more of these tanks and 4 more lights

i need to purchase a fan for the main room and if anyone has any suggestions on how to block the light from escaping from the door that'd be cool. there's a gap of about 5mm at the bottom and when the lights are on you can see it seeping through the top and sides as well as the big beam from underneath (looks like alien's have landed in there).

the mother room ::: has been built using a wooden frame and covered in double sided black & white plastic sheeting. before cutting the air hole, and when the flaps are closed it's pretty close to being light proof and i've attached some velcro in between the two flaps to hold it in place as well as being used to hold the flaps open.

(tip- i tried gaffa tape but when it got warm the weight of the plastic pulled it off but with the sticky back velcro they stay secure. also they don't leave sticky shit all over the place!)

this room still needs it's own in/out take so at the moment i'm leaving the flaps open, and i've made a hole in the bottom left corner so it gets some of the air from the only intake into the main room. i was going to get a reducer for it so i could feed the pipe into this room but the main room will probably need all the fresh air it can get. for now i can make do without.

the aquafarm is meant to be able to hold up to four plants and good for mothering but based on the space the one is taking up i doubt i'll get more than two in there at squeeze. it works by pushing air down a tube that's submersed in the tank below, the force of the air pushes water back up another tube and into the ring that waters the main area. the combination of the air being pumped to create the water flow and the clay pebbles give it lots of air and a constant supply of fresh liquid/nutrients. never used one before so i'm looking forward to seeing how it performs.

the light being used is a 4-tube brightwing - 220watts producing 19,200 lumens and it fits nicely in the room, with enough space for air flow and piping when i fit the in/out take.

the clone/seeding room ::: is only in the design stage at the mo but it should be finished over the weekend. basically it'll be built in the same was as the mother room and will be able to house four propagator's and support 2 x 1m fluoro's.

i know i'm gonna want to move in there once i get the main room flowering but i'm a long way off that at the mo so there's still some time to make some adjustments. so if anyone has any suggestions let me know

well if you read all that, fair play. here's the pics

[theoldgoat]

more pics...

[theoldgoat]

the two seedlings and a closeup of the roots on the super skunk

[Potmaniac]

Your room is something that many people will be jellous about.
I wish I had space like that.
Good luck.

I would only think about moving these ballasts away from nft. You never know what can happen. I extended wire so my balast is outside grow room. Anyway far from water.

Roots above surface indicate high humidity at plant base, try to lower feeding ring or even burry it in pebels, you might have problem with algae and mould.

[Potmaniac]

Ps: You will also need to move/replace water container for a lightproof one.
Light damages nutrients, and will result in new life forms in your tank.
Are you sure this tank can handle so much water? It doesn't look like water tank and ordinary pvc will dissshape over time, it can be hazardous as well.

[theoldgoat]

nice one for the feedback Potmaniac

shouldn't be a problem moving the balasts further away or raising them more.

as for the roots, i was advised in a different thread to put the pump on a timer to regulate how much water they get as it had just been constantly pumpimg water 24/7. so i guess that's been contributing to the problem with the leaves. i think what i need to do is add more clay pebbles and like you say bury the water ring so that the very top of the pebbles are dryer.

i wonder how difficult it would be to take the plant out at this stage, and replace it in a different position within the aquafarm so that i can get another plant or two in there? i'm guessing it would cause dammage to the roots though because of the movement of the clay pebbles?

good point about the bin. i just bought that one without any thought so glad i found out about that now. neither of the tanks will hold that much liquid but the idea was that i'd fill the NFT & auqafarm first and then as the liquid evapourates, top them up from the bin. so all i'd need to do before topping up would check and adjust the ph levels.

is there a better/easier way to top up the NFT & aquafarm?

[theoldgoat]

ok after raising up the inner chamber of the aquafarm i've got the answer to my question about whether or not i can move the plant to a different location of the aquafarm.

the roots have come through the small drainage holes in the inner chamber and they are now sitting in the water/nutrient...i can only assume that this is ok and part of the design but is it really ok to have the roots just sitting in water?

pics show it all

[Adam75]

Originally Posted by theoldgoat

ok after raising up the inner chamber of the aquafarm i've got the answer to my question about whether or not i can move the plant to a different location of the aquafarm.

the roots have come through the small drainage holes in the inner chamber and they are now sitting in the water/nutrient...i can only assume that this is ok and part of the design but is it really ok to have the roots just sitting in water?

pics show it all

from what I understand it's perfectly okay for the roots to grow right into the water. This is my first true hydro grow but I'ved used wick systems before where the roots grow right down the nylon rope into the water. Oh but is that clay residue from the grow rock? You should clean that shit out, I don't know if this is true but I could only imagine that would throw off any TDS levels. Just a guess. Peace

[theoldgoat]

alright adam, i guessed as much and i'm goona add another air pump with a air-stone on the end to further aerate the water/nute's

ur right it is residue from the caly pebbles...they were all washed out before going into the pot but haven't cleaned/flushed it since. is there a regular time when tanks are flushed providing a completely new supply of water/nute's?

just got some nice cuttings today as well so will be getting them in the nft tank over the next day or two so i'm well happy and looking forward to powering up them hps

[AugustWest]

Killer setup man! GL!!

[tolhas]

Awesome setup pulling chairs for this one...one for me and one for my feet

[Adam75]

Originally Posted by theoldgoat

alright adam, i guessed as much and i'm goona add another air pump with a air-stone on the end to further aerate the water/nute's

ur right it is residue from the caly pebbles...they were all washed out before going into the pot but haven't cleaned/flushed it since. is there a regular time when tanks are flushed providing a completely new supply of water/nute's?

just got some nice cuttings today as well so will be getting them in the nft tank over the next day or two so i'm well happy and looking forward to powering up them hps

well like I said, I'm pretty new at hydro, but from what I've read and understand, you should change your water/nute mix every/every other week. Every other week isn't too bad, I just spent the evening cleaning out my unit and it helps because you can get your pH and TDS PPM back right where you want it without to much tinkering. Take all I say with a grain of salt, and listen to some of the other people on here first, but hey, it sounds like a good idea. Oh and that aeration idea is a great one. Peace.

[theoldgoat]

nice one for positive comments and talkin of chairs, i've got a small wooden folding chair that i'll be leaving in there so i can sit and watch them grow

i've cleaned out all that crap and totally replaced all the water with just over 1/4 nute, added more pebbles to reduce the moisture that was forming round the base of the main stem. all though next time i clean it out i wont have to mess with the pebbles just changing the water when the plant's 2' - 3' tall is going to be a big job so the fewer times i need to do this the better. saying that, now there's more/new pebbles the residue will probably collect in the bottom fairly soon. i'll leave it a week and see how it is.

now i've got the clones in that room too, i've moved it around a bit so the air from the intake is furthest away from the seedlings and clones that are in the prop.

also raised the light and the prop so it's about 3' away from the top of the main plant and the prop. i'll leave it like that and see how they respond over the next day or two.

as soon as the light is back on i'll take a couple of new pics and show you the clones

[theoldgoat]

just wanted to add this to my journal...

being able to safely post information and photo's on what i'm doing is 'almost' as good as what i am doing!

i say this because only a few people know what i'm doing and have seen it. so for me it's not something that i can't talk about very often but something that is nearly always on my mind, something i'm very excited about and something that is and will consume a good deal of my time.

so without the ability to post and share this, it would make it a little harder...i just want to talk about it and show everyone what's goin' on!! but alas, safety first.

also the information and ideas that are shared on here continue to feed everyone which can only be a good thing!


niceone GC for making it possible

[theoldgoat]

some new pics of the clones and new layout for mother room

i've lost another shiva shanti seedling so i've only one left and that's not looking to healthy so will get a close up of the leaves and post them up...

also planted the strongest of the clones (most prominent roots) into 12ltrs of coco and in the couple of days it's been in the coco it's looking well. (more pics to come)

pics taken on 20-1-07