560W HID/Fluoro Hydroponic & Soil Grow -- New Journal

[gribz]

I have decided to create a new Grow Journal and abandon my previous one since so much is changing with my setup and my dedication to it. Originally I started out with basically a bare minimum grow and nothing really invested -- that got boring quick.

So here's the updated Journal which I think will move forward better than the previous, I am starting to get more involved with my grow now and purchased a lot of new things.


Lighting: 400-Watt Metal Halide & (4) 3300 Lumen Cool White Fluorescent tubes.

Medium: (3) 5 Gallon Hydroponic Bubblers, (4) 3.5 Gallon Soil buckets

Nutrients: Botanacare PureBlend Pro Grow & Liquid Karma plus PureBlend Bloom for 12/12


Status: Roughly day 33 vegetative since germination, the first 31 days I was only using the Fluorescent tubes, generic department store nutrients, non light optimized grow space, etc. I think things are going to really start moving along nicely compared to how I started.

I lined the entire grow space with Mylar sheets and finished up with reflective duct tape to keep everything reflective down the the door jams. I even covered the closet door in mylar. It's pretty bright in there even with just the fluoros on now all of the photos were taken without the Metal Halide turned on.

Now I need to get a reflector for the MH and get it horizontally positioned, the ceiling/walls/etc are all reflective material though so I think I will be fine without a reflector until I get my hands on one. I am currently piecing together my intake/exhaust system as well as filling in any light leaks when the door is closed with black foam adhesive weather stripping.

And finally the last photo shows directly above the grow space where I keep everything handy, one thing I am wondering -- should I keep my nutrients out of the closet? Will exposure to heat or light cause any problems with the nutrients going bad?

[Jim Dunlop]

Nice setup man, you'll like those botanicare nutes, they're all I use for hydro and they work well. Good luck.

[gribz]

Thanks for stopping by! I can already tell I like the nutes and it's maybe been 8 hours...

Here's some updated pictures of how the plants are looking right now, I am pretty eager to see if the deficiency spots on the leaves go away as well now that I have decent nutes. The first photo really shows how much the plants are loving their new light and nutes, it's almost standing straight up reaching for that "sun"

[mjboy]

nice grow and good luck. take more pics of your set up for me

[Herb Superb]

I can relate to your soil grow and it's going to be interesting to see the differance between the two. You've got my interest. Everything looks nice and healthy, and a neat, and organized grow. Here's to you.

[gribz]

Thanks guys!

I am facing an issue that I figured would be simple to fix, light is leaking out of the cracks around the door when it's closed pretty badly, I put black foam adhesive weather stripping in there so when the door closed it would compress it tightly and light still leaks, I don't know why it would. I have a black suede curtain in my closet that I hang down over the entire door way before I close the door but now that I have the 400W MH in there I am worried about that being a fire hazard and it's black, both absorbs my light and is blocking the entire mylar covered door I spent time making nice.

Hmm.. there's gotta be something I can do around the door jams to block the light, I think the door is a bit warped or something this is an old house and it doesnt close easily anyway. I use a rolled out towel or draft guard to keep light from coming under the door but the cracks all the way down the sides are quite an issue!

I am bored I think I might bust out the tripod and take some nice closeup pics of the plants since there's nothing productive I can think of to do right now, I am out of smoke too until Sunday -- I'm tempted to smoke some resin -- the horror!

[gribz]

Thinking about setting up a Co2 regulator/tank for the grow when it comes time to flower, I finally found a benefit to not having a properly ventilated room and even an excuse for it.

Thing is, I am not sure if such a small grow area would even make it worth going the tank/regulator route but on the flip side all I read are negative comments about any other method of Co2 generation (yeast, pucks, etc.) which make me feel like I wont get the results I want either.

I don't know exactly what I need in addition to the tank to make this work, I found a "Co2 Regulator Dual Stage with Valve on eBay for about $65.00 but not sure if that's what exactly I need. I am referencing HTGSupply.com's Co2 Enrichment kit as a base of figuring out what components I actually need -- this thing on ebay looks like what I need minus the air hose.

Link to Co2 Regulator on Ebay

Would this work? I notice it's not electric and does not plug in so I could not use it on a Timer (no biggie I don't mind opening a valve every day when the lights are on) also if my closet is completely sealed can I still run my fan in there to move air around since it wont actually be exiting the grow area? I always feel safer with air flow when it comes to the heat of a grow closet despite knowing that it does not actually cool anything.

HTGSupply says "The precision flow-gauge can release between 1/2 and 15 SCFH of CO2 per hour (Standard Cubic Feet per Hour)." this is pretty much meaningless to me since I do not know how much I should be pumping out of the tank for my size grow area: 4 foot x 2 foot x 8 foot roughly. Also should I leave the tank actively releasing Co2 for the full 12 hours of light? How many hours a day? and also what should the release rate be set at for my size grow space?


Sorry, lots of questions but I needed to ask them all myself and get a good straight forward answer so I can get this all taken care of before I switch to 12/12 and as inexpensively as possible. I plan to buy the tank and regulator off of eBay or something along those lines.



Basically... tell me every specific component I absolutely MUST have to attach to the Co2 tank so I can get things rolling. I don't care about the components that make everything idea and wonderful -- just what I need for results! Still on a budget here..

[gribz]

This one is only $35 brand new... found it by searching froogle...

$35 Regulator / Single Valve with 1/4" barb fitting


Would something like that work?

[gribz]

Day 35 updates... also is it normal for my bubblers nutrient solution to look like that with Botanicare 99% organic nutes? Some of it has settled to the bottom and the water has gotten a bit more clear instead of looking like Dr. Pepper.

The solution is only 2-3 days old, I can't imagine it's algae buildup or anything.

How do they look?

[gribz]

I made a rather good sized Carbon Filter today... only uses 4" ducting and the 4" in-line fan I found was only 80CFM for $18.00. I think I need a larger one, my growspace is only about 64 cubic feet so I assume 80CFM will circulate that air in under a minute if that's how it works but I can barely feel the faint air coming through the tube before I hooked it up...

I can also extremely faintly feel air coming from the filter itself so I guess it's moving air at least. I probably should have gotten a 160CFM or something so I felt better about it but it was inexpensive plus I would have had to go 6 inch or 8 inch and I was only planning on going that large for intake/exhaust but now Co2 sounds like what I want to do.

[gribz]

Day 38 shots.

[gribz]

Day 44, thinking about switching to 12/12 soon -- Ordered my HPS Conversion bulb, possibly ordering two additional 150W HPS Pendant lights for the mid-lower bud development as well. Also have propagation supplies on the way so I can get some clones once sex has been determined. I cannot fit all of the soil containers in the closet anymore so I might just do the Hydroponics in 12/12 to sex them first, eliminate males then 2-3 weeks into 12/12 I will add the Soil plants to sex them and also give them some time to catch up, not sure if I should throw them in with a bunch of females until I know what they are though.

What should I do for the transitional phase from Vegetative to Flowering, should I just completely empty the reservoirs and refill with the Botanicare PureBlend Pro Bloom & Liquid Karma mix or is there some kind of procedure I should know about?

[Herb Superb]

Good question G-Man, and one for which I can't answer. OK you hydro growers out there, speak up. As an all organic soil guy, I just do a couple of straight waters between the two phases. I'm 6 and a half weeks into the flowering now so I am now going to give them just straight water again to flush out any nute taste. Really happy with the size and quanity of the buds. I'm glad I did an LST grow, the side branches are as tall as the main top so they all get the same light. I have a 90 cfm bathroom fan mounted on top of a Home Depot storage locker vented out through a roof vent. It works well. I also have some carbon pre-filter material that I was going to cut to fit that fan but haven't yet and might not. I had thought it might restrict the air flow too much. I didn't want to buy an inline fan to boost the air movement either. I have a small jar of that "Ona", I think it's called. An odor neutralizer, it works well so far, and my plants are pretty stinky. Keep up the good grow,
Herbous Superbous

[gribz]

Thanks for the input and checking in!

I might look into that Odor Neutralizer you're talking about, I found a few of those on a hydro shop's site and wondered how they would work or interact with the mj. My DIY Carbon Scrubber does some work, seems to be mellow to no smell when the door is closed. I also have an Ionic Breeze Quadra (the big one) in there but I know it creates Ozone so I am not sure if that's too bad for my plants, they don't seem to be doing bad at all.

I just looked at the first pictures I posted from about 10 days ago and the ones I just posted, I am kind of in awe that they developed that much in about 10 days. I have not really been looking back at my old photos to grasp how much progress is being made but it seems to be going quite well from post No.1!

I am probably in much less than optimal conditions too, pretty humid, very warm, no ventilation (I generally have my door open almost all of the time, however.) and it seems to be doing well -- I can't wait to go 12/12 -- everything I need should arrive in the next day or two.

I will be starting yeast/sugar based Co2 supplementation today as well so I don't feel bad keeping the closet shut and sealed off w/ a decent amount of heat in there. Co2 should save me the headache of cutting holes and doing ventilation which will blow my stealth factor. I was planning to have purchased a Co2 tank and regulator by now but costs are getting a bit high so I'll hold off for a month or two unless the yeast method works well enough then I won't even bother.

[bigups]

What is your current schedule for the use of the Botanicare nutrients? Is there a specific PPM in different stages they suggest? Also how much of each Bloom,flower,Karma during Veg and flower. There site and the bottle directions differ thats why I would love to know what your doing.