My Brother's River System

[gonejah17]

this is dope man . . . so much info to soak in

[doob3r]

this is awsome mr.goodstuff im really diggin the entire concept keep it up man.

[mordgrow]

Just an observation:

I've noticed with my DWC plants that water is used up faster than nutes, PH doesnt usualy swing that much, but water content (IE TDS) changes heavily when the plants are big.

with this type of system your entire solution will be effected. I bet you will see a steady increase in the TDS of your set up, especialy when the plants get to decent size.

a solution to this would be an outside rezivoir feeding a "controlled" solution into the system.. or just keep an eye on it and do periodic TDS checks...

either way i think this is a cool set up, but it wont do quite what your after IMO.

[dmeyer07]

Very cool looking, keep us updated!

-Dave

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Just a little update for whoever is interested in how this is turning out-

At 2 1/2 weeks the root systems are getting large, the mediums that were used to clone with are staying moist from the wet lava rocks. They are very healthy and are growing very fast.

The pH was adjusted at around 1 week down from 6.3 because he doesn't have a meter yet and 10 days later the pH was 5.7 and didn't require adjustment.

The system is using a lot of water- my brother thinks a lot of evaporation is happening because of the waterfalls and the fan exchanging the air in the rez. The TDS wasn't really effected all that much by it because of the massive amount of water in the system. About 10-15 gallons in 2 1/2 weeks with small plants, can't wait to see how much it uses when the plants are flowering!

We added 3 gallons of water and the TDS didn't move LOL so I have to make him 15 gallons of RO water and I hope that's enough to bring the water level back up to where it started at.

The stability in the system is incredible though- having to check the system once every 7-10 days at this point with absolutely no problems has been very nice. He needs his own meter so it doesn't have to go unchecked for so long, but for now everything is more than fine. It used up 15+ gallons and the TDS went up by a factor of 2... Pretty damn sweet.

I'm really liking how it's performing so far!

Some new pictures will be coming as soon as they get a little bigger, thanks for reading!

[hoast]

Keep updating.. im subscribing.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Man this system has been straight drinking water, like 20 gallons in 2 1/2 weeks with little plants, I can only imagine what it's going to drink when they get really big... But the pH is completely stable and has not required adjustment except for the one time so far. The water level dropping is not an issue and can be left for over a week and still be in optimal range at this point. I'm sure in the future it will need water every few days or so- but for now it's very low maintence to say the least.

Tonight it needs more food and we will be doing all future feedings with FloraNova Bloom, even though he is going to veg them another couple weeks or so. You can veg with the bloom too I believe, but starting with the grow and doing all future feedings with bloom is what Lucas said worked the best. The plants eat the grow nutrients into flower and towards week 3 are seeing mostly bloom nutrients. Works out great, they call it "feeding the stretch"- using a little bit of extra nitrogen in the first 2 weeks of flower which comes from the grow.

Anyways here's the pictures- loving this system so far. The egg crate foam really helps out a lot with noise, it's much more quiet.





I'm really impressed by the strong branches under the cfl's... I never saw branching like that under floros... But I wasn't using that much light a plant either. 3 of them are Miss Hulk cuttings and 1 of them is a Shug cutting, so that's why the one is smaller if anyone is wondering. I didn't have 4 Miss Hulk cuttings so he had to take the extra Shug clone I had.







Well that's it for now, check back in a couple weeks when these babies are young ladies!

[chiefMOJOrisin]

Wow. I've been thinking a lot recently about changing from organic to hydro. But I always come back to the price or the hydro systems.

This would be something that fits my budget and available space perfectly. I hope you don't mind me wanting to bite off your system.



Right now I have a growroom set-up in a closet thats about 2 1/2' deep, 4 1/2' wide and 6 1/2' tall (to bottom of lights). I got 2 175mh and anywhere from 240w to 340w of CFL..... used to have more but CFLs only last as long as advertised when not used 12-20 hours a day.


The wooden frame is definately a good plan.


Also, what kind/power light do you have over them prettys?



I don't know if this is the same for hydro grows.... but I know my plants seem to have bigger buds when I allow them to become nitrogen deficient a week or so before flowering. Once they eat up the bloom nutes, they take off!


Don't stop posting....I'm interested to see how it turns out. And I'm interested in a design manual!

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Thanks for stopping by man- by all means use this system! I posted it here so others could try it out, because I have done a lot of research on hydroponic systems and this one really shines in all aspects. He's got 8 cfls over them right now, about 200 watts.

The only issue we ran into was the roots finding their way into the drains for a week or so, which isn't a problem at first but could cause a clog if left unadressed. All we had to do was wait for the roots to get big enough and then they were too heavy to float into the drain when you pulled them out.

They were about 3 feet long the last time he pulled them out of the drains, and now they stay out. We were thinking maybe a mesh screen over the drain will keep them out until the root system becomes heavy enough to stop floating into the drain. Not a huge issue this time, but if we had screwed the baskets underneath the holes it would have been a bitch to pull the roots out of the drains. So we need to figure something out or you'll just have to watch for the roots finding their way into the drain. It's not a big deal at all, you just pull them out and after awhile they don't fall down into the drain- but it could be improved.

The mesh screen might not work because the roots could just grow through it. The problem might be too much current, but he wants the amount of current to be high. Perhaps you just have to account for this and just pull the roots out of the drain a couple times?

I just want it to be as little work as possible... Does anybody have any ideas on this?

[igotammo]

very nice work man!

[chiefMOJOrisin]

I just want it to be as little work as possible... Does anybody have any ideas on this?

Could you somehow weigh down the roots?? I don't know how much stress/aggitation roots will handle before its detrimental to the plant..... but maybe at the bottom of a few of the bigger-stronger roots you could tie some kind of weight to it. Using the root itself as string to tie it..... it would have to be something that could be immersed in the water and not effect the system. I was thinking of a butter knife.... something long enough that more than one root could be tied to it... limiting foriegn objects in the system.


I'm trying to picture the situation in my head..... do you think that will work until the roots get large enough??


Maybe you could fasten a few hooks to the bottom and tie the roots to that.....??


Oh.... I ment to ask.... did you start from clones or seeds?? I've never done hydro and I don't know the best way to start the plants

[CLouDN1nE]

Holy shit man that thing looks cool. What would you need to make a couple of those things (5-10) and keep them in a bedroom sized grow-room?

[Maccgyver]

I have a problem with cutting N off that early from the plant because I use grow ferts through the first 2 week stretch since the plant is doing a bit more vegging during that period rather than flowering but once it shows its sex I start to hit it with the bloom ferts. I also break my branches durng the first 3 weeks of flowering and they need that N for repairs but man once they do they take off. Don't be afraid to wrastle around with your plants if you want them to go from say 3 feet to 2 feet. Just break them branches and even out your canopy. No screen neccessary.

[chiefMOJOrisin]

Originally Posted by Maccgyver

I have a problem with cutting N off that early from the plant because I use grow ferts through the first 2 week stretch since the plant is doing a bit more vegging during that period rather than flowering but once it shows its sex I start to hit it with the bloom ferts. I also break my branches durng the first 3 weeks of flowering and they need that N for repairs but man once they do they take off. Don't be afraid to wrastle around with your plants if you want them to go from say 3 feet to 2 feet. Just break them branches and even out your canopy. No screen neccessary.

I used to veg until they showed sex...... but that takes way too long.

When I turn the lights to 12/12 I use 1/4 the grow ferts I usually do and then use a balanced fert a week later for the stretch. Something with sufficient N and P that will sustain the flowering needs and continued cell building. I have something from a brand called Holland's that is 12-12-6.

Have you ever tried LST (low stress training)?? Instead of snapping off branches, tie them down with a light string/twine. When you break the branches they have to take away from other growth to repair the cells.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Originally Posted by chiefMOJOrisin

Could you somehow weigh down the roots?? I don't know how much stress/aggitation roots will handle before its detrimental to the plant..... but maybe at the bottom of a few of the bigger-stronger roots you could tie some kind of weight to it. Using the root itself as string to tie it..... it would have to be something that could be immersed in the water and not effect the system. I was thinking of a butter knife.... something long enough that more than one root could be tied to it... limiting foriegn objects in the system.


I'm trying to picture the situation in my head..... do you think that will work until the roots get large enough??


Maybe you could fasten a few hooks to the bottom and tie the roots to that.....??


Oh.... I ment to ask.... did you start from clones or seeds?? I've never done hydro and I don't know the best way to start the plants

Thanks for responding man- I thought of tying something to the roots but then realized that it would be less work to just pull the roots out of the drain a couple times. I think the only solution is some sort of mesh screen and pointing the drain downwards.

We'll see, it needs some improvements next run.

Glad you guys are liking it- all it would take for a bunch of these is the containers, pvc, and pumps.



He just started the 12/12 cycle, the lights went off for the first time at 9 this morning- the plants look great and require very little work at this point. They are starting to drink a lot more water and eat a lot more food- they are about twice the size as the previous pictures and fill the whole top section up. Definitely really needed to be flowered.

He was saying last night he wishes he was growing the Kush because of how good the buds look on my plants, but I'm more than sure that the Mazar will make him happy in the end. The smell and high of the Mazar is totally worth growing, although some Kush might have been great too.

Anyways I'll get some pictures tonight when I bring my camera home. Take care everybody!