First time HID grow, 400 watt mh/hps, dwc, scrog

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by Duplicity, Sep 9, 2013.

  1. #1 Duplicity, Sep 9, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2013
    Hey all! 
     
    This is my second grow ever. My first grow was a cheap closet CFL setup that got me decent results. I hope to blow that out of the water this time around. The plant is a Purple Cream clone that I got from a dispensary about 3 weeks ago. I've LST'd it for a couple weeks to cover the lid of my bucket and am now going to let it grow up into a screen that is about a foot off the top of the lid. I started this grow on CFLs but recently stepped up to a MH and love the difference (tho it does get warm in there).
     
    Here is my equipment list:
     
    Canna Aqua nutrient line and additives
    3x3x6.5 foot grow tent
    Ultra Sun 400 watt MH and HPS lamps
    Hydrofarm aircooled reflector
    Apollo 400 watt digital ballast
    10 gallon sterilite tote bucket (filled with 7-8 gallons of solution)
    2 medium airstones
    2 240 cfm duct fans
    Oscillating stick fan
    6" personal clip-on fan
     
    Feel free to ask any questions or post any comments!
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  2. Lights just shut off. The plant looks good but there is a heat wave coming through my area which is not doing well for my temps. The tent got over 95 today. Hopefully the temps begin to drop here. I ordered another 240 cfm duct fan to put on the opposite end of my venting to give it a boost. I'm just trying to keep the water cold all day long so that the plant has a cold drink at the very least. Here are some pics of the lady:
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    These next 2 pics show some issues that I am concerned about. Could someone please give their input on what's causing it. Focus on the leaf in the center-left of the 2nd picture (not the one on the top right, that was caused by some very early issues that have been solved)
     
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  3. First! Lookin good man! I'm stoked to see the DWC grow I wanna do a 2 bucket style and scrog 2 plants into our photo tent lol would make some monsters I think!!
     
  4. I hope this girl turns into a monster! I've seen some people get huge results from just a 2 bucket system in a scrog. Check out some of HygroHybrids vids to get an idea: https://www.youtube.com/user/HygroHybrid
     
  5. Some pics of the lady before bed
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  6. Subbed too to this! DWC Monster all the way next time.  
     
  7. Hey Grow2dab, thanks for subbing! Can't wait to fill my room with juicy buds!
     
  8. pH was at 5.3 last night so I added a half gallon of tap water. It's sitting at 5.5 now. The girls are growing fast and looking really happy. Can't wait until they get to screen height!
     
  9. Just out of curiosity mate, how often do you feed? And do you just top up with tap water in between?
     
  10. Hey, thanks for asking! The plants are being constantly fed because the medium and roots are always in the water with air stones supplying constant oxygenation. I refill the res with either tap water or a nutrient solution depending on what the pH and ppm are doing. If pH is dropping and ppm isn't moving ill refill with tap. If pH is rising and ppm dropping ill refill with a more potent nutrient solution.
     
  11. Do you flush the res at all?
     
  12. Yeah, about a week after I started I ran into some pH issues so I flushed with water and some Clearex. I ran that in the system for a little over an hour and then replaced with fresh nutes. I let those nutes go for about 12 days and then I drained and refilled with fresh again. I'll probably do one more res change before flowering. Once I switch to aqua flores I'll run the clearex again to clean everything up.
     
  13. Sounds good, can't wait to try DWC.
     
  14. You definitely should! I think it's a really fun way to grow.
     
    Got another duct fan yesterday which has been really helping to keep the temps low when the light is on (still warm at around 86-88 at the hottest point). The pH was at 5.3 last night so I added tap water with some pH up in it. That has brought it to around 5.5 but she looks really happy so I'm not gonna switch things up too much. I'm constantly bending and moving big fan leaves out of the way to promote undergrowth.
    Here are the pics! 
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  15. Yeah I just love the technical aspect, how you have complete control over every single part of the plants life. Everything that goes in will show a result be it good or bad. And you can eventually narrow down you nutes with pin point precision to be perfect for each individual strain.
     
    Also once setup it's seems pretty easy to maintain and the growth is ridiculous. Look how quick yours are shooting up.
     
    I had issues with temps too but when I switched too the HPS they disappeared for some reason, I moved my setup around a bit so either that helped or HPS is just a bit cooler then MH. 
     
  16. Yeah, it can be a very tempermental system. Once you have things set it works quite well.
     
  17. It is probably a combination of changing your room and the lamp. My understanding is that because the HPS produces more lumens for the same amount of energy it must produce less heat than the lower lumen MH.
     
  18. Yeah that's what I read too. So basically don't stress too much about the heat because it will come down a bit with the HPS anyway.
     
  19. Next week is all below 90 F and it keeps on dropping so that will help too! Lights came on about an hour ago, I just defoliated a bit to allow the little guys to get some light.
     
  20. Here are the pics after taking off some of the leaves that were blocking light.
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