Hi first time grow and first time with bubble buckets. 4 five gallon buckets,4 air stones and a Pacific hydrostar pump under a 96 watt t5 2ft 4 bulb. We germinated the seeds in a box using the paper towl method then put the seeds that germinated in root riot cubes and then into the bubble buckets with hydrolite as the grow media. Sorry for the crappy pics I'll take better ones for the updates Sent from my LG-P999 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I didn't think the bucket grow was going to survive there was algae on the hydrolite with other complications but washed new rocks and covered the root riot cubes lowered the t5. The next pictures are a month and a week apart didn't take any in between these are current pictures. Last picture is the setup we got. Any opinions or comments? Sent from my LG-P999 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
update 11/12/14 Found more algae on the top of more rocks had to wash more hydrolite and cover all the open areas where light could get through to the water found out that's the reason for algae they started to blow up this week noticed some are more stretched than a bushy small plant Nothing to big to write about. Really happy so far with the grow no major screw ups. No nutrients yet. New pics.
I use this...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Plant-Success-Great-White-mycorrhizae-beneficial-bacteria-root-growth-/121456797096?pt=US_Hydroponics&var=420397539613&hash=item1c4763a5a8
Yeah I've heard many good things about great white how did it work out for you major difference in your grow? Do you have any pics of the plants you used it on?
With a T5 you can be just a few inches away, they stretched a lot at beginning. Are you using some h2o2 in your buckets? Not looking bad for your first grow man.
Haven't added anything yet to the buckets. Don't think we have root rot but I'll look into that h2o2 Should I move the t5 closer to the top of the plants I currently have it about 6in from them. I know t5 doesn't give off alot of heat so maybe about 3in from them?
I was more thinking it'd help the algae you're running into but maybe I'm wrong. Yeah my T5 hangs about 3" above the little auto I'm running inside. If the back of your hand can handle it the plant is fine. The only time I've gotten any burn on leaves with a T5 is when a leaf actually touches a bulb.
We took care of the algae problem and moved the t5 an inch away from the top of the white widow and its about 4 inches from the bubble buckets. Day by day I can notice how much they have grown still nothing in the buckets yet or roots haven't grown through the netting pots. We haven't switch to the 400 watt cfl yet.
Now they're taking off in growth topped all of them again. Roots finally penetrated through almost touching the water. Can't wait til we're in flowering. Last pic shows how far t5 is above them about 4in
They look healthy just a little stretched, do you have an oscillating fan in there? A slight breeze 'tickling' the leaves and stem will fatten the stem up to support the future weight in flowering http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1329219-My-2Nd-Real-Grow-Attempt%2C-W--Pics%21-Bubble-Cloner-clone-Machine%2C-Dwc
Yeah you gotta get a fan in there to strengthen the stems. Also, you sure that t5 is only 4' above? Maybe it's just the angle of the picture that makes it look far
We had to toss the old ones we had they gave out before the start of the grow. But we're taking care of it for now. The pictures were at an angle I tried to anchor the phone against my stomach I was drunk
Here's a better angle of the t5 and they're actually about 5in from the buckets 2in from the white widow.
Ok so I checked up on the plants this morning and found them like this not happy with the t5 anymore and need to start adding nutrients to the buckets. Leaves are yellowing and drooping. Temps are around 69 right now. Was thinking of making a diy co2 system. Here's what I saw this morning.
Also I had the t5 96watt got a more powerful led. You will definitely need something stronger in flower.
We have a 400watt hps for flower maybe 3 Weeks and my ww will be switched to 12/12. What's your light schedule for your t5 veg Ok so today we switched to the 400 watt MH and tested the ph of the buckets all 5 tested between 6.8-7.2 we used Ph down to get them between 5.2-5.5 the ppm where all around 400. We're currently using botanicare Nutrient list: ·Cal mag ·silica blast ·liquid karma I'll take pics for the update tonight.