Ok so last night EC... My ballast decided to fuck out. so i pulled it apart. and the ignitor was almost melted, somone had tryed to dodge up the main wiring to the choke... Lucky i had a spare one and did some surgery. it might have fucked my MH bulb tho! takes so long to start now.... Update will be coming soon, just have to wake up get some shit sorted then ill be with ya guys! Will also be making a post about CHECKING MAG BALLASTS BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN USE! I should have done it. but i was in all this excitement, it was overseen.
Just a quick look at the ballast! you will be disgusted... will be posting this in the INDOOR GROWERS section for people so that this doesnt happen, or a fire gets started. it takes 5 mins to look, to save a lifetimes worth of shit. I had a feeling that i should be around it at all times, to make sure it runs smoothly. Only setback from this episode is that my MH bulb is Fucked, Have to get a new one when possible. i dont want to switch over to the HPS just yet. roll with it for another day or 2, see how it goes. _________________________________________________________________ First one is when i opened it up. i got a shock looking at this fire hazard. Second you can see whats up... third good as new. 4th a little sneaky sneaky to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
Yeah...the whole fire thing freaks me out. Don't use the bad one... I don't know much about bulbs but at least they don't cost a lot of money and you have an extra ballast.
well what i did was take the old ballast and threw it away bar one piece. the cord to plug into the lights. the one in the other ballast was fucked, but everything was new pretteh much, so i took the terminals out of the broken socket, put some 15A plugs joining the power. works like a charm. Ordered another MH bulb today so i should get it tuesday or wednesday. but set me back 70$ AUD... but it was cheaper than the stores around me.
did ya bother lookin at the hortilux bulbs... man o man do those suckers get expensive! You know the exchange rate from AUD to USD??
1 Australian dollar = 0.9739 U.S. dollars At the moment its that, but i got myn from an australian online hydroponics shop. It was a Growlush 600W retro. YET the 600w HPS is 35... -.- Those hortilux look so good tho! TODAY I WILL BE GETTING MY MUCH NEEDED NUTES! Tossing up between DM Advance and AN? Whats your thoughts?
ahh yeah, always hearing about fox farms. but cant get it here, unless i wanna pay more for shipping than the nute itself. DM is good, its aussy so its dirt cheap for me, where as an i have heard quite good but pricey. ill make my choice later today!
UPDATE Days since breaking dirt: DAY: 8 Erin & Mariel DAY: 3 Anna & T-pol Ok so i went out to the local store, to my surprise the guy told me that he knows the maker of DM and he recons its absolute shit, so he told me about his days and what he used. Ended up getting some HydroBotanics A&B Grow, Ph up&down, and a drop Ph test kit. Should do me good for a another week or 2 till i get some other stuff! My hard days work: Also Erin & Mariel had yellowing cotyledons so i gave them a really cute dose of nutes. Found that the PH of my tap water is 8.0, after adding nutes 1ML of each to 1L of water, Dropped it to 7-7.5 1 Drop of PH down, and its a perfect 6.5 Also I have a new edition to the family! Meet Betty the tomato: And Erin: Mariel: Anna & T-Pol: Last but not least Stunty: Let me know what you think guys! I would love to hear some feedback about the progress. even if there isnt much to state yet! haha
Also T-Pol is now in a hempy, thought the time was perfect seeing as she only had a tap root! Mind you it was about 4" long!
Erin and Mariel, also stumpy look really great after 1/4 even less than that feed. ( 5ML of each to a litre. Because im using soil Half strength is the full strength.) No burn or anything, maybe have over watered them as the soil is a moisture nazi. But have perlite now, like 50L or so. lol
Which ones? Erin and Mariel had a mass growth burst over night, was pretteh good to wake up too. the one i call stunty was because CFL's just dont like me. lol. After feeding them with the nutes i got they look alot more alive.
mr.derp, i mean no offense, and by no means want to sound like an ass, but i find it quite annoying when people name their plants...anyways, im subbed and excited to see everything grow
hahaha, none taken. i dunno. makes them easier to distinguish. i talk to them sometimes, and its annoying talking to something that doesn't have a name. But I can see it being annoying. Update will be in about 8 odd hours! Im glad to be posting some nice progress! Cheers for sitting in brother! Much appreciated!
looks to me like ur weed plants are jealous of your tomato plants soil...imo soil looks suspect...is it from outback in ur garden?? you said you were having a hard time finding soil on page 1 and you said it was ORGANIC...just trying to get info...not trying to be rude... man i feel like ive come in here and been rude...totally not trying to be that way.
Nah man, ahaha its cool. Im a very open minded person and take everyone's opinion into consideration. Its hortico soil its organic, and after it said awesome drainage on the bag i find its a water holding nazi like nothing before. im going to put perlite with them when i transplant. I see a few roots coming out of the bottom but they arnt searching for water. they are staying just inside of the cups drainage holes. whats your thoughts, recon i could get away with repotting them into the same cups but with a perlite mix? they are on their 9th day from popping.