First Time Grow (Durban Poison, DWC, COB LED)

Hello all,

As the title states, this is my first time growing. I have been keeping notes on my phone as I've gone along so I'll post all of my photos and info to get everyone caught up to speed.

I have Fem Durban Poison from Dutch Passion, and I'm currently on day 26 from the time I put the seed into a rapid rooter.

Below is a list of equipment that I'm using for my setup:
Gorilla Grow Tent - 2'x2.5'
Timber Grow Lights 2VL 200W COB LED
Current Culture Solo 8 DWC
AC Infinity Cloudline T6 6" Inline Fan
Phresh 6" x 8" Intake Filter (using as exhaust since it's smaller, if I need a regular one later, I'll replace)
IceProbe Aqua Chiller using InkBird Controller
2 6" Genesis fans
TaoTronics Humidifier
FloraTrio Nutes, CALiMAGic, Hydrogaurd, GH pH Kit

So let's get to it. As you know now, this is my first grow so any helpful tips are greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy!

 

To get things started off, I'll post a few photos to get everyone caught up-to-date.

July 10th:
Received seeds, put 1 into a rapid rooter, placed it in a plastic tupperware bowl and put the lid over it. Placed it at the top of a closet where it was nice and warm.


July 13:
Sprout was sticking out of the top of the rapid rooter, so this is when I decided to transplant it into the DWC.




The Current Culture Solo is 8 gallons, but the net pot is pretty big. So I started off with 6 gallons of RO water, added 1/4 of recommended nutes, pH @ 5.8, dimmed the light and left it around 15-20% overall power.

 

After getting everything set up the night before, I really had no idea how the exhaust vent looked from outside. When I walked out to get the mail I took a look at the window and I could see the reflection gleaming from the exhaust hose. I'm legal, but I don't want the whole neighborhood knowing my business either. I went to one of the big box stores and purchased a draft blocker, they only had a 4" in stock, so I also had to buy a 6" to 4" reducer. No biggie. While there I picked up some screen with the finest mesh they had.

The exhaust hose came in a box with 2 styrofoam pieces to protect the top and bottom so I decided to tape these together since it was almost a perfect fit for my window. I painted the draft blocker black just for extra measure. I put the draft blocker in the styrofoam setup, then I wrapped 3 layers of screen over it.

I'm happy to report that this works fantastic. I went outside and it just looks like my window is open. No reflections, no sign of an exhaust.

 

No big changes since changing the window exhaust. Just been keeping an eye on PPM's and pH.

It took about 12 days from the day I placed it into the DWC for the roots to hit the water.

July 26th:
This is the first full rez change, upped the nutes to 1/2 of recommended dosage according to GH's bottle. Dropped the water level down to 5 gallons, PPM's 848, pH @ 5.8.


July 27th:
Added a humidifier. The RH in the tent was staying pretty low around 39-42%, and would get up to 49% at best during the night. New humidifier set to 65%, does a pretty good job.


July 28th:
Temps have been going up during the day even with the A/C on. There's only 1 vent flap on the tent and it's in the back and very close to the wall. The temps inside the tent aren't bad, but the rez water keeps creeping up around 72-74 and I'm not comfortable with that so I ordered an IceProbe Aqua Chiller. It says it'll keep 10 gallons 6-8 degrees cooler so this was pretty much perfect for my situation. It's also a perfect fit for the drain valve hole at the bottom of my bucket, so I don't have to drill anything. I just removed the drain valve and installed the IceProbe. I have the IceProb plugged into an InkBird controller and have it set at 68 degrees.

 

July 31st:
Turned the light up to around 35-40%(just a guess, there's no numbers on the dimmer). We've been keeping the a/c down a bit to 72, it was at 68, I think this along with the light increase has caused the tent to heat up a little more. The additional light output is definitely taking its toll on the rez, no surprise there seeing as it's black. I purchased some reflective bubble insulation and reflective tape. I'll insulate the rez bucket when I do the next rez change.

August 3rd:
Full rez change, same nutes as last rez change. Using the reflective bubble insulation, I doubled it up and sealed all the edges with reflective tape. We also dropped the a/c back down to 68 to help keep the room temp cooler. The insulation has helped a lot. The rez temp stays pretty consistent at 68 now.

 

So now we're up-to-date, it's time to post some photos from today. I've actually been meaning to get this journal up and rolling a lot sooner, but today I ran into my first problem so I figured it was a good time to get it rolling.

After the last rez change, the pH was at 5.4 and I didn't UP it since I figured it might regulate on its own. I checked yesterday and it was up to 5.5, and this morning, 5.6. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I noticed today that it's got some brown spots on maybe 2 of the leaves, small ones on 1 leaf, and a little larger one on one of the bigger leaves. I have been monitoring this particular leaf, as it's had a tiny spot on it for a few days, and a bit of a shiny look almost. Now, my guess is that it's a Phosphorous deficiency because the stems are red. They've been red for a while now, but I read that some strains have red stems so don't worry unless there's an accompanying issue such as spots, curling, etc.

So below are the best photos I could take of the spots, and I also included some side photos. If you guys have any idea what the problem could be, I'd really appreciate it!

 

Thanks for the reply bud. I am running RO water since we have well water and it's really hard. When I noticed the brown spots I started looking up as much as possible about deficiencies. I'm finding it a bit difficult to tell the difference between calcium deficiency and phosphorous. I took these spots as phosphorous because of the red stems, and because the spots look a little closer to the photos of phosphorous def than calcium def. But it is my first grow so I definitely could be wrong. For now, I added 7.5ml of FloraBloom to supplement a little extra phosphorous, and I added an extra 5ml of CALMAG. I'll keep an eye on it for now and hopefully it starts looking better.

Again, if anybody has a better idea of what these spots could be, I'd definitely appreciate it.

 

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I'm not stressing too much over it just yet, just making sure I catch it before it gets worse. I haven't had any nute burn problems and when I checked the PPM today after noticing the spots and I seen that the PPM's had dropped by about 90. So maybe she's a little more hungry. I'm not too sure, but I'll keep an eye on her.

Thanks again for the reply, appreciate it!