Intro with Pics!

Well hello there. My name is Phoenix, I have been researching (reading) here for awhile. Figured I'd show a little of what I've learned.

To start off I am the COO of Calypso's Collective. We are a fully legal collective in San Diego and comply with all CA. state laws regarding medical marijuana.

I'm also a retired sideshow geek, http://www.XE3000.com

Aside from that, we are setting up a cooking collective to make and supply canabutter and canaoil to the dispensaries. I want a crop of buddy goodness every 2 weeks to cook with as well as supply our members with medicine.

I started with dirt then found Hydroponics then this forum, I designed a system based loosely on the S.O.G. system but it's a combination of Aero, DWC, Drip AND Fogponics! So far the Nursery and cloners are up and running and I start on the adult "bloom room" this weekend.

Here's a pic of the first run on the big aero pump.



There's a big one, way overkill but it was only $35 at Harbor Freight, and a little aquarium power head. The Aero system kicks on 3 times a day for 15 minutes. It's there mostly to wash the roots and change out the water in all the tubs.



The power head is on a UPS back up. It comes on once an hour and drips onto the top of every plant site. This way if I do have a power outage or main pump failure the drip system will keep the crop happy enough until I can fix it. No lost crops!

My favorite part is the fog system.



I used $8 medical nebulizers and removed the guts.



I hooked up a 2 micron filter on a pick up tube and they feed right out of the bottom of the tub. Each tub holds about 2 and a half inches of water. They all run on a super silent medical grade compressor.



And they do this 2 minutes out of every 10 while the lights are on.



So far I've been cleaning them every 2 weeks. I have 3 spares so just swap them out for a vinegar soak.

OK time for the good stuff!

My first seedlings were in dirt and they are my current mothers. These are Afghan Mother DNA 12 weeks on the left and Royal hash, 10 weeks old on the right. I'm currently planting 2 plants every 2 weeks until I get everything running then I'll double it to 4 plants every 2 weeks.



These are my first seedlings grown entirely in the system. Germinated in a paper towel & baggie. 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks old.



I took this 1 week ago.



Here's an 8 week old Afghan Mother DNA started from a seed.



These are my experimental plants, they have been abused pretty badly as I learn how to handle the nutrient solution and fine tune the whole system. As-Built it's pretty easy and care free but the set up was tricky since it was my first.

This was today, they are 5, 7, 9 and 10 weeks old now.



So last weekend I took my first clones from the dirt planted Mothers.



In a rock wool cube and Hydroton. I used a powder cloner and added a little cloning solution to the nutrient solution.
One week and we have clone roots! This was exciting to see.



This is a week in the system. No apparent leaf loss or browning at all. I did take these as tops in order to force the mothers into a 4 cola plant.



Picture overload! lol

I guess that's a decent intro. I made some butter and oil from trim but I'll post those pics in the cooking section.

All questions, comments and abuse is welcome.

welcome to RIU , setup's looking great ! + rep

keep up the good work man

Thanks!
BTW, This whole system including 3, 4' Fluorescent fixtures (mixed spectrum's) 1 LED panel per tub, pumps, plumbing etc all cost under $300 so far. =)

i like your style, i spent months trying to decide what type of hudro system i wanted to start with (EBB, DWC, Aero, or Fog) i decided to try DWC just because it seemed the most simple to start with....but you, you said fuck it i'll use them all....and fuck yeah it looks awesome.

I think your set up great man. Experimentation makes the game so much more interesting and exciting. I was wondering if you could tell me where you got your LEDs.

Hahaa, "fuck it i'll use them all.."

I never thought about it that way but yeah I guess I did. I just saw advantages and disadvantages to each system and thought they would compliment each other to make a great total system. Plus this way I have triple redundancy and it really didn't cost that much more. Thanks!


I got the LEDs as an experiment. By themselves they suckify. If you add them as inexpensive to run and non heat producing extra lights they are great but I would not rely on them as a stand alone light or use them to bloom plants. I got them off evil-bay for $35 shipped. They were 50% off so I couldn't resist getting 2. My plan was to line the back wall with them to feed the inner leaves and keep the Mothers bushy but I haven't decided about them yet.

+rep dude looks good hopeing to see more to come

That, my friend, is beautiful. Props on the awesome set up. What light (s) will you be using to bloom?

Thanks!

I started a grow journal Here.

I'm Using 150 watt HPS security lights and warm CFLs to bloom.