Which would produce more DO in a DWC?

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
I use gull wings but have cut duct takeoffs in the tops and ducted to exhaust, while not as effective as sealed they work well to get rid of heat. CO2 would be nice but I would need to set up ac and my shed power is maxed :(.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Not surprisingly, the girls don't seem to mind 600w at all. I'm trying to keep them from stretching too much, early on.

 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
Sorry I may have missed it but r u using MH or HPS? I have minimum stretch it's my T5's and really have not notice a difference in plant stretch when comparing MH, other than close to triple the running cost lol.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Sorry I may have missed it but r u using MH or HPS? I have minimum stretch it's my T5's and really have not notice a difference in plant stretch when comparing MH, other than close to triple the running cost lol.
I'm running MH. I've always run MH in veg and switch to HPS for flower. In my closet, on the shelf above the clones, I'm going to keep some Bonsai Mums. I thought I'd try to do it with 23w CFLs, but I don't know if that's going to be adequate. I know they're supposed to be cool, but that's kind of a misnomer. The glass gets warm, and the attached ballast gets hot. A couple of these aren't bad, but when you've got 16, it'll warm up the closet pretty good. What I'm going to end up doing is building a COB LED array using a heatsink bar. There are renderings and info in my Virtual Grow Room link below. Then I can keep the driver out of the closet and remove some of the heat. Eventually, I do plan on building my 16 COB LED array and replacing the HID. That's one of the reasons I didn't invest too much into the ballast, light, and hood. What I have right now will get me plenty of bud, and work until I upgrade.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I was worried about the amount of light the lids were letting through. Being a bright material makes it worse. I took some cardboard and did a rough cutout of the lid. I then used spray adhesive to add some leftover Mylar. Its a little tough comparing the covered and uncovered lids, but I can tell you that it made a huge difference!



Uncovered


Covered


This is my dipstick. I used some leftover pvc. I used some charts and calculators to mark the gallons on the pipe. After, I covered the marks with clear Scotch tape. Finally, I smeared some 100% aquarium safe silicone over the surface of the tape and let it cure. I secured it by drilling holes and using zip ties. After, I siliconed the drill holes.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I hit week-2 a couple days ago. My tds is around 400ppm. I was just looking at the GH chart and it's up around 1050-1350 for week-2. Is that right? I'm going to keep my soup until Saturday, then I'm going to go 8M/16B (Lucas formula) for the rest of the grow. But for this week, should I bump up the nutes to hit the GH target?
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
I hit week-2 a couple days ago. My tds is around 400ppm. I was just looking at the GH chart and it's up around 1050-1350 for week-2. Is that right? I'm going to keep my soup until Saturday, then I'm going to go 8M/16B (Lucas formula) for the rest of the grow. But for this week, should I bump up the nutes to hit the GH target?
GH doesn't know what you are growing. let your plants tell you what they need.

use your ppm meter. at 400, does it rapidly drop into the 300s? if so, then bump up. if not, keep at 400.

8/16 will be around 2000 so you are getting ready to make a HUGE jump. (not what i would do)
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
GH doesn't know what you are growing. let your plants tell you what they need.

use your ppm meter. at 400, does it rapidly drop into the 300s? if so, then bump up. if not, keep at 400.

8/16 will be around 2000 so you are getting ready to make a HUGE jump. (not what i would do)
It stays steady @ 435ppm, but that's including 75ppm tap. So really, I'm around 360ppm
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
So you think I should work my way up? Maybe a week @ 5M/10B, a week @ 6M/12B, then full 8M/16B?
i just went by my ppm. if i set the res at 500 and 2 days later it was 250 then i knew i was way too weak. i'd bump up to 800.
if i set res at 500 and 7 days later it was at 450 i was pretty close and maybe go up to 550 or 600
just examples, not actual ppms.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
i just went by my ppm. if i set the res at 500 and 2 days later it was 250 then i knew i was way too weak. i'd bump up to 800.
if i set res at 500 and 7 days later it was at 450 i was pretty close and maybe go up to 550 or 600
just examples, not actual ppms.
Gotcha. I've been steadily bumping mine up and I haven't seen any drastic drops in ppm's or pH. Using 55 gallons
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
don't feel like 8/16 is your goal. you might not need to go higher than 5/10 and still have super healthy plants
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
You could go higher and watch the levels as well as leaf tips and cut it back if EC climbs or tips turn color. Or you could just stay where your at and plants are still happy. I tend to keep things on the low side and don't push it.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
You could go higher and watch the levels as well as leaf tips and cut it back if EC climbs or tips turn color. Or you could just stay where your at and plants are still happy. I tend to keep things on the low side and don't push it.
I used to run things pretty hot, and used the leaf tips to guide me. I had to stay on top of it every hour lol! I'll be going a little lighter this time.
 
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