4KW UnderCurrent DWC Med-Grow

I havnt been on here in a long time so I thought I would post up my recent med-grow op. First time with DWC coming from flood & drain. The strain I am running is Grape Ape and I am using cutting edge full line of nutrients all in a 10x10 Tent. I will list my entire setup below.

UnderCurrent 16 site XL 13 gallon bucket setup
1/2HP Chiller
20lb Co2 Tank
Ideal Air 12k BTU Mini-Split
iPonic 600 controller
4 1kw Lumatek Ballasts w/ 8" AC hoods and a 12" vortex pulling the air through them
carbon filter w/ 8" can fan
Stealth RO 200

I am about 2 weeks into veg, using co2 @ around 1200PPM and temps dont go above 80 even during 90 temps outside. The tent is in an uninsulated attached garage but the garage is vented. I have the controller setup to switch to Flower after 4 weeks. PH is 5.9-6.0...Initially had a bit of slime but I got rid of that real quick with Aquashield and Pondzyme, works very very well completely obliterated it and all roots are 100% pure white now. Just trimmed off the bottom branches/leaves that were not subject to any light. I absolutely love the iPonic controller its my favorite hands down. I also am vegging with Metal Halides then when Flower starts I will switch to HPS.

Nice and clean man

thanks guys...UnderCurrentDWC I got the pondzyme and aqua shield from your advice to another member on his thread, thanks for that ....

I have ran into a problem that I cannot quite pinpoint. some of the plants edges are turning brown and dying. not all plants are doing this. I thought it was the water since I didn't change it for two weeks so I changed it with new water and added 1/2 strength nutes @ 600ppm PH now is 5.7. any ideas on what it is? I initially thought nute burn but the plants didn't start showing this until the end of week 2 of the same nute strength with PH @6.0

How close r ur lamps bro kinda looks like there getting to hot at the topps due to the bleaching im seeing and what not..
I go from t5 to 1k and give them a good 30 inch cushion between the lamps and topps so they can aclimate and grow into the lamps so to speak..
I could be totally wrong too just what i think im seeing.

onthedl0008 said:

How close r ur lamps bro kinda looks like there getting to hot at the topps due to the bleaching im seeing and what not..
I go from t5 to 1k and give them a good 30 inch cushion between the lamps and topps so they can aclimate and grow into the lamps so to speak..
I could be totally wrong too just what i think im seeing.

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I was in the tent as you posted that and I thought that was it. The lights were about 14-16 inches away from the tops so I raised them up to about 24 inches away now. Good diagnosis bro thanks for the help I'm confident after your post that was the issue.

The plants are pretty tall now and I have two weeks of veg I am wondering if I should flip them after this week is up. I also had a thought of maybe tying the tops down a bit so the canopy is a bit lower? I dunno what do you think? I'll get some pics in a few minutes of the canopy as it sits now

Yes if ur going to flower soon id start lst now and stay on those things there gonna be beasts and prolly take everything u got to keep that canopy uniform but well worth it in the end and final yield results..
I do believe that ur lamps where too close now 14-16 inches is much too close unless ur blowing ac into those hoods and tubes 24-30 inches is ideal and let them settle in somewhere around 20 -24 i nches i see peeps pushing it too close idk why 1ks keep plants as tame as ur going to get when it comes to stretching and what not ur plants should grow nicely under them 1ks if too unruly it comes down to genetix at that point u may wanna find something a little more tame to meet ur needs otherwise pushing those lamps to close is only going to cause stress and bleaching and a bunch of crispy fan leaves before its all over with.. hope that made sence..

Yeah I got what you said thanks for the info, I am gonna start tying them down tomorrow, I seen these yo yo type tie down things at the grow store I'm gonna pick up.

Good stuff man should have her now i see ur doing the grape ape man ive seen a couple different phenos come thru but this last one we just seen recently was str8 grape fire man good stuff looked like a decent yielder too wish i would got some pix! Well lookin forward to seeing this one out. Peace

What are you running for dehumidifies?

Friendly Caregiver said:

What are you running for dehumidifies?

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right now I am not running a dehumidifier but once I hit flower I have a hydro farm unit to dehumidify. At night during veg I just use the vent fan to bring the humidity down.

I bought some temporary wire fencing and built cages around each pot. worked out pretty well!

Those things are going to grow right into your lights.

Yeah^. What he said. You are going to have some SERIOUS issues with stretch after the flip. You should seriously consider picking up some gravity or phosphoload. People that end up with 6-7' tall plants flipped when they were like 18-24"
Looking good though!!'

Yeah I started to tie them all down pretty low. As they grow taller I will just keep tying them down to make the canopy even. Flower starts tomorrow thanks for the info ill look into the gravity

I would use phoshoload instead of gravity. 1 ml per gallon, run it through the system for 24 hours then dump and mix fresh nutes. Use half strength or less regular nutes when you use it. Its baller man, trust me.

I was reading a bit about the phosphoload and gravity and found something about it having poisons in it? I guess California is banned from selling it so I would have to order it online I guess. What's your thoughts on it as far as being safe to use of mmj?

Im scared for you bro. The last time I let them veg for a month they looked just like that and 26 days later I wish I had 9 foot ceilings Legallyflying has the right idea with Bushmaster. It works wonders! 1ml per gallon for 2 or 3 days and you will only get 2 or 3 more inches and they will stop dead in there tracks and grow outward hence the name bushmaster. Because they are shorter the buds will be more compact and will see more of that light your raining.
I do it on purpose. I have to take my cutting when I send my girls in to flower so I have to clone and veg for 63 days and it is hard as hell to keep them small. First I try and keep them in the bubble cloner as long as i can (25 days) by cutting off all the tips of the roots (root pruning) then I start veging but from day one I prune the roots every couple days so they keep putting out new ones and top every week. Soon I have a x-large round beach ball size plant with round basketball size roots. Hundreds upon hundreds of fresh tap roots ready to take action. Three days before I send them In I hit them with bushmaster. Nothing but bud!! Huge Bud!! Im a new member here and I am taking pictures to start a journal soon.

I wouldn't worry about grape ape stretching out of control on you, I've grown it for a year and it's never happened to me with that strain!