Current RDWC Hydrofarm Grandaddy from week 5

PotPower · Sep 8, 2011

Since I have not had time to post but here is my chance to show off some of my current grandaddy at week 5.

jesus of Cannabis · Sep 8, 2011

very very nice

+rep

PotPower · Sep 9, 2011

Thanks Jesus and post away.

CatfishBilly · Sep 9, 2011

frosty buds! love it... got me thinking about switching from soil. current light setup?

PotPower · Sep 9, 2011

CatfishBilly said:
frosty buds! love it... got me thinking about switching from soil. current light setup?

It looked the same as in soil-less medium sunshine #4 but they are just larger!
I am running 4000w currently air cooled HF Radiant hoods with 1000W 120/240v switchable Powerhouse ballasts running on 240V
Sometimes on hot hot days where it is 90+ outside I have to unplug one to keep the room at 77f max.* I run AC also*

kriznarf · Sep 9, 2011

What's the R in the RDWC stand for? Can we get some pics of the equipment you're using?

Awesome plants! Subbing up.

PotPower · Sep 9, 2011

kriznarf said:
What's the R in the RDWC stand for? Can we get some pics of the equipment you're using?

Awesome plants! Subbing up.

Hey Krisnarf,
R stands for "Recirculating" Deep Water Culture, since I got 8 buckets set up in a loop with a 5 gallon res.
I bought a couple extra drip rings and hose fittings to convert mines to use air to recirculate the system.
GH sells the R-kit but I spent half the price for the same results.
Here a few snaps of the res where most of the magic happens.
The dual drip rings draw water from the last bucket into the res and back around.
I had to drill extra holes on the buckets to connect a "in" and one for "out" on each bucket and 2 more on the res for drain and for the dual drip rings..
The buckets were set up in a loop and I have a air stone in each bucket!
I say it recirculates at the rate of about 8-10 gph which is nice and steady.
I am also using the drip rings in conjunction with the RDWC so it could be called
"RDDWC" Recirculating Drip Deep Water Culture. I can tell you this much, my buckets are pretty packed with roots and my system started getting backed up so I had to raise the "ROOT BOX" during week 3 of flowering to let the water circulate through the buckets properly.
I even have a drain to waste I set up on the back of it so it makes flushing and changing it easy.
From the looks of it I am getting about .5 or more lbs per plant.
I have a mega farm system also I am retrofitting to run the same deal but much larger pots and larger hoses for more circulation.

PotPower · Sep 9, 2011

this is the system I use except converted to a loop.

kriznarf · Sep 11, 2011

PotPower said:
It looked the same as in soil-less medium sunshine #4 but they are just larger!
I am running 4000w currently air cooled HF Radiant hoods with 1000W 120/240v switchable Powerhouse ballasts running on 240V
Sometimes on hot hot days where it is 90+ outside I have to unplug one to keep the room at 77f max.* I run AC also*

Why 240 volts instead of 120? General curiosity.

kriznarf · Sep 11, 2011

PotPower said:
Hey Krisnarf,
R stands for "Recirculating" Deep Water Culture, since I got 8 buckets set up in a loop with a 5 gallon res.
I bought a couple extra drip rings and hose fittings to convert mines to use air to recirculate the system.
GH sells the R-kit but I spent half the price for the same results.
Here a few snaps of the res where most of the magic happens.
The dual drip rings draw water from the last bucket into the res and back around.
I had to drill extra holes on the buckets to connect a "in" and one for "out" on each bucket and 2 more on the res for drain and for the dual drip rings..
The buckets were set up in a loop and I have a air stone in each bucket!
I say it recirculates at the rate of about 8-10 gph which is nice and steady.
I am also using the drip rings in conjunction with the RDWC so it could be called
"RDDWC" Recirculating Drip Deep Water Culture. I can tell you this much, my buckets are pretty packed with roots and my system started getting backed up so I had to raise the "ROOT BOX" during week 3 of flowering to let the water circulate through the buckets properly.
I even have a drain to waste I set up on the back of it so it makes flushing and changing it easy.
From the looks of it I am getting about .5 or more lbs per plant.
I have a mega farm system also I am retrofitting to run the same deal but much larger pots and larger hoses for more circulation.

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into this.

CatfishBilly · Sep 11, 2011

kriznarf said:
Why 240 volts instead of 120? General curiosity.

I believe that running 240 you use less amperage, causing less load, and more power efficient, but i am not sure..

kriznarf · Sep 12, 2011

CatfishBilly said:
I believe that running 240 you use less amperage, causing less load, and more power efficient, but i am not sure..

Cool, thanks. I'll be looking into this for sure.

PotPower · Sep 17, 2011

Yes, If you have plant limits in the low numbers this is a way to stay totally legal and get high yield.
Here some current pictures I just snapped of the ladies.
They started turning more purple. wait till you see it when finished.
coming to the end of week 7. one more week then flush.

PotPower · Sep 20, 2011

Week 7.3 They are getting more color and I will start flushing when week 8 begins.

kriznarf · Sep 20, 2011

Looking sexy as hell! How many lights/plants do you have going in there right now? Any early training, LST, topping, etc.?

PotPower · Sep 20, 2011

kriznarf said:
Looking sexy as hell! How many lights/plants do you have going in there right now? Any early training, LST, topping, etc.?

Thanks, first imagine a 120v vs a 240v. The light is taking let's say 5 amps through one 120v wire. with 220v it will split the amperage between two 120v hot wires so you get around 2.5amp estimated* per 120v leg, less draw through each wire which is safer. I have a GFCI Internal Breaker 70amp 220v/120v combo panel which is controlled also so my system has double the protection.It is also hooked Electricity is not anything to mess with for most people.
Also I did not train them since this was my first shot at RDDWC and I wanted my buckets to be portable. I guess I like to just grow them out and trim the lower 1/3 off before flowering.
I do train the mothers and do the whole LST Wire pinching the top ect. they are only 2.5 feet tall.
I have 8 plants/4 x 1000w hps* which look like about 1/2lb. per plant.I usually get 1 gram - 1 watt but that is because I have a very small space to raise them in.
I am taking a long break after this until my space becomes larger. I would never grow more then 8 but on my next try I have a GH powergrower system which is much larger and has better re-circulation since the water tubes/pipes are like 5 times larger and the buckets hold 2 more gallons of water and a gallon more hydroton.

PotPower · Sep 20, 2011

This is how it looked when it was just vegging a mom in it's own single bucket with a air stone in the bottom also.about 7 months ago.
No other way can you get such a nice root system.

PotPower · Sep 23, 2011

I decided to hack one of the colas off because it was about to fall over and it has about 5% amber. I say 8 more days and it should be ready but here is a size comparison next to my forearm.
I weighed it out and it is 149.3 grams and should and should loose about 2/3 in weight when done drying and cured so I expect about 45-55 grams off this one.