Hydro setup please comment

I recently had 2 crappy soil grows and decided I needed to change my nutrients. I know I make a stupid mistake of using miracle grow, so I got what was coming to me (about half oz per plant). So now I have a hydro setup with a mix of clones and sprouts using Advanced Nutriets. Setup is flood and drain. Currently im using jungle juice grow, micro, cal mag, superthrive, and hydroguard. they are under 12,800 lumens of 5k cfl @24hrs, manual co2 injection of 1/4 sec every 2 hrs, exhaust on for 30min prior to each injection, lights are about 4-6" above plants, ph is 5.4 ppm is around 540, grow area is 3x3x8 (closet). For flowering I have Jungle Juice micro and bloom, big bud liquid, bud candy, overdrive, bud factor x, sensizym, and superthrive. They will flower under a 400w hps, and the grow area will probably be something like 5x5x5 (different spot). I plan to follow the AN feeding schedule for flowering. Strains are power plant, big bud, and bag seed.

Questions are:

Am I doing ok for now?

Should I continue to use the cal mag with everything else?

do I continue to use the jungle juice grow during flowering like AN suggests?

am I ok doing co2 as I am now?

are there any nutrients I should add or remove?

Anybody have good/bad things to say about AN?

will I actually have a good harvest this time?

whats the average yield of those who use AN?

questions, comments, advice??

thanks!!

Nobody123 said:

advice??

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Don't expect others to do your homework for you. Seriously, too many different questions, you won't get much help this way.

Couple of comments anyway:

- raise that PH to 5.8-ish. Keep it drifting between 5.7 and 6.1 roughly.

- 400watt is for 3x3, a little more is doable, but it won't cover 5x5.

Nobody123 said:

whats the average yield of those who use AN?

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Yield doesn't depend on just nutes, there's no such average and if it were measured it would still be meaningless as it depends on many more important factors.

Seems like you are using a lot more additives than you really need -- Sensi A and B with big bud and overdrive would probably do just as good as everything you listed.

I'd worry less about your nutes and more about:

- Your light size and heat (def. go for a 600 or 1000 in a 5x5 tent)
- Your water / res tempeture

Questions are:

Am I doing ok for now? no

Should I continue to use the cal mag with everything else?

do I continue to use the jungle juice grow during flowering like AN suggests?

am I ok doing co2 as I am now? no co2 will not be of any benefit if you dont have good control over the ppm just make good airflow

are there any nutrients I should add or remove?

Anybody have good/bad things to say about AN?

will I actually have a good harvest this time?

whats the average yield of those who use AN?

questions, comments, advice?? 400 watt will cover like 8 sq.ft don't try to push it to cover more, and dont overgrow your plants

thanks!! welcome
good luck

ZEM:
alright if im not doing ok, whats wrong? I dont want another crappy grow. Also, whats wrong with my ppm? You said if its not under control co2 wont benefit, but I didnt think my ppm was out of control. Also, I will get another 400w hps.

TIBBERUS:
I do not have sensi A and B, just the 3 part jungle juice series. And I will get another 400w light. Also, you said I should worry more about my water and resivoir temp, which I maintain at 74F with a resivoir heater.

SATIVIED:
I feel as though my original post for a "newbie" had an undertone of "I did my homework." With that being said, I came here for collaboration and critique. And you say to have my ph between 5.8-6.1, I have made the adjustment and will see how they do for a few days. A question on this, why is there so much debate between the 5.2-5.4 crowd and the 5.8-6.2 crowd? I completely agree about letting the ph drift, so the plant has access to a wider range of nutriets, but do plants burn easier at the lower ph? And im tracking on the whole "average yield" question. I also agree it is hard to pinpoint an average, but I guess I was assuming for those who have grows over and over using the same technique, schedule, nutes, etc that they would have eventually developed an average for what they do (which of course would be different from person to person).

So far, I will get another light for flowering. Still looking for a little more advice.

Thanks!

you have to be able to accurately measure and control the ppm of the CO2 in the growroom air...

Trackin, I misunderstood, thanks for clearing that up. Is there a cheap way to measeure this without spending $500 on a CAP controller?

Nobody123 said:

I feel as though my original post for a "newbie" had an undertone of "I did my homework."

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Was just a well-meant heads up.

Nobody123 said:

A question on this, why is there so much debate between the 5.2-5.4 crowd and the 5.8-6.2 crowd?

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I'm not familiar with any "5.2-5.4" crowd but look up an hydro nutrient uptake ph chart and you can see why 5.5-6.2 makes more sense than 5.2-5.4. If you had them on the latter for a while and switched to 5.8 you should definitely see an improvement.

Personally, I would forget about the CO2 for now. It's like the last thing one adds to improve yields, when everything else is optimized already. Like a previous poster said, just make sure you have proper airflow (which means an exhaust, possibly with carbon filter and/or cooltube and a passive or active intake). Then when you start pulling 14 ounces you could consider CO2 to push it further (I wouldn't in such small space).

Good luck!

Yeah I've just read so much on ph levels and there are people on both sides of the fence. I keep a daily journal and have kept my ph at around 5.8 for 3 days now. And I will remove the co2. I agree that I am trying to do to much at once, and will dial in everything else and save for a CAP controller and co2 valve.

Nobody123 said:

ZEM:

I think you'll receive a lot more help from us vets with more pics of your op.


TIBBERUS:
Also, you said I should worry more about my water and resivoir temp, which I maintain at 74F with a resivoir heater.

Man-----wish I had that problem instead of running a 1/4 hp chiller. Turn the heater down and run in the high 60s.

R U running ro water, city,or what? and what is the ppm? Your starting water quality is the single most important factor for water culture nutes, IMO.

SATIVIED:
but do plants burn easier at the lower ph?

Burn is usually associated with too high ppm-----I've let my ph drift as low as 5.2 with no visible negative effects.

And im tracking on the whole "average yield" question. I also agree it is hard to pinpoint an average, but I guess I was assuming for those who have grows over and over using the same technique, schedule, nutes, etc that they would have eventually developed an average for what they do (which of course would be different from person to person).

If you can continuously produce 1 gram (dbw) per watt of flowering lighting every 60 days (60 day finisher)------you're doing great-------a lot better than the majority.

So far, I will get another light for flowering. Still looking for a little more advice.

Run air cooled hoods on a LR3 mover.

Thanks!

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Stay safe and have fun,

A~~~

So this is a typical tub with an inner tray. I have a pump that is on every other hour for an hour at a time (usually takes about 20 min to fill up). The inner tray has holes in it so water drains that way, and the hydrotub has some hydroton to help it fill up quicker, due to the small water pump I have. And the water heater stays at 74f.

All my clones are transfers from soil, so that's why the roots look the way they do. Believe it or not, the clones took the transfer very well. All I did was rinse the roots off real good and bam.

Nobody123 said:

All my clones are transfers from soil, so that's why the roots look the way they do. Believe it or not, the clones took the transfer very well. All I did was rinse the roots off real good and bam.

Hope you're not planning to continue that cloning process? Much better ways.

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Time for a hit,

A~~~

Nobody123 said:

So this is a typical tub with an inner tray. I have a pump that is on every other hour for an hour at a time (usually takes about 20 min to fill up). The inner tray has holes in it so water drains that way, and the hydrotub has some hydroton to help it fill up quicker, due to the small water pump I have. And the water heater stays at 74f.

All my clones are transfers from soil, so that's why the roots look the way they do. Believe it or not, the clones took the transfer very well. All I did was rinse the roots off real good and bam.

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water heater?

You need a chiller ...........

hammer21 said:

You need a chiller if doing hydro...........

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Rrrrrealllly.... Not everyone 'needs' a chiller. Depends on where you live and the season and your setup. I had no probs keeping temps at optimal levels last round, just got a chiller a few weeks ago because of some hot some days. I need a small aquarium 'heater' during the winter nights.

Sativied said:

Rrrrrealllly.... Not everyone 'needs' a chiller. Depends on where you live and the season and your setup. I had no probs keeping temps at optimal levels last round, just got a chiller a few weeks ago because of some hot some days. I need a small aquarium 'heater' during the winter nights.

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igloo coolers ftw! The only time I have to heat water is preheat once when the tap comes out frigid.

back to the op. I was really having a hard time understanding your engineering on that system. That inner tray you should just remove but then you may have a problem with netpots falling thru, but then where are your roots gonna go if you leave it? Truthfully your roots aren't looking too good and another approach may be a good idea.This is the first hybrid dwc/ebb and flow/nft system I've seen :/

dbkick said:

igloo coolers ftw! The only time I have to heat water is preheat once when the tap comes out frigid.

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Unfortunately not good enough for my flower closet, but works perfectly for my small preveg box.

Y do I need a chiller? My closet stays at 80-85F. Also I meant reservoir heater. I also discovered its not even kicking on and checked my water temp and it is perfect in the hot closet. Ill post pics of the roots of the plants from seed, they are perfect. The roots you saw in the pics already posted look brown cause they came out of soil, and to me they look fine as well. True hydroponic roots (fragile and white) are growing very rapidly out of the clones from soil. Which as I gain more experience and knowledge, I will try a differen approach to cloning. But as of now, my current method of cloning is doing fine (of course when I experiment with new methods that opinion will likely change).

As far as the setup goes, the net pots sit in the lid. If I removed the inner tray, they would not fall thru. I know this is sort of a different system, but it is working good. I saw it as an easier alternative than a true ebb and flow (at least with my wallet and inexperience). I do want to look forward to a true flood and drain table, but again this system is very simple and effective.

Nobody123 said:

Y do I need a chiller? My closet stays at 80-85F.

ambient air temp equals nute temp-----without some sort of cooling. 85f is flirting with disaster.

Also I meant reservoir heater. I also discovered its not even kicking on and checked my water temp and it is perfect in the hot closet.

?????How can your water temp be perfect in a "hot closet"????

Which as I gain more experience and knowledge, I will try a differen approach to cloning. But as of now, my current method of cloning is doing fine (of course when I experiment with new methods that opinion will likely change).

Why reinvent something already tried and proven--------just ask supestoner about his success rate.

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Good luck with your adventure,

A~~~