My First RDWC Grow with 1000w from Seed

welcome to my Grow journal!!!

I will be growing two CH9 commercial fem from seed , but I forgot to order rockwool cubes they should be here by wendnesday I hope , for now Ill post some pictures of my set up and the file cabinet that im turning in to a cloner/germination station.

This Grow will be done in a 9 x 6 1\2 x 7 basement room with :

1 x Hydro 1000 Watt HPS + MH Digital Grow Light W/ 6" Air Cooled hood $239.95

1 x 100% Reflective Mylar Hydroponic Grow Tent 5'x5'x7 $135.00

1 x Active Air 6" 400 CFM In-line Duct Fan = $79.90

1 x CD-18864 ViaAqua Water Pump Model 1800 $19.99

1 x Active Air 6" 400 CFM In-line Duct Fan = $79.90

6" 250cfm duct fan 30$

Nutes 3 part GH

This will be my first RDWC indor grow so any help , comments or ideas will be well apreciated.
I've spent the last month ordering on line and the last week building the garden and framing the wall for the door.

I ran everything last night and this is what I've got:

well water PPM 130
well water 6.0 PH
water temp 67 w/lights on 55 w/lights off
room temp 83 w/lights on 55 w/lights off



That's what I've gotso far.

finally got the rockwool delivered on wendnesday started two ch9 commercial fem seeds on friday at 2am






checked seeds on saturday the 14th at 8am and they were showing a tail
placed them inside rockwool after soaking it with ph'd water for 24hrs and then inside a plastic container with hydroton and covered with a second container


checked today sunday morning and this is what I found




aren't they beautifull? I feel like a father

I am so retarded...took me all day to figure out how to make pictures big and I have edited this thred and my journal, it seems like to many times lol! but finally after many hours and many bowls later I think I'm getting the hang of things here.

not much going on today, it's day 3 and the two seedlings seem to be doing ok. saw a litle stretching so... I moved them closer to the cfls.

wow looks like youve got quiet the set up going. real nice.

themda said:

wow looks like youve got quiet the set up going. real nice.

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thank you!! for stoping by themda

The first roots just broke trough after 4 days in the 6.0 ph'd rockwool , and under 24/0 4cfls keeping temps at 78f and RH @40 in the cabinet . I've added no water to the rockwool since the first 24hrs soak , and just placed them today under the 18/6hrs 1000w , and into the net pots wich are touching the water for now, untill the roots show trough the nets . I'm using well water with plenty of natural cal/mag in it at around 150ppm. Did this with my last dwc grow and the roots exploted in matter of days. we'll see , because I'm no expert.

Grow Tent :
water temp 65f-70f lights on
water temp 58-64f lights off
RH 35%
83f lights on
65f lights off


ran out of money and could not get the water chiller so... I'll have to ride it out like this until next month

first time using HID's so... I'm skeptical on the distance from top. got it set 24in from top of seedlings
temps are steady 80f under the light

not sure... any suggestions? is it ok or do I need to go up?

Eerything was going according to plan . Came back from work at 1am , and very excited to check my garden , went down to find temps @82f and water temps @72f not bad right? but the water temps need it to come down3-5deg quick with a diy while I get the water chiller. Came up with placing my return line in some kind of line cooling system because I'd hate to put water bags or bottles in there . I have a return line

because I went with 1/2in feed and the rate at wich the water was leaving the control bucket was faster than the rate at what return water was returning to the control . I fixed this with a return line to the control . came up with the Idea of getting a cooler making holes at opposite ends put some grommets or something like that for 1/2in and feed the line trough and fill with ice, tried with a bag of ice

on the line and brought temps down 4deg but the ice wont last unless well insulated.


while doing that checked the seedlings

and they were showing new grow happy times everything comming together NOT!!!!!

oppened control bucket to check the PH and FUCK!!! white foam,slime and stinky water...4am rolls in and I've been busy draining , scrubing with alcohol and watered down bleach, flushing, washing hydrotone and cleaning the mess I made and this is day 5!!! .

Hope I got it all and it doesn't come back or I'll be brewing tee or something like that!!
any help???

man id love to help but have no clue about hydro, your setup is hella dope though, in my opinion. im subd, i think some of my friends do hydro, ill send em this way see if they can help

convict156326 said:

man id love to help but have no clue about hydro, your setup is hella dope though, in my opinion. im subd, i think some of my friends do hydro, ill send em this way see if they can help

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Thank you for taking the time convict . I will be watching yours very closely

Set up looks good. I wonder what could have been in the water to make the foam and slime? I've seen some funky well water in my time.. are you using a filter of any kind?

I wrap my DWC buckets in insulation to help keep temps down. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100028603&R=100028603

sub'd

Rickybobby0007 said:

Set up looks good. I wonder what could have been in the water to make the foam and slime? I've seen some funky well water in my time.. are you using a filter of any kind?

I wrap my DWC buckets in insulation to help keep temps down. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&productId=100028603&R=100028603

sub'd

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Thank you ricky for taking the time to help. I def. Going to insulate the buckets like you suggested.
I'm not using filters of any kind ro or carbon. Wy wife has a tight hold on the budget lol! so I had to choose in between RO system or water chiller so I picked water chiller. found a nano cl-85 good for up to 20g for 180 shipped but have to wait two weeks, for now I'm using big freezer bags with frozen water in the rezzy and it seems to work fine for now temps are steady 65f.

Day 6 and all good!!

Tent stats:
80f lights on
water temp. 65f
RH 34
PH 5.9 (steady but took me a 1/4 botle of ph down)
ppm 180(well water no nutes)

I'm keeping rezzy temps in check with 1gal frezer bags with frozen water 4 times a day cant wait for the water chiller!!

I feel an RH of 34 its low for seedlings/veggie any takes on that?

also going to insulate the buckets today like ricky suggested.

Put a humidity dome on top of the seedlings to increase their local humidity. 30 will be about right for flower. You can use some cut in half 2 liters or milk jugs, but they will survive 30%. Setup looks top notch. I just did read something the other day about to much air in the rez (never thought that was possible). Not sure how much is too much, but it was said that too much will make the rez all frothy. Also, did you rinse your hydroton prior to use? All I can say definitely is keep an eye on it, but I think you took appropiate measures. Its funny it happened because your enviroment seems ideal. There isn't any light getting into the rez is there? Do you have a shallow well, or deep well?

Ya might want to move your control bucket to the front of your tent. When your plants get big it will be a pain in the ass to get back there to change the water.
If your water is pumping out faster than it returns.....get a smaller pump.
I only run my pump for 15 mins every hour. This will also help keep res temps down. The more your pump is on the warmer the water gets.

And a thousand watts for two seedlings is way overkill! You could get away with a couple cfls till they get bigger and save a shit ton of money on elec. I dont turn on my 1K untill the canopy covers the buckets. Your buckets will stay cooler in the shade.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps. I have been running a RDWC system for two years. I have tried other methods but this is the way to go. Good Luck!

Thank you gumball for taking the time to help.
I placed a dome on them today and stopped the air going to the rezzy just to see if it does anything different. I'm only working with around 12gal of water in the system with a 45L air pump I probably over did it idk . and yes I rinse the hydroton prior to use. I checked the lids and one has a litle almost invisible crack from where I cut flaps so the net was snugged and there's light passing through I tink It was to tight and when I pressed the net to get it in place it craccked so.. Im taking care of that right now!! thanks again for the help

I am sorry melazapura, I didnt finish my thought on the air above. What I meant was if you have 3-4 airstones per bucket, maybe reduce it by 1 or so. You should always keep the air going to each rez so the water doesn't become stagnent and lead to bad things growing in it. Sorry for the misleading statement.

Dirtfree said:

Ya might want to move your control bucket to the front of your tent. When your plants get big it will be a pain in the ass to get back there to change the water.
If your water is pumping out faster than it returns.....get a smaller pump.
I only run my pump for 15 mins every hour. This will also help keep res temps down. The more your pump is on the warmer the water gets.

And a thousand watts for two seedlings is way overkill! You could get away with a couple cfls till they get bigger and save a shit ton of money on elec. I dont turn on my 1K untill the canopy covers the buckets. Your buckets will stay cooler in the shade.
Just my 2 cents, hope it helps. I have been running a RDWC system for two years. I have tried other methods but this is the way to go. Good Luck!

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thanks for the help dirtfree.

I def. going to move the control to the front that such a good Idea I didn't think of that. on the 1k I know its way overkill lol! I was just a lazy and didnt want to hang some lights. I'm taking your advice and going with some cfls until the canopy covers the bucket and also going to put a timer on the pump. thanks your two cents are worth 100.

no misleading gumball you are helping me so much. air its back on