Bubbler System & New Grow Cabinet Quesions

[Texastweeked]

I have just started (over the past several months) decided to try and grow my own. I found a connisuers cabinet on www.overgrow.com (will add link directly to page(s)) and it seemed to be the perfect choice for what I wanted to accomplish. I will be posting updates to his design(s), as well as more accurate and current pricing for all parts needed, and also a parts list, design drawings, etc. for anyone who's interested. I am extremely new to indoor growing....actually to growing in general for that matter, and could use all of the expert advice ya'll are willing to offer. I started (8) plants from seed acquired from a bag or two of dirt weed, just to make sure that I am not wasting the primo stuff if it does not work properly, they are about 6 weeks old and have been growing under CW Flouro, cut back once already to start making bonsia mums for the mother room, I am using 6" pots with enough space to fit three for cloning useage. In the flowering chamber, I am using a rubbermaid 7 gal tub, light tight, with a PVC frame for the SCROG area, and his design recommended a 150w HPS light kept at about 1"- 1 1/2" above flowers. Air circulates from openings in the mother chamber into the flowering chamber and then throught the utility chamber (contains all lighting ballasts, electrical, and the exhaust fan) so that it is using a negative pressure type system, keeping the mother room at or near 78deg and the flowering chamber at or near 75 deg. Now that I have taken up an hour of your time without asking anything, here are the questions......
1. How do I find out what sex these babies are?
2. What is the nute of choice (from professionals) (flowering only)
3. suggestions on lighting (if not already set-up ok)
4. Sites that may be of importance to me later on.

I will be adding a grow time line as well as all specs on the cabinet, etc. as soon as I know that it is going to be even close to working properly. So many questions, So little time......Thanks for Your Time and Patience.
Please be patient as I gain wisdom from you.

[notanovice]

i am using a similar cabinet based on the ideas of that stealth cab. it works great. it`s pretty cheap to build, especially if you got an old dresser to gut out and use.

you should have great results with it.
you`ll have to sex your mothers to find out about male/female
just take 2 clones from each plant and immedieately put in a 12/12 light regiment. that`s 12 hours light on, 12 hours light off. floros are good lights for this, and are cheap to obtain.they will show sex within a week or so doing it this way.
cloning this way keeps you from stressing a plant by putting the whole plant into flowering mode then back to veg then back to flowering when big enough.

as far as nutes, if you can afford it, i would suggest Advanced nutrients brand
they are specifically created for the growing of cannabis plants. there are plenty of other nutes, but the best results i`ve had were with Advanced Nutrients brand, any of their bloom nutes would work good, but if money and time is tight, i also use a blend of orchid bloom hydro ferts, it`s cheap and you can get it at any lowes or home depot, it has what the plants need for blooming and is pretty cheap, it also completely disolves in water, and has the trace minerals cannabis needs for optimum bud growth.
as far as lighting goes, a good compact floro for the mother side of your cab would be a good choice, as far as the flowering side, i think your original choice would be a good one as long as the heat build up is not too high.
this cabinet has massive air movement and works great.
make sure you paint the inside with a flat white paint, it will help reflect the light all around your plants
good luck, and if you got any questions, just ask, i will try and give you the best advice i can.

[Texastweeked]

Thanks for the advice. The plants seem to be doing ok with the heat being built up in the different areas. Although, they are currently not in a climate controlled area (AC) and are around 78-82 in the flower chamber, and 85-89 in the mother chamber right now at or near the top. lower of course lower in the chambers. I am going to try to open up a little more airflow by changing the direction and the location of the exhaust fan...Dayton 265cfm blower. Too big for thet intended purposes by about 1/4" so had to adapt a little. Fan seems to be a little noisy as well...?? Have you had this issue??? Thanks again for your time and patience with a newbie

[notanovice]

no problem, i`m glad to help.
the only noise i get from my cabinet is air movement noise
the fan i use is quiet running, but the air moving out is what makes the noise
your temp. is a bit on the high side, the flower chamber temp isnt too bad but your mother chamber temp seems awful close to maximum. you may have problems if it gets any higher.
my cabinet has 3 timers, one for the fan, and one for each light.
i have it set up where the fan comes on a few minutes before the lights.
my maximum temp on either side is no higher than 78 degrees farenheit
if you got more questions, just ask
by the way, is your cabinet built with the pvc elbows and such for air intake and exhaust?

[Texastweeked]

Thanks for the advice on the temps, and yes I used the 2" PVC for the air inlet and outlet(s) for the flower room. Have not put in the hood yet as I am waiting on the HPS 250w light to get here. I think my fan is not positioned properly for max air flow is part of the problem. Due to the fact that the smaller fan was not available locally, I elected to go with the 265 CFM and was 1/4" or so too big. I will turn it and make a few adjustments to the cabinet and hopefully open up a little more air. We'll See I guess. I just went ahead and put all plants on 12/12 at 10pm monday night (05/16) and am hoping I will know what I am looking for. I have not found any real definative pictures or instructions on sexing the plant. One pic on this site was close, but I am a highly visual learner, don't get me wrong, I have NO problem figuring things out, but would be soooooo much easier if there were more information available, ya know?! I think that when I am done with this thing I will post a site specifically for all of those like me. If all of this works out anyway. Being that this is a test run, with a hopefull reward at the end, it will not hurt my feelings to bad if the 12/12 is too much for them. Thanks again for all of your information and interest. It's is extremely helpfull. Will post pics of box later. Talk to Ya!

[notanovice]

by this time next week you should know the sex of your plants, the females will have little white hairs coming from the nodes(where branches and fan leaves meet stem)
use a magnifying glass to get a closer look, a male plant will have a little pod, roundish, looking thing in the same areas.
i hope this info helps. it usually takes a week or 2, but sometimes sooner, so be patient, get a magnifyer and you`ll be sexing plants like a pro in no time

[Texastweeked]

You will never truly know how much help you are on this project so far. If you don't mind too mych, I am going to use your knowledge a little further. I am going to draw a sketch of what I am seeing on these babies, and add a few pics of them as well, and see if there is something on there that you may be able to notice that I am missing...everything that is protruding from the nodes look just like leaves that are emerging, no pods, no hairs, and on some of the lower branches and leaves that have developed a little further, they are exactly that.....leaves?! If you get to where I am being a bother, let me know, call me a dumb@*! or something and I will leave you alone. Once someone shows me on my plants what I am seeing, it will be permanently in the memory bank from there and I will ask other (stupid) questions
Thanks Again for Your Time and Patience.

[Texastweeked]

Here are the pics after about day 5 of 12/12. Are these the areas you are referring too....??! Too new of growth? I am not being impatient for the end results as I said...these are just try it out plants. I am impatient however for the knowledge that I will recieve when I finally know what to look for....ya know?! Anyway, here are the pics, please let me know if I am even looking at the correct locations.
thanks Again ya'll

[notanovice]

yesyou are lookin in the right spot, within a week those will be able to show you what sex they are. i am happy to try and answer any questions you have, hopefully with the right answer. there is no such thing as a dumb question when first starting out. so ask away

[Texastweeked]

This is different !......is this what I am suppossed to be seeing? If so does this tell you anything...M/F ??? Not seeing any others (8-total) that are showing anything different yet...

thanks again for the assistance

[Shadow Smoke]

CONGRATS! you said this was your first grow??? she looks healthy! dont get to greedy with her, let her flower for about 2 mths. and change your nutes and use plain water for the last 2 weeks before harvest it will make the bud sweeter



***drum roll***

heeee'ss baaaaaccckkk!!!!!

[Texastweeked]

You serious ?? is the only one of 8 showing anything like this or even close. As you can see from some of the other pics, this is the only one of this kind (sativa?) that I srarted training to fit in the mother room of box, hopefully one of the two (2) remaining plants (Indica? I hope) that have already been trained will work out as well. I guess out of the 8 I should have a good number of males?.....I think that once I see the two live I should not have much problem after this grow. I am giong to revert to 24/0 once all are sexed, and only have room for (3) three mothers anyway. Since I know that this setup will veg plants, it's time to try out the flower room I guess. Will have to clone some from this plant. Will post more pics and pick more brains as they show something.
I sincerely appreciate your time and patience with a newbie.
THX

[notanovice]

:D
yes, you are looking in the right spots, and yes it`s a female.
you got a 50/50 percent chance that half of the plants will be female.
if she`s big enough, take a few clones and put em in the flowering chamber
it seems to me you are doing a good job so far
keep up the good work
:)

[Texastweeked]

Am I mistaken?......is this not a male? I think that I have accomplished exactly what I set out to do with this first set....to learn and understand a little more. Unfortunately, #3 was one of the prettier of the bunch, but looks aren't everything.....thanx again folks

Oh yeah.....any suggestions as to buying seeds and types would be helpfull, was thinking that from everything I have found to research, read, and study that Dutch Passion seems to be the place, and considering White Widow and or ICE 2000 as first stab at premium stuff....what do ya'll think?

[gronnh20]

That is a male.

[notanovice]

Am I mistaken?......is this not a male? I think that I have accomplished exactly what I set out to do with this first set....to learn and understand a little more. Unfortunately, #3 was one of the prettier of the bunch, but looks aren't everything.....thanx again folks

Oh yeah.....any suggestions as to buying seeds and types would be helpfull, was thinking that from everything I have found to research, read, and study that Dutch Passion seems to be the place, and considering White Widow and or ICE 2000 as first stab at premium stuff....what do ya'll think?

white widow is some potent stuff, your cabinet should produce some nice plants and they should do very well. seed banks are a personal prefference type thing, so i dont give out much advice on seed bank selection
:)

[Texastweeked]

I guess I will probably try to use the "Dutch Passion Site" as this seems to be the best maintained site available, and seem to have had all question already asked and answered. I have also checked with several companies that I do business with in Holland and they stopped to check out the location personally for me.....they say it's there and supply a majority of tht coffee houses that supply smoke over the counter. We'll See I guess. Will update with results when recieved. Thanks again for all the help. Will post more later.

[Texastweeked]

Well....looks like I will need to pick a few more of your brain cells. Not sure of alot of things with the first grow, one of which is now the bubbler system. I cut (2) two clones from the female depic'd in the previous post, and they seemed to be doing alright from the top side. Well.....little did I know what was going on under the lid !!!...I moved the cabinet yesterday, to get it into a position to accomadate a fan vent hose (dryer vent system) to exhaust everything into the garage, to hold down the access heat this box generates, and the odor primarily....when I pulled the bubbler tub out and removed some of the fluid to make it a few pounds lighter, I noticed that one of the clones has a slimey looking coating on the stem (under water part) and that the spounge material seemed to be deteriorating as well (also kind of slimey)...what is this, if you have ever run into this, and what do I need to do to stop it if it's not normal????? Plant seems to be doing ok on the top side, growing leaves, etc. just not very fast. These have been in the bubbler for approx 1 1/2 weeks now, and are just now really beginning to show real growth properties. I have two others that I put back into soil, and they are jammin'!!!!! HELP!
Thanks Again for the patience.

[notanovice]

i would clean the bubbler res. and add a bit of hydrogen peroxide to the solution when refilling. i had a similar problem and it seemed to clear up after i did this, how do the roots look? are they white and healthy looking? i would also gently rinse the roots in said solution before replacing it in the bubbler.
sounds like you got a good grip on the situation, and it`s no problem for me to try and help. remember, there no such thing as a stupid question, so fire away,i`ll do my best to help rectify any problem you may be having.

[Texastweeked]

The answer to your question...is it clear? Yes it was clear, or opaque anyway, When I cleaned as you described I noticed that it was also on areas of the air lines, lid, PVC framing etc. Am going to use the flowering area with potted plants first and see what other issues I run in to....then I will take onthe bubbler issues. The newest problem I have run into is that I have just installed the 150w HPS in the hood, Ballast completely on the outside of the box (to drop temp a little or keep it from getting higher actually), which is the point of my new question. I moved the box inside (avg room temp 77 +/- and not alot of space between box and wall (maybe 12"), I have built a venting assembly with 4" dryer flexhose to vent outside, to keep emitted heat to a minimum, Turned 2 of the 5 Flouro's off (1 ballast) to try to lower temps in utility and mother areas. Still at mid 80's in MR, and upper 80's / low 90's in FR.....I have installed a piece of glass in the cooling hood which covers approx. 70-75% of the hood area to divert radiant heat from HPS.....can't get temps to drop to a good level ?! I am using a 265cfm fan instead of the 150cfm listed, (3) three 1" PVC openings to get air into box, 2" PVC between rooms, 2" exhaust from FR, and exhaust as stated above....I have even tried adding a cooling vent (input) outside air into utility area to disapate heat from balasts and fan motor.....I don't know if airflow is optimal, but it will still hold a piece of paper on one MR opening, a piece of cardboard if all three covered.....is this good enough? Could I be getting radiant heat through the wall from MR & Util Room into the FR ? Is there not enough glass to prevent radiant heat from HPS Bulb?....????? Am going to run the numbers on true airflow through each of the areas in cabinet and see if there is a possibilty of increasing the flow without compromising the intent of it all. Should I insulate the FR ? Foil covered foam? HELP !!

[notanovice]

it sounds like you have very good airflow, but does the 2 inch pvc elboes suck the heatted air off the bulb of the hps? i have found that if the elboes are positioned just the right way that heat from the bulb is sucked away by the ventilation system, i had a 400 watt mh in my cabinet, with no glass cover, and doing it this way kept my temps down to low 80`s.
you could also add a small intake fan and duct it to the hood from the flowering side to bring in the cooler air from the room, but you must install a flapper type fan so it only lets air and light in when light is on in the flowering chamber.
i hope this helps
any questions about how to and such, just drop me a line and i`ll try and help


P.S.
i changed my flowering chamber light to 500watt compact floro, it cut my heat build up down by 15 degrees, now the temp never gets higher than 75 degrees, and it gives off more than enough light to grow a few scrog clones

[Texastweeked]

Thanks for the response, here are some pics of the set-up....see if there is something you notice that isn't correct. Looks like the temps are stable at 75 deg in FR with light off (12/12), and 94 deg with light on... note: the glass that is hanging (by twine temporarily) to see if made any temp difference(s), so far has not. I am considering removing the 2" PVC assy altogether, and using only the 3" flex duct / opening the vent between FR and Util room to 3" and see if that changes anything. I have spent the past several days running calculations on true airflow specs both vertically and horizontally and everything is set up correct for the desired outcome (cfm). ?? Thanks again for the help

TT

[notanovice]

i got to say, your cabinet is set up very efficiently. if you can set the hood up to have the glass completely cover the light hoods opening, and put an inlet on each side of the hood, it looks pretty good as is but, the air that is being pulled through the hood the way it is set up is heated air. if you could put a 3inch dryer vent on the right side of the hood, one that leads out to the right side of your cabinet, it would pull in air from outside the box and help cool the light, cutting your heat down to what you need. just a liitle bit of work to be done and your cabinet will be in the right temp range. if i am confusing you here, i`ll try and explain it in a bit more detail, ok.

here goes, leave all pvc the way it is.
put a 3inch dryer vent hose inlet on the right side of your light hood
install a dryer vent on the right side of the cabinet, the kind with a flap on the inside of it to prevent light penetration when light is off
if you can, cover the hood completely with glass
your heat problem should disappear doing it this way

any questions about how to, just ask
i`m glad to be of help
:D

[Texastweeked]

Here are some pics of the first clone taken from the first female..pics posted at beginning of thread. How does it look, healthy?, how long should it take to mature or finish up?, etc... This one has been growing in the flower chamber at the temps listed earlier. I added a 1" aircraft duct hose and adjustable flow vent, at full open, it has set the temps at mid 70's during dark cycle, then up to around mid to upper 80's for about 6 hrs, and finally around low to mid 90's near 10-12 hour point. I don't know...maybe it's the thermometer I am using...Glass Type mounted in Stainless Steel holder, think the steel maybe building up heat ?? anyway, I tried a small bubbler set-up and it ended up with the same stuff on the stem and hose as before, so I don't know whats up with that...Thanks Again

[notanovice]

that clone looks good and healthy, lots of new growth. good work
if it`s indica it should finish in 6 to 8 weeks from flowering start.
yes i do think the stainless mount for the thermometer might be holding heat build up and giving you a false reading, but i`m not 100% on that. your temps are a bit warm but it should be ok as long as your heat stays below 90, and you have good air exchange. i think your cabinet should do you well. you are doing a great job and asking questions is the way to perfect your skills, and as far as i can tell, you are using your brain lol
dont worry about any questions you think might be stupid, there are no such things as stupid questions, the only way to find the answers is to ask, so any question you ask me to help you on will be answered to the best of my knowledge.
and again i say"great job"

[Texastweeked]

If I keep harvesting your brain cells....you'll need to re-veg ! Anyway, I just got kicked off after spending ten minutes writing a post and here it goes again. You know pretty much everything with this saga so far...now I have some issues needing addressed, and too much arguing about the causes....to make this one shorter the pics will explain most. The clone was cut, and planted already into flower (see pics for issues), the second one is one of the original females that I decided to flower as is and test the flower chamber. New growth is yellow (see pics), and darken as grows out. Nutes...Miracle Grow Soil, Miracle grow food until flowered, Shultz Orchid Bloom (19-31-17) everyday since. Probably overfeeding...have switched back to pure RO today just to flush a little. Stems on plant seem to be stretching as well, light too far, if so, i am afraid to light burn her...help? Thanks again for your time and patience.

[notanovice]

you did the right thing, easing up on the nutes. in that mini scrog you got set up, only add ph balanced water when needed, change res. water completely every 2 weeks max. i change mine every week to ten days, but most is lost to evapouration, but i stress that only add the ph balanced water when adding in between refills.
they are a bit stretchy, but not real bad, if you can lower and raise your light easily, here`s a tip on how to tell how close to put the light to the plant tops, lower your light to where you think it is best, then place your hand at the top of plants while light is on, palm down, if the light feels like it is burning your hand, it`s too close, raise light until you can hold your hand under it at the top of the plant and not feel like it`s burning your hand.
i think your cabinet will do well and keep you with a nice supply.
you are doing a great job.
here`s a secret not known by most growers, the orchid bloom fert works very well, and is tons cheaper than most hydro bloom ferts, the only thing i`ve seen that is better is, advanced nutrients bloom formulas, very expensive, but is the best stuff on the market for hydro cannabis horticulture.
good luck
peace
and
grass
:)

[Texastweeked]

I decided not to use the bubbler for now...want to get the flower chamber correct before advancing...everyone says that the hydro will make greater changes faster, and with using the new lighting (150w HPS) instead of flouro's I felt like I might be trying to tackle too much at once. I am putting the flowering clone in the mother room during the 12 hour light cycle, due to the fact the the mum is thriving hard, can't cut her backfast enough. The other is one of the original females, figured since this is a trial run, and I only used shwag seed, that I didn't need but one Sativa and one Indica as mums. Besides from what I can find to study, after she flowers, I can always reveg until I decide to step up to $$ Seeds. The way I see it, I could spend a bag full of peso's on the good seeds, and know I can grow through veg, but what good would it do if I can't flower correctly...?? They're not being grown for looks, huh?! I have reached a point to where there is not much else to do, and I am getting bored, so thought about adding two sets of Flouro's to inside of hood. One pair per long side @ 30 watts total each or 60 extra watts to the 150w HPS, but am not sure what the temps will do until I get the hood right. Oh yeah, any knowledge on flouro ballasts? I have been buying salvage commercial ballasts from the local home improvmement salvage store...like
$2.99 for a (2) bulb ballast w/ double ends, and T-8 bulbs at $1.29 each (they get HOT!!) .....how much power useage does this add to the electric bill when all are running ??? Has anyone found a site to be able to calculate this? Will the extra lumens give enough benefit against the cost of running them, and the added heat it is going to cause?!...One more quick question....of no importance really, but is there any particular reason that the plants I have grown from everyday ordinary commercial quality shwag seed, that the quality of my own would be so much better than whence it came????? After flowering to sex the plants, I cut the (2) two clones...one of which is the one in these pics still flowering, the other had issues and never rooted properly, so I pulled it up and dried the miniture bud (very small). The buzz was as proper as most KB around here, just didn't last very long. Is that what I can expect from these plants, grown in soil? Thanks again for lending an ear and a few more brain cells. I notice you don't really comment on too many of the threads or posts, I ran across another newbie two days ago, and he seemed to be asking the same questions I had asked, so he is reading our communications, I hoped this would save him the time and aggravation of trying to find out the answers on his own, hope that offers a little reward for you helping me so much, that another is benefiting from your wisdom as well.

[Texastweeked]

Never mind about the Electricity Useages...I dound a site that answers the questions. Just FYI for anyone reading these posts, the following link will help provide the information. Just copy this link and paste in browser bar....

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/consumered/heg94.

After using this site, I figure with running a 265cfm Dayton blower (24hrs), (3) 15w flouro's (24hrs), (2) additional 15w flouro's (12hrs) & 150w HPS (12hrs) that my total power consumption is at or near $1.32 per day +/- based on $0.095 per KWH cost. ???double check it, and tell me if I am mistaken ?! Thanks again !!

[Texastweeked]

Quick question...The Flowering Area Timer went INOP sometime on July 4th and allowed the two that are in flower to get well over 24hrs of light now, if they are returned to the 12/12 cycle will they be adversely effected now, or will they not suffer to drastically from this issue? The small clone is in full blown flower mode and was beginning to bulk up, the second female has just started to flower about 5-6 days ago, and is still growing veg somewhat.

Thanks again for your time and patience

[Texastweeked]

HELP !! The full female (bonsai mum) that I didn't have room for, was put into flower, Plant appears healthy, all except the fact the all of the newer growth is extremely light colored. I am using 150w HPS, in cooling hood and set almost on top of the plant. Schultz orchid bloom for the nute, the clone tip that was planted is extremely dark and healthy with huge buds, this other one I just can't figure out. I have been backed off on the nutes for the past week, using plain water to half recommended nute. No changes. heat has been constant at mid 70s during dark 12 and mid 80s for first 6-7, then low 90s last 5-6 hours of (12/12). plenty of air moving through the chamber and humidity levels are ok.....any suggestions would be helpfull.

Thank You for Your Time and Consideration

[Texastweeked]

Trying to get a handle on this problem before it gets worse. Had been over fert for about a week, went back to pure RO Water for a week and now back to ferts at or below recommended amount(s). Schultz Orchid Bloom being used, all others doing great...150w HPS in Cooling hood, see earlier pics, avg temps 85-89 during light period (12/12). Most everything else about the growing setup as well as plant info is in the many threads & posts precreeding this one. Any answers would be greatly appreciated.