Denial is back with a K2/WhiteWidow/Redhair grow Log

thanks for the advice guys...

so i've decided to go back to HPS but this time im gonna use a cool tube

Budget Cool Shade reflector only (IEC connection)
Bio Bizz All-Mix 20 Litre
Lti Extractor Fans 5" RVK125 A1 250m3/hour.
Nitric Acid 1 Litre (PH DOWN for hard water areas)
125mm (5") Aluminium Ducting

This is gonna cost me roughly $200. woo but it should go a long way in making my rig that bit better.

It'll then be a perpetual grow like:

Flowering Room: 12/12
1 Cool tubed 400W HPS Growlux
1 x 125W Red 7.2k cfl
0.2625kwh/day
7.875kwh/month
189.0kwhrs/month
189 x 10p(offpeak) = £18.90/month OR ~$30.00 OR ~Euro 20.02

Vegging room: 24/0
1 x 125W White 2.2k CFL
1 x 24W Mid-Ranges 4000K CFL
0.149kwhrs/day
102.28kwhrs/month
189 x 13p(peak) = £13.29 OR ~$22.00 OR ~Euro 14.07


674 Watt Lights
+ 60 watts RVK125 cool shade extractor
+ 60 watts RVK100A carbon filter cab extractor



Total Watts: 794 watts

Approx cost month: 12.35kw/h == 34.09 Euro/month



So basically it will cost me nothing to run this perpetual grow. *looks happy with himself *tsk tsk tsk!


Let me know what you guys think and if I have missed anything. I attatch a picture of the current setup.. looking forward to making the veg room and getting the hps fitted with a cooltube :D Wish me luck!!! and advice if you got any :rastasmoke:


Peace,
Denial

It turns out I'm having some major PH problems and I'm sitting at PH 7.0 or something :( damn hard water. thats what that nitric acid solution is for :-)


hope it is ok to use it with my biobizz bloom!!!


Woohoo! Shop tomorrow, fun fun..


Peace,
Denial

just got back from the shop... man im tired... installed some of the gear in the grow room, looking good so far :thumbsup:

400 Watt Grolux cooltube is running cool, pulling air in at 330m3/minute or something... very nice PK fan i'm using with 2 settings :) funky... and veryyy handy if i go stealth..

I also made a purchase of some PH Down solution for my soil fertiliser mix. The guy in the shop was insistant that it's not "good practice" to use phosphoric acid 81% solution for a soil ph adjustment. I dig that advice but I think he was being a bit para.. I am talking about 1ml per litre max, more like 1 per 2 litre... 1:2000 so 81% of 1ml in 2000 = factor 81%/2000 = 0.0405% phosphoric acid... hummm that seems acceptable if I'm getting a PH just under 6 or 7... Anyways thats my thoughts...

I used some CAT5E network cable to create a modest 'ghetto' rail for my HPS. It's okay I was very dilligent at making it as safe as possible, more photo's showing its safety features soon :) :thumbsup:

I've watered my poor plants, it's been almost 2 months and they only look a few weeks old, farking CFL weren't powerful enough/wasnt hanging them/had a bad setup! Fixed!!! Only problem i encountered was that the 5M of ducting wasn't enough, so I had to setup a temporary 'ghetto' air exchange point too. Which is actually an old LCD TFT box, works a dream, some pressure loss and some recirc but honestly 25% max... not bad for a ghetto exchange :))

Anyways, anyone got any advice re my PH? I know the reason my plants are getting lockout is because I have hard water and it is messing with the PH of my soil now the buffers gone. This happened last time. I'm using allmix. Soil PH is 7.0 so, I've applied a 1:1700 solution of phosphoric acid to see if it balances the soil PH, oh god I hopeso!! don't want dead plants since that'd be a first for me...


PLEASE! any advice rocks.. cause I'm not sure what to do now :D :< :D


Peace,
Denial

ok so I thought I'd post a pic of my ghetto air exchange that i gotta use, cause my 5 metre ducting too fscking short :(

Also a picture of my "hydroponic" PH adjuster solution, meh BS will work with soil, watch it work! *hopes* anyone with experience who wants to pitch in, god i'd appreciated it rasta.. :rastasmoke:



Ahh well homes, all in a days work.. back to dayjob

Peace,
denial

I guess its time to setup the veg cab!! hmm, or shall I do that tomorrow :D Decisions decisions!

bump , anyone wanna comment on my plants? They look sick don't they :(

Not to worry phosphoric acid HPS PK super dualspeed air cooltube to the rescue!1!!


Peace,
Denial

hey all,
It's getting late and I'm sitting here like a stoner worrying over adding 1ml /2ml phosphoric acid to my 2litre water bottles. Am I going crazy?

Can anyone advise me on this ph stuff? I know the soils sitting at 7.0.. please don't say "get a meter" i'm poor, I have some basic PH testing kit, I know its at 7.0 I just want to know "ITS OK" to do this without a hydro setup heh.. I never realised it was a "biggie" till the guy at the grow shop was freaking out about the idea ehehe.. especially when i almost bought the nitric acid for flowering lmao.. in the case of nitrogen overload in flowering being bad, i stood totally corrected in such matters, still I think its a bit fly by night to writeoff using acid as a PH corrector... unless I can get build ups of that.. but surely not phosphorous should be a result of using it??

Oh I can be such an idiot when it comes to growing sometimes, possibly all of the time hehe.


Peace,
denial

I like the new setup... you should have no problems keeping the temps in range and more than enough light sooooo... I think something's wrong below ground... Also what size pots are those? Have you checked to see if you are root-bound? Does the biobizz have all the necessary nutrients? Sorry I'm not too good at troubleshooting...

Hope they perk up for ya...:jointsmile:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

I like the new setup... you should have no problems keeping the temps in range and more than enough light sooooo... I think something's wrong below ground... Also what size pots are those? Have you checked to see if you are root-bound? Does the biobizz have all the necessary nutrients? Sorry I'm not too good at troubleshooting...

Hope they perk up for ya...:jointsmile:

---

hey bigtops, glad you like the setup dude :thumbsup:

it cost enough, gee... shame I got ducting accross the room lol because at the moment its too short hehe.

I'm not sure but I think these are 4 or 5 litre pots they are pretty big. I added some more soil to raise the soil level, and added that phosphoric acid water solution to them. They look happier now but maybe thats just the HPS doing its magic.. meh I guess we'll see in time.

now what have i to do next? hehe

Peace,
Denial

I decided to put these back into veg so i can take 10 or so cuttings to get 6 females in the end, including the 2 (hopefully) mothers.. oh i so hope i don't get hermies :((

Here's some pics, the HPS has made the plants happier, as has the phosphoric acid 2ml : 2litre solution.


I know they are a bit on the small side, thats my fault re nutes and PH. fixed now I hope!! More to come shortly!

Let me know if you agree or have any other ideas as to what could be wrong with the plants. As far as I can tell they aren't rootbound, not yet :)

I also decided to see what would happen running the HPS 24/0, since the CFL's were... so far so good. I noticed in the day things get a bit on the warm side, so decided to blow the air out the vent instead of suck it into the cooltube, working better, I think.. not sure though, anyone got any idea whats best?? this is my first cooltube you see :)

Peace,
Denial

does anyone know whats best? our summers rarely exceed 24C and I intend to run the HPS at night.. do you think it would be better to suck air from outside in instead of try and extract the heat. I have found that latent heat seems to warm its surroundings when extracting air... just a thought.

If anyone has some advice or experience in such matters I'd very much appreciate someone chiming in ther :)

Thanks guys. another good log, so far.. ish ;]

Peace,
Denial