How to build and maintain your own custom bubbler DWC grow

Off topic but the bike in the pic is that an R1?

Looking into trading my dirt bike in for an R6

Back on topic Still a great thread going to save this thread so when i start have something to compare to.

5150 it is a 2007 R6

06-14-07 Day #24 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 82F
RH: 49%
Nutrient Temp: 75F
PPM: 800-1050
pH: 5.7

We lowered the pH to 5.7 so that it will rise to about 5.8 towards the evening and then be lowered again. The root systems are healthy on all plants although the stunted plant doesn't have that many roots coming out the bottom yet. We will top the other two plants hopefully in the next few days.

6-16-07 Day #26 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 83F
RH: 55%
Nutrient Temp: 79.5F
PPM: 934-1025
pH: 5.7

Although I don't seem to notice, the pictures tell me the plants are getting bigger every day. We topped the other two plants and should be on schedule to flower within the next week or few days depending on growth. The heat here outside has been in the 100F range daily for the past 4 or 5 days. Hopefully it will cool down a bit and give the plants a break. I topped off this morning with just water that was cool from the tap. This should help a little bit with the heat. We are planning to get the other exhaust fan very soon so that flowering will have a nice transition and hopefully it won't be so hot. We are shooting for a 4" centrifugal that will serve as nothing but an exhaust fan. Sorry about the pictures, not sure why they are so dark but you can see the topped sites clearly.

Sweet ,
Watching the undergrowth explode from topping is almost as much fun as watching them flower = 6-7 headed monsters . Weedhound just got like 8.5 oz. from a single plant this style . :thumbsup:
Crispi :jointsmile:

06-17-07 Day #27 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 79F
RH: 49%
Nutrient Temp: 77.2F
PPM: 962-989
pH: 5.4-5.7

It is almost time for another nutrient change. With the next change we will do a 2-2-2 mix of the GH 3 part which is recommended for the transition from vegetative to bloom phase. We will also start flowering at this time.

they are looking good

06-18-07 Day #28 of Veg.
Cab Temp: 82F
RH: 49%
Nutrient Temp: 78F
PPM: 1100
pH: 5.5

Today we made some changes. First the foremost, we switched to "transitional flowering" by doing a nutrient change with 2-2-2 nutrient solution. We also swapped out our 400W metal halide bulb for our 400W HPS bulb that simulates the fall light spectrum. It is quite a bit more orange in color that it emits. If you have a 400W light you can do this as long as the other bulb is also 400W. This is the closest thing you can get to a switchable ballast without spending the big bucks. At the same time we also did some routine maintenance; cleaned off the protective glass on the light and also wiped out some of the dust and bugs that collected inside the hood and calibrated our pH pen, and as it turned out it was .2 off. It was also time to raise the light a bit so we did, and it is about 6 inches higher than the plant tops.

Our little fan was no longer adequate so we cleaned off our other oscillating fan and put that in the grow tent. Now we have some good circulation! Due to the new light spectrum it is a bit difficult to get good pictures but I tried my best.

Some more pics

In addition to all this we also took some clones since we didn't want to be left without any clones of the grandaddy purple cause after all, we paid good money for it at the cannabis clinic. Since we are switching to flowering this was one of our last days to take clones and the donors are good and healthy so why not? We took two clones from each strain including the mothers in our mother chamber making 6 total. It's a shame, but we will probably be killing off our mothers that are in soil in order to make room for the clones we just took. And naturally, we will wait until the clones have rooted before killing them off. The strains are: goo, grandaddy purple, and rhino. It will be truly heartbreaking to kill our current mother plants but we believe it is for the better, and after all thats what they are there for. We got some smaller pots so that the plants only get big enough to take 1 or 2 clones from max. This will also enable us to have all 6 in the mother chamber at the same time without space issues.

For those that are new to cloning the process is simple and I have taken some pictures to illustrate. We went with rockwool due to its ability to retain water for days at a time before being soaked again and also because when properly cleaned from the start, rockwool offers nice soft medium for newly established roots to probe through.

First, we took all 6 rockwool cubes and put them in a pot of tap water over the stove. Some people believe only distilled or reverse osmosis water is the way to go with with clones, which is probably a good idea but we have never had any problems with tap water. You want to bring the water to a good boil for at least 10 minutes to make sure you get out all the particles out. We like to boil for this length also because it makes the rockwool nice and pliable so that the roots have an easier time and at the same time it kills any bacteria that might be pre existing in the rockwool. Be sure to let the cubes dry naturally for at least a good idea before cutting any clones.

Next, we chose sites on all donor plants that had nice small growth with few leaves since they have an easier time getting root generation under way. This is because clones with less leaves and shorter stems don't have to pull water and nutrients as far up the cutting or to as many areas. We used a clean razor blade of course, and scarified the very bottom of the stem. In other words; lightly scraped the razor along the stem all the way around. Once scarified you dip the stem in a rooting hormone; which usually comes in a powder or gel form. We use earth juice gel rooting hormone which is actually rather expensive at $10 for 1.5 fl oz, but it will last you forever.

Once dipped, simply place in the rockwool cube and place in a humid warm environment under low intensity fluorescent light and you're golden!