new member, here's the setup, got a few Qs

Howdy everybody. I've been reading around here for a few months now, gathering all the information I could, and I've learned quite a bit.

I'm an experienced outdoor grower, and indoor soil grower, and now I'm making my first jump to hydroponics. My living situation dictates a closet setup, so that's what I've built.

I'm doing a small, 3-plant, waterfarm system using all the bells and whistles (CO2, overkill ventilation, carbon filtration etc...). The whole thing is contained in a large "armoire" that's divided into 3 separate chambers (see pics). The closet is about 80% complete (still need to add mylar, hang the filter, and run power and CO2 lines).

The grow chamber is 31"w X 20"d X 65" high, and I have one 6" 265cfm axial fan on the bottom left side for intake, a 265cfm Squirrel Cage blower sucking air through my carbon filter for exhaust out of the cabinet, and there is a 190cfm squirrel cage blower for running air through my light hood (400W HPS with SuperSun hood).

I think I'm covered as far as ventilation goes... my only questions are about CO2 and basic watering schedules.

For a small setup like this, how should I run my CO2 system? It's a hydrofarm regulator system (slow release)... but it's designed for much larger areas. I have a controller that will shut off my fans when it's time for CO2... but how often should I pump in CO2... and how long should I try to allow before kicking on the ventilation system again?

And for watering, I'm just wondering if there are any other waterfarm users in here.. and I'm curious how often you run the watering system?

I'm thinking one hour on, one hour off... like the manual says, but I'm wondering if anybody else got better results with another schedule.

Here are the pics (sorry for crappy cellphone pics... my digi is being borrowed):

http://i2.tinypic.com/qzqjqd.jpg
http://i2.tinypic.com/qzqjqd.jpg

***UPDATE***


The system is fully up and running. My plant are actually now in their third day of flowering.

I've three little San Juan Ridge Purple Goo clones in her... and they're doing GREAT. I only Veg'd for 7 days, and the plants range from 8" to 12" tall.

I'll have pics up soon.

Here's some info on the system:

Temp: ~80 degrees F
Watering: 2 hours off, 45 min on
PH: 5.6
PPM: 400 (for starting), 660 (when they got set), 880 (now)

Nutrients:

Veg - General Hydropoincs 3-part (worked like a charm)

Flower - I've now switched to a combination of Pure Blend Pro Bloom, Dr. Hornby's Big Bud, and Green Fuse Grow and Bloom Stimulators.

Foliar - I use a wonderful little Spray n' Grow/Coco Wet/Green Fuse cocktail for foliar feeding. I do it twice a week.

I have not yet started to use my C02 system.... mainly because my exhaust fan is on WAY too much to keep the temp down. I'm currently drawing up some mods to increase the efficiency of the ventilation system.

Here's the images....

Here's a couple shots I grabbed at day 7 of flowering.

These girls are SUPER healthy now. A couple mods to my cabinet, and I have the temp down to 76 degrees. I'll start pumping in the CO2 as soon as my ar conoditioner comes in.


The little fuckers already smell skunky.

There are only two plants pictured here.... the shot of my third one came out all messed up.... so it's not here.

BTW - I miss overgrow.


People actually had something to say there.

nice setup man:thumbsup: plants look healthy too, how's the water farm units working out for you? i almost bought one last year, but dicided to stick with my 5 gallon DWC buckets.

Waterfarms are doing great.

I added airstones to them to get a little more oxygen to the roots, that worked nicely.

It takes clones a little while to set root, and they require fairly consistent attention during that time, but once they get set... it's on. My plants grew faster than could've ever imagined.

Here's a shot of all three 16 days into flowering.

They are so healthy it's stupid now.... and they have grown exponentially over the past week. It's pretty insane.

They are spitting crystals everywhere... even the big fan leaves have good coverage.

I'll have to take out my nice camera and get some closeups in the next couple of days.

I'd like this thread to stand as a VERY VERY positive review for The Waterfarm systems. They are working wonderfully.

Currently my nutes are at about 900ppm and contain:

- Dr. Hornby's Big Bud
- Green Fuse Bloom
- Dark Energy
- Pure Blend Bloom

PH is at 5.8... temp is about 77 degrees.

Here's some more shots....

This is day 20 of flowering.

I feel like I'm talking to myself on this forum.... but hell, I need someplace to put my growlog.

BTW... Nutes:


- Big Bud (400ppm)
- Green Fuse Grow/Bloom Combo (400ppm)
- Cal-Mag (150ppm every other watering)
- Pure Blend Pro Bloom (300ppm)
- ark Energy (100ppm)


This little soup has done quite well. It's not at it's most potent. The plants are loving life.

Just a note for anybody that decides to use Pure Blend or Dark Energy.... it SMELLS. Pure Blend is one of the nastiest smelling concoctions I've ever been around.

Hey Included !

I miss overgrow too, but that isnt a reason to not overgrow again !

Sounds like hell your setup, but your space isnt very large as i can see.
Your Ventilation doesnt sound like overkill, you cant have enough ventilation when growing in a box. What you did miss to mention is your lightning power. How much watt is that bulb ?
Whats the temperature inside the box, and do u run your ventilation system allways on 100 % ?

About the CO2:
My CO2 systenm is incoming (growing in a box too), and i am wondering about the same question. The heat build up is large when you're using a total of 1000W in a box of 2m2. And my Outtake Vent is way to big to run it when injecting CO2 (~300 cfm).
Guess we have to find out self because there arent much information about this since overgrow went down.
On the other side i think its maybe overkill to use CO2 in a such small are like yours...

On the plants: They are looking good, hope u have fun !

Es gruessli

Herbarium

Day 27 of flowering.

The smell is getting STRONG. Good thing I'm scripted, and my neighbors are cool as hell.

These are the happiest plants I've ever grown indoors. I wish I could get some shots of the roots up... but I'd need two extra arms to do that.

It's weird.... this is day 27 of flowering... but it's only day 34 in total.

These things were 1.5" clones 34 days ago. I love hydroponics.

Not bad bro. I can't wait to see how mine are going to look when they reach their 4th week. I am only on week 1.

I can't believe the smell coming off of these plants.

This strain is not supposed to do this at all... the crystal coverage in insane, the smell is insane, and the buds are forming so dense it's stupid. They're not even half way done and I'm having to brace the branches to hold the weight.

I love this hydroponics stuff.

I can't wait until I have some more room to grow some real plants.

Wow! Very nice grow, man. You seem to be an expert on nutes and leaf feeding and it shows in your plants.

Hey included, how hard is it to maintain your water levels and such in the waterfarms? Im interested in getting a few myself. They are able to be chained together with a master rez right? I would probably do a 4 bucket system but want it to be as simple as possible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by L3G10N

Hey included, how hard is it to maintain your water levels and such in the waterfarms? Im interested in getting a few myself. They are able to be chained together with a master rez right? I would probably do a 4 bucket system but want it to be as simple as possible.

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Now that they're fully grown... I have to add about 2 liters a day to the tanks. I alternate, one day there's half strength nutes in the bottle, the next, pure water with PH adjuster added.

I completely change out the tanks and run clean water through the hydroton once a week.

I'm no expert, I'm just going by the book.

I'll have more pics up tomorrow.... the change is incredible.

I can take a crack at your CO² questions for you.

First I rounded up your grow area.

Grow room area: 36 cubic feet
Amount of CO2 required: 0.0432 cubic feet
On time: 2.59 minutes

At this flow rate: 1 CFH

If you are using a 20 pound CO2 bottle with a regulator, it will last 174.8 hours.

So at 1 CFH your regulator is on for about 3 min. This will bring the grow area well above the 1500-PPM and closer to 2000-ppm would be my guess. I rounded up the area remember?

The idea is to raise the level above 1500-ppm and hold it there for about 3-4 hours at a time. Then exhaust the room and exchange all the air and do it all over again until the lights go off.

Now holding it there is the trick because with out a PPM monitor you can't calculate leakage, plant uses ect. So you can only guess.

My best guess is run your timer for 3 min just before the top of each hour. Then every 4th hour you run an exhaust cycle for 8 mim at the end of the hour and give the room 2 min to pressure down before you start with the Co² all over again.

The whole time you are using Co² the lights are on and you have a fan moving the air in the cabinet around. The exhaust is off and the air intake is closed off also. You need to hold the level for as long as you can so try to keep it from leaking out.

Did that help or do you have other questions?

Thanks for the help there Zandor....

I haven't fired up the CO2 system in the cabinet yet... the temp would SOAR in that 3-4 hour period.

I'm moving soon though, and I have a whole ROOM to work with the next go-around... so the CO2 will be used then.

Here's some more pics, I'm REALLY happy with how things are going (even without the CO2).

My temp is stayng nice and constant at about 77 degrees now that summer is in full effect.

Nutes haven't changed since the last time I posted pics....

It's about time for me to go shopping for leaching additives... any recommendations?


This is day 37 of flowering, day 44 total (from clones).