Hydro Set Up

This is a great site. Thanks to the mods and all the members who dish out the information.

I have a NFT System, 18/6 for lights and water pump. Growing Northern Lights in one net pot and White Widow in the other. I have 2 setups.
The first one is already going using the nutriments that came with the kit. TDS meter is on the way so I can actually measure what is in the first grow. Four small containers with no info on what is in them. Just the words Base, Bloom, Grow, Catalyst. A guide that has usage for each container.
Once the nutriments from Progressive get here I'll start the other using Scott's Custom Recipe (thx for the link from latewood in the FAQ section)

The water level comes up to the bottom of the net pot, maybe within a half an inch. I use house water filtered thru my Pur water filter. It comes out about 6.25 PH, I lower it to 6.

Should I add an air pump with an air stone to the large reservoir or the smaller plant reservoirs, or don't bother? I don't mind spending a little bit of money.

Air temp is 74-78 and humidity is usually 30, but is now 45 as we've had some rain the last 3 days. Humidity was 50 yesterday.

Grow room is 8 feet long, 8 feet tall, 4 feet wide. It will be getting hot here in a short while. I have purchased some air duct material to hook into the current house air conditoning. The duct will run from the attic into the grow room, continuing down to about 12 inches from the floor. The "exhaust ceiling fan" will be at the opposite end of the room.

I have a digital camera on the way. Once it gets here I'll take some pics and post them.

Any comments are appreciated.

Scott's recipe, looks alot like lucas formula. You should do well with it. seems like you got it going good. Airstones in the big rez would help. When your TDS neter gets here check your water to see how much it has now. You may need RO or distilled. Hard water is well over a 100 PPM. Lower your PH to 5.2 to 5.8, better for hydro. Humidity is good for veg stage but below 40% for flowering. Are you using only fluro's for light or do you have MH or HPS. Depends on how much you want to harvest. Vent to keep temp's down is good. Get a small faan to blow acrossed the plant lightlly, it help make them strong. You got it going on. Show some pic's when you can.

LOC NAR1958,
I have a fan blowing on low speed. Only have the one type of light. (actually two, one for each setup) Mylar around the setup.

From the website where I purchased the light:
You can position your plant within 1 inch of the bulb for TOTAL LIGHT USAGE by your plant. It's perfect for small enclosed gardens as well as open gardens. Can be hung above your light with our optional 12ft socket cord or you can really MAXIMIZE your light by mounting it in our NEW batwing reflector! It's the most affordable reflector of its kind.
- 8000 lumens output
- Cool operating temperature allows placement within 1 inch of plants!
- 2700k "RED" spectrum (similar to HPS), for general growth and blooming.

As far as harvest- The more the merrier. I want to keep the plant height no taller than 3 feet. Is three feet reasonable or obtainable with the light I have now?

Do you think I should get another light or add a light? What will MH or HPS do for me?

thanks for the help!

Those lights are fine for veg but when it comes to flower more is way better. I have never got much bud from fluro's. My flower room now is 4 feet by 6 feet by 8 tall. I only use a little better than half because of dehumidifier and ballast. I ordered a cheap 1000 HPS and wasn't seeing the results I wanted. Then I just got a hortilux eye bulb and oh man it amazing how much better I am seeing results. You could use your whole space if you get like a light mover to go back and forth. There's more heat but way more bud. 3 feet is good if you get a 1000 HPS. Remember, if you go cheap you grow cheap. Someone else on here is teaching me that. Mylar is good.

Lowered the amount of water. Now the roots in each net pot have about 1 1/2" to 2" of space between bottom of the net pot and the top of the water.

When I changed the water a few days ago I didn't drain the plant reservoirs.

Sounds good . Keep us up to date. There are many here who will jump in if you have problems. My first grow was NL's. I didn't do bad and good smoke. Then I went orangebud skunk, Awsome somke. Now it's been papaya or some say mango. It's crack on a stick. I have some more papaya and some white widow and trying to root afgani. I saw the thread on white widow and some say it doesn't taste too good but the buz is there. Buzz means more than taste so i'm trying it. LOC out.

The roots were underwater for one day. They were a bit off white and some brown stuff collected around the roots where they came out of the net pot. Washed the brown off with water and used 5% H2O2. One teaspoon per gallon. Twenty four hours later they look okay.
The stem seems a little thin. After a few days of recovery I'll cut the roots just above the water line in an attempt to make the stem thicker.

I like the hydro setup!

Please, please, please, go out and get an HPS light, Go for 50 watts/square foot. Without know the exact measurements of space the plants are going to take up, I would suggest a 400W HPS. You can buy a 400W HPS system for $99 on ebay. Hell, if you have the money, go with a 1000W HPS.

Stay with the flouros for vegatative growth, then switch to the HPS for flowering. Don't forget: Your plants will double in size during flowering, so you will want to start flowering when the plants reach 12" in height, under an HPS setup.

If you are dead-set on staying with flouros for the entire grow, then expect to start flowering when they are even shorter.

Good luck!

you have a great start...You got some good advice and some a little on the edge...

your ph at 6. is fine, but you might want to lower it to 5.8 once you go to flower.

5.2 is too low...I only use a solution of 5.2 when soaking rockwool!

Advanced Nutrients tell you to lower ph each week during flower to target certain nutrients. the optimum uptake of each element is at different .points-.'s of the ph scale.

always use all the airstones you can in all your rez'z
Oxygen is paramount to successful hydro/growing and the more you oxygenate the fluids, the faster your plants will grow...This is a fact!

From the looks of your plant, you can go with an HID right now...No need to wait...The more light you put to them, the bigger/faster they grow. fluoro's are great, but if you have option of "BIGLIGHTS"...then use them. goodluck, lw

P.S. I think you have got a great start and I look forward to helping you out, whenever possible. I gotta go!!!

Still waiting on the nutriments to arrive as well as the light.
http://www.htgsupply.com/productdeta...?productID=208

ppm filtered tap water 195
ppm hydro water 295

I am using a HM Digital TDS meter model TDS-4

Is there a tool, or do I need a tool that measures each amount of Potassium, Nitrogen, and Magnesium and other similar things?

Wow that's a high PPM for filtered tap water. Hard. Listen to latewood you can't go wrong. Your meter sounds good, to break it down would be a meter that cost thousands. The best we can hope for are total TDS. My distilled is close to zero and my new RO unit is 15 PPM TDS. Start with nothing and add back what you need BUT your plant looks real good. Must have good stuff in your water.

Typo 115 ppm

link to nutrients http://www.progressive-growth.com/hy...tom_recipe.php

I'm going to use two 5 gallon reservoirs, one for each two plant setup, instead of a 10 gallon reservoir for one four plant setup. Not counting the flush cost or the shipping, I've figured it'll cost $41 for the nutrients from start to finish for each 5 gallon setup.

Does the nutrient chart take into account how many plants are growing? Does it matter? As an example, would the nutrients work differently if it were 6 plants in a ten gallon reservoir as opposed to 4 plants in the same reservoir.

btw-the TDS meter that cost $25 fell completely in the water. Got goofy readings so I dried it out and it looks to work okay. I ordered a waterproof one to be safe. How can these meters NOT all be waterproof?!

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PigSnout

link to nutrients http://www.progressive-growth.com/hy...tom_recipe.php

question...I'm going to use two 5 gallon reservoirs, one for each two plant setup, instead of a 10 gallon reservoir for one four plant setup. Not counting the flush cost or the shipping, I've figured it'll cost $41 for the nutrients from start to finish for each 5 gallon setup.

answer. You should use at least 10m gallon rez, especially if you are going with more than one plant in rez. Every plant you add to a rez will diminish the amount of nutrients available for each plants uptake, thereby underfeeding the crap out of them...also, plants as they mature will drink that whole rez in a day and if you get stuck on the road with a flat tire...Your plants will wilt. with 4 plants you should have at least an 18 gallon rez. lw:smokin:

question...Does the nutrient chart take into account how many plants are growing? Does it matter? As an example, would the nutrients work differently if it were 6 plants in a ten gallon reservoir as opposed to 4 plants in the same reservoir.

answer: NO...........yes it does matter..............see answer 1, above.

btw-the TDS meter that cost $25 fell completely in the water. Got goofy readings so I dried it out and it looks to work okay. I ordered a waterproof one to be safe.

question...How can these meters NOT all be waterproof?!

answer. you get what you pay for. Although we all have to start somewhere...I always felt that meters (your plants life dr.)were important, like a guitar. Buy the good one 1st, because, 3 months down the road, when you start to know what you are doing...you will want the good instrument. I recommend Milwaukee meters above hanna(problems with customer service)...and I recommend that you buy an EC meter as opposed to tds pen. If you can afford it...I think the bluelab truncheon meter is one of the best...goodluck lw

Thanks in advance for your answers.

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Sorry to cut up your post, but I though it would be easier this way lw:smokin: