Re-occuring tip burn/WALL of text

[bertoxxulous]

Well I couldn't figure out how to edit my previous posts so I'm just going to make another post. I'd like you to pretend that I won't be able to purchase a RO filter or a Distiller machine. One thing I would like to mention though about putting the water in the resv. every two weeks is that I fill it with gallon jugs. Now, I fill the water in the jugs with the brita filtered water the day that I actually drain and fill every two weeks. What I'd like to know is if I should fill the water and let it sit for a while and if that would matter at all. Also, I'm not really all that hot on how the lighting makes affects on the plant other than when heat affects them and I'm positive heat isn't a problem because I'm using T5's. What I want to know is if there could ever be a situation where there is TOO much light, or is there no such thing? The reason I ask is cause I was using four T5 metal halides and four T5 red lights (I don't know what they are called, they have a kind of pinkish color to them and I'm supposing are the equivolent to sodiums). Right now I was affraid that the four red lights may have been causing issues so I'm only using four metal halides right now but I could theoretically use eight in the tent.

On the question bout the PH in my e & f setup, I'm filling it with only brita filtered water, then I put in the nutes, and then I lastly PH it down to 6.0. Usually it will go back up to maybe 6.2 overnight and I have adjust it maybe 3 times total and then it generally stays at 6.0 for the remainder of the two weeks. There have been a couple instances where I had to nock it up, and just recently with these plants when I first put them in the system I had to nock it up to 6.0 at least five times before it stabilized. I do think that maybe because I'm alittle high on my PH that it could be part of the problem but at this point I'm just totally at a loss of what to do. I will say that generally the PH goes up very slowly though from what I can remember from these last three attempts, I've rarely had to raise the PH, I usually have to nock it down. I will say as of right now, the plants are not really deteriorating much anymore but the smaller darker leaf plants have white tips and the lower bigger leaves tips are starting to burn very slowly. What I'm afraid of, is that now that I'm using 3.5 TSP of nutes/gal. instead of the recommend 4.0 TSP nutes/gal. that I've slowed the nute burn issue to some degree but maybe now the plants aren't getting enough of some of the other elements in the nute mix. Five of the plants sprung up real fast and then started burning real fast and then the other three didn't hardly grow at all and there was alot of yellowing on the leaves from the tip and edges moving inward. Now the ones that were yellowing have much darker leaves than the five that sprung up real fast but still have white tips and some of the lower leaves are starting to actually burn and turn brown on the very tips and the big ones haven't really grown at all, but haven't really deteriorated any further after I used 3/4 nutes instead of full nutes. I would like to also mention that I'm pretty much considering these clones as test subjects because I've got seedlings going and they are springing up very quickly. I soaked rockwool cubes in 1/2 bloom for 24 hours and then planted the seeds after they started showing roots comming out of their seeds. I watered them twice a day with PH 6 water only for about 4 days and already have roots comming out of the rockwool so just yesterday I started watering them twice a day with PH6 water with 1/2 strength grow and they are already three inchs tall and looking healthy so far. But I'm trying to figure out what my problem is with these clones first hopefully before I need to actually put these seedlings in my system because they are good quality seeds (AK-47) but are un-sexed. With all my fiasco's so far, if I can get these to stay healthy and bloom, I plan on seeding the females if at all possible because I'm down to swag seeds and clones isn't really a steady option for me at the moment until I can get something to grow.

[Weedhound]

Holy Crap!! You were not joking. Before going further do this test for me.

Take some of your regular tap water (like a gallon) set it to a certain ph (lets say 5.6) Then leave it overnite and check the ph in the morning and let me know what it is....Don't buy anything until you've tried this. Let's start there.

[bertoxxulous]

Will do, I'll test it tommorow when I wake up and let you know where its at. I'm starting right now which is.. 9:08EST. I will set it to 5.6 like you said, thanks for the help by the way, I really appreciate it!

[tinytoon]

I noticed the EQ name cause I have been playing for about 7 years now and still do. As for water for Hydro, all I use is tap water with GH Flora series nutes and adjust the PH down to 6.0 only other thing I put in the water is Superthrive but that gets takin out of the mix for flowering. By all means listen to what WH tells ya!! WH has a thumb alot greener than mine and I just try to help where I can :jointsmile: BTW my avatar is my main EQ toon hehe

[bertoxxulous]

@Weedhound - My PH this morning when I tested it I left the pen in there for about 2 minutes it sat at 5.8 for a while and then near the end of the two minutes dropped down to 5.7. Again last night I did as you said and adjusted it to 5.6. I made very sure it stayed 5.6 consistantly before I set it aside for the night. This PH test done this morning was probably 30 minutes shy of 12 hours from when I adjusted it last night.

@ tinytoon - I noticed your avatar lol. What are you a halfling druid or cleric? I can't remember if halflings can be clerics or not lol. I played EQ for about 4 years, almost 5. I'm playing a different MMO now however but I'll never forget the good times I had in EQ, they were the best.

[LOC NAR on probation]

Well, I've spent an hour digging around for my receipt and I can't find it. Neither can I find the instructions for building the tent which, by the way were terrible to say the least. But to give you an idea this tent was purchased in late 2008. I have yet to grow anything successfully as of yet. This set of clones is my third attempt at growing. I would assume however that these are newer tents, but who knows at this point. Here is the info I got off the net about the brita filters...

What do Brita® Faucet Filtration Systems remove from tap water?
Brita® Faucet Filtration Systems with Advanced Features (Model FF-100) and Brita® Faucet Filtration System (Model OPFF-100)
The Brita® Faucet Filter removes microbiological cryptosporidium and giardia. It also reduces lead, TTHM, VOCs, lindane (pesticide), 2,4-D, alachlor, atrazine (herbicide), chlorine (taste and odor) and sediment1. For more information about the impurities that Brita® Faucet Filters reduce, including any health risks they may help avoid confusion.

Also...

How the Brita® Faucet Filter works
An added layer around the filter traps large particulate matter from the water
Activated powdered carbon acts like a sponge, sucking up Chlorine (taste and odor and Benzene)
A zeolite acts like a magnet attracting Lead

I am still not educated enough to know if any of that listed is a problem or not.

Now onto the water thing you mentioned. If after reading this you think its better for me to just go ahead and use tap then I'm all over it but, you say that RO water or distilled water using CalMag is my best option. First, considering I'm using a 40g resv. I really want to get my water from the house. I don't know much about plumbing so I don't know how hard installing an RO filter will be in addition the cost of one of them. If I did get an RO filter is there any way I can make it where its not "inline" with the rest of my plumbing? Like something I could attach to a faucet or something easy like that? Also, how would I go about distilling water? Would it be too much of a hassle considering its a 40g resv. and I drain/refill it every two weeks? I've never checked my grow store for CalMag because I didn't know anything about it till I visited this site...do you think most grow stores will carry it? Also, if I were to use just plain tap if you think its better than using a brita filter, should I still use CalMag or do you only use it for RO and distilled water? My water treatment plant said average is 120PPM, after reading some other posts that doesn't seem all that bad to me, and if thats the case is it low enouph where I should use CalMag?

Distilled water for a 40 gallon rez is not an option. Distilling takes time and work. Any filter is better than none although 120 ppm's are not bad if you can trust that. MY bro has well water and uses a brita filter. He was having problems till I got him to try calmag, he only uses half what it calls for and he says it's boombastic. I might would go to slowes or the homedepot and get a cheap filter and some fitting to hook it to an garden hose. So you can hook up and then take it off. A 2 stage or any filter will help and some one there can show you the fittings for a hose. At 120 ppm's I would maybe just try a little calmag. Your water only has some salt , chlorine and floride in it.

Other than that I would like that quick hook up R/O filter but the price is just too much for me right now.

[Weedhound]

Why did the CalMag help Loc Nar? Because that's what his Britta filter is stripping it from his water and leaving the sodium. The thing about RO or distilled.....it pullls EVERYTHING from your water....including the extra sodium our plants DONT need, We started out with a Britta filter as well before going to RO and it was a MESS. We use well water and had trouble holding ph. You apparently do not have the same issue!!! lucky you!!


What's the ppm of your tap without the filter? If it's 200 or under, lose the filter and add a couple mls/gal of Cal Mag. That would the very first thing I would try.

Good luck.

PS......looks Loc Nar beat me to it. I won't forget that loc nar.

[bertoxxulous]

@ LOC NAR - Well, I was recommended to get a 40g resv. and from some of the things I've read that it isn't necissary and I could have been just as good as with a 20g resv. In fact, I don't even really know what the benefits of having a 40g resv. would be other than that its a big pain in the ass to fill/drain and clean.

I would like to ask another question regarding the size of my resv. though...the water level doesn't drop that drastically in this size resv. so I don't really have to worry about the pump not being submerged when its flooding even at the end of two weeks. I have not been topping this resv. off or adding any nutes...I just drain/fill every two weeks. I was reading something in the faq. that recommended topping the resv. off throughout the week with just PH balanced water and then at the end of the first week adding 1/2 strength nutes to the resv. With 4 tsp/gal. which is what the bottle recommends for Ionic Grow/Bloom that is like 2.917 cups of nutes at 35gal. This last week I did 3/4 nutes which was 2.5 cups for 35gal. Now, should I be adding 1/2 strength nutes for 35g at the end of the first week or not? And, should I be periodically putting more water throughout the week in resv. even though its so big?

I do not have PPM meter right now so I've no way of knowing how much nutes are in my system because where I got my info from didn't recommend me purchasing one. Also, after reading in the faq. about nute deficiences the three small plants sound alot like a Phosphorus deficiency, and the five larger ones sound something like a Potassium deficiency. So am I not giving the plants enough nutes because I only give them nutes every two weeks in the 40g resv.? The thing is though when I dropped the nutes to 3.5 tsp/gal. instead of 4 tsp/gal. they are not really growing much but they aren't having the hardcore tip-burn stuff going on last week. The smaller plants are still having white/yellow tips at the very end and the lower leaves are showing browning on the tips but the plants are actually looking healthier by far than they were last week after dropping the nutes to 3.5 tsp/gal. instead of 4 tsp/gal. but I do think that because I've been using 6 PH I may have also been locking out nutes as well, I just don't know if thats the case or not. The PH in the resv. is now at 5.6.

[Weedhound]

get you a ppm reader. How many plants have you got going in this 40 gal res?

[bertoxxulous]

@Weedhound - Thank you so much for the early response, I'll be heading to the grow store today. So your saying 2 ml/gal.? I'm also going to drain my system and refill with tap. Should I still go with 3/4 nutes still or go with full nutes? Also, I'll keep my PH at 5.6 as well. By the way my tap is 120 PPM.

@Weedhound - I've got 8 clones going in the 40g resv. right now. I can probably fit 16 one gallon bags in my flood table but I can probably fit around 8-10 at full growth before it gets too cramped.