Quote Originally Posted by Radium
First off 6.5 is way too high. 5.8 is the target pH range for hydroponics regardless of what you have read on this site its 5.8!!! Now you have no idea what nutrients you are using either.... thats not very good and could cause you more probs.. the kit you bought on ebay is simply a rubbermaid from walmart that costs $5 with holes cut in the top(free you can do it yourself with exacto knife) drill one small hole on the side and pop airline in with an airstone attached plug it into an airpump and your done.... not sure what you mean you're not mechanically inclined?
Actually, the ph info was accuired from a different site. It was here that i learned that it was wrong, and I also learned that the ph affects more than just the sex of the plants.

When I say that I'm not mechanically inclined, I mean that every time I've ever tried to build something I screwed it up. Admitedly, after having come to understand how my setup works I can see that it would be simple to build on my own, retrospective vision is frequently 20/20. But at the time I had no confidence that I would get it right because I didn't grasp the mechanics purely from reading. Now that I've seen all the parts, understand what they do and how they go together, I could probably make one on my own. Provided I didn't have trouble finding all the parts.

You could have used the money you wasted on that to buy yourself some real nutrients. I would recommend General Hydroponics Nutrients for you as they are the easiest to use and give excellent results, also the most popular hydroponics nutes out there they sell them as FloraGrow FloraBloom and FloraMicro all you need to buy is the flora micro and flora bloom you dont need the grow and you can use what is called the "Lucas Formula" its a very popular feeding scheduale growers use.
Thanks for the recomendation, Radium. I've spent the past two days researching this very thing and had yet to come up with a satisfactory answer. I was expecting to spend another day searching throug seemingly endless possibilities.

I am wondering why the FloraGro isn't needed though.
The Lucas formula is this

G-M-B(Grow-Micro-Bloom)
Veg(ml/g) 0-5-10
Flower(ml/g) 0-8-6

So for each gallon if you are vegging you add 5mls of micro and 10mls of bloom.. So if you had an 8 gal res and were vegging u would add 40ml(5ml x 8gallons) Micro and 80ml(10ml x 8gallons) Bloom. Very simple to use and very very very very effective.
That certainly does seem simple. Thank you for the formula. I shall think of you when i use it.:thumbsup:

Don't use the ph down and up together in the same res either. How often are you adjusting ph? .
So, you seem to be saying that if the ph get's misadjusted so that it's tool low then you have to dump and start over rather than just adding a little ph up? Why is that?

I wasn't adjusting it at all before because I was given to understand that it was perfect where it was. Now that I know better, I adjust it at the outset of a fresh res, be it water or, as I set up today, half strength nutes. From here on I'll check it daily to make sure it's staying in the right area. I expect that I'll be adjusting it as needed. *shrug* how ever often that turns out to be.

Also do you have your timer on your pump or is that timer for your light? If you want to get better at this and learn I suggest you listen to me a lot of these people helping you are first time growers themselves leading you in the wrong direction.... this site isnt the greatest for cannabis growing help btw too.
The timer is being used for the lights. According to the new process, or technique, or whatever you want to call it, that I'm using the pump is suposed to run all the time, and it's working quite well. Until I began having this algea problem dues to over warm res solution I could practically see them growing before my eyes. Seriously, I could check them in the morning when i got in from work, and then again just before I left to go back to work and I'd see a difference.

Personally, I think that I'm doing smashingly well considering I didn't have the slightest interest in hydroponics two months ago.:dance: And the most that I knew about it at that time was that the plants would be growing in nutrient laden water. I've done far better with hydro that soil. I couldn't get more than a seedling using soil. I suspect that i have a black thumb.