The Great T5 Adventure!!!!

dripdrew

Active Member
looking good man ive been looking at t5 journals abit since i started one. Im hooked on thd quantum badboys they supposedly outproduce hid and use less electricity better light spread very little heat and put out 30% more lumens than reg t5s. Im experimenting with it now just started a 60 site aero sog with two twelve bulbers on top and a 4 bulber on each side for sidelighting. But im gona keep an eye on yours to see how it goez. good luck.
 

dripdrew

Active Member
as far as root rot you need a zyme product hygrozyme or prozyme. both are rather pricey about 50$ a liter... i use prozyme myself.
 

CDXX

Active Member
Quick Updates:

Ok, so this is only a half entry. First of all, thanks for all the good feedback (+rep dripdrew!). I've heard about the enzyme products you've talked about. I'm waiting to see if my h2o2 regimen will work, just because it is extremely cheap, and I've read some pretty good stuff about it. As well, my plants are getting much better; there is a lot of new growth, and the leaves are becoming "unburnt". However, if the h2o2 doesn't work, I'll splurge and by some hygrozyme.

As far as my air worries are concerned, I've decided to stick with what I know best: air conditioning. I tried adding a big fan inside my box, and it didn't work, so ac it is! I'm basically going to mount a small, 5k BTU ac unit in the side of my large cabinet. This will definitely fix my heat problem, and will also allow me to use co2 for flowering, since I won't have to vent in order to cool (most small ac units only recirculate air, they don't exchange it). I'm getting a $99 kenmore model from sears, I'll let you know how it works (hopefully should install tomorrow). Here are the instructions I will be following:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=95491
Looks pretty straightforward, so wish me luck!
 

dripdrew

Active Member
yeh i use my central air myself but i popped the vent off and tapped cardboard over it then cut a 6 inch hole in it and stuffed 6 inch ducting down. then connected the ducking to a 235 cfm fan blowing into the room then added about two ft of ducting to the fan to direct iit under my aeroflow facing a big old netpot thts empty w a osc fan broken down on the netpot aiming uo. works great if u have central air try it.
 

CDXX

Active Member
yeh i use my central air myself but i popped the vent off and tapped cardboard over it then cut a 6 inch hole in it and stuffed 6 inch ducting down. then connected the ducking to a 235 cfm fan blowing into the room then added about two ft of ducting to the fan to direct iit under my aeroflow facing a big old netpot thts empty w a osc fan broken down on the netpot aiming uo. works great if u have central air try it.
I do have central air, and I was thinking about replacing the standard vent with a square shaped funnel duct. However, I am concerned that the amount of air coming from my central air won't be enough to cool down my two cabinets. Although I've only really posted about the one, larger cabinet (which will be the flowering space), I have another slightly smaller cab that I'll be vegging in. While I could link them both to an air system and use my centrifugal fan to provide the power, there are a few concerns I have:
1) I'll have to run my central air all the time. While this wouldn't be the end of the world, it would be more efficient if I only had to run a small ac that was cooling only the cabinets, rather than my whole house
2) If I used my central air, I would be pumping fresh air into the cabinets, whereas if I used the small AC unit, I would simply be recirculating the existing air. This is very important, since my ultimate goal is to install a co2 system in the flowering cabinet...if I'm pumping new air in, I'll be wasting the co2.
3) The way my central air is designed, the thermostat in my living room controls the AC for the whole house (which is only a 2 bedroom apt). So, if my living room is cool, the AC won't turn on anywhere else...this means that the air temp inside my boxes would fluctuate randomly, based on whatever the temperature in my living room might be...I'd prefer to have more direct control of the cooling system.

What i was thinking about doing is using my (4) 4" inline fans to power an air exchange system between the two cabinets. This way, I can share the cold air generated by my small AC unit between both cabinets. Then I could take my powerful centrifugal, and and have it serve two functions: a) I would have it draw away hot air from the AC unit, and b) have it suck air through a Can filter in the bedroom my cabinets are in. The fan would exhaust out the window, as it does now. I wouldn't need intakes for the cabinets, since I'll have a co2 setup running.

I've included a (crude) diagram of what I'm imagining. Let me know what you think!
air system diagram.jpg
 

CDXX

Active Member
Now I have root rot ( I think I caught it off your plants -lol) you can see the pics in my grow.

Anyways I think laying off watering which is probably the best cure..I moved my plants into 8" 6 litre planters + H2O2...so Im hoping that will help.

Try this Flood Calc...it may help. http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/fourtwenty/articles/eftips.htm
Welcome to the club :p
If I'm not mistaken, you are using ebb & flow, right? Be careful about letting your roots get too dry, it might be hard to bring them back!
 

CDXX

Active Member
Entry #12 Chilling Out

So, I've added an air conditioner to my setup (see pictures). It was not easy, but definitely well worth it (It would take forever to explain what exactly I did to get the ac going, if you have a specific question, feel free to ask). Now I will be able to use co2, and never have to worry about hot air again.

So, now that I've gotten a handle on my air and water temperatures, I think I might have a problem with dissolved oxygen. My plants look like they're taking up too much water (notice the swollen leaves). As well, this would partially explain the root rot.

I thought I was giving my plants enough air; I was using a 140 gph air pump, running through 4 6-inch airstones. I use this to oxygenate 12-15 gallons of water. Is this not enough?

I've included a picture of what my roots look like now. I think most of the color of the roots comes from the nutrient solution, I didn't actually see any brownish sludge this time, and the roots felt strong when I gave them a gentle tug.

Perhaps I'm worrying too much. Either way, if y'all have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

P.S. I also performed a complete reservoir change/cleaning today, re-sterilized with h2ho2, etc. I raised my nutrient levels, hopefully the girls will now be getting enough to eat. I'm particularly stoked, because I've found a way to change my reservoir without really lifting a finger. I took my friends submersible aquarium pump, and purchased a 20' long plastic tube, and now I just pump old reservoir juice into my bathroom. Same thing, when its time to fill, I just fill directly from the tap (I like the chlorine still in my water, helps keep things cold and sterile). So, no more buckets splashing everywhere, having to lift heavy amounts of water, etc. I just turn on the pump, and 3 minutes later, its empty :)
 

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CDXX

Active Member
Feeding Issues:
As you can see, my plants look a bit under the weather. I'm sure they're still dealing with the root rot, but it also looks like they are getting too much water, and are suffering from some sort of nutrient issue. One of the plants has some kind of burning around the edges, but the other two are fine, so I'm not sure what is wrong. So, I'm adding a second pump, so I'll have 8 airstones coming out of 2 140 gph pumps...that should be plenty of air! As far as nutrients go, I'm having trouble figuring out what the problem is. I'm using advanced nutrients in the recommended 1-1-1 ratios, and my ppm is 960, so I find it odd that they are having trouble. I change the reservoir every week, so they shouldn't be having any sort of buildup issues. I'm going to talk to my grow store guys in a couple of days, hopefully they will be able to shed some light on things!

Actually, as I think it about it, I think I know what the problem might be. It looks like my plants have a nitrogen deficiency (hence the yellowing leaves), and perhaps phosphorus as well. Maybe I am just underfeeding these plants...thoughts anyone?
5-19 (2).jpg5-19 (1).jpg5-19 (3).jpg
 

CDXX

Active Member
Entry #13 Playing Doctor
So, yesterday I began focusing on my plants' health. Up until now, I had been too busy working the kinks (heating, cooling, etc.) out of my setup to give them the proper TLC they will need to get better.

To this end, I did two things. The first thing I did was double the amount of air in the reservoir. The leaves of my plants were getting swollen, and it looked like they were taking up too much water. I've added a second 9 watt 140 gph pump. So now, I have 18 watts/ 280 gph of air running through my reservoir. I've heard a good rule of thumb is that you want 1 watt of power per gallon...since I only have 12-14 gallons of water in there, I should be fine. As well, I began using a new type of airstone. Rather than use the relatively crappy 6" bars from petco, I bought 8 ecoplus airstones that are actually meant for growing hydro. These are already producing much better bubbling action; I'm thinking that more air will really help my plants.

The second thing I did was try out a new product called Revive, by Advanced Nutrients. Basically, this product is supposed to sick plants recover from nutrient issues/deficiencies. I used it as per instructions, and hopefully in a week or two things should be somewhat better.

I've attached a couple of pictures of what the plants looked like today. I'll be using them to compare how my plants are doing in the next week.
 

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CDXX

Active Member
Entry #14 Weird Plant Issue
So there is a problem with one of my plants, but I've run out of ideas on what the issue might be. This is mainly due to the fact that 2 of my 3 plants are doing fairly well. I'm still working on some nutrient issues, but they are mostly green, plenty of new leaf and root growth, etc. However, as you can see in the pictures, the leaves on the third (middle) plant look absolutely awful. The roots are looking pretty good, but I'm not seeing as much new growth as in the other plants.
The reason I am perplexed is that all of my plants are getting the exact same "inputs". They all share a reservoir, so the nutrient level, temp, dissolved oxygen, pH etc. is all the same. I've pretty much eliminated my root rot problem with h2o2, so I don't think it's that. As well, the air temp, light, and air circulation is all the same. But, for some reason, one of the plants is dying, while the other two seem to be growing reasonably well, given the prior neglect.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the middle plant is a different strain. I grow multiple strains at my other site, and my friend was the one who made the clones, not me. So, if he gave me 2 big bud clones, and accidentally a sour diesel or matanuska clone, this would explain why the one plant is reacting so differently. The middle plant does look different from the other two; I initially just chalked this up to differences in early plant growth, but the larger it gets, the more I suspect it might be a different strain. I'll be having a friend who is much more experienced than myself stop by and check it out, and hopefully he'll help me diagnose the problem. Check out the photos, and see for yourselves:
 

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CDXX

Active Member
I just measured it out, then stirred it into the reservoir gently. I use roughly 5ml per gallon daily, plus 11/ml per gallon every time I change the reservoir (which is about once per week). This has worked very well; the rot is gone as far as I can tell. I'm continuing the h2o2 just to keep things clean, but at this point it's basically a preventative measure.

However, I think I might have discovered the problem with my plants, and it's really embarrassing. I'm pretty sure I accidentally mislabled my nutrients. I order big jugs of nutrients, but in order to pour without spilling, I have a bunch of plastic soda bottles I fill up, which are easier to pour into measuring cups and spoons. I think I switched the bloom and micro formulas when I was high one day...basically meaning I've been giving them 2x as much bloom and 1/2 as much micro as needed. I'm not positive, but I'm going to clean the res/flush tomorrow, so I'll start with a fresh nutrient soup, and I'll hopefully see some improvement.
 

Tee Five

Active Member
I just measured it out, then stirred it into the reservoir gently. I use roughly 5ml per gallon daily, plus 11/ml per gallon every time I change the reservoir (which is about once per week). This has worked very well; the rot is gone as far as I can tell. I'm continuing the h2o2 just to keep things clean, but at this point it's basically a preventative measure.
There is another area you might want to look at:

Ive always understood that you NEVER add H2O2 to your res. Instead you give the medium a bath. So you would have 3 buckets (or at least this was how I went about it.)

One bucket would have 3% H202; the second plain tap water/ or rinse under flaucet; and the third would be ph adjusted water.

Then i would simply dunk & dip in each bucket. I would make 3 trips through buckets 1 (3% H2O2) and 2(run under tap)....and the final Ph bucket would be increase the ph level after I was satisfied with the treatment.

The last ph bucket would be at 5.3 (in my case) because the second rinse bucket (Faucet) which would be naturally ph'd at 7.0. So I ended up with the rockwool cleaned and Ph balanced at 5.6-5.8 within the rockwool (who knows forsure)....but it was close enough that that the res could correct the rockwool to 5.8 (because my ph level never changed in my res after the treatment--I'll assume I was spot-on :) )

I would suggest (anybody feel free to correct me) NEVER EVER run H2O2 through the res for any sustained amount of time at all.
 

CDXX

Active Member
While I do give my plants a bath whenever I change the reservoir, you are in fact supposed to put h2o2 in your reservoir regularly to help keep it sterile. Here are a couple of helpful links that I used to get this info, though I have more if you'd like.

http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponics/67850-bubblicious-problems-root-rot-2.html
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/hydroponics/26759-hydrogen-peroxide-h2o2.html

Basically, h2o2 doesn't last very long as a compound, it is really unstable. So if you want to use it to keep things sterile, you need to add it on a regular basis. As well, an added benefit of using h2o2 daily is that it increases the amount of dissolved oxygen in the reservoir. This not only helps fight root rot, but improves the overall health of the plant as well.

So, simply bathing your plants might help to clear up some of the rot, but you are doing nothing to prevent it from coming back. The best way to maintain a clean reservoir, and prevent problems from recurring is to use h2o2 daily (along with keeping a cold, dark, oxygenated reservoir). It is non-toxic, and it's not harmful to the plants, in the same way that using h2o2 on a cut won't poison you; it only affects dead/unhealthy tissue (unless you use it in extreme amounts).

Again, this is not to say that your bathing method won't work, I've honestly never tried bathing just by itself. But, it is definitely ok to add h2o2 to your reservoir on a daily basis, so don't be shy with the h2o2 ;)
 

CDXX

Active Member
P.S. This is assuming you aren't using organics. H2o2 will not work well with organic nutes, as it will basically kill the living organisms that make organic fertilizer effective. So, everything I've said applies strictly to non-organic nutrient solutions. If you are using organics, I'd recommend hygrozyme, or a similar product.
 

CDXX

Active Member
Entry #15 Solving My Nutrient Problem

So yesterday I emptied my res, scrubbed it with h2o2, and refilled it with water. I added the weekly dose of h2o2 (roughly 130 ml, or a little over 1/2 cup), and balanced the pH. I let the plants flush overnight in just the water and h2o2. Today, I added nutrients. I simply followed the advanced nutrients calculator for Grow-Micro-Bloom @ 12.5 gallons of water. Basically, I used 3/4 cup of each of the GMB. As well, since my plants were clearly suffering from a nutrient deficiency, I added 1/4 cup of AN Revive (its basically a combo of nutrients that are common causes of deficiency).

I've finally diagnosed my problem with nutrients. I was correct in my suspicion that I put in way too little Micro, and way too much Bloom. I know this because I keep very detailed notes of what I do to my plants every day, and I was able to see exactly what I fed my plants the past 2 weeks.

However, I feel that this situation is only partially my fault (because I'm always right, ;) ). For reasons I have yet to understand, the "recipe" on the advanced nutrients bottles differs from the recipe that their online calculator provides. So, the last 2 times I fed my plants, I used the bottle recipe. This time, I used the online calculator. So, now I should be feeding my plants the proper schedule. Fortunately, there is no rush to flower, so I'm probably going to let them veg for another 3-4 weeks. When I flower, I'll just have really big plants I suppose...oh dear :)
 

Tee Five

Active Member
While I do give my plants a bath whenever I change the reservoir, you are in fact supposed to put h2o2 in your reservoir regularly to help keep it sterile. Here are a couple of helpful links that I used to get this info, though I have more if you'd like.

http://boards.cannabis.com/hydroponics/67850-bubblicious-problems-root-rot-2.html
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/hydroponics/26759-hydrogen-peroxide-h2o2.html

Basically, h2o2 doesn't last very long as a compound, it is really unstable. So if you want to use it to keep things sterile, you need to add it on a regular basis. As well, an added benefit of using h2o2 daily is that it increases the amount of dissolved oxygen in the reservoir. This not only helps fight root rot, but improves the overall health of the plant as well.

So, simply bathing your plants might help to clear up some of the rot, but you are doing nothing to prevent it from coming back. The best way to maintain a clean reservoir, and prevent problems from recurring is to use h2o2 daily (along with keeping a cold, dark, oxygenated reservoir). It is non-toxic, and it's not harmful to the plants, in the same way that using h2o2 on a cut won't poison you; it only affects dead/unhealthy tissue (unless you use it in extreme amounts).

Again, this is not to say that your bathing method won't work, I've honestly never tried bathing just by itself. But, it is definitely ok to add h2o2 to your reservoir on a daily basis, so don't be shy with the h2o2 ;)

Well..okay you have some links--believe them if you want.

This link is pretty much the "bible" of sick Cannabis plants by most grower's standards. http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688


Here's what the author writes:

"... using h202 in your system does more harm than good, it kills off the bad bacteria and good thus creating a worse off problem after the h202 has been overran, h202 if used in a hydro/aero system must be replaced everyday due to it disapating from the air. After it disaptes the plants defensive system has been killed off by the h202 causing the root rot that was not killed by the h202 left and thus overruns the plants root system. So again h202 should never be used in the hydro system, be kept in the system, although it is safe to use to rid of algae growth in rockwool and other mediums, but never be used in with the root zones regularly. "

Your call-your plants.
 

CDXX

Active Member
Huh, I'd never heard this, good to know (I would + rep, but it says I need to spread things around...) ! I do have one question though: it seems like this is saying that the problem with h2o2 is if you don't use it daily, your plants will be more vulnerable once it disipates...but if you DO apply h2o2 daily, wouldn't that mean that the bacteria never has a chance to come back, since the h2o2 would always be "fresh"? Or am I misinterpreting the author?

You will be happy to know that even before I read this last post, I've been reducing the amount of h2o2 in my reservoir; I can't see any more rot, and my plants are getting much healthier, so I'm sort of weening my plants off it slowly. The way I see it, it's just one more chemical that I have to deal with, and I'd just assume use as few chemical additives as possible.

However, I did recently read an interesting bit by Ed Rosenthal about h2o2; he seems to like it

http://books.google.com/books?id=dayuKZ1vcO8C&pg=PA304&lpg=PA304&dq=ed+rosenthal+h2o2&source=bl&ots=Uxd1aSvU6D&sig=hZ27JtFqi0rkVS9lQujJvho5HaY&hl=en&ei=clQATOz2BI_4Mo_OyTs&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

But, what I found most interesting was a different product he discussed, called ZeroTol. Apparently its used in commercial greenhouses to prevent molds, fungus, rot, etc. It claims to be nontoxic. It seems like it might be hard to get a hold of (it's expensive and requires a HAZMAT shipping permit!!!), but it would be nice to test out a product actually designed for sterilizing growing environments. Too big for my needs though...

In other news, my plants are already improving now that I fixed the nutrient issue. There has been an explosion of new root and foliar growth, and even my sickly plant is starting to improve. I'll post some new pictures in a day or so.

As always, feel free to comment, you've all provided great input so far!
 

CDXX

Active Member
Pictures!

My plant's are roughly 14" tall, just for some scale. As you can see, the roots are growing really well, and the leaves are starting to return to a nice green color. It finally seems like I've worked out the major problems in my setup! (although I'm sure I just jinxed myself).
 

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