Bubbleponics Grow

sohi · #1 11-30-2007, 12:37 PM

This is my set up...

1 - 175w MH
2 - 70w HPS for the Flower stage
Earth Juice : Grow - Bloom - Meta K - MicroBlast
Humidifier
PH Papers (yuck)
Yeast for CO2 (now and then)
5" net pots
Clay balls as media
Air pumps & air stones
7" clone dome, root gel, & a heat-mat
(2-4) bins-tubs (4 bins to make switching the solution easy)
A fan or 2 (one is always on the plant, but doesn't rotate)
Temps range from 69-87 deg
Humidity ranges from 30-80 Rh

I plan on doing 3 in veg & 3 in flower using a bubbleponics setup for each. I have the 175w MH veging my first clone right now. Before I got her she was in a 24hr drip cycle and now in dirt. She's about 16" tall and about to flower if I can get the clones to root! Since I moved her 6" from the MH she LOVES it! Almost every inch is a new node for 4-5" of tight node growth!
I took 3 cuttings and I'll set her into flowering soon.
I used root gel in rockwool plugs under a 7" dome.

I pulled a dummy and left the dome 2 1/2 feet under the MH in the shade of the plant and the cuttings wilted and fell over... So I took new cuttings. She's on a heat-mat, out of the light, extra water in the "basin", with extra mist on the dome, on the heat-mat, & Here goes the 3'rd clone-a-round.

A lesson in fertilizer. I burned her by using a strong mix (what the bottle said) of fertilizer & also used it with every watering due to it being in a rockwool cube and all (bad idea)... some leafs look like a MIRV went off. I flushed over 3 days and she's okay.

Is 140w (2-70w HPS) enough for 3 plants in the flower stage? I was thinking on adding a 400w HPS/MH setup from a website for $170ish. Then I have to deal with all that heat...
How well can this initial setup work with 3 trained plants in 5" net pots? (I'll get the tub size and room size and put em up)

Last thing, will the single plant now like both lights above or angled from the sides?

/ \ or _ _
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Thanks!

sohi · #2 12-03-2007, 05:13 PM

The clones are still green and strong so it's looking good @ day 3 for them. I put the dome under the light for 8/12 hours to keep the juices flowing. The light is very far away from the tray. The tray is also on the heat-mat to ensure 100% humidity and temps of 72-75 deg.

A few photos to show you, nothing too drastic as the DWC has not begun yet!

A nug is from the mother plant, she looks good and smells hmm... has a light~ish smell , and not the skunky smell or heavy pine smell , kinda reminds ya of summer in a way... idk how else to put it...

Good things to come... Sorry no good info yet...

The room size 24" wide x 29" deep x as many as I need"

Type : Plastic Bucket

Capacity :5 Gals.

Width : 12.0"

Depth : 12.0"

Height : 14.5"

(4) 5Gal buckets could be the setup

The depot tells me I can fit 2 x 2 in the room! Oh math

After thinking about space, size, ease of single plant care and how I wanted 4 rather than 3, I'm going to try and fit 4 buckets in the space.

For the solution change I may use 4 extra buckets to mix the new solution in and swap the bucket lid to the new bucket.

More reason to get the 400w HPS... I'll have to get some heat solutions thought of better then. In time.

Fertilizer PH Issue...

The PH goes around 5 or into the 4.8 range (PH papers yuck) I'll be needing to mix some baking soda & water to get the PH up.

And get a TDS/PPM & PH read out of some sort soon!!

sohi · #3 12-14-2007, 04:51 PM

Yes she's still in dirt, and that's how I will finish this one off. It's been a wild ride in the land of liquid ferts... I really -really- need a TDS/EC tool, thinking about the Hannah TDS/EC/PH meter.

I've flushed twice in 4 weeks to clear anything up that I may have messed up.

I bought a 20 gal. air pump today and I'll be using it for the nutrients at the moment.

I HOPE 3 of the 4 clones take or else I'll just have to flower... she'll have no room to grow if I don't...

I think I've learned something with each clone fail, so it's not a -total- loss. The first time was just dumb on my part... air blowing on clones = fast death derrr...

I'm tired I'll type out anything I may have forgot. Thanks for chekin in & enjoy the photos...

stickyicky77 · #4 12-15-2007, 09:12 AM

Check out SH Hydroponics instead of the 5 gal buckets you can use a 4 gal or 8 gal rubbermaid storage container and put 4 to 6 net cups in the lid. You can down load the step by step instructions complete with a list of everything you need to build your own cheap. The only thing you will need to buy from them is their irrigation manifold for $9.99 and some 6 net cups $3.30, rockwool cubes and expanded clay. All for about $20. The rest of the stuff you can get from LOWES cheap.

sohi · #5 12-15-2007, 10:58 AM

Welcome to the .Org! Thanks for your advice, that site actually gave me the idea to do a DWC. It looked so simple so hydro I chose.

That 4-8 gal. set-up would be great for maybe a SOG, where the plants don't get too big.

In a tub you have to deal with:

Roots getting entangled
Root rot being shared
TDS getting to high and locking out the plants as water is used
Changing the res. often, I'm sure the lid would be heavy w/ 6 plants.

I thought about it and I wanted to get 3 plants in the same same tub like that. But I'd like to move them around solo style... If I could find 4 gal buckets that would be even better! Thanks for your advice and the link, that seems like a good shop to get a set-up from.

Keep it green!