I think you added this just for me!!!I can get almost everthing holesale AL if you have to pay retail i can help you as you have helped me understand HOW to grow hydro the right way!IF you every need anything pertaining to A/C, pumps, pipe, chillers, etc let me know.I have passed the knowledge from you to many ppl and i believe in Karma,tuned in for the grow.And as always i learned now why RO water is so important.

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http://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growi...icy-fruit.html

cool system earl! Are you planning on putting several of those tubes next to each other? It seems like you would need several to fully use the space under the 400w?

Man I wish I had time to build cool systems like that.

Hey Earl.
I have seen you around the forums. I've always had respect for your thoughts and ideas.
Very nice to see your work finally.
Keep up the great work!
~~ Flams~~

Been reading several of your builds on RIU. A lot of great info. Thanks. I' can't tell you how many times I've borrowed ideas or setups from your systems.

Is that GAAP?

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Every day is a good day, some are just better than others....

This is the unit I have.
I got it on ebay.
I have to change the filters for every new grow.

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4 inch PVC Aero with Chiller
Aero Space Shuttle
Vicious NothernBerry hempy bucket

Nice RO setup.

Earl, you mentioned using rain water. Is it usually ok to use it without analyzing its mineral composition? I can collect quite a bit of rain water is why I am asking. I have tested it a couple of times with a ppm reading of less than 40 and a Ph of 6.2. I grow hydro in a small diy setup so I would adjust the Ph down to around 5.6 where my girls seem to like it. I get some pretty high ppm readings using my tap water. It reads around 200 with a Ph of 7.2.

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Every day is a good day, some are just better than others....

Rainwater is some of the best water you can use.
Make sure your collection barrel is clean.

If you have meters,
the tds should be around 600 max and 5.6
after you have add nutes.

Add nutes first
and then measure the pH.

If it is too low,
use Potassium to bring the pH up.

Barricade, Silica Blast and Potassium carbonate/hydroxide
will all work to raise and buffer the pH.

Always add the potassium silicate to your rez after
you have added all the other ingredients.

Make sure you have a fast pH meter,
recently calibrated,
and use an eye dropper
to administer the Potassium Silicate.

Try to add just enough to bring the pH to 5.6

In my 20 gl rez
I add about 8 or nine drops.

I usually add about 5 drops
and then wait for my meter to stablize,
then add a couple of more if needed.

The max dose of Barricade is 2.5ml/gl
or 25 drops per gallon.

But I almost always have the solution buffered
before I have added anywhere near that amount.

If you do it correctly,
you will never need to use pH down,
of course you must be using RO or rainwater.

40 tds is OK
and the pH of that small amount does not matter
until you add nutes and bring the tds up to 400 and above.

Keep your tds between 400 and 600 and your plants will be happy.

They always have a growth spurt immediately after a nute change,
so if you want to increase the uptake of nutrients,
change your rez more often
with low nute loads.

You can use that same amount of nutes as if you were running 1200,
while only running 600
which will increase nutrient uptake,
by changing the rez twice a week.

Of course if you don't have the light to support this amount of growth,
then no amount of nutes will speed things up.

You need lots of light
for the plant to need lots of nutes.

If you don't have evenly spread High Intensity Lighting
then your plants will not benefit from the added work
of twice weekly nute changes.
.

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4 inch PVC Aero with Chiller
Aero Space Shuttle
Vicious NothernBerry hempy bucket

hu? I used to keep my nutes at 1000 but after reading al. b's thread I changed it to 1400, I thought I was on the low end. Why so low?

Why so high ?
.

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4 inch PVC Aero with Chiller
Aero Space Shuttle
Vicious NothernBerry hempy bucket

See the thing is I do not necessarily know what I am doing, I have basically been guessing from what I can get from reading posts here and trial experience. I can not say for sure if the plants at 1000 are any diffrent from the 1400 ones.
I think my story is not unlike a lot of folks. I killed some of my first grows with ph and nute burn issues. So my theory is I should use weaker concentrations, and I though I was at 1000. Then I was reading the al. b. fact and started thinking 1000 was to low. So I swithced to 1400.
Maybe I should go lower. It is so hard to tell since I never do a side by side and am aywayse making improvments.
I was not sure if you were using a low ppm because of some pecularity of your sytem, like maybe with 4" PVC you need weaker ppm. Or beause of the water chiller.

Hey I got a question for you if its ok, What exactly do you want the water chiller for? Pathogen control? You live in a hot climate? I never fully understood why people use them. What would happen if you did not have one? Does it also filter?

Sorry for the million questions but from the looks of your system it looks like I could learn a lot from you.