Hello everyone, I'm new to the site and I can't tell you how much the RIU community has helped with my first grow..

I am growing white widow from Nirvana. I started 5 seeds and got 4 females.
3 of these are on week 6 and the tallest is at week 7.

Soil is FF Ocean Forest. great stuff.. Every other watering i fertilize with 1/2 strength botanicare karma and pro grow.










They are under a 400w MH and a 150w HPS on the side. These are basically going to be mother plants for my big hydro system.







A couple of days ago i built this bubble cloner for the first set of cuttings. There are about 4 airstones located under the side with the clones. They run 24/7. Clones are on day 2. Distilled water with 1/2 to 1 tsp of h202 per/gal. Also just a bit of bloom nutes 1/6 strength.





The system is a drip system where each site has its own drip line with no emitter just a gentle trickle from the tube.


The pump is an eco 396 gph. I think i have it all figured out with the exception of some devices i need to buy like meters for EC, PH, and also a RO filter.

I do have one question: Once is place the rooted clones into the system, Is it ok to have the nutrient pump running 24/7 ?? Reason being is that i do not have an expensive recycling timer for say 4min on 1min off.

I just want to make sure the roots are getting enough water but not drowning or drying out if i use a different pump schedule.


Well.. I guess that about does it. Let me know what u think i should do. Any help would be very appreciated.

Peace.

That looks really good. I'd say that you'll want a little space between the tubes, at least 6 inches, if your lighting area will allow for it. Although it looks like you have small net pots, so I guess your plan is to keep the plants small. I doubt that system will hold a plant larger than 2 feet tall anyway.

Thanks for that, and welcome to Rollitup!

HTH

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Thanks potroast. Yeah i thought the same thing to about spacing the tubes out a little bit more. I got the idea from commercial's big 60 or so apartment grow! pretty sweet setup..

My plan is to transfer the clones when they are ready then veg for 2 weeks and start flowering. I dont need them to get any taller than 2-3 feet bc im going to just flower the top 3/4 of the plants.

I do need help with one thing though:
Is it ok for me to let the nutrient pump run 24/7 to feed the 3in net pots???

There are some conflicting reports on watering. I use a 300gph with a 8 station drip manifold. I run mine 24/7 right from the get go, but I veg mine under cfl's. I think it has to do with how much oxygen is available to the roots.
Personally I do not think that watering 24/7 in hydro is a problem as long as everything else is dialed in.

Good luck mate,
Unity

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Hey thanks unity, do you have a similar system to mine?

About the oxygen availability, from what I have been reading I would assume that since the PVC is open at both ends that there would be sufficient O2 for the roots to breathe. The only thing that concerns me is if I run the pump 24/7 I was thinking it might give the roots too much.
Idk

thnx, Peace

lovin the set up ... are u usein cfls under your plants ?

I had a similar set up,but not as big,I kept the pump 24/7 you dont want
the roots to dry,I had the pvc closed at the ends and kept half full of
water,I always been told you dont want the roots exposed to light?

agreed with boomster. close off the ends, 24/7 is just fine, ive done 24/7 in drips, aero, and an nft (i do have a ridiculously expensive recycle timer, but "earl" claims these unnecessary). Get urself a bubbler stone and stick it in the rez just to be safe.

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ok guys, thanks.

I will definately close off the ends of the pvc pipes.

BOOMSTER, how did you maintain the level at halfway inside the pipes?

I also had another idea
Say u let the water fill up to halfway in the tubes...

What about putting a mid-size airstone inside the halfway flooded tube about every 2 plants or so..

It's like a rec. drip aero dwc
And since im worried about the roots not getting air it might help that situation..

What do you guys think?