Any suggestions on my set up?

I'm using a 400 watt mhl/hps light in a 6" cool tube, In a 32"x32"x63" tent. 2, 5 gallon DWC buckets with 4 plants (One in one bucket, 3 in the other) I plan on culling them down to two when they all get a little bigger.

I have one small fan for the plants, and 2 pc fans for just moving air around the tent. A 4" inline is hooked up to the cool tube and is pulling 190 cfm and it's drawing though a carbon filter and is venting the heat from the light out a window.

On average it stays at about 88 degrees fahrenheit.

Anyway, just asking for suggestion and/or comments on anything I can do to better my set up. I plan on expanding everything when I get moved into a new apartment in a few months, Just thought [/URL][/IMG] I'd try to get a harvest in before I do move.

Probably tonight or tomorrow I'll start a grow journal and would love any and all input you may have


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Great set-up ; you really put some time . effort, money, ect ----It will all be worth it - WHEN the 1st harvest comes !!!!!!-

Thanks man, Yeah so far I've spent more time in this tent than my plants have lol. Only issue I'm having is heat, it'll hit 90 if I leave the flap closed with the ballast on 100% It isn't to much of a problem since the ballast is dimmable and I can leave the flap open most of the light cycle. I just want to get this as perfect as possible you know? if I can get it to average in the low 80's without a portable A/C, I'd be one happy dude.

These are the plants as of lastnight. About 3 weeks old now, I vegged them for about a week and switched them over to 12/12 2 weeks ago.

Crazy setup. Nice to have a $ setup. You asked however if we had advice, did you recently put your seedlings under the HPS? Also why not use MH? Also if those are the lights you've been using the whole time your gonna want to bring them ALOT closer. And get a fan going. Those stems are LONG and SKINNY. Their dying for light. literally.

Honestly i tried to get away without an AC but...Its one of my best investments. If you can pull a differential of 10 deg + c day/night temps youd be surprised at the results in flowering. Good luck! Again, sick setup.

Lol.. ALSO. have you done hydro b4? Do you know how big they get and fast? 3 per pot is pushing any veg time away.. But a 12/12 from seed multi bucket SOG would be bad ass too. The reward factor youd have to calculate...If your growing for profit etc

2 suggestions: one plant per bucket always.
what are you using to prevent root rot? ideal water temp for dwc is 68F

^^ Agreed 1 plant per bucket. Your going to have 3 competing root masses in that one bucket. If I were you I'd pull 2 out ASAP before their roots get intertwined, once that happens, if you want to pull them your going to be left with some dead root balls in your bucket.

FoggyFrogger said:

Crazy setup. Nice to have a $ setup. You asked however if we had advice, did you recently put your seedlings under the HPS? Also why not use MH? Also if those are the lights you've been using the whole time your gonna want to bring them ALOT closer. And get a fan going. Those stems are LONG and SKINNY. Their dying for light. literally.

Honestly i tried to get away without an AC but...Its one of my best investments. If you can pull a differential of 10 deg + c day/night temps youd be surprised at the results in flowering. Good luck! Again, sick setup.

Lol.. ALSO. have you done hydro b4? Do you know how big they get and fast? 3 per pot is pushing any veg time away.. But a 12/12 from seed multi bucket SOG would be bad ass too. The reward factor youd have to calculate...If your growing for profit etc

Click to expand...

It is nice to actually have the cash for once to buy quality equipment. All my other grows I've just re used, and rigged stuff up lol

I did start them out under mh for about a week and I had some heating issues in the beginning so I couldn't keep the light as close as it should have been, they did stretch out a lot :/ I'm starting them out and next week cutting it down to the best 2. The guy I bought my buckets from threw in a free bucket with a 3 site lid, so I figured I'd use it just to be able to pick out the best 2 plants.

I plan on getting an oscillating fan next pay check, hopefully the stems can handle it long enough to bulk up.

In all honesty, I'm moving to a new apartment in September, so I kinda rushed myself putting this all together and overlooked a few things lol. As soon as the moving is taken care of I want to expand everything a little

Hopefully I'll be able to get a portable a/c at some point, or be able to use a window unit where ever I end up moving.

I really appreciate the advise though, keep it coming lol

Solemhypnotic said:

Thanks man, Yeah so far I've spent more time in this tent than my plants have lol. Only issue I'm having is heat, it'll hit 90 if I leave the flap closed with the ballast on 100% It isn't to much of a problem since the ballast is dimmable and I can leave the flap open most of the light cycle. I just want to get this as perfect as possible you know? if I can get it to average in the low 80's without a portable A/C, I'd be one happy dude.

Click to expand...

Have you figured you "cfm's " for your grow space - this will give you the correct fan, ect for your area -let me know if you want formula (Yes; we are talking air movement,circulation, ect

rkymtnman said:

2 suggestions: one plant per bucket always.
what are you using to prevent root rot? ideal water temp for dwc is 68F

Click to expand...

What should I be using? As far as nutrients and such I'm using the General Hydroponics Go Box, Its a sampler of their organic line. Not sure if it offers any protection towards root rot.

harris hawk said:

Have you figured you "cfm's " for your grow space - this will give you the correct fan, ect for your area -let me know if you want formula (Yes; we are talking air movement,circulation, ect

Click to expand...

I'd really appreciate it. My tent is 32"x32"x63" the 4" inline fan is 190cfm all the ducts are 4'', but my cool tube is 6'', so I had to use reducers to fit the ducting. The inline is at the top of the tent, one side blowing exhaust through ducting out a window. the other draws through the cool tube, with ducting coming out the opposite side that leads to the carbon filter. So the air starts through the carbon filter, through the cool tube, though the inline its self, the out of the tent and out a window. Two pc fans up top to just disturb the air. And a 90cfm fan outside the tent that pulls cool air inside the tent. I've got panty hose over the ducting to act as a filter to keep dust and bugs out and one on the exhaust duct going out. I'm sure it slows air flow down to some extent. There is also an aluminum vent at the top of the tent to vent out hot air and regulate the positive/negative balance of the tent, that's also got a couple layers of panty hose to keep things out and to block out any light that may be present.

abort mission. organics and dwc don't like each other. for a new grower, use GH flora and micro in Lucas formula.

i kept my res sterile. and i even had a chiller. root rot is hard to avoid in dwc. especially if you're in mid 80;s.

Well im actually prepping some "Florida OG" for a scrog in a 5 gal bucket. Here.
Just a 6 inch grodan cube in hydroton, about 3 inches away from water so it takes time to drop roots.
***Using a BIG net pot, like one shown, takes longer to root, but those little cups will fall. The colas become cannons. Top heavy.

Water temp will destroy your shit so fast. Its incredibly important not to get root rot. Once started, its just not good. Especially flowering. This is the biggest issue with dwc. Because you can get monster results with a 1000w, heat is something i hear most complain. A chiller, and a powerful one, would do it. Thats around 400-600usd for a good one. Me? put rdwc reservoirs out of tent and have frozen 2 liter bottles. El cheapo

To late for that lol, I try to keep my res as clean as possible and sterilize it at least once a week. No light leaks or anything. I guess I should look into getting something to keep the water cool.

FoggyFrogger said:

Well im actually prepping some "Florida OG" for a scrog in a 5 gal bucket. Here. View attachment 3446644
Just a 6 inch grodan cube in hydroton, about 3 inches away from water so it takes time to drop roots.
***Using a BIG net pot, like one shown, takes longer to root, but those little cups will fall. The colas become cannons. Top heavy.

Water temp will destroy your shit so fast. Its incredibly important not to get root rot. Once started, its just not good. Especially flowering. This is the biggest issue with dwc. Because you can get monster results with a 1000w, heat is something i hear most complain. A chiller, and a powerful one, would do it. Thats around 400-600usd for a good one. Me? put rdwc reservoirs out of tent and have frozen 2 liter bottles. El cheapo

Click to expand...

Haha I was just thinking about the frozen bottle thing. I need to pick up some thermometers for the res so I can keep an eye on it.

rkymtnman said:

abort mission. organics and dwc don't like each other. for a new grower, use GH flora and micro in Lucas formula.

i kept my res sterile. and i even had a chiller. root rot is hard to avoid in dwc. especially if you're in mid 80;s.

Click to expand...

Damn, I really wish i'd known that a while back lol

keep an eye on your roots. if they start to smell, get brown and slimy, you'll have to rectify it quickly

i used dutchmaster zone in my dwc's and now i use it in my hempy buckets.

rkymtnman said:

keep an eye on your roots. if they start to smell, get brown and slimy, you'll have to rectify it quickly

i used dutchmaster zone in my dwc's and now i use it in my hempy buckets.

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I will definitely keep an eye on my roots to be safe, I froze some one liter bottles of water to keep my res cool. I have my lights running after 6pm when the sun starts to go down and all that, so as soon as I get home tonight I'll drop the water bottles in and see how much they help. I'm switching my nutes over to synthetics tomorrow so hopefully that'll help out a little.
Man I love the hempy buckets lol, I've only got 4 grows under my belt, but I try to do everything different each time just to learn something new. The hempy bucket was by far my favorite.

Solemhypnotic said:

I will definitely keep an eye on my roots to be safe, I froze some one liter bottles of water to keep my res cool. I have my lights running after 6pm when the sun starts to go down and all that, so as soon as I get home tonight I'll drop the water bottles in and see how much they help. I'm switching my nutes over to synthetics tomorrow so hopefully that'll help out a little.
Man I love the hempy buckets lol, I've only got 4 grows under my belt, but I try to do everything different each time just to learn something new. The hempy bucket was by far my favorite.

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i loved my dwc but i wanted to have a life and not have to babysit them. my hempy's are auto feed and i fill up my res once a week and don't have to do anything. just watch them grow.

what nutes? have you ever tried Lucas formula? is a very simple nute regimen that works very well. i'm using dyna gro on this grow to see how it works/compares.