dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/11/17

aero res: (with new formula above)
ph 5.9 (just nutes, no ph additives)
ppm 300

The res change came today because they both needed N. I think I can get away with doing partial res changes every few days (5 gallons) so overall it costs me the same minus extra labor.

I have an idea on how to reduce my mammoth P costs as well, by colonizing a fluidized bed filter with the bacteria I should be able completely stop using mammoth P while still receiving the exact same benefits. I'm just going to make my own, after this run is over so I know what I should expect.
 

dstroy

Well-Known Member
These type of filters are commonly used in "high end" aquariums. They can handle a very high bio load for their size. When I was into aquariums, I had a shitload of african cichlids in a 200 gallon tank and used one of these as my main ammonia scrubber with an active carbon polisher.

Disclaimer: These types of filters are very low maintenance, but if you lose power for more than an hour or so you are going to have to throw away your media (sand) and start over. The reason for this is because the bacteria will suffocate quickly and the filter will stagnate, the sand will start to stick together and it will no longer work.
Since we keep our water temps warm (relatively speaking) at around 70f or higher, it wont take long to colonize the filter with bacteria (3-7 days). The reason that this type of filter works so well is that the surface area of sand is ridiculously high for the volume that it takes up.
Once the filter is colonized we should be able to stop adding beneficial bacteria to our nutrient mix.
All we are doing is giving the bacteria that we are already adding a place to live permanently, and providing them with food (plant matter).
I don't know if this will work with DTW (drain to waste), because normally you would find the highest concentration of bacteria colonies on the roots of the plant because they eat dead plant matter and organic acids, and fix nutrients so they're usable by plants, what we are doing here is moving a very large bacteria colony to the recirculating reservoir and providing them an ideal environment to grow so they just keep doing their job undisturbed.
End of disclaimer

Now, all that a fluidized bed filter is, is a container that directs water flow up through sand which makes it fluidized.
There are a lot of different ways you could do this with parts laying around and there are a ton of DIY videos on youtube for "fluidized bed filters".
The way I want to do it still costs less than $50 in parts if you buy everything brand new.
Make sure that you sterilize everything first by using bleach, and boiling the sand. We want the "good bacteria" we are about to introduce to not have very much competition.

I know this should go without saying but don't try and do this if your reservoir and plants aren't healthy. You'll just give the bad bacteria a huge foothold. The inverse of this is true as well, as long as this is colonized with good bacteria your recirculating system will have a muuuuuuuuch lower chance of developing bad bacteria.

Parts list to make your own:
Silica sand, 100% pure. https://www.amazon.com/Lifegard-Aquatics-Filter-3-Pound-Bottle/dp/B00025666U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494522313&sr=8-1&keywords=fluidized+filter+media
It doesn't matter where you get the sand, what does matter is that you wash and sterilize it before you introduce it to your bacteria, and that it is 100% sand and nothing else.

Some way to adjust the water flow (on the outlet side), a ball valve or adjustable pump. Whatever you have laying around. What you want is for all of the sand to be moving in your filter, and none of it to really settle because that's when you can run into problems. You also don't want too much flow or the filter will spit the sand out. You also don't want to over fill it with sand or it will spit sand out. I used to start with a little less than 1/3 full of sand, you can add more once you get things adjusted.

This is the media cartridge, where the sand goes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CFOFW3S/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
What you want to do is put the foam piece that comes with it on the bottom, then put sand in, and then put some "filter floss" in the top to minimize the chances of sand getting where it shouldn't be.

Now you need a housing to put that cartridge in, any housing that will accept a 2.5"x10" media cartridge will do. https://www.amazon.com/Hydronix-HF2-10CLWH12-Clear-Body-White/dp/B00D04CHRM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1494523759&sr=8-3&keywords=1/2+filter+housing
The inlet and outlet size aren't super critical, but remember you want to pump a lot of water through that sand because if the sand is allowed to settle it wont work right. So anything smaller than 1/2" I wouldn't recommend.

As far as a pump for it I would go no smaller than 200gph for a filter of this size.

Hook your pump up to the inlet side. And your ball valve or to the outlet side, crack open the ball valve and plug in the pump. Adjust the ball valve until all of the sand is moving. If the sand isn't getting close to the top you can add more, and readjust the flow.

Now, a filter this size is good to filter around 100 gallons of recirculating water. Dstroy how is that possible? Well, because sand has a really high surface area and we are giving the water that we are pumping through it maximum contact with our filter media.

Now, hopefully we can stop buying so much mammoth p.

This might also work for people who brew organic tea, as long as they have decent filtration on the pump inlet so large particles don't make their way into the sand. All of those bacteria that they are trying to get to grow will stay alive as long as the pump still works and it will probably take much less time to brew tea because you already have a huge bacteria colony to kick start it.
 

dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/11/17
received my order from cropkingseeds, it looks like one of the seeds was crushed during shipping :( good thing they sent extras.

It was shipped very discreetly lol. My wife loves the necklace the seeds came inside of.

I'll be following their germination instructions.

I put all of the seeds in (even the crushed one, because you never know) a 100ml griffin beaker with 50ml of distilled water. Tonight they'll be going into their paper towel.

It looks like changing the nutrient formulation was the right call. The clones in the tent responded with some explosive growth. I'm seeing veinal darkening on the mature plants, which is good because they've been through so much already.

During veg I had no problems. Since switching to flower I have

given them slight tip burn
given them an N deficiency twice
given them light burn, one is severely light burned
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/12/17
day 37 of flower 2 intersex
day 9 of flower for the clones, 3 female

aero res: day 2
ph 5.9
ppm 314

aero runoff:
ph 5.42
ppm 262 (start 300)
Even though I purged the entire system yesterday I still threw away the first bucket of runoff, these measurements are from the overnight bucket which was recycled after adding 0.5ml ph up. The plants are looking much better today. I'll get a pic for comparison.

Flower development is ongoing, more purple pigment is showing up. They smell fantastic, like a fruity sweet earthy fresh cut lawn.

cloner: 3/3 fully rooted clones 4/24/17 (18 days old)

seeds: moved them into a closet that's a few degrees warmer than where they were. That should help them pop out their taproots then it's in to the cloner with them.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/13/17
day 38 of flower 2 intersex
day 10 of flower for the clones, 3 female

aero res: day 3
ph 5.9
ppm 300
added 5 gallons of runoff with 2ml ph up and one 5 gallon bucket of premix.

Trichomes are about 75% cloudy, 25% clear. Didn't see any amber yet, looked at 5 different flower sites on the mature plants.

Clones in the tent are doing amazing, root development is fantastic and they're overall really healthy. Even the one that got fucked up by the shop vac bounced back. Flower development is still early, but there are calyces popping out at all of the nodes. Not seeing any tip burn on the clones so reformulating the nutrient solution was the right call.

I cleaned out one of my 10 gallon rubbermaid tubs to collect the runoff in, now I only have to mess with it once a day.

Hopefully topping up once every 3 days with 5 gallons is enough, we'll all find out soon enough.

Cloner: 3/3 fully rooted clones 4/24/17 (19 days old)

seeds: 4/7 popped so far, keeping the plate about 72-77f. It's only about 30-40%rh here so I've been having to wet the paper towel frequently.

I built a bubble bucket for a mother plant today, we're still waiting to see if the three clones in the tent herm (around day 20 is when the last ones did) and if they don't I'm taking the bushiest clone out of the cloner and putting it into the bucket. I rebuilt my airpump (ecoplus 793gph) today.

We're looking to keep one mom for every strain we grow.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
Pics of my bubble bucket with heat exchanger. Figured I should get the mother plant going.

I had the bucket running with nothing in it for most of the day, just changed the water out and put the bushiest clone in the cloner in it. The cloner and the one bucket both fit under a 2 ft t5. But when I need both buckets I'm going to have to get another light.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/14/17
Day 39 of flower. 2 intersex
Day 11 of flower for the clones, 3 female

Aero runoff:
Ph 5.24
Ppm 250
6.5 gallons, added 5.2ml ph up

Aero res: day 4 (1 day since topping up)
Ph 5.9
Ppm 280 after adding 6.5gal of runoff

Cloner: 2/2 fully rooted clones (20 days old)

Grape ape mother: 20 days old

Seeds: 5/7 popped transplanted those into the cloner

Flowers are gaining some weight, I need to tie up some of the heavier branches on both plants.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/15/17
Day 40 of flower. 2 intersexual
Day 12 of flower for the clones, 3 female

Aero runoff:
Ph 5.48
Ppm 256
Added 3ml ph up and recycled

Aero res: day 5 (2 days since topping up)
Ph 5.9
Ppm 272

Cloner: 2/2 fully rooted clones 21 days old
Ph 5.75
Ppm 280
The blueberry seedlings are doing well, smallest root length is 2". One of them is pushing up

Grape ape mother: (DWC) 21 days old
Ph 6.1
Ppm 310
Added 0.8ml ph down

Tater tot came in to hang out while I was in the grow room.

Flowers are putting on weight, I'm considering adding more cal mag and maybe adjusting the grow/bloom ratio.

The smaller plants in the flowering tent are doing extremely well.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/16/17
Day 41 of flower. 2 intersex
Day 13 of flower for the clones, 3 female. No sign of male sex organs on any of the plants.

It got warm today, temps in the tent have been 79-81f all day. Not the first day that it's been hot. We haven't had the ac on at all. House is about 77f upstairs. Cloner/mother closet is 79f. Their reservoir temps are 70f. We had to bring up our other carbon filter because the clones get stanky when it's hot. Can't smell anything outside. Inside the tent with the fans off it's about 7/10.

The plants are really sticky, when doing general plant maintenance just brushing up against them makes me sticky, and stinky for hours.

The clones in the tent are looking really good. I can tell that the nutrient ratio is very close to where it needs to be. It's exciting to think about future yields.

Eventually we will get the room sealed up and use CO2, I've got everything I need for that.

It's getting closer to harvest I think, seeing more cloudy trichomes and a few amber. I'm still a total newbie so I don't know when I should chop. I want to get a USB microscope so I can get some pictures up.

The ponicsfarm netcups are so much better than the flimsy ones.

Aero runoff:
Ph 5.5
Ppm 246
Added 2.75ml ph up and recycled

Aero res
Ph 6.02
Ppm 276
Added 5 gallons of premix
5ml protekt
7ml mag pro
2ml grow
6ml bloom
3ml mammoth p

Cloner
Ph 5.5
Ppm 275
Added 0.7ml ph up
Adjusted a couple seedlings with longer roots to make it easier for them to lose their shells.

Grape ape mom
Ph 6.0
Ppm 312
Added mammoth p

It is hard to believe the clones in the tent came out of the cloner less than two weeks ago. They are growing so fast.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/17/17
Day 42 of flower. 2 intersex
Day 14 of flower for the clones

Aero runoff:
Ph 5.49
Ppm 247
Added 0.5ml/gal ph up and recycled 6.5gal

Aero res:
Ph 6.05
Ppm 272

Cloner:
Ph 6.1
Ppm 277
Added 0.6ml ph down

Grape ape mother:
Ph 5.91
Ppm 309

Everything is doing well except that there was a little accident with my cycle timer for the aerocloner yesterday and a couple of the seedlings might die off. Sucks but oh well. One of them is about to toss off its shell.

Flowers are looking a little bigger every day. Haven't looked at trichomes yet today.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/17/18
Day 43 of flower 2 intersex
Day 15 of flower for the clones

Aero res:
Ph 5.9
Ppm 274
I derped and added 5 gallons of premix today (a day early). Res is completely full.

I'm going to go back to 1ml grow, but keep bloom at 6ml. 2ml is too much N, with the added N that's in the magpro Next reservoir change I'm using this
Per 5 gallons:
5ml protekt
7ml mag pro
1ml grow
6ml bloom
3ml mammoth p (can't wait to get my filter built)

The plants are doing great (clones) I can tell the nutrient solution is almost where it needs to be at, just a little too much N.

Aero runoff:
Ph 5.49
Ppm 245

Checked trichs on a couple of different buds. Getting close.

Cloner:
Ph 5.75
Ppm 275
As soon as the two plants in the tent get the chop the two remaining clones are going into the tent.

Grape ape mother:
Ph 5.9
Ppm 300
She's looking pretty good, bushing out like crazy.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/18/17
Day 44 of flower. 2 intersex
Day 15 of flower for the clones

Aero res
Ph 5.9
Ppm 267
Plants in the flowering tent are looking good. Clones in the tent are looking great.

Aero runoff
Ph 5.37
Ppm 250
Added 0.75ml/gal ph up and recycled

Cloner
Ph 5.7
Ppm 273
3 seedlings are doing ok, don't have much confidence in the other 2.

Grape ape mother
Ph 5.88
Ppm 295
Everything is looking good here, she's trying to grow up into the light though. I'm either going to need another light or to raise up the cloner. Can't raise up the cloner until the clones are out of it.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
Great work mate im watching this man hahaha looking good
Thanks mate, glad to see some interest in my successes (and failures). It's a learning process for me as well, but all this information I'm collecting helps me to make better decisions down the line.
 

dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/19/17
Day 45 of flower. 2 intersex.
Day 16 of flower for the clones.

Aero runoff
Ph 5.3
Ppm 254
Added 0.75ml/gal ph up

Aero res
Ph 5.91
Ppm 270

Cloner
Ph 5.63
Ppm 264
Removed the two weak blueberry seedlings. Their roots weren't any longer and they weren't opening. You can see on the remaining seedlings that all of the shells were stuck where there is discoloration of the cotyledons because this time I used another method to germinate. Next time I will use the paper towel inside of a netcup in the aerocloner method once the taproots show. This keeps the seed cover soft and allows the seedling to slip out of the membrane much like it would in soil.

Grape ape mother
Ph 5.77
Ppm 295
Topped up with a 10ml/gal clonex solution
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/20/17
Day 46 of flower. 2 intersex
Day 16 of flower for the clones

Clones in the tent are doing great, can tell they're about to stretch some more. No sign of male sex organs.

Aero runoff
Ph 5.17
Ppm 251

Aero res before change
Ph 5.9
Ppm 273

Aero res after change
Ph 5.97
Ppm 297
Per 5 gal:
5ml protekt
7ml magpro
1ml grow
6ml bloom
3ml mammoth p

Cloner
Ph 5.66
Ppm 263
Added 10ml/gal clonex solution to top up
Ph 6.05
Ppm 270
Day 3 for the blueberry seedlings, plan is to veg them until they're big enough to cut a branch off of and then put the branch into the tent to sex them.

Grape ape mother
Ph 5.48
Ppm 305
Added 0.5ml/gal ph up
She'll definitely be ready to cut some clones off of when there's room.
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/21/17
Day 47 of flowering. 2 intersex
Day 17 of flowering for the clones, 3 female.

Aero runoff
Ph 5.14
Ppm 249
Added 0.75ml/gal ph up and recycled

Aero res
Ph 5.92
Ppm 282

Cloner
Ph 5.77
Ppm 266

Grape ape mother
Ph 6.05
Ppm 299
 

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Last edited:

dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/22/17
Day 48 of flowering. 2 intersex.
Day 19 (missed a day, I write these in the morning before coffee) of flowering for the clones, 3 female.

Clones in the tent are doing well, their root balls are massive for plant size. Once the mature plants are Harvested they're ready to take advantage of extra light.

Aero runoff
Ph 4.94
Ppm 251
Added 1ml/gal ph up and recycled

Aero res
Ph 5.98
Ppm 271

Cloner
Ph 5.8
Ppm 263
Everything looking good here. Seedlings are pushing out their second set of true leaves.

Grape ape mother
Ph 6.06
Ppm 295
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/24/17
Day 50 of flowering. 2 intersex
Day 21 of flowering for the clones.
Clones in the tent are 30 days old
Grape ape Clones in the cloner are 30 days old
Grape ape mother (was the healthiest clone) 30 days old
Day 7 for the blueberry seedlings

Aero runoff
Ph 5.06
Ppm 243
Added 1ml/gal ph up and recycled

Aero res
Ph 6.0
Ppm 277
Added 5 gallons of premix

Cloner
Ph 5.75
Ppm 253
Topped up with 10ml/gal clonex solution

Grape ape mother
Ph 6.15
Ppm 288
Topped up with 10ml/gal clonex solution
 

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dstroy

Well-Known Member
5/25/17
day 51 of flowering. 2 intersex
day 22 of flowering for the clones

I'm changing up my nutrient formula again. I was giving them too much N, again I'm going to go with dyna gro nutrient ratios but this time I'm only going to use either bloom or grow as my baseline.
so I'm going to give them per 5 gallons:
5ml protekt
5ml bloom
5ml magpro
3ml mammoth p

aero runoff
ph 4.96
ppm 242

aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 267

new res baseline
ph 6.3
ppm 244
added ph down to get to ph6.0

cloner
ph 5.7
ppm 247

grape ape mother
ph 6.05
ppm 244
she grew up into the light and burned one of her leaves, I'm going to cut her down a bit.

5/26/17
day 52 of flowering. 2 intersex
day 23 of flowering for the clones in the tent, no sign of balls. I'm going to go ahead and say I caused the herm issue last run from light stress.

aero runoff
ph 4.92
ppm 208
added 0.8ml/gal ph up and recycled

aero res
ph 6.0
ppm 233

cloner
ph 5.82
ppm 232
going to change the res later to premix 10ml/gal clonex
The grape ape clones are getting pretty big, the blueberry seedlings are doing well.

grape ape mother
ph 6.09
ppm 274
This plant is growing very fast. It was a good choice for a mother, lots of branches to clone.
 
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