HELP! I hope I didn't cause permanent damage.

A little background:

DJ Short BB 3 weeks into 18/6 veg. Using Ebb and Flow with chiller to keep res temps between 68-70. Clones started in 2" RW then placed into 5" pots with clayballs. Flood level just below RW, flooding 15 min. every 3 hours during day and once in middle of night cycle. Using GH 3 part, up until 9/11 at 1/4 strength. On 9/11 increased to 40% (105ml grow, 70ml micro and 35 ml bloom). Until 9/11 plants were under 4 bulb T5, about 3" above tops looking fantastic like middle 2 pics. I FIMMED then a week ago and they showed very little signs of stress. On 9/11 I switched out the T5 and started using 600 watt HPS 2 feet above tops as they were getting too big for T5 fixture. Temperature maxes at 83, min at 68. The day after I turned on the 600 watt they drooped big time as can be seen in the first and last pic. At first I thought the 600watt was too much, so I turned the dimmer on the ballast down to 360 watt. Two days later and they do not look any better. This morning I thought maybe they were underwatered, so I gave the RW some water from res hoping to see some signs of improvement. Three hours later and no changes. I am stumped, the only thing that has changed was the light. Can that jump in wattage stun the plants like this? How long if ever, will they take to come back. Is this going to Eff up the flower production? Please HELP!!!!!!!!!

Overwatered!!
No flooding at night!!
Cut down your feeding times.
I start out feeding once a day and work your way up as they get bigger

What is weird is that they were doing fine with that water schedule until I switched from T5 to 600 watt hps. I did turn off the night time flood this morning. Maybe I will discontinue all floods until they perk up. I sit possible for too much light intensity to cause this problem?

It could. My plants will act different with a different light. Maybe raise it up for a week or two.
But they look overwatered to me

You should do a complete checkup on your reservoir's nutes;ppm,and ph. Your flooding for 15 min every 3 hours is perfectly fine 24 hours a day, I think one flood is only 2 and a half hours difference with this timer setup but not to worry it wont affect your plants. I wouldn't change the watering but your 600W bulb(s) should be raised up to 3 feet after you change lighting, then after they get used to it you might be able to drop it down. If all you changed is the lighting then thats the problem,they are just shocked from the new light spectrum and heat difference i'm sure. I would just forget using the chiller until bud or they get bigger, your plants do look overwatered, make sure your drain is working properly so they don't get waterlogged.

smokie927 said:

You should do a complete checkup on your reservoir's nutes;ppm,and ph. Your flooding for 15 min every 3 hours is perfectly fine 24 hours a day, I think one flood is only 2 and a half hours difference with this timer setup but not to worry it wont affect your plants. I wouldn't change the watering but your 600W bulb(s) should be raised up to 3 feet after you change lighting, then after they get used to it you might be able to drop it down. If all you changed is the lighting then thats the problem,they are just shocked from the new light spectrum and heat difference i'm sure. I would just forget using the chiller until bud or they get bigger, your plants do look overwatered, make sure your drain is working properly so they don't get waterlogged.

Click to expand...

I dialed down the 600 Watt to only 360 watts after the first day when they went limp. (New lumatek dimmable ballast) and it is 2 feet from tops of plants. I thought a under/over water problem as well, but they have not drooped at all since a week out from popping roots out of the RW with the same everything as far as feeding is concerned. In fact the top leaves were reaching up to the lights (part of the reason I switched to HPS, I thought they were light deficient).

I check the ph at least every other day, and it never goes over 6.1 or below 5.6. I am going mild with the nutes as I have heard the DJ BB's can be sensitive. The only difference is the change from the T5 fixture to the HPS. This morning I checked the tops of the RW, and they were dry, that's why I gave them a small amount of water (10-15ml) to try and rule that out. Could the change in light effect the amount they drink?

As far as the chiller, the box is in the garage and the res was getting up to 75-80 deg, making all sorts of crap grow in the res. I installed it about 2-3 weeks ago and they only looked better after. I did notice the some roots coming out of the bottom of the pots were slightly brown, but I have heard that GH 3 part can dye the roots from the purple micro.

Yes different lighting can cause lack of thirst, It looks like they are overwatered, thats why I was suggesting you make sure your plant mediums are draining properly whether you only changed your lighting or not. PH is fine, the temps have to be warm i'd suggest 80-90F, also keep humidity down between 40-50%. Make sure they get some fresh air every once in a while they need co2 and a small fan blowing close to your plants. If your reservoir is key,your lighting,environment, and co2 lvl's; your plants should do just fine. The best way to solve your problem is to do it yourself because you know how to fix it when your plants do this and you will learn a lot more,thats how I had to take care of my problems. Goodluck hope they start looking better. Oregon The Chronic State.

Well it looks like the change from going from 96 watts of T5's to 600 watts of HPS, just shocked the hell out of them. Yes, the temps got a bit high, but nothing over what they hit a few weeks ago(86 max) when we had a small heat wave. I didn't change anything on the feeding schedule, but I gave them some liquid karma foliar spray and put the T5 fixture back in. This morning they were back looking healthy like the earlier pics. Now I just wonder if the shock will affect the bud production when I get to flower? I have heard that shocking them in veg can hurt their flower production. Hopefully those people are wrong! My local hydro guy that helped me through this problems says there will not be any issues.

The box has ventilation and the air is replaced about 2-3 times per minute with oscillating fans blowing on them 24/7. Had to go overboard to fight the temps in my garage. The medium is hydroton, so drainage is not an issue. The clones came in 2" RW, but those are above the flood level so they just get a small bit of water from capillary action from the hydroton. Everytime I check them they are just slightly moist, never saturated.

Thank you for all that provided help!!!