Inda-gro Induction...

Hey y'all! Here's an update for Day 17 of flower. We're just got the trellising in a couple of days ago and are getting the lanky ones laid out. All in all I'm pleased with the way the aquaponic side is keeping up. At Day 10 we added the Aquaponic Elements into the fish tank to increase the trace minerals (Ca, Mg, Fe, K) that are in short supply in fish waste. So the water turns a deep red for about a week with an increase in dpta chelated iron but the fish don't mind it and it does help increase flowering density so you live with some red water for a week or two. This room is not optimized yet. The CO2 lines are in but it wasn't until just yesterday that we think we got the interlock figured out on the Sentinel controller so we can shut down the fans when the CO2 is running. Since we're averaging ~600 uMol/m-2 s-1 PPFD over the canopy if the controller is working like it should we'd like to maintain CO2 levels of 800-900 PPM. Of note the Aquaponic side showed pistils a few days before the hydro side but the hydro side has caught up and so far the flowers an the hydro side are running a tad bigger than on the aquaponic side.

For the first run we ended up with 3.6 lb's on the hydro side compared to 1.1 lb's on the aquaponic side. While not record breaking it shows that certain strains will perform better in aquaponics than others. For example, the Dream Queen on the aquaponic side yielded nearly as much as the DQ on the hydro side. While the quality on the DQ from both sides was top shelf the difference between the two sides was noticeable with the aquaponic side having a cleaner headier finish. What round 1 taught us is that you can always make improvements and our goal was to expand the indoor aquaponic med run in DWC to outdoor aquaponics for hops. So on to round 2.

For Round 2 we are moving forward with deciding on our signature strains. So far that would be the Guerrilla Glue, Obama Kush, Blue Dream and Platinum GSC.

The strains we will be trialing this run will be:

Cherry Pie
Super Lemon Haze
Wet Dream
Casey Dog
Guerilla Glue
Obama Kush
Yeti OG

With round 2 we have set about expanding upon the original design by utilizing the entire room for three different grow methods that all rely on aquaponic water to some extent. The lighting layout was changed with the tightening up of the spray to waste system which allowed better distribution of the light with fewer fixtures. This room is still limited to no more than a 50 amp 240 volt circuit.

System 1: This is a strictly aquaponic garden in a recirculating system of water utilizing the original Current Culture DWC indoors. The DWC system has been relocated from the original Round 1 location on the opposite side of the room to more readily feed an outdoor hops garden with shared plumbing/nutrients of the fish waste water system.

For the hops we have planted 2 ea., Williamette, Northern Brewer and Magnum each on their own section of the tub with their own trellising. This will make it easier to harvest the hops by keeping them separate,

In addition to having a companion crop for the medical room garden the hops will remain in the system after the cannabis is harvested. This will allow us more flexibility in controlling nitrates in the system depending upon how much plant to fish waste is present at any given time.

System 2: This is the spray to waste system we used last run but the spacing between buckets has been reduced by 1 foot to allow for a single light to do the job of what had been 2 lights. Another significant change is that this time the system is being fed from a decoupled aquaponic tank. What that means is that we will take water off of the aquaponics system to feed 110 gallon reservoirs. The water not go back into the fish tanks. This allows us to introduce new water into the fish tanks on or more regular basis and should additional nutrients wish to be added into the spray to waste or system 3 water supplies.

System 3: This is a table system that we built which we plan on running a perpetual with the smallest plants being in the back moving then forward as they get larger. Everything is hand watered from the decoupled reservoir with any waste being sent back to the outdoor plants in the spray to waste reservoir.

Damn, you guys have it going on!
I would be like a kid in a candy store with all that plumbing and hydro going on lol

Ever thought about adding some sort of reflective curtains tight right around each grow system?
I'm running a single 420/pontoon in a 5x5 with white painted walls and it seems to be knocking it out in that space

Thanks OneHit. It is pretty cool to watch everything humming along and the plants are totally digging it.

It's funny you should ask that about the curtains. If the garden stays all IG lights you would not want to add curtains. The cross hatching of light especially from the Pontoons which use LED's mounted on 10 degree planes intend for light to be shared between the fixtures. On the other hand this entire facility was meant to be used for a side by side trial of different lighting technologies where the only variable would be the lights. The trials were a go until some of the mfg's could not accept the fact that IG was involved and they backed out fearing bias. If an IAGLA trial is ever resurrected than the curtains will be going up.

Ya, I know what you mean about the pontoons crosshatching. Hard to tell in photo's but I thought you had wide isles between some of the systems.

I love my Inda-gro's 100's and the 420, only place I have had an issue using them is for seed starting. Im not sure if it is the spectrum or distance placement. I have always had the best results using 6500K T8's and so so with T5's - they just seem too hot.
What are your experiences with sprouting under inda-gro?

OneHitDone said:

Ya, I know what you mean about the pontoons crosshatching. Hard to tell in photo's but I thought you had wide isles between some of the systems.

I love my Inda-gro's 100's and the 420, only place I have had an issue using them is for seed starting. Im not sure if it is the spectrum or distance placement. I have always had the best results using 6500K T8's and so so with T5's - they just seem too hot.
What are your experiences with sprouting under inda-gro?

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never had an issue with seedlings under the IG par 100...........actually one of the fastest growth rates in my experiences with indoor light tech.

what are your room temps??

PSUAGRO. said:

never had an issue with seedlings under the IG par 100...........actually one of the fastest growth rates in my experiences with indoor light tech.

what are your room temps??

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My growth is always explosive under the 100's once the seedlings have their first true leaves.
I am referring to when they first emerge from the soil. I grow more than just herb.
As you can see here, these auto's popped up like long neck geese.
I don't recall the exact distance from the light but they were elevated to what felt like a safe level heat wise to the lamp
For me the old 6500K T8 just a couple inches from the planting media has always worked very well but now I have moved my seed starting to a goofy shaped area

I point towards spectrum on this because of the way plants grow at even further distances from the 100 once established. Everything is very beefy and robust and I can veg a plant to 2+ft tall under the 100's

OneHitDone said:

My growth is always explosive under the 100's once the seedlings have their first true leaves.
I am referring to when they first emerge from the soil. I grow more than just herb.
As you can see here, these auto's popped up like long neck geese.
I don't recall the exact distance from the light but they were elevated to what felt like a safe level heat wise to the lamp
For me the old 6500K T8 just a couple inches from the planting media has always worked very well but now I have moved my seed starting to a goofy shaped area
View attachment 3428181

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Are you running the lights 24/0 when they emerge to stop stretch??? again what are your room temps like??

Lights are usually 24/0, those may have been 18/6 but I have started many a seeds under 6500K T8 18/6 with no stretch issue
My temps are typically mid 60's to low 70's lights out 78-80 lights on

OneHitDone said:

Lights are usually 24/0, those may have been 18/6 but I have started many a seeds under 6500K T8 18/6 with no stretch issue
My temps are typically mid 60's to low 70's lights out 78-80 lights on

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hmmmm, sounds good..........................idk, only thing I can think of is the IG's are too far away then.

maybe @hyroot can chime in, he's been using the IG's longest in here now.

just like led theres a sweet spot. About 2 ft away for seedlings with pontoons. I personally like the ig best for seedlings. But led for the rest of veg.

I was referring to starting seeds under the 100 par not the 420
Maybe they could have been moved even closer to the lamp but with the shape of the bulb/fixture that just wouldn't be very efficient. The linear fluorescent seems to fit the bill better for that stage in my opinion.
I was thinking maybe the inda-gro has too much red already in it for sprout stage being that the 6500K usually works best for me

OneHitDone said:

I was thinking maybe the inda-gro has too much red already in it for sprout stage being that the 6500K usually works best for me

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maybe its just your genetics... Inda-Gro has TONS of scientific research into producing the BEST artificial lighting horticulture available, how much scientific research have you done into the genetics you are using? Autos are notorious for sporadic vertical growth. I have NEVER had a problem with photoreceptive seedlings (or clones) stretching under an Inda-Gro....
I bet if you stop growing Autos, the problem stops.....

I don't have any autos growing now.
For me cannabis is not the best test for a lights ability to prevent stretch in the initial stage, lettuce seems to be much more sensitive

Ya, I know what you mean about the pontoons crosshatching. Hard to tell in photo's but I thought you had wide isles between some of the systems.

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Good eye! The aisles are bigger than in round one because we tightened the rows on on the spray to waste system in the middle. It allowed us to swing the lights 90 degrees which reduced the fixture count and let's the diodes do a canopy coverage between the lights.