1st grow DWC with LED/CFL and bonus pH problems.

About 5 weeks ago I bought one of those stealth hydroponics DWC units on an impulse and thought I'd give growing a shot. I germinated two seeds, one indica and one sativa. I had no hope of them living long and was planning on learning by trial and error. Since then I've kind of jumped in feet first and the plants are still going good except for some major ph problems which I'll get to in a bit. First the setup:

I have a homebox S for the grow room, the 'stealth hydro' DWC 3 gallon bucket (which is entirely too small for 2 plants much less the advertised 4!), 2 airstones on separate pumps, 1x 150 watt cfl in rectangle reflector, 1x 46 watt CFL in dish reflector, 2x 24 watt T5 HO tubes, and 1 63w LED light. For ventilation I have an S&P TD-150 pushing 213cfm soon to have an attached carbon filter. I'm using the steal hydro nutes that came with the setup.

Now for the pH problem. Originally I was having problems with the pH jumping that I tracked down to algae growth from the res not being light proof. After light proofing it and switching to distilled water for once a week res changes (topping off during the week with tap) everything was good. Now over the past week the pH has been jumping again. It will go from 6.0 to almost 8 in 24 hours. During the last res change I noticed some brownish slime in the res and on the roots. No idea what this could be. Is it possible that there are so many roots in the res covering the airstone that they are not keeping the water oxygenated? I add 2.5ml H2O2 every other day and it helps but doesn't fix anything. After the last res change the pH is still rising, just slower. I have a feeling the changes will speed up as the slime grows back. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated!

Any advice on my setup would be swell. I already know for my next grow I'm going to use a much bigger res and might switch to an HPS for the flowering since I plan on growing 4-6 next time and heat won't be an issue with winter approaching.

On to the pictures!

I don't know much about the steath hydro nutes, but your Ph jump could be a number of things. Your plants look healthy and ready for flowering. Your roots don't look too bad, but you may want to get something for the your rez. Dutch master zone is great, GH subculture, any fox farm or bontanicare product. I'd go with dutch master.

You're doing really good. The problem with DWC is always having your set up running 100% balanced. Stick with the distilled water, its one less thing to worry about. Try to keep your rez below 72 degrees. If it starts to climb over 72, you get slimey shit and brown goo all over the roots.

Once in flower, the pH problems should be more managible. I would really consider a differnt line of nutes. The above companies are some of the best. Check out the company sites and go with your gut.

Best of luck!

Thanks! That Dutch Master Zone looks perfect for my situation. My res temperatures hover between 73-75. I've thought about dropping some ice cubes in to bring the temps down but I'm afraid of what that will do to the roots. I'm hoping the upgrade to a larger res will help.

I've been doing a little research on different nutes to use for my next grow and have been leaning towards Advanced Nutrients. Any cons with using their 3 part system?

I forgot to mention in my first post that I switched to flowering about 10 days ago. The indica is showing female preflowers but the sativa seems to be showing a couple male preflowers even though it was a feminized seed. I'll get some pictures up this afternoon.

Ice cubes in the rez is not so good. In the past I used a water bottle filled and frozen. Try to keep the roots away form the ice if you can. You may cause everything to hermie by stressing it with the ice bath. The Zone is going to be your best bet. It should help clear up all the problems. Just as long as the water temp dosn't go over 75 you should be ok.

Advanced nutes, from what I hear, or good too. I like the General Hydoponics, fox farm and Dutch master. I think Dutch MAster is one of the easy ones to use. The "gold" line is a 2 part system that really rocks. Good luck, I'm subscribed.

DG

My roots fill up the entire bucket so I'll just have to make due until I get the larger res. It's really amazing. I'm expecting to come home one day and have the roots growing out over the side!

I stopped by my local tiny hydro store today but they didn't have the Zone, but I did get some liquid pH down that I hope will be more stable than the stealth hydro powder. I ordered the Dutch Master Zone online so hopefully it will be here in time for the weekend res change.

I tried to get some pictures of the preflowers but my camera batteries died after the first shot. I circled the male culprit in blue and the female buds in red but it's out of focus. Is it possible to have a hermie that would only produce male flowers on one node?

Take a look at this thread. Roseman is very informative and teaches a lot.
Roseman's DIY Bubbleponics-DWC Tutorial
DG

Wow. I've been lurking these forums for a couple months and have read a few Roseman threads but somehow missed that one. Lots of great info. Thanks!

See the little scale next to the exlamtion point? Go ahead and hit that for me!

Done! If I could +rep you more than once I would.

The amount of growth in the last week has been amazing. I moved one of the airstones towards the side of the tank instead of being directly beneath the root mass and that seems to have stabilized my ph. I've had to water these ladies a full gallon every day for the past few days.

I went ahead and ordered the advanced nutrients bundle from htgsupply and started them on that today when I changed the res. Also added some of the Dutch Master Zone that was recommended. I'm a little nervous about changing up when everything is going well but I'm going to keep a real close eye on them so I can flush and switch back if they start showing problems.

I finally installed a carbon filter and just in time! They are really starting to give off a smell now. Pictures below!

Moving the stones away should keep the roots from getting beat up. The ladies look nice and healthy, great job! Have you thought about lollipoping your girls? Getting rid of the lower branches that aren't as big as the rest or lagging behind, will cause the ones that are thriving, to go balls out big. She's pretty bushy and depending on how well the LEDs are working for you, I don't know how well she'll produce. If you notice a lot of the buds being popcorn like or whispy, cut them off and let the others grow bigger.
I've read many a cfl grows where people did this and are producing some fat f in nugs!

By the way, how dou like your LED? Hoe much did you pay for it?

DG

I went through and picked off some of the lower buds that aren't getting much light. I don't have any yellow leaves on the bottom at all. I was worried about not having enough light as it got bigger but it looks ok. This is the led I got: http://hydro-grow-led.com/blog/light-system-63w/. It seems to be working well but I don't have anything to compare it to. I was planning on replacing it with a 400w HPS during the winter months since heat won't be as much of an issue.

DAY 46

Everything is going well... too well. It's about 1 inch from hitting the LED light. I'm going to have to dismantle and reassemble the ducting this weekend so I can raise the light higher. It hasn't grown vertically much at all this week, just packing on the buds, so I'm hoping a couple inches higher with the light will be good.

The sativa has pretty much engulfed the neighboring indica. Picture 3 shows the top of the indica. You can also see some slight nute burn in a few of the pictures but it seemed to minor to worry about.

Also I noticed a few yellow looking things attached to a couple of the buds. They may have been male flowers, they looked just like mini bananas, but I didn't think to get a picture before I picked them off.

Other than that, the leaves are starting to get that nice frosty look to them. A few more weeks and I'll probably be ready to harvest!

DAY 56

Well I definitely have some hermie action going. I had 4 nodes with balls that I castrated right away. I just hope I don't miss one. I read somewhere that feminized seeds from Greenhouse tend to hermie, I guess they were right.

I tied the main cola to the side instead of moving the ducting to raise the light. I'm hoping it will help get more light to the lower branches. The indica is in pretty poor shape being smothered.

I'm already working on plans for the next grow. I'm trying to decide between one large reservoir or go with some kind of recirculating setup with individual buckets. My next batch of seeds are higher quality but not feminized so I'm worried about the roots growing together if I don't separate them.

Pictures below. Most of the big fan leaves have 11 points but I noticed one had the two smallest leaves on one side mutated together. It's the last picture.

DAY 71

It's been a couple weeks since my last post, but there's not been much to post about. Things have been going pretty smoothly and haven't seen a male flower in weeks.

I was topping off the reservoir with nute mix but started to get some pretty serious burn. I've since been topping off with plain water and it seems to help. You can see the burn in pic 4.

I picked off a lower bud a few days ago, quick dried it, and lit it up. It tasted like shit but knocked me on my ass, so I'm definitely looking forward to the finished product!

DAY 85

Starting flushing today. Most trichs are cloudy with a couple amber ones popping up. I'm thinking another week and I'll be ready to chop. Should have some smokeable product by Thanksgiving!

Any opinions on if it looks close to harvest or not?

So I open up the box today and I'm greeted by fungus gnats flying around! There was only a couple but it's the first time I've seen any bugs in there. Will they do any damage a week from harvest? I plan to hang the bud up in the same box to dry, do they only feed on the roots or will they screw up the bud too while it's drying? Luckily I had a couple sticky traps laying around so I hung those up. Where do these bastard lay their eggs in a hydro setup?

Harvest Time!

chop chop chop