Any Collesuim growers on here?

Hi guys,
i have been growing for 5 years and have recently picked up a collesuim. I haven't set it up yet and am looking for some advice.

How many mothers do you need to have to keep this baby loaded?

2x1000 watts or 3x600 watt lights? I have read many different opinions, need real life advice

Best nutes you've found!

Best strain for this type of grow?

any help would be great

Steve

Anyone????

My advice to you my friend...

Sell that monstrosity.

Amazing results can occur, but rarely do.

Whatever you do... No rockwool. I would also not recommend setting it up aero style. There are 300 plant sites, but only 150 misters. The top layer in each module gets hit with a fine mist, and the bottom gets flooded. No bueno in my experience.

My best results were when I staggered 150 plants like a checker board. I gorilla taped landscaping fabric over the empty plant sites to block light and allow the media to breath. The media was basically subcool's super soil with about 20% perlite and 20% diatomite rock. I ended up drilling two more drain holes in each module and plumbing them together just like the original ones. I also put screen inside over each drain to do my best to keep them as free draining as possible. I also made my own plumbing manifold with shut-off valves for each module. They got filtered water, with the occasional compost tea.

I vegged for about 5-6 days and the canopy ended up filling out perfectly. Three dimmable 1000's that were at 60% most of the cycle. The middle bulb was MH and the top & bottom were HPS. I would turn one bulb up to 75% about half way through the cycle, alternating which bulb was at 75% on different days. From this I would work up to a constant 2600 watts. The room was sealed with CO2 though, so keep that in mind.

All this effort, after around a year of trial and error, and my results were still unacceptable. The whole design of the thing just holds too much moisture. For it to really boom it out I think each layer of plant sites needs it's own module with a mister at each plant site, and much better drainage. Then each layer needs a pressure regulator, and I think it would rock out some aero.

My results always have been, and have continued to be much better (quality & quantity) with a couple flood & drain 4x4's.

I am working on a more user friendly, organic friendly, vertical system. It's gonna be at least a few months before it's done though.

Have fun with that. You put enough positive energy into anything and it tends to pay off.

Oh yeah... How many moms you need depends on a few things. What kind of lights are over the moms? What kind of space do you have to veg in? 150 or 300 plants? How fast are you trying to get it up and blooming? My recommendation... 1000watts over 8-16 moms.

What strain? Other than the obvious stability and potency... something mold resistant, and short. Keep the clones with nice and dim lighting sitting right on top of them for long enough to get a super stout root system on each clone. If you are doing 300 plants only veg for a day or two, and keep them one single cola per plant. If you do 150 plants, which is where my better results occurred, veg for 5-6 days. If you have a short, single cola dominant strain, then 150 healthy plants with 5-6 days of veg shouldn't need a bit of pruning.

Good luck dude.

Most of the vertical units seem to have big moisture problems, if it doesn't work out I'm sure I can get my cash back. Gotta have a go tho sounds to good

Oh yeah...

Don't skimp on dehumidification and air circulation. By the time I was satisfied with my air circulation within the coliseum I had three small, upward facing oscillating fans on the floor, a box fan angled up in between the two sides, and two wall mount oscillating fans above the coliseum. Dehumidifier running 24/7 plumbed to drain outside, and an ac that did a good job dehumidifying running most of the time did the trick for me.

Another thing... Keep the square reservoir openings covered, and covered tightly. You don't want light in your nute solution, you don't want it putting more moisture in your canopy, and you do not want anything that is not 100% water soluble getting in those res's. Even calcium and other heavy metals from many water sources will lead to clogging of all those drip lines. Media that falls out of the coliseum, tortilla chips falling out of your facial hair, and salty fertilizers will all clog the shit out of that ridiculous plumbing manifold. Make sure you are using a filter in-line with that big ass Flotec, or whatever in-line pump you're using, and keep it clean. Oh yeah... I also clamped flexible 3/4" tubing to all of the bottom drains going into the reservoir and made each hose end at the square opening of the res, making sure there are no kinks, and attach any kind of durable filter on the end of each individual drain hose. Use House & Garden's drip clean with whatever nutes you use to keep salt buildup to a minimum, or use hot dirt like subcool's super soil with only water.

Keep those drip lines immaculate, and make a manifold with shut-off valves so you don't have to learn lessons that I already learned the hard way.

Feel free to ask any questions. I'm happy to help.

boblawblah421 said:

Oh yeah...

Don't skimp on dehumidification and air circulation. By the time I was satisfied with my air circulation within the coliseum I had three small, upward facing oscillating fans on the floor, a box fan angled up in between the two sides, and two wall mount oscillating fans above the coliseum. Dehumidifier running 24/7 plumbed to drain outside, and an ac that did a good job dehumidifying running most of the time did the trick for me.

Another thing... Keep the square reservoir openings covered, and covered tightly. You don't want light in your nute solution, you don't want it putting more moisture in your canopy, and you do not want anything that is not 100% water soluble getting in those res's. Even calcium and other heavy metals from many water sources will lead to clogging of all those drip lines. Media that falls out of the coliseum, tortilla chips falling out of your facial hair, and salty fertilizers will all clog the shit out of that ridiculous plumbing manifold. Make sure you are using a filter in-line with that big ass Flotec, or whatever in-line pump you're using, and keep it clean. Oh yeah... I also clamped flexible 3/4" tubing to all of the bottom drains going into the reservoir and made each hose end at the square opening of the res, making sure there are no kinks, and attach any kind of durable filter on the end of each individual drain hose. Use House & Garden's drip clean with whatever nutes you use to keep salt buildup to a minimum, or use hot dirt like subcool's super soil with only water.

Keep those drip lines immaculate, and make a manifold with shut-off valves so you don't have to learn lessons that I already learned the hard way.

Feel free to ask any questions. I'm happy to help.

Click to expand...

Thanks
did you have any trouble with the nutrient temps? Heard the res temps can get high

There is definitely a potential there for high res temps.

The more time your solution spends being pumped through all that black drip line, the higher it goes. So if ran aero, a water chiller is totally necessary. I do not believe the coliseum is designed to run aero in an ideal manner though. If ran with a very free draining soil, and modified to drain more than it does from the factory, it still retains moisture for long enough so that pump never gets much of a chance to heat up your res.

Concrete basement floors greatly help keep res temps down. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure how I would feel about setting this heavy ass thing up on anything other than a concrete floor. I'd be afraid that it would go crashing through an upstairs bedroom floor. Also, I threw up extra support from the ceiling to make sure it didn't crash in on itself. It never seemed like a perfectly stable structure.

Winter always helps. So does moving further away from the equator.

Who you really want on your winning team... A couple HydroInnovations ice boxes, a ChillKing, a cool tube, a CanFan Max, and a super efficient dehumidifier.

boblawblah421 said:

There is definitely a potential there for high res temps.

The more time your solution spends being pumped through all that black drip line, the higher it goes. So if ran aero, a water chiller is totally necessary. I do not believe the coliseum is designed to run aero in an ideal manner though. If ran with a very free draining soil, and modified to drain more than it does from the factory, it still retains moisture for long enough so that pump never gets much of a chance to heat up your res.

Concrete basement floors greatly help keep res temps down. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure how I would feel about setting this heavy ass thing up on anything other than a concrete floor. I'd be afraid that it would go crashing through an upstairs bedroom floor. Also, I threw up extra support from the ceiling to make sure it didn't crash in on itself. It never seemed like a perfectly stable structure.

Winter always helps. So does moving further away from the equator.

Who you really want on your winning team... A couple HydroInnovations ice boxes, a ChillKing, a cool tube, a CanFan Max, and a super efficient dehumidifier.

Click to expand...

Ok so here's what I'm thinking,
im in the uk and by the time I grow the mothers out it will be cold here which should help
ive got a water chiller which I will use if needed
i will see about the hydroinnov ice boxes (been thinking about checking these out for a while)
will use a inline pump so it's not in the res so no chance of it raising temps
i will add extra drainage
i have a can fan for the bottom of the light run and an airforce2 acoustic fan for the top which should take a lot of heat out
am thinking of maybe a perlite mix in the pots

the one I have bought is already set up for aero, am thinking of putting a splitter on the end and putting 2 drippers to each black feed line. Is this the correct way or am I missing something?

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Super busy.

The inline pump still raises the res temps slightly, but if your ambient temps are in control, then your res will be easier to control.

So I'll take it yours came with 300 3.5inch net pots?

10 modules with 2 reservoirs?

I would not recommend splitting the drip lines. Getting even pressure to all drip emitters is difficult already. If the number of emitters doubled, the ones closest to the pump would get all the pressure, and the ones further away would have next to none. Not to mention adding a T to each existing drip line only makes clogging more likely.

When you have two layers of plants, one on top of the other, in the same module, the bottom layer ends up more like a NFT system. The top layer gets sprayed directly by your emitters, while the bottom layer gets all of the water draining over it.

Top layer gets sprayed, bottom gets a waterfall.

If you are thinking of filling net pots with media, I would highly recommend either hydroton, or better yet, expanded shale. Neither will float. The shale seems to have less dust too. The whole clogging issue cannot be stressed enough.

Ok so it's been a while and have done some more research.

My Collesuim is missing the top module so I only have 8 mods and 2 res. this was to fit it in a tent.

i am going to her some expanded shale as the media

got a chiller for the reservoir. Better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it

so my main worry is the lamp heat and moisture .

With the moisture I feel I will have enough fans blowing up from the base and it will be in a room with 8ft ceilings (my colli is only 6ft high) and a 10" Airforce 2 fan extracting the air.

With the heat issues from the lights I am thinking of trying some water cooled light fittings or maybe a couple of the ice box heat exchangers.

anyone used these for this sort of thing or got any opinions if they will work?

cheers

Ice boxes all the way! Put your ice boxes below the cool tube, and pull the air up through the tube with your fan. Condensation will drip from the ice boxes once your humidity hits about 51% in your room. If there is an ice box above the cool tube the condensation will run down your tube, and break your bulbs. The only reason Hydro Innovations recommends pushing the air with your fan through the ice boxes is so they can't be held liable for people breaking bulbs with condensation. I have set them up in about every way imaginable, and they are most definitely more efficient when the air is pulled as opposed to pushed. They make L shaped ducting flanges that work perfectly for mounting the ice box below, and slightly to the side of a cool tube. I built a little rack for this setup and set it all in a shallow plastic container to catch any condensation.

What kind of chiller do you have? If it is efficient enough, your res may not need any chilling. Make sure the chiller is set up outside of your room though, as they do create heat.

Vertical groiwng is the only way! It takes big capital, reliable access to lots of plants and alot of lights to do it right. If you do most of the larger yielding commercial ventures are large vertical grows here in Canada!