Multichip LED, Remote Phosphor - Guess who it is.

Bumping Spheda said:

The activated yeast jug, on the other hand, smells like what I think bootleg beer during prohibition smelled like. I go in to agitate the jug to get the yeast going (a LOT more bubbles after you shake it) and it immediately overpowers the bud smell. I gotta hand it to the yeast, though, I forgot to mention. The yeast I used expired in 1990!!! I didn't wanna go out and buy yeast and it was all I had. Took a couple days for it to colonize, but damn, it's goin' strong. I'm sure it wouldn't have made bread rise, or at least very little, but for our purposes... Don't believe the expiration date!

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And here I thought I was being bad-ass for using my yeast past the 2 month window... I guess I definitely don't have to worry for the rest of the year.
BTW how long is your bottle/jug system lasting?
My 3/4tsp:3/4cup mix is lasting about 4 days with high output (3 bubbles every 2 secs), then tapers off rapidly over the next 3 days...
I'm still trying to figure out how to optimize the system. Keeping the pH around 5.3 seems to be key (and warm temp), but I don't think the increased output compensates for the effort. I've only tried pH controlling a couple times, and I get an extra day or two of high output at best...

Ive got an activated yeast jug going too. I have been looking into slow release c02 tablets but im not to sure if they are any good. Have you tried them or know anyone who has? Your carbon scrubber look good, i hope it works out for you.

jimjim: Dunno on the co2 tablets. Thanks, it uses a lot more carbon than my last. I didn't smell much of anything before unless I opened the flower room, but hopefully this will last longer and do a better job of things.

heckler: I've got a gallon jug that I filled halfway full, added about half a cup worth of sugar and dumped the packet of yeast in. It took about 2 days for it to start doing anything and it's been going strong since the 24th. Today at lights on in the flower room I shook the jug and it seems to not be going as strong. I might let the room warm up a little and check again, hopefully it's just the cooler temps. If it's slowed down I've thought about dumping ~70-80% of it and replenishing with more sugar water. Dunno if that'll work.

Bumping Spheda said:

heckler: I've got a gallon jug that I filled halfway full, added about half a cup worth of sugar and dumped the packet of yeast in. It took about 2 days for it to start doing anything and it's been going strong since the 24th. Today at lights on in the flower room I shook the jug and it seems to not be going as strong. I might let the room warm up a little and check again, hopefully it's just the cooler temps. If it's slowed down I've thought about dumping ~70-80% of it and replenishing with more sugar water. Dunno if that'll work.

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Yah, I've tried that as well, and I think that might be productive.
1) it raises the pH (the yeast will drive the pH to 4 and kill themselves)
2) it adds more fuel (sugar) and lowers the concentration of alcohol (killer by-product)

But that's without dumping any... If you have that much room in your container, just try adding more sugar water... It doesn't give a full recharge, I found, but it does extend the life of the system by at least a few days... I think I'll start trying that again, too.
There has to be a way of getting a more perpetual system out of this, or at least optimize the efficiency.

Yeah, I'm not sure. If I was to look into it I'd research what those guys are doing who are distilling wine and stuff. They'd probably know what's up, but I've already got a hobby. I feel that'd be like chasing after something that's chasing after something that's chasing after something.

Juuust about the 6th week of flower, I think. Here she is:


Couple different White Balance settings. It's hard to get a natural looking photo with the Warm White on top and R/B/W panels all around. Good news, it looks like the leaf curl has stabilized with the last flush. Night time RH is still high, and night time temps are still low, but she's chuggin' along.

Few more:


I have a feeling my yield will be super low for the wattage. 1.5oz at best is my guess. Hopefully I'm dumb/inexperienced and yield is substantially better... That'd be cool...

You still got time. They're gonna get much bigger. And denser. Otherwise it's more/better light next time. They do look hairy though. Could be from temp/RH or hopefully be from calyx formation . Guess we'll find out soon.

I've been fucking around with CO2 for a bit and if you're not using a tank in a sealed room, IMO, Xtreme's CalCarb gets the best results. And don't use more than twice a week cause it will alter the PH of your leaves.


The yeast method is so wasteful. Barely anything gets to your plants without proper circulation or design. It's impossible to adjust properly and consistently. Plus the room really needs to be sealed when it's being released. Have you tried the jug above the plants yet? That can helps big time btw. The CalCarb is sprayed right on the leafs and generates CO2 wherever it hits for more than a day, (supposedly). I've spent the summer putting calcium carbonate sand in my humidifier (a tub with an ultrasonic mist maker in it ), and I'm not sure it works like I want it to because I never got any device to do any measurements, but there is a very rich mineral smell that comes out of it and I really think it helped my plants battle the summer heat in my growroom. Wish I could do the tank thing but there's no way I can be bringing tanks in and out of my place. Waaay to risky IMO.

Do you mainly add the CO2 for flowering or helps with veg as well?

PICO: CO2 is good for all stages of growth, but vegging plants is easy so usually people try to do it as economically (read as cheaply) as possible.

Fran: Thanks, I'll have to look into that stuff. Right now I've got my yeast jug set up so that CO2 flows out of the lid, then it moves past the Chiesel as the extraction fan on the roof sucks air out and blows it into the veg room, then the CO2 gets a second pass at all my clones/mother before it's passively exhausted towards my AC unit to cool the condensing coil/be exhausted into my attic. I realize the yeast method is far from ideal. If I could I'd run my AC unit in a closed loop with my attic/outside and try to control flower/veg tent vitals as a closed system, but my situation doesn't lend itself to that right now. And I realize CO2 is heavier than air and will "sink" to the bottom of the tent, hence the recommendation to have over my plants, but I feel the CO2 that's produced will be blown around by my circulating tower fan and eventually get sucked out anyway. I'm not sure where it would be best to keep the jug, by my money is on the floor where it is. Any ideas?

CO2 production is increased greatly by shaking the jug, though, I've wondered if it'd be possible to run a small air pump/air stone into the jug and then have a tube or tubes running the CO2 straight into the plant canopy. Seems like a lot of work, though.

FranJan said:

The yeast method is so wasteful. Barely anything gets to your plants without proper circulation or design. It's impossible to adjust properly and consistently.

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$4 for 2 kgs of Sugar
$9 for a jar of Yeast

I've been using it for 6 months, and still have a few shots of sugar left. Sure, it's not optimum as a CO2 bottle and regulator, but wasteful?
Not according to basic economics or physics...Even the rough calculations on my 1st set-up demonstrate that.

Jay theGroPro did a test on his yeast system, and found he was consistently getting 1200ppm+ IIRC in his room. Now he changes his "jars" (two of them, I think) every 3-4 days for what appears to be an 8x8x8 room.
I change mine every week for my unsealed, but semi-closed, 16 cu. ft. area...

At the end of the day, ANY supplemental CO2 you can provide will be useful, not wasteful... and as you note, circulation is key.

Hey Heckler. 1200ppm in a 8x8 room with jars? I don't believe it but I'll give it a look over. If it was that good do you think major growers would bother with tanks, regulators, delivery systems, etc? I'm sorry but I'm a skeptic here.

And it's wasteful no matter how much you pay. There are much better ways of controlling it than a belief system or hoping it gets to your plants before it leaves your unsealed room. If the majority of it isn't getting to your plant before it escapes from your room, it's wasteful, period. And do you really think hanging out in your room breathing while you work is useful? That's a way of providing CO2, but I don't see people saying go in your room and breathe on your plants. Do you come home every night and seal the jar because if you don't your wasting it. (And coming home all the time is a waste too ). I bet your better growth is from your continuing transition into a better and better grower, not from some molecule. Better technique makes a better plant IMO. Sorry Heck, we'll just have to agree to disagree but I'll definitely check it out before I disregard or belittle it further.

FranJan said:

Hey Heckler. 1200ppm in a 8x8 room with jars? I don't believe it but I'll give it a look over. If it was that good do you think major growers would bother with tanks, regulators, delivery systems, etc? I'm sorry but I'm a skeptic here.

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I found the vid (it took a while) where he shows his "Redneck CO2" generators.
In the process of looking for it, I found in his other vids he was averaging 1200-1600ppm. He is pulling in air from the house, too, which adds to the CO2, but those yeast-cans kick out plenty.

[video=youtube;D44FyNpJS2w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44FyNpJS2w[/video]

I think the only way I can settle this (at least in my mind) is to get a component for my Arduino to measure CO2, and just gather my own empirical data...
$30 and many hours of coding...

Beginning of the 7th week within the next few days.

RP spot light only


Merry panels only



Bud shots



Made a DampRid clone to help with high RH. Went from ~45% day, 99% high at night to ~30% day, ~75% high at night.


This shit works. I bought 3lbs of industrial grade Calcium Chloride off eBay for like $10 shipped. The flakes started sweating in under 30 minutes. I plan to take one of the lids that came with these tupperwares, cut a couple square holes in it and add a PC fan to increase the air flow over the CaCl2. Hopefully I can finally get that night time humidity down to a respectable level.

Nice looking buds

Thanks! They've gotten bigger than I thought they would, tbh, I was expecting them to mainly just frost up, but they decided to do the opposite: swell and not get very frosty. Can't wait for her to finish. I've got a scope and scale in the mail coming at me in anticipation.


She smells kinda citrus-y to me. I'm guessing that's the cheese, I'm not sure where the fuel smell is at. My brother took a whiff of her and he said, "It smells familiar, but bad." >_< He doesn't smoke (I don't think he's ever smoked), but I thought that was kind of a funny thing to say.

Starting to get sugary.


Closeup of same image.

Veg tent: In the sour cream container is Misty, my Chiesel mom. Around her are three of her clones ready to be bumped into flower asap. In the bottom left corner there are two more clones that have recently rooted and will begin growth once they have direct vision of the LED's. I have one more clone working on some roots not pictured.


Flower tent: Pretty ugly. Her over N and over P symptoms seemed to stall after two flushes, but at some point it all sorta came back with vengeance. And that was without feeding, just straight water. Can't keep track of the weeks, I'm guessing it's near 10. Still not many amber trichs at all, but she's got lots of branches that are leaning from the weight. She's even got new Green hairs sprouting, it makes no sense to me. Prolly gonna say fuck it and chop her soon, I've been smoking all the popcorn already anyway.

Pretty cool pattern on the wall right outside my flower tent when the door is only a slit open. All lights on.


Was gonna try to finish this one by slowly turning the hours down, but then decided to just move the three girls into the flower tent. I think lesson one from this grow is manage soil pH better, and lesson two is definitely utilize the space better. I'll be trying to move three plants into this flower room every three weeks. All pics are illuminated by the 100W, custom spectrum remote phosphor spot light.


Gonna leave her for a few more days, try to trim her a bit better, then chop and hang to dry. Thinking about freeze cure, atm.

Heh... When I got my first LED light, that was the first thing I noticed--the rainbow "diffraction" patterns.
But the multi-chip is too tight for that cool effect.

Nice girth on those buds, BTW. But it sounds like you aren't happy with the quality?

No real clue on the quality of the weed. It looks fairly dense to me, it's got a fair amount of crystals (I feel the purple/pink hue of many grow lights exaggerates trichomes, so pictures might not be telling the whole story), and it gets me high. Before I started smoking the popcorn it had been over 2 years since I last smoked. Anything is diggity dank to me at this point, my tolerance is non-existent.

My biggest gripes with this grow come from the quantity. I had some major over N and over P issues that plagued this girl more and more as time went on, but initial signs could be seen all the way back in veg. I'm sure she could have yielded more if I had taken better care of her. On top of that -perhaps even as a result of- she never got as big as I would have liked. I probably could have even fit another one of her within my grow space and the yield per plant wouldn't have been hurt too much (competing for light). There really was that much wasted light in my tent.

This is why I've decided to try out a perpetual Sea of Green for this next run. I'd like to see what these lights can do strictly as far as colas are concerned. I have a KC Brain KC33 feminized seed that I would like to turn into a mother. This strain likes to be grown outdoor. For indoor it's recommended you grow tall, bushy plants instead of ScroG or SoG. So when I get around to that strain I'll probably be looking to clear out the flower tent of the Chiesel SoG and start vegging a KC33 tree.

Some people might be questioning my choice of strains right now. I realize KC Brains is considered a joke of a breeder by many. But, I wasn't able to find very much info on his gear, and what I did read seemed to have quite a few positive smoke/grow reports. I'd like to see for myself and perhaps increase awareness of this breeder. Also, I didn't want strains with high Indica influences. I don't want to be couch locked, I have no need for a sleep aid or pain relief. I chose strains specifically on the high they provided, and what I was looking for was a cerebral, high energy day smoke. KC33 seemed to fit that description. Can't wait to start growing that one, I'd say I'm even more interested in it than Big Buddha Chiesel.