my bubbles

hello all. i'm new on rollitup, been tokin for 13 years but i've never grown...too busy playing with cars i guess.

i built a 12 plant dwc setup and if all goes well i'll be dropping dispensary-purchased clones in there on friday.

i've spent hours reading on rollitup already and still have some questions but i feel much better about this now that i've found this site.

my setup:

240V 1000w HPS w/ 440cfm inline fan & insulated 6" ducting on enclosed reflector

general hydroponics nutrients: flora nova grow & bloom, floralicious plus, florablend, liquid koolbloom

10 gal rubbermaid totes

60gal aquarium rated air pump & 2 48" flexible bubbler wands

window-mount a/c for 10'X12' room mounted in wall of my 3.5'x5'x7' closet - should have no problem with temps...

the tubs are set up with the res up on a shelf draining into the tubs through a hose to each. each tub has an adjustable float valve and six 5" net pots suspended in the lid. the air pump has two outlets, each has a hose going to a single bubbler in the bottom of each tub.

my questions are:

1. how do i tell where to set the water level - do i want the roots fully submerged?

2. can i use nutrient solution in just the tubs with plants then fill the res w/ clean water or will this deprive the plants towards the end of the solution's lifespan? would foliar feeding fix that?

3. do seltzer sprays and/or yeast reactors really work to provide useable CO2?

4. i saw in a thread where a guy added a water pump to his dwc setup to "help with lifting." what's this about and where does the pump go?

sorry for the novel, any responses appreciated. pics to come if i can learn how to post them.

-hatch

here it is almost done. i'd like to be able to add clear water to the one tub every day, still wondering if i'd have to add only more nutrient solution.

the float valves are adjusted so that the water level is at the top of the net portion of the pots.

Love1Fear, sounds like you're saying i need to lower the water so that only the bottom 1/6th of the net portion is submerged.

i'd like to understand where i want the water level in relation to the young plants' roots rather than the pots.

-hatch

and i see what you're talking about with the water pump, suppose i should've guessed that.

Nice DIY.


Watch that your roots do not interfer with your floats.

The reason I say its best to have the H2O lvl at 1/2 to 1/3 the from the bottom of the net pot is O2, even though u have a air stone in the tubs under the net pots roots need O2 and if you had one plant totally submerged and another 1/2 to 1/3 covered by H2O you easily would see the difference in growth. Cant wait to see your system in action looks very cool. Great luck to you friend. If you have any other questions just ask I'm here

StreetRider said:

Nice DIY.


Watch that your roots do not interfer with your floats.

Click to expand...

thanks.

i made open ended pvc pipe covers for the floats, have yet to install them.

Love1Fear said:

The reason I say its best to have the H2O lvl at 1/2 to 1/3 the from the bottom of the net pot is O2, even though u have a air stone in the tubs under the net pots roots need O2 and if you had one plant totally submerged and another 1/2 to 1/3 covered by H2O you easily would see the difference in growth. Cant wait to see your system in action looks very cool. Great luck to you friend. If you have any other questions just ask I'm here

Click to expand...

i see. the roots will want air from the sides of the pots in addition to the air in the water.

thanks for the answers and encouragement.

yeah, the tub up on the shelf is the reservior. i used float valves from automatic dog water bowls, the kind you just leave a garden hose running into. i've seen others just set their reservior on the ground level with their growing tubs with apparently no valves but the water level in the grow tubs can fluctuate that way. i wanted to be able to have a consitent and easily adjustable water level because i don't really know what i'm doing and the less variables the better.

i'm getting the final pieces put together today. i just got done installing the 240V recepticle for the light - its now on with the blower, a/c, and air pump all together for the first time as a "test-run." the grow space was at 93deg when i turned it all on, i want to see if that a/c can keep up. i'll try to upload some shots after its populated. this is a trip - i've built tons of things but nothing like this!

Nice setup, good luck!

Very nice clean setup. I see a mechanical mind at work.

Remeber that your plant will use more water then neuts. Well, it seems that way. Evaporation and all. So, if you top off with just water your ppms will go down. If you use neuts your ppm will go up.

And add in the fact that your plant will not use all neuts equally. You will build up some and deplete others. It is tough. I have ran a week streight will adding only di and controling ph. Far from ideal, but it does work.

Seems like the perfect way would be to waste your solution every 24 hours or so. Expensive, but then you would always have the perfect mix and strength.

Make your make up water weak and it will hold you for a week or so.

Bubbles will drink alot in full bloom.

Thanks for the breakdown of your system. Its going to be a winner! Great job!

thanks for all the compliments folks. its really hard not to show this off to my friends so its great to be able to do it anonymously online.

the girls are here, 13 grape and 1 purple erkle. i got them from dispensaries in oakland yesterday morning. the 12 that will be grown dwc are already in their pots and most have already recovered from their 150 mile journey home. i'm still waiting for a few to perk back up before i switch the water out for nutrient solution.

the extra grapes will be grown alongside the dwc setup, not sure how yet because i don't want to spend more $ for supplies but i'm leaning towards soil for them and maybe supplementing lighting later.


for those who wonder about clones in oakland:

blue sky had nothing good left but a couple white widow babies by 10:30am when we got there. i really wanted purple kush from oaksterdam nursery but apparently you have to be in line before opening to get them.

harborside had a good selection of healthy clones in rockwool, lots of hybrids. we got there at 11am, opening time. the grapes came from harborside.

purple heart had purple erkle clones in peat pellets. they looked great, i wish i went there first but i got one anyways.


-hatch

they all look good now. some damage and some yellowing here and there but all the new growth is vibrant green and only a couple are still drooping a bit.

i started them on nutrients today and planted the ones i had in the tray.

for nutrients i gave them 1/4 strength floranova grow and 1/8 strength florablend compost tea.

temp stays between 74-80 under the light depending on how much i keep opening the door.

my pH seems to be 6.0 according to the aquarium test kit i got but that's the bottom of it's range so i'm not sure. i have a pH and tds combo meter on the way.

the girls in the ice chest are my ghetto ebb & flow setup. i keep a 5gal bucket of nutrients that i dump into the ice chest then use the drain port to drain back into the bucket. my 2 are in 3 gal pots of hydroton and the other two are going to be mine soon if someone doesn't come get them.

the bud in the pictures is grape from the same place the grape clones came from.

-hatch

after looking through the oaksterdam nursery catalog i couldn't help myself...just returned from blue sky with 5 beautiful oaksterdam babies.

there's four bubblegum clones in the 6" cube. the guy gave me 3 for free because the roots are tangled!!

$24 for 4 bubblegum and one hindu skunk - not bad at all.


any comments, critiques or advice appreciated.

-hatch