Newbie needs Guidance

I am new to growing. I needed a new hobby and always wanted to give growing a shot so after much research (ongoing also) I deciding I was ready to set up a room in my house. I have encountered and seemingly overcome many newbie errors so far but a new problem has me stumped. I could also use further clarification are far as appropriate nutrient mix and watering schedule.

Facts and history:

Veg room
Approx. 3' x4'.
2 = 4' florescent fixtures (4 34w bulbs total)
2'x3'x5" tub with about 1" of clay pellets to keep the rockwool out of the residual water between feedings.
140 (reduced to 70ish) gph pump.
14g res with 5g distilled water

Plants
1" rockwool cubes in 4"x4"x4" rockwool cubes. I have 10 plants started of which I expect a few males or unfortunate death. I got the seeds from a bag of pretty good weed. I plan to buy them either online (hesitant) or take a road trip up to Canada but until I run through an entire grow to see if I am even capable of success, I'd rather not waste the money.

My ph is always high. I adjust it to 5.8 and then the next day its back where it was and I have to adjust it again. I have read that I should adjust it even lower to compensate for the gain from the rockwool cubes. Does this sound right?

For veg room I am using the drip method and have 2gpm nozzles on each plant. The timer is set to water for 1 hour, 3 times a day about 6 hrs apart. The lights are on for 21 hours a day. Sound good?

Nutrients
Everything I had read said to use the powder nutes as it saves money in the long run but the only powder type I could find anywhere was Miraclegro (or crap like that) which almost destroyed them! Since then, I found a good recipe using GH micro and bloom at a rate of 5ml per gallon micro and 10ml per gallon bloom. (8 and 16 for flowering) This has completely chnged my frail, red stems which I had to prop up with rw cubes just to keep them up. How does this formula look?

NEW PROBLEM

I have some white powdery looking stuff on the rockwool cubes and now also some green stuff. I have to assume this is a mold of some sort but I have yet to see any pics on the web that look like this. I will post some pics but I left my comp at work and I am using my sons.

I don't honestly know what my humidity level is at this point. I am going to pick up a dual thermometer later today. I also couldnt use a fan until now because the stems were so weak, even a breath would literally knock them over. Fan is on as of today. Another question regarding the fan, should that be on the same time as the lights or not so long?

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to give as much info as I could. Knowledge is power

Good to hear you got into the hobby. Some green on the rockwool cubes is toally normal if it is wet and exposed to light. I never had a problem with it hurting my plants, but just make sure it doesn't get too out of control. Cover it up with some hydroton or black garbage bags also seem to work well.

Thanks wonderbread I finally was able to get some pics on this comp so I will try to post them now. Any comments or suggestions on my other concerns about ph, how often to water and duration or nute mix?

Wheres your nitrogen coming from or did you leave some nutes out

the white is probably salt builup and the green is algae
the formula u r using is good
its called the lucas formula,and ur supposed to be able to use the 8 micro and 16 bloom thru the whole plant life

Id also cut the light cycle to 18/6,plants are happier and healthier with 6 hours of darkness.

much thanks!

I will cut the light back to 18, by an hour a day. I had turned them on so long as a troubleshooting attempt. That miraclegro was my problem from the beginning, and I was using a very weak mix. About a week after I flushed that out and used real nutes with the right mix, they shot up and filled out! They say you don't learn anything if everything always goes right.

Should I cut the dead or dieing leaves off?

Trim anything thats dead,they pulls energy from the plants

Thanks again! Was hesitant to sign-up to a forum such as this but I am glad I did

Oh...ph...I have to add 3 ml into 5 gallons everyday on average. Is that common?

Hi fella so what is your ph reading tn your tank? shudnt be that bad and what are you using to adjust it?. You can buy cube caps to sort your alge probs mate they only cost about a pound and are reusable. I changed to cana coco medium and nuets and will never use rockwool again, it dont seem to mater what you do the plants outgrow most probs you have!. And it v hard to over water. Hope all going well mate. What strain you got going?

God no it aint that wont be doin you much good mate, depending on what acid u use?

ummm.....I have no clue. Whatever acid comes in the "ph down" bottle from the hydro store? I will run down and see if it says anything on the bottle.

Prob phosporic acid

Earth juice natural PH up and down makes PH simple as hell,

just says "Acid" (for lowering ph in nutrients) by GH

As for what strain it is...sadly quality seeds aren't easy to come by in my location and every dealer you buy from calls it "Chronic" or "Purple Haze". They don't care just as long as they make the sale and it gets you high. After my first harvest I will post some pics and let you all guess Then I will take a road trip and get quality seeds too.

Yeah, what I don't like abut this bottle is it doesn't tell you how much to add to lower a certain amount. Like on a pool it says something like "For 20k gallons add 1 lb to lower .2" or whatever.

i use nitric for veg and phosphoric for flower, my start ph on my tap water is 7.8 but now i using canna nutes i dont need any ajustment 2ml of neut A + 2ml of B per liter brings it down to 5.8 every time perfect!.

What is the ph of the water you are using? is it tap/ bottled water or you got a ro unit?

I was just reading up on that canna coco. Do you flower in the same room as you veged or do you transplant?