Just an old man and his bubble buckets.

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Say V. I think 4x4 might be pushing it just a bit, but it might work. I would feel more comfortable with 4x3. The T5 is an excellent veg light. Mine is new so I haven't changed the bulbs yet, but I would suggest replacing two bulbs with red spectrum bulbs. This way you have a full spectrum T5.
 

Vumar

Well-Known Member
Say V. I think 4x4 might be pushing it just a bit, but it might work. I would feel more comfortable with 4x3. The T5 is an excellent veg light. Mine is new so I haven't changed the bulbs yet, but I would suggest replacing two bulbs with red spectrum bulbs. This way you have a full spectrum T5.
I plan to have the 4' T5s, a spiral 125w CFL, and 2 small custom red LED panels as side lightning. This will do for vegging mothers yes? I decided my 600w HID was too overkill for my mom rdwc.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
That sounds like it should work fine. How many T5s do you have. If you have more than one, you're in great shape for a 4x4 room.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
The air stones are in and have tubing running to the air pumps.
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The light is now hanging from a light yoyo.
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Light yoyo's work great. Just loosen the wing nut and adjust as needed.
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The electric is off the floor, and the pumps are ready to be plugged in. 007.JPG

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I can see one bean has sprouted, just waiting for it to break through the grow plug.
 

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MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Say, thanks Red! Sometimes I forget how much work is involved in the projects set-up.

I think I am ready to grow. Just add water!!!
And nutrients.
And balance the pH.
And keep the water temp below 75F, or 24c.
And keep the bugs at bay.
And watch for nute deficiency/burn.
And on and on we go!
 

Vumar

Well-Known Member
Say, thanks Red! Sometimes I forget how much work is involved in the projects set-up.

I think I am ready to grow. Just add water!!!
And nutrients.
And balance the pH.
And keep the water temp below 75F, or 24c.
And keep the bugs at bay.
And watch for nute deficiency/burn.
And on and on we go!
Looks good! I finished my T5 setup yesterday. Mommas and clones should be happy. Electrical looks professional off the floor ; ) good call.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Well... Much to my chagrin, only one bean sprouted, the rest didn't even crack. So... I got pissed off and decided to drive to get clones. The only place I could find who sells recreational clones is 100 miles from here. When I arrived, the guy ask for my ID, which I gave him both the drivers license from the state I'm from, and the new paper copy from the state where I'm living now.

The old DL had been made void by punching holes in it, so they would not except it...the new DL was a paper copy with no photo, so they would not except it either. The only thing they would take at this point was a passport.

I was like...WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

SO.....I drove back home and picked up my passport.

Keep in mind it was pouring down rain all day.

I'm back home now. Got some clones. I'm a little tired. Pics are coming. Goodnight!
 

Vumar

Well-Known Member
Hey I noticed your using a lumatek ballast, stay away from Hortilux bulbs =P ballast/bulb lonegivity is like a year using those combos. Blew my 1000w that way
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Say V. I'm glad you got your T5 system set up and ready. I'm pretty sure the bulb is a Hortilux. I've been using the Lumatek and these bulbs together for years. I haven't had a problem yet.

Could it be you had a bad bulb, or a possible warranty issue with the ballast?

I filled my buckets last night so the chlorine can dissipate. I placed the clones in the Dixie cups, and watered them with a small amount of nutes. One clone started wilting, probably from the shock from a different type nutrient than the grower used. So I placed all clones in the humidity dome. The one is straightening back up, and the other three still look great.

I will be moving them into the buckets tonight. I plan on vegging them under the 600w HPS for a week, then cut the lights back.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
After 24 hrs in the humidity dome, I have moved the clones to the buckets.

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The two in back wilted just a bit, probably because the water in the buckets is colder.

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MedicineGrowa

Active Member
This morning the pH had climbed from 5.5 to 6.0. I added pH down, and I'm dropping it back down to 5.5...

With the HPS light on, the added heat brings the room and water temp up to 75-76 degrees. With summer coming, I'm worried about how to keep the water temp below 75F. 24c... This morning the water was 24c. So I picked up some containers just perfect for the buckets to go in.

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Then I put a bag of ice in each one. This brought the water temp down to 16-17c... 60-62F.
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My next thought was, I can't buy four bags of ice every day. So I thought about buying a lot of ice trays. (Which I still might do.)
Then while laying on one of those blue re-freezable ice packs (the soft blue ones), because my back was hurting...I realized I could use those, and re-use them.
 

Metasynth

Well-Known Member
This morning the pH had climbed from 5.5 to 6.0. I added pH down, and I'm dropping it back down to 5.5...

With the HPS light on, the added heat brings the room and water temp up to 75-76 degrees. With summer coming, I'm worried about how to keep the water temp below 75F. 24c... This morning the water was 24c. So I picked up some containers just perfect for the buckets to go in.

View attachment 3406698

Then I put a bag of ice in each one. This brought the water temp down to 16-17c... 60-62F.
View attachment 3406699

View attachment 3406700

My next thought was, I can't buy four bags of ice every day. So I thought about buying a lot of ice trays. (Which I still might do.)
Then while laying on one of those blue re-freezable ice packs (the soft blue ones), because my back was hurting...I realized I could use those, and re-use them.
You can also just freeze 1 gallon or half gallon bottles with water in them (mind you don't overfill and screw the cap on in the freezer, of they'll burst)...Cheap, easy, and you can have several frozen at a time to rotate them as needed to acquire the desired temperature.

Also, you can wrap your buckets in some sort of insulation, or even just cover them in the white side of Panda facing up(black/white poly sheeting), it'll help keep them a LOT cooler.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Say M, how's it goin.

I've used two liter coke bottles back when I was into aeroponics. I had a larger res then. The thing I noticed about the bottles was, once they thaw to a certain point, the ice inside the bottle is trying to cool the water now inside the bottle. The outside water is constantly heating it up.

I only have a couple of inches between the bucket and the container, so a frozen bottle won't work. I did think about it though.
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Water temp this morning is 22c. I'm dropping in the frozen ice pack as soon as I finish here.

The PPM is 600.

As expected the pH drifted back up to 6.0... I dropped it back down to 5.5...

PH drift is a good thing. Some nutes are more easily taken up by the plant at different pH levels, so as the pH drifts up, the plant has access to most if not all the nutes you provide.
 
Really interested in your grow. Nice thread and set up man. Can't wait to watch your journey. As a DWC grower at heart who's forced to do soil now, I like to have ways to grow vicariously. Subed
 

MedicineGrowa

Active Member
Welcome REB.

My clones seem to getting off to a slow start, so I picked up the GH three part flora series. The nutes I was using were well over a year, maybe two years old.

I'm using tap water which is about 145 PPM. Trying to keep the Ph down, but it creeps up quickly. If the plants don't start looking good soon, I will flush again using RO water.

Flushed with new nutes. PPM 900 total.
Tap water Ph 6.7 dropped Ph to 5.6
Water temp 20c.
 
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