Newbie 1st LED Hydro grow with pictures

[fishizil]

Hey All...
Ok here I go again posting in a new area. I posted this in the grow room section and am having trouble getting feedback. Anyhow here is the setup.
I recently purchased an all in one hydro setup. I had some issues with my first grow. I don’t know what I did wrong (I followed the instructions to the letter), but my plants just stopped growing and the leaves curled up after 2 weeks. Anyway I decided to flush the whole thing and start from scratch. I am hoping you can help me with this. I see OROD has the same setup as me and is having better results. I have gotten advice to ease up on the nutes, but to play it safe I am asking my RIU compadres to help out. I will post pics as the days go by but here is what I have done so far.
1. I started with 12 gallons of distilled water in the reservoir.
2. I have openings for 14 plants and netpots so I put seeds in all of them and placed them inside.
3. The seeds are 12 good bagseed---1 Northern Lights---1 White Widow (didn’t want to waste too many good seeds in case it doesn’t turn out too well again).
4. I added 2 tsp of Superthrive to the reservoir.
5. I added 2 tsp of Moon Dust (the all in one nute mix supplied with the hydrochamber).
6. My ph is at about 5.5-6.0
7. My ppm is consistently about 300
8. My 2 90w LED grow lights are about 6 inches above the top of the netpots.
9. The water drip is about 1 per 2 seconds on each pot.

Im in my second week now and I just added about 4tsp of Grow Big and 3tsp of superthrive. My PH is around 6 and the ppm are 700-750.
That’s it for now. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do?

 

[Oreo111]

Im no pro but if your using a rockwool cube i would slow the drip down a bit. That shit holds water like no other!! Hope that WW treats you right!!

 

[fishizil]

Thanks. I'm using these rapid rooted plugs. They came with the system. They are these sponge like material that both holds water but allows it to get air as well. I probably need to slow down the drip though. I slowed it down some already. Trying to get it down. How bout the LEDs? Should I lower or raise them? I was told that it doesn't matter since they throw off almost no heat at all.

 

[Oreo111]

Thanks. I'm using these rapid rooted plugs. They came with the system. They are these sponge like material that both holds water but allows it to get air as well. I probably need to slow down the drip though. I slowed it down some already. Trying to get it down. How bout the LEDs? Should I lower or raise them? I was told that it doesn't matter since they throw off almost no heat at all.

If they dont get hot then i would put them as close as i could. I keep my hps about 12-14 inches above but thats cause it so hot.

 

[fishizil]

Great Thats what I was thinking. I also have them on a 24hr lighting schedule for now. I was told that was the correct thing to do now too. By the way, Is there any where on this site which shows what plants look like at each stage in a hydro setup?

 

[Oreo111]

Great Thats what I was thinking. I also have them on a 24hr lighting schedule for now. I was told that was the correct thing to do now too. By the way, Is there any where on this site which shows what plants look like at each stage in a hydro setup?

Yea, I would keep them 24/0 at least until you veg then you could drop down to like 18/6 or what ever you wanna do.. . .
If you just look thru the grow journals, im sure there is someone out there that prolly has the same setup and everything as you. There a plenty of journals out there with great pics and lots of details!! Later Dog!

 

[fishizil]

Thanks O. I have been doin that. However even though there are some with the same system, we all aren't using the same nutes. But believe me I have been trying to look at as much info as possible since I did pay over 2k for the system. I don't have that kind of scratch to throw around.
Ok here is a new concern though. My plants look decent except 1 is curling under.
And the last thing is should I be concerned about the water in the plugs? They say with this system I can't overwater, but I lowered the drip and they seem to be doing better. Should I let the tops of the plugs get sort of dry or just just have a steady flow to keep the plugs moist all the time? I also have a fogger underneath the plants in the reservoir so I'm thinking I don't need so much drip.
And they are very dark green.
Any ideas?

 

[Danthebull]

Pulling up a chair. I want to see how your baby's grow under the LED's as Im interested in buying some LED's for my next grow.

GL mate i'll be batching!!!!

 

[Oreo111]

Thanks O. I have been doin that. However even though there are some with the same system, we all aren't using the same nutes. But believe me I have been trying to look at as much info as possible since I did pay over 2k for the system. I don't have that kind of scratch to throw around.
Ok here is a new concern though. My plants look decent except 1 is curling under.
And the last thing is should I be concerned about the water in the plugs? They say with this system I can't overwater, but I lowered the drip and they seem to be doing better. Should I let the tops of the plugs get sort of dry or just just have a steady flow to keep the plugs moist all the time? I also have a fogger underneath the plants in the reservoir so I'm thinking I don't need so much drip.
And they are very dark green.
Any ideas?

Im not all that familiar with your system, i have a dwc or bubbleponics, whatever you wanna call it. but if You have a fogger in the res then i would slow the drip down a good bit, i wouldnt let the top get dried out but you also dont want it to be soakin wet because that would lead to stem rot! again i am no pro, this is just what i would do if i were in your situation.

Oh yea, can you post a link to what system you have or somewhere i could look at it?

 

[fishizil]

Thanks. Here it is.
www.sunlightsheds.com/cool-cab.htm

 

[Oreo111]

Thanks. Here it is.
www.sunlightsheds.com/cool-cab.htm

Thats a Bad Ass cabinet! So you also have a deep water culture thing goin on. Is the drip just for supplement?, because i would figure that the plans do most of the feeding thru the roots in the res. with oxygen and nute rich water.

I have a DWC goin also with just 2 plants and i dont have any kinda of drip or anything on top, just co2. and i have 4, 8in. airstones in my 10 gal res. w/ 6 gal of nutes/h20. and they seem very healty, make sure you have lots of oxygen in the water.

Heres a couple pic from when i built my res. . .

 

[fishizil]

Hey thanks. I was going to ask you about that. I only have 1 airstone and no co2 booster. My plants are doing ok but looking a little off. I'll take some pictures tonight. Do you think I should get another airstone and a co2 booster?

 

[Oreo111]

Hey thanks. I was going to ask you about that. I only have 1 airstone and no co2 booster. My plants are doing ok but looking a little off. I'll take some pictures tonight. Do you think I should get another airstone and a co2 booster?

I think that more air is always better, i would get at least one more. what are your temps like because plants do better with higher temps(like 85F-90F) when you run co2! so if you dont want it that hot they will do fine without.

 

[fishizil]

Ok... Here are the 10 day pics...
I am going to heed your advice O and get at least 1 more airstone. My temps are consistently in the mid 60s so I dont know what to do about the CO2 boost. I think I may get one anyway. I wouldnt hurt either way would it. I am hoping it could at least help.
Anyway, if you dont mind check these pictures out and give me some good advice.

Incidentally today at day 10 I added
6 tsp of Fox Farm Big Bloom
2 tsp of Superthrive

All to a 12 gallon reservior.

 

[Oreo111]

Ok... Here are the 10 day pics...
I am going to heed your advice O and get at least 1 more airstone. My temps are consistently in the mid 60s so I dont know what to do about the CO2 boost. I think I may get one anyway. I wouldnt hurt either way would it. I am hoping it could at least help.
Anyway, if you dont mind check these pictures out and give me some good advice.

Incidentally today at day 10 I added
6 tsp of Fox Farm Big Bloom
2 tsp of Superthrive

All to a 12 gallon reservior.

Well i would probably add a lil heater or something so can bring your temp up to the mid 70F's and i dont know the feeding chart on fox farm and superthrive, i use General Hyfroponics, but anyways the seedlings being that small should probably be getting like a 1/4 strength,
ya feel me!

i stared mine at 1/4 strength, then went up to half the next week and so on, now im at 2 tspn/ gal for the transition to bloom. I just follow the directions on the bottle and it works well for me.

Later Dog! Hope i helped.

 

[fishizil]

Yeah I made that mistake the first time with over nuteing. But the schedule says about 1tsp per gal so I think I am safe on that end. Plus I topped it off with plain distilled. Dude thanks really! I am hoping the LED's work out. I was doing some research online though which reads that if you are going to go LED you should get at least 2watt bulbs. I have 1 watters for now but I am in the process of trying to price out the 2 watters. Not too many places offer them and as I am sure you know, they are very costly. But as you probably also know, the cost savings are astronomical compared to the usual lighting system. So to whomever is thinking about LED's so far I would advise to try and get at least 2watt bulbs in your system. The ammount of bulbs of course would depend on your area.

Later O. You are the man for keeping with me on this.

 

[schwarz]

Yeah I made that mistake the first time with over nuteing. But the schedule says about 1tsp per gal so I think I am safe on that end. Plus I topped it off with plain distilled. Dude thanks really! I am hoping the LED's work out. I was doing some research online though which reads that if you are going to go LED you should get at least 2watt bulbs. I have 1 watters for now but I am in the process of trying to price out the 2 watters. Not too many places offer them and as I am sure you know, they are very costly. But as you probably also know, the cost savings are astronomical compared to the usual lighting system. So to whomever is thinking about LED's so far I would advise to try and get at least 2watt bulbs in your system. The ammount of bulbs of course would depend on your area.

Later O. You are the man for keeping with me on this.

Hey man, here s a pict of my 10 day old plant no nutes just distilled water..

adding another airstone is always a plus!

Keep us posted

 

[fishizil]

Hey All.
Does anyone know if I can hook up 2 airstones to 1 pump? I have one now but I think I either need a larger airstone or 2.

And I ned a co2-booster. Anywhere that offers them cheap?

 

[Oreo111]

Hey All.
Does anyone know if I can hook up 2 airstones to 1 pump? I have one now but I think I either need a larger airstone or 2.

And I ned a co2-booster. Anywhere that offers them cheap?

Wally World baby!! Head to the fish tank section and grab a dual outlet air pump, its like $10.00, its made for like a 30 to 50 gal tank, works great. And you can get the airstones there also for like $2 or$3 bucks each.

I wouldn't hook up more than one airstone to a single outlet pump either, as the smaller pumps are not rated for that many gals.

As for the co2, here is a diy thread if you wanted to go that route. . .https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/258474-homemade-co2-guide.html

Anyways Hope that helped! Good luck as always.

 

[fishizil]

Hey all. I've got a question. I saw these co2 tablets for sale that get dropped into aquariums. Anyone know if these would be any good for my hydro reservoir?