Al B. FAQt

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grandpabear3

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No, but you may want to add a week into the flowering sked.

Flip it?

ya flip it...like i set the timer to come on at 6:00 a.m. now i wann change it to night time running and i figured this bulb situation would be a good time to do it.

Yes, just don't allow a lot of nutrient precipitants to accumulate in the tank bottoms, at least rinse the tanks before mixing up fresh sauce.

bummer....thought i could just top up the nutes....if i gotta make a new batch then i might as well clean em' to:cry:
sorry about the response in your quote...still figuring this whole forum thing out.:peace:


how do i multi quote your quote...like when you break up a paragraph and respond to each sentence.....do i just copy & paste like a madman?
 

yourname

Well-Known Member
Hey Al B. i have been researching growing for the past year,I have read alot of your posts,And i am amazed with your knowledge of growing and your willingness to teach others,You truly are a great asset to Riu.I will be starting my first grow this week,I can't wait.....Again sorry to interrupt your thread but people with your knowledge and patients are rare be safe and well....
 

q_tip201

Active Member
I was Just wondering what your guys thoughts would be on 4 600w in a single 8 in duct with 1x 786 cfm fan or would it be better for two lights to a run and two fans got my 4 3'x3' tables trying Al's way out
 
(what kind of light are they under now how many sets of leaves do they have what size hps are you using what is a rainforest 36 how often are you wetting the rockwool what is the nute strength and pH ive said many times that i don't like organic materials in a recirculating hydro system because they can break down with eposure to H2O2 and foul pumps or support mould)
THEY ARE UNDER 2X40 WATT FLORO COOL WHITES AND TWO 32 WATT CFL BRIGHT WHITE, 6 SEEDLINGS IN ROCKWOOL JUST POPPED OPEN WITH THERE FIRST SET OF LEAVES AND THE ROOTS ARE COMING OUT THE BOTTOM, I HAVE A 400 HPS THAT I WANTED TO KEEP ABOUT THREE FEET ABOVE THEM,THE RAINFORST 36 IS A AEROPONIC SYSTEM THAT HAS A WATER PUMP INSIDE THE RES WITH A PIPE GOING TO THE LID SPRAYING AND DIFFUSING THE WATER TO ALL 6 SITES, IT WATERS ALL 6 SITES UNTIL I TURN OFF THE PUMP SO THE ROCKWOOL CONTINUES TO GET DRIPPED ON THRU THE COCO LINERS/HYDROTON. THE COCO LINERS WERE GIVEN TO ME WITH THE SYSTEM ALONG WITH 3 INCH NET POTS AND HYDROTON. MY PH IS 5.7 AND IM USING GH FLORA MIX 1/4 STRENGTH FOR THEM NOW AND I WAS GONNA WAIT TILL NEXT WEEK TO UP TO 1/2
 

archie6214

Active Member
Good morning Al, I was looking over the homemade batwing reflector in your gallery and was wondering what size (thickness, width, length) sheet of aluminum you would suggest to make one? Also, how effective do you think this DIY version would be compared to the $200 original one. I'm going to attempt to build my own, and will post pics for everyone to view.

Also Al I set my ph at 5.8 yesterday and I just went and checked it now (not even 24hrs later) and the ph has risen to 6.0. Do you know what could be causing this? Thanks again.
 

newportbeach949

Active Member
hey al

i just started 12/12 cycle 7pm to 7am and today is day 2 of the cycle and my piece of Sht timer flooded my table before lights out today and i just noticed and turned the lights back on for the plants because they were drooping a bit,

they are fine now but i'm just stressin about the pos timer and went and bought a new one 15 minutes ago

should i not worry and just continue tomarow with the 12 12 cycle ?
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
do you see any benefit in this practice of 48 hour lights out before flowering?
Nope. My clones go straight from the clonebox to flowering.

how do i multi quote your quote...like when you break up a paragraph and respond to each sentence.....do i just copy & paste like a madman?
When I reply, I hit the quote button on the post I'm replying to, which gives me an edit box containing the text I want to cite. Then I break it up into the specific queries I need to address. I highlight the text I need to reply to and hit the QUOTE button (
), which wraps that text in quote tags. Then I enter my comments. Looks like this (using curly brackets so you can see the format, normally these have square brackets):
{quote}Should I lubricate my owl?{/quote}

why yes, you should, but don't wax your weasel!
people with your knowledge and patients are rare
Thanks, sorry you had to spend so long in the waiting room with the 14 year old magazines, gotta get new chairs in there too... ;)

I was Just wondering what your guys thoughts would be on 4 600w in a single 8 in duct with 1x 786 cfm fan or would it be better for two lights to a run and two fans got my 4 3'x3' tables trying Al's way out
While I prefer no more than 2 in a row, you can daisy-chain up to 3 cooltubes in a row, pushing them with a single 150mm axial blower. Each cooltube will raise the temp of the air going through the duct line by about 7C. If the cooltube intake air is 20C, the air temp in the duct after the first cooltubed lamp in the chain is 27C, 34C after the second, 41C (!) after the 3rd. If you put 4 in a row, the temp at the end of the duct line is 48C (!!). The glass on the (3rd &) 4th tube will get too hot and that heat is convected into the grow room air, negating the purpose of having them.

You want to run 4 lamps in cooltubes (which are 150mm dia), so you should use two, separate duct runs, each with a 150mm blower pushing cool air into the duct lines, with 2 cooltubes in each. This will keep the heat mostly in the air in the cooltubes' ducts instead of warming up the cooltube (and aluminium duct if used) exterior surfaces. Insulated ducting helps keep heat inside the ducts, but isn't essential.

WBW, ALL CAPS in one run-on sentence really doesn't make you any more readable! When you write in ALL CAPS- you are YELLING! PLEASE DON'T YELL AT ME!

While I don't expect you to be a professional writer, all the same, I don't want to have to work to decode your writing AND work to sort out your grow problems. Please use SENTENCES, such as I've done for you here in my quotation of your last post. The quality of my reply is dependent upon how well I understand your query. Clarity is everything. Make yourself readable- or make yourself scarce!

THEY ARE UNDER 2X40 WATT FLORO COOL WHITES AND TWO 32 WATT CFL BRIGHT WHITE.

6 SEEDLINGS IN ROCKWOOL JUST POPPED OPEN WITH THERE FIRST SET OF LEAVES AND THE ROOTS ARE COMING OUT THE BOTTOM.

I HAVE A 400 HPS THAT I WANTED TO KEEP ABOUT THREE FEET ABOVE THEM.
Introduce them to the 400 with about 4' clearance for the first week, then drop the light 1' each week until the lamp is about 1' above the nearest leaf tips.

THE RAINFORST 36 IS A AEROPONIC SYSTEM THAT HAS A WATER PUMP INSIDE THE RES WITH A PIPE GOING TO THE LID SPRAYING AND DIFFUSING THE WATER TO ALL 6 SITES,

IT WATERS ALL 6 SITES UNTIL I TURN OFF THE PUMP
This is a job for a timer! Don't rely on yourself to do the watering.

SO THE ROCKWOOL CONTINUES TO GET DRIPPED ON THRU THE COCO LINERS/HYDROTON.

THE COCO LINERS WERE GIVEN TO ME WITH THE SYSTEM ALONG WITH 3 INCH NET POTS AND HYDROTON.
You have rockwool below the coco liners and pellets? huh?:confused:

If I understand you correctly (and I'm not sure I do), you're drip feeding rockwool on some unknown schedule. Don't drip feed rockwool. Discard the coco liners.

How is it that you have a drip feed when you have an aeroponic system? :confused:Aero should be wetting the netpots of pellets from the bottom. The RW cube should be nested in the netpots of pellets with at least 25mm of pellets between the RW & the aero mist so only the pellets are getting dampened.

MY PH IS 5.7 AND IM USING GH FLORA MIX 1/4 STRENGTH FOR THEM NOW AND I WAS GONNA WAIT TILL NEXT WEEK TO UP TO 1/2
5.7 is close, but pH should be 5.8.

"1/4 strength" tells me approximately nothing. What's the nutrient strength in ppm?

Good morning Al, I was looking over the homemade batwing reflector in your gallery and was wondering what size (thickness, width, length) sheet of aluminum you would suggest to make one?
The thickness isn't all that critical. The aluminium sheet just has to be thick enough to be stiff enough to hold its shape once you roll it up and put the fold on the centreline. The AAWs are made from 1mm thick aluminium sheet. You can make it any size you like. The larger it is, the more effective it will be in bouncing light down to the plants.

Also, how effective do you think this DIY version would be compared to the $200 original one.
The AAWs are made from polished aluminium, the surface of which has thousands of ~1mm dia dimples made with a round-nosed punch. The dimples diffuse light to prevent hotspotting.



You probably won't be able to faithfully replicate the dimpling in the home workshop. Once you have formed the batwing shape, paint the underside of the batwing with flat white, hi-temp automobile exhaust header paint; this will diffuse light sufficiently and make the DIY unit perform similarly enough to the commercial version to work OK.

The large AAWs are each made from 2 panels of 1mm thick aluminium sheet, 610mm x 700mm wide (width is parallel to the long axis of the HPS bottle), joined at the centre with about 30mm overlap at the join.
Also Al I set my ph at 5.8 yesterday and I just went and checked it now (not even 24hrs later) and the ph has risen to 6.0. Do you know what could be causing this?
Could be a couple of things. If you're using rockwool media, RW has a small amount of limestone dust remaining from manufacturing. This will cause pH to bump up a little until the limestone dust is either flushed out of the medium or is neutralised by reacting with acids in the nutrient mix. Pathogen infections of the system can do the same, but often much more dramatically than .2 in 24h. Use H2O2 50% grade at 1ml/L in your tank, reapplied every 3-4 days to stop pathogens dead in their tracks as well as introduce O2 directly into your roots. This should be part of your routine. H2O2 must be applied regularly to do any good.

hey al

i just started 12/12 cycle 7pm to 7am and today is day 2 of the cycle and my piece of Sht timer flooded my table before lights out today and i just noticed and turned the lights back on for the plants because they were drooping a bit,
So what happened? Your timer didn't shut off and they were flooded all night? I'm not clear on what the problem is.

Leaves normally droop a little during lights-off. Not a worry. Turn the lights on, photosynthesis restarts and they again begin to transpire water, which plumps up the cells and makes the leaves stand erect (baby! :D). The droop will go away in about 10-15 mins post lights-on.

Droopy leaves DURING lights-on are a sign of trouble- usually means the roots can't supply the needs of the plant.

they are fine now but i'm just stressin about the pos timer and went and bought a new one 15 minutes ago

should i not worry and just continue tomarow with the 12 12 cycle ?
You're fine, carry on. :)
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
The AAWs are made from polished aluminium, the surface of which has thousands of ~1mm dia dimples made with a round-nosed punch. The dimples diffuse light to prevent hotspotting.

You probably won't be able to faithfully replicate the dimpling in the home workshop. Once you have formed the batwing shape, paint the underside of the batwing with flat white, hi-temp automobile exhaust header paint; this will diffuse light sufficiently and make the DIY unit perform similarly enough to the commercial version to work OK.

But you may be able to buy a sheet from the mill. I doubt they dimple the sheet and make the bat-wing. Kinda waste of a punch press time vs cost.

Gonna look into getting sheets pre-dimpled. Kinda my industry.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
But you may be able to buy a sheet from the mill. I doubt they dimple the sheet and make the bat-wing. Kinda waste of a punch press time vs cost.

Gonna look into getting sheets pre-dimpled. Kinda my industry.
Works for me!

If you find a maker/retailer of 1mm dimpled, 1mm thick alu sheet please share your research. Since this is your line of work, I'd like to know what type of alu is best- 3003? 6061? Thanks. :)
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
how do i multi quote your quote...like when you break up a paragraph and respond to each sentence.....do i just copy & paste like a madman?
Wrap the text you want to appear as a quotation in QUOTE tags as described a post ago.

If you reply by hitting the quote button
at the bottom of the post, all text from the last post is copied into the editing window- EXCEPT text which appeared as a quote in the post you are citing. This prevents excessive clutter by not permitting several layers of embedded quotes.

Unfortunately, because you put your comments inside the quote tags in the last post you made, I did have to copy/paste your text into this comment instead of it appearing automagically in my new post.

ya flip it...like i set the timer to come on at 6:00 a.m. now i wann change it to night time running and i figured this bulb situation would be a good time to do it.
If you want to shift a flowering room from a 6am-6pm lights-on time to 6pm to 6am, give them one long 'night' and begin the new sked. So, if your on-time sked was 6am-6pm on Monday, leave the lights off from 6pm Monday until 6pm Tuesday, when you begin your new 6pm-6am sked. You can do it now but wouldn't matter if your HPS lights were functioning as usual.

I wouldn't make a habit of shifting the photoperiod. I also do not change my light cycle timing for daylight savings time.


bummer....thought i could just top up the nutes....if i gotta make a new batch then i might as well clean em' to
Topping up nutes is a serious no-no. This is a topic I've covered before.

In particular, don't add more nutrient concentrate to a half-eaten, existing tank of nutes in between mixing up fresh tanks.

Nutrient mixes are engineered to provide N, P & K not just in adequate quantity but in proper proportion for a certain phase of growth. Flowering nutes, in example, have a high ratio of P to N & K. Plants may use N, P & K at differing rates at different stages of growth. When you mix up a fresh tank, the NPK ratios will be right, per the maker's intentions.

After several days of that tank of sauce feeding the plants, let's say that half the P is gone, 1/4 of the N is used and 2/3 of the K is eaten. If you then add more nutrient concentrate, you're going to wind up with N, P & K in proportions that the maker did not intend- and may not be right for the plants.
 

grandpabear3

New Member
Wrap the text you want to appear as a quotation in QUOTE tags as described a post ago.

If you reply by hitting the quote button
at the bottom of the post, all text from the last post is copied into the editing window- EXCEPT text which appeared as a quote in the post you are citing. This prevents excessive clutter by not permitting several layers of embedded quotes.

Unfortunately, because you put your comments inside the quote tags in the last post you made, I did have to copy/paste your text into this comment instead of it appearing automagically in my new post.



If you want to shift a flowering room from a 6am-6pm lights-on time to 6pm to 6am, give them one long 'night' and begin the new sked. So, if your on-time sked was 6am-6pm on Monday, leave the lights off from 6pm Monday until 6pm Tuesday, when you begin your new 6pm-6am sked. You can do it now but wouldn't matter if your HPS lights were functioning as usual.

I wouldn't make a habit of shifting the photoperiod. I also do not change my light cycle timing for daylight savings time.




Topping up nutes is a serious no-no. This is a topic I've covered before.
:dunce: well i feel like i just got in trouble. but thanks for thr info again.
hey al ...any thoughts on elite membership....pros, cons etc...
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Works for me!

If you find a maker/retailer of 1mm dimpled, 1mm thick alu sheet please share your research. Since this is your line of work, I'd like to know what type of alu is best- 3003? 6061? Thanks. :)
I'm no metallurgist (just CNC lasers on the tech side.) But depends on the application. For the bat wing the 3003 looks a bit nicer. But for cost, go with the cheaper. (scrap bins and yards are a great cheap resource. You should see what I see customer toss in a scrap bin!)

But I will post any find.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
:dunce: well i feel like i just got in trouble. but thanks for thr info again.
In trouble? I might be a source of information, but I'm not an authority figure. The day I become an authority figure is the day I have a strychnine milkshake with cyanide sprinkles. I'm an anti-authority figure. :)

hey al ...any thoughts on elite membership....pros, cons etc...
None. I guess it gives you some more features. If I don't know what they are, I must not need them. I sure don't need the 'elite' badge. Along with being anti-authority, I'm anti-elitist. I'm common rabble and proud of it! :lol:


I'm no metallurgist (just CNC lasers on the tech side.)
JUST CNC lasers... "JUST", he says. :lol:

I'd give one of my livers for a CNC laser cutting machine!

But depends on the application. For the bat wing the 3003 looks a bit nicer.
I guess it depends on how you make the thing. While I suggest rolling the sheet up into a cylinder, the commercially made AAW is supplied as two flat sheets with a crease forming a lip at either end providing lateral stiffness. The parabola shape is formed by a pair of stainless wires pulling the ends of the joined sheets together, bending them into a smooth parabolic curve. I guess you could avoid rolling the stuff up if you had the right kind of alu with the right amount of stiffness. A different type of alu, which takes and holds a bend easily, might be better for the roll-up method. I do kinda need the metallurgical information on the difference between the different numbered types of the stuff to know. Might not need to be a metallurgist to get that data, just a good Googler. I haven't looked very hard for the data yet.

But for cost, go with the cheaper. (scrap bins and yards are a great cheap resource. You should see what I see customer toss in a scrap bin!)
yeah, I haunt my local metals suppliers bins. They hate me for it and yell at me, say I'm a safety risk (but I brought my thick leather gloves, she'll be right, mate!!) etc. I raid the bins on Friday arvo when the mob is off early, gone to the pub. ;)

But I will post any find.
good onya, thanks. :)
 

fitzyno1

Well-Known Member
Hi Al B,
Just a thought, do the roots at the bottom of your pots ever have root rot as they are always in rockwool that is saturated with nutes?
Would a few layers of pellets hold the pots down instead of rockwool?
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
Well a parabola is a defined curve and focal point, no? The SS lines I doubt actually keep it. Actually it can't. The length of the curve remains constant.
I'd opt more for a few strategically pleces beads rolled into the sheet to stiffen it to adjust the curve characteristics.
Though could also be done with the 'pebble finish' with HUGE amounts of engineering.(or even more expensive T&E)

3003 work hardens (just bending it will start the hardening) So roll the whole thing then reverse the roll for the inner section to straighten it back out and harden it a bit more.

6061 really depends on the tempering #.

But try:
http://www.suppliersonline.com/propertypages/3003.asp#Spec


JUST CNC lasers... "JUST", he says. :lol:

I'd give one of my livers for a CNC laser cutting machine!

I guess it depends on how you make the thing. While I suggest rolling the sheet up into a cylinder, the commercially made AAW is supplied as two flat sheets with a crease forming a lip at either end providing lateral stiffness. The parabola shape is formed by a pair of stainless wires pulling the ends of the joined sheets together, bending them into a smooth parabolic curve. I guess you could avoid rolling the stuff up if you had the right kind of alu with the right amount of stiffness. A different type of alu, which takes and holds a bend easily, might be better for the roll-up method. I do kinda need the metallurgical information on the difference between the different numbered types of the stuff to know. Might not need to be a metallurgist to get that data, just a good Googler. I haven't looked very hard for the data yet.



yeah, I haunt my local metals suppliers bins. They hate me for it and yell at me, say I'm a safety risk (but I brought my thick leather gloves, she'll be right, mate!!) etc. I raid the bins on Friday arvo when the mob is off early, gone to the pub. ;)



good onya, thanks. :)
 

gvega187

Well-Known Member
yo al,

I accidentally gave my oldest flowering cylce a near lethal dose of sulfur vapor yesterday. The directions that came with the burner were dangerous and disastrous.

I understand sulfur vaporizers raise the ph on the plants surface thus killing powdery mildew.

My leaves are curling up pretty quick at the tips and leaves are yellowing. I also know that ph problems can cause leaf curling and this similar yellowing.

is there any way I can correct this? might I spray down the leaves with a higher ph water? Sorry no pics yet.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Hi Al B,
Just a thought, do the roots at the bottom of your pots ever have root rot as they are always in rockwool that is saturated with nutes?
No, and there's several reasons why I don't get any rot.

  • I use H2O2
  • water in the layer of floc is never stagnant (without any dissolved O2) because the relatively thin layer of floc is forcibly flushed with oxygenated nute solneach time the tray floods; a pot stuffed only with floc behaves differently to the 25-50mm layer, when saturated, tending to not allow any solution in until some has been taken out by the plant
  • By the time plants are large enough to have set down roots in the bottom layer of floc, they are large enough to remove a significant portion of the waterin the floc before I water again
Would a few layers of pellets hold the pots down instead of rockwool?
I don't think so; pellets are rather buoyant themselves. Since pellets absorb almost no water while RW absorbs many times its weight in water, saturated RW would weigh several times what an equivalent volume of wet pellets would.

The other purpose for the floc is to keep the Fytocell in the pots. I don't think a layer of pellets would keep the Fytocell crumbs in the pot. I think the crumbs would rinse through the gaps in the pellets and into my trays/tanks.

Well a parabola is a defined curve and focal point, no? The SS lines I doubt actually keep it. Actually it can't.


huh? Then this is impossible!

These refs came out of a flat package. It is the spring tension of the alu sheet working against the stainless wires which connect the far ends together which hold this reflector in the double parabola shape.

thanks for the linkage. :)

yo al,

I accidentally gave my oldest flowering cylce a near lethal dose of sulfur vapor yesterday. The directions that came with the burner were dangerous and disastrous.
Oh? What did the instructions say?

How long was your timer set to run the 'burner'?

Did you USE a timer? You didn't plug it in & walk away, did you?

I understand sulfur vaporizers raise the ph on the plants surface thus killing powdery mildew.

My leaves are curling up pretty quick at the tips and leaves are yellowing. I also know that ph problems can cause leaf curling and this similar yellowing.
yep...
is there any way I can correct this? might I spray down the leaves with a higher ph water? Sorry no pics yet.
Not higher, lower.

I might spray them down with something slightly acidic to counter the alkalinity of the S, perhaps a thorough wetting with pH 5.8 water.
 

sparkafire

Well-Known Member
Hey ABF bugsrnme and myself have the same strain WW and both of our mums showed sex DURING vegetation. Could this be some of our problems cloning? I have read where its hard to clone during the flowering stage so i was wondering. HMMMMM

Oh and i just sent your royality check for August.

Sparky
 
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