Al B. FAQt

wyteberrywidow said:

i just wonder about the rainforest

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is that some sort of hydroponic system? I don't know all the brand names, only the sort of watering system they actually are.What sort is this?

is it a good thing to have it on 24 hours i mean it says 24 hours on just until the roots are suspended then turn it off only at light off hours

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Plants don't need watering in lights off in any system.

Chumlie said:

Hey al do you know how to load film are photos with out it leading back to you?

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WTF are you talking about?

Phinxter said:

do you think i will need an intake fan ??

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You may not. If you can hold the temps to 24-26C with intake air at 24C or below and your present gear, skip it. If you can't keep the room air to within 2C of the room air, try adding an intake fan.

and how many plants would you try to put in for a first run in such a tent ?

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As many as 4 per sq ft with proper SoG pruning.

i was debating on putting 9 WW in 3 gallon pots would you do more or less in soil ?

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Sorry, can't advise you on soil.

the temp of the room the tent is in is a constant 68f

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Good if a little cool. You want 24-26C.

clones under a 105w CFL

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Overkill. A couple of 10-20W CFLs will do for clones. They don't need much light. Save the not so compact CFL for something like vegging mums.

I may be wrong here, but when you upload photos don't they show who up loaded them, and where(ip address are some shit)?

HATCH said:

OK, I'll Get The PH Down To 5.8, & keep It There. Thank's.

You Asked Media (What)??,,I Have Been Using The 2" Net Pot's With The Rapid Starter Plug's, For a Long Time, I Don't Like That They Hold So Much Water & Stay Wet, In The Summer It Causes Root-Rot Bad.

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It would. They're also made of organic materials, which can support mould.

Starter cubes are intended to be absorbent. If you expose them to constant mist, they'll get saturated and stay that way. There needs to be some clay pellets or some other less-absorbent medium loaded in the netpots in between the starter plug and the mist. Once plants have roots out of the bottoms of the starter medium, then they can be place in the pellets in your netpots, but not before. Without a layer of pellets, the plugs will always be kept too wet.

2) Is One Of The Plant's I'm Having Problem's With, 2" Net Pot With A Plug.
3) Is One of The Plant's With Just The 2" Net Pot With A Neoprene Collar.
4,5) Are More Pic's Of The Root's, With Just The Net Pot.
6) Is of The top Of That Plant,,As You Can See They Are Doing Well.

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The plant might have a few green leaves, but those roots look awful, I'm VERY surprised that plant's not dead. There's some serious root disease going on there. Roots should be bright white and turgid, never floppy & brown.

Nute temp is critical in dwc ops. It must be kept at about 19-26C. Dissolved O2 is forced out of the water above 26.

You need to be treating your nute soln with H2O2 50% grade @ 1ml/L every 3-4 days. This will kill the pathogens and add O2 to the rootzone.

the gh rainforest is a aero system (so it says) it has a water pump in a 7 gallon bucket with a pvc pipe connected going to the lid, the lid has a diffuser that when the water is being pumped up it sprays water to the coco liners with the hydroton and rockwool in it and it does not stop spraying it just waters until i turn it off

Al B. Fuct said:

It would. They're also made of organic materials, which can support mould.

Starter cubes are intended to be absorbent. If you expose them to constant mist, they'll get saturated and stay that way. There needs to be some clay pellets or some other less-absorbent medium loaded in the netpots in between the starter plug and the mist. Once plants have roots out of the bottoms of the starter medium, then they can be place in the pellets in your netpots, but not before. Without a layer of pellets, the plugs will always be kept too wet.


The plant might have a few green leaves, but those roots look awful, I'm VERY surprised that plant's not dead. There's some serious root disease going on there. Roots should be bright white and turgid, never floppy & brown.

Nute temp is critical in dwc ops. It must be kept at about 19-26C. Dissolved O2 is forced out of the water above 26.

You need to be treating your nute soln with H2O2 50% grade @ 1ml/L every 3-4 days. This will kill the pathogens and add O2 to the rootzone.

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This Is Not DWC,,,They Are Aeroponic Pod's That Drain Into The Main Res.,The Root's Just Hang in The Air Inside The Pod's, They Are Not Submerged in Water, They Get Misted,,,The Picture's Don't Do The Root's Justice, The Dark Stuff Is Liquid Karma. I Use HydroGuard For My Root Guard,, Botanicare Say's Not To Use H2O2, All My Nut's & Suppliment's Are Organic & It Will Kill The Benefcial Microorganisms Present In The Pure Blend & Liquid Karma.

But Any Way Thank's

HATCH said:

This Is Not DWC,,,They Are Aeroponic Pod's That Drain Into The Main Res.,The Root's Just Hang in The Air Inside The Pod's, They Are Not Submerged in Water, They Get Misted,,

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DWC and aeroponic systems behave nearly nearly identically. Nute soln temp in aero isn't as critical as the roots are not in the nute soln, but all else ie use of H2O2 is the same.

,The Picture's Don't Do The Root's Justice, The Dark Stuff Is Liquid Karma.

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Does them justice enough for me to know there's serious problems! Even if the brown colour is caused by an additive (if so, why aren't all of the roots stained same colour?), the root development is very poor. That plant's in big trouble.

I Use HydroGuard For My Root Guard,, Botanicare Say's Not To Use H2O2, All My Nut's & Suppliment's Are Organic & It Will Kill The Benefcial Microorganisms Present In The Pure Blend & Liquid Karma.

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Ah... quite so, organic nutes don't allow use of H2O2. Without H2O2, you rely on competing organisms to control pathogens- and yours are being wayyyyyy lazy.

If I were you, I'd reconsider the organic trip. It's MUCH harder to manage a hydroponic system without being able to use H2O2. 'Organic' doesn't mean 'better' or 'safer'; it means the nutrient has been sourced from decomposed organic matter.

If you want to use organics, have fun! I can't help you.

al b question since im doing a smal op right now while my other grow room is in constuction for budding i wanted to ask since i have small closet and a 400 watt can i just hang my light up outside my closet and when its time for the light to come on i put my six site system under it and light off i put the system back in the closet for dark hours so that way i got air circulation no temp problems and a perfect place for my plants to sleep but remember its only temp till i can get either a bigger closet or spend money on a squirrel cage fan. or all together thats a bad idea moving my plant in and out of a closet thru light cycles

Ok Al, so now its mt turn to have you repeat yourself, just know I have looked for the post with you covering this in your every 2 weeks harvest, but I just couldn't find. So let me first apologize, you are a good man.

Ok I have a room, right. It has cool tubes bringing cool air through and striate out the attic, right. I have an exhaust fan pulling through a carbon filter and pushing the air into the attic as well.I have a central 3 ton unit cooling my rooms. My blower is in the attic pulling air from there. My temps, everything is great, question is I know you said if you use an aircon you need to also have a fresh air intake into the room, cause of the ac taking a needed element out of the air being pushed back in the room. Do I need that as well seeing I am not recycling the rooms own air back through the ac, I am pulling fresh air through the blower from the attic? Or is it just what the ac does to the air that makes you need the fresh inlet. Sorry for taking your time, but thank you for your help, I have learned tons from you and continue to daily. I could honestly say you have changed my life, believe me I can't say that to many others. Thanks again.

Hey Al, first I wanted to thank you for this wealth of knowledge that you have provided to the great member of RIU. I have learned so much these last few days and your success has inspired me to go out and try SoG.

Right now im on my first grow ever and its w/ soil. I am using a 400w MH on 4 plants, 1 bagseed but the plant already smells the room up, the other 3 are blue rhino (blueberry x white rhino). The bagseed is at 6 weeks while the rhino is at 3. I am currently having heat issues w/ the room as the avg temp is around 82-85 f. The room is in a ac'ed house but still having heat issues from the light.

I am ordering a cooltube, squirrel cage fan, and panda plastic this weekend. This should hopefully bring the temps down to the optimum 75 f.

After I switch to the 400w HPS and figure out the sex of the plants I will begin cloning and the SoG style hydro setup.

I would like to copy your set up, just shrink it down a lil bit. I also have a 600w HPS that I would use for the SoG setup. I have 4, 17 gallon tubs right now.

My Q's are the following:

What size trays would be good for this setup?
Can I still do the 4 tray method w/ just one 600w HPS? I will also be doing the DIY batwing that you suggested.
What kind of table did you use? I dont want the setup to be too high.
My grow room is upstairs, what do you recommend would be the easiest way to drain the tubs? syphen/use water pump to a hose to the bathtub?? thats the only thing i could think of lol.
What size pumps should i get?

Thanks alot Al!!

One love

You Have Help Out Al, & It's Very Much Appreciated!!!!!!,,,Thank's

wyteberrywidow said:

can i just hang my light up outside my closet and when its time for the light to come on i put my six site system under it and light off i put the system back in the closet for dark hours

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Sounds like work, but it's your op. Make sure you literally do all that mucking about like clockwork or you'll likely induce hermaphrodism.

saine420 said:

Ok Al, so now its mt turn to have you repeat yourself, just know I have looked for the post with you covering this in your every 2 weeks harvest, but I just couldn't find. So let me first apologize, you are a good man.

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thanks.

Ok I have a room, right.

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right.

It has cool tubes bringing cool air through and striate out the attic, right.

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right.

I have an exhaust fan pulling through a carbon filter and pushing the air into the attic as well.

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right.

I have a central 3 ton unit cooling my rooms.

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right.

My blower is in the attic pulling air from there.

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Pulling air from... the air conditioned area of the house?

My temps, everything is great,

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Would be.

question is I know you said if you use an aircon you need to also have a fresh air intake into the room, cause of the ac taking a needed element out of the air being pushed back in the room.

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The a/c does not 'take any needed element' out of the air. Don't think I'd have said that.

I was addressing grow rooms with their own aircon unit, as is usual practise. Rooms with their own a/c unit recycle the same airmass repeatedly through the a/c unit. The plants deplete the air of CO2. Thus, the room requires occasional, periodic ventilation to draw in air with more CO2. You can eliminate the ventilation system by bringing in your CO2 with a tank, regulator and controller.

I think I see what you're doing; sort of a run-to-waste aircon system, drawing cool air from the central air conditioned area and then venting the grow room air out into the attic via your carbon filter.

This would introduce air with CO2 at normal atmospheric level every time your thermostat kicks on the blower pushing air into the carbon filter. Your room will behave like a non-aircon equipped grow that happens to have air at 24-26C to draw in at all times. Yes, you're already ventilating your room, not recycling the air, so you don't need any other ventilation.

If you ever do get CO2, you may want to have an a/c unit dedicated to the room. Recycling the air through an a/c unit keeps the CO2 in the room while controlling temp & RH.

I could honestly say you have changed my life, believe me I can't say that to many others. Thanks again.

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Thanks.

Al B. Fuct said:

(Sounds like work, but it's your op. Make sure you literally do all that mucking about like clockwork or you'll likely induce hermaphrodism.)

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i can handle moving a 7 gallon bucket back and forth in a closet for about a week or two till i fix up the other room or get a bigger cab i could leav it out of the closet in a big room but i wouldnt have no way of giving it rest thats y im resulting to building a frame next to the closet but i have a little spare room in the back its about 4x3 it leads to my backyard and on the other side is my boiler i can stop light leaks and bleach it out to try and get it clean but i want to know do u think its a good spot to grow being its by the backyard another question is how do i get hermies by lettin light leak thru cracks or moving it in n out of a closet when its time for the light cycle

wyteberrywidow said:

do u think its a good spot to grow being its by the backyard

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Can't really answer that without a guided tour of your place... and I would not recommend posting pix.

another question is how do i get hermies by lettin light leak thru cracks or moving it in n out of a closet when its time for the light cycle

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Interrupting a flowering plant's dark period is a pretty reliable way to induce hermaphrodism.

my best way of describing it is a walk in closet with seperate exit/entrance. one door leads upstairs to a yard the other door to the boilerroom in the middle is a 4x3 room with no light leaks,good ventilation all i would have to do is mylar,pandafilm or just paint the walls white with some leftover paint i have. (potential flower room) i was thinking if anything seal the door up with black heavy duty plastic(the one that leads to the backyard) and all should be fine what do u think???.

Sorry, can't picture it, I'd only be guessing.

Your room has to make certain conditions available to the plant. It's up to you to make the grow room present those conditions. Every space where you might put a grow will have differences, but as long as you can move air through it and exhaust it so it can't be cycled right back in as well as provide safe AC power, you're on the right path.

ill keep u posted on how making that room in to a growroom comes out until then im waiting for my seeds to sprout they r in 1 inch rockwool until they sprout then ill put them in the coco liners with hydroton and in a net pot next week or so ill check my hydrostore for a planter to start making my ebb n flow system. how many plants can i fit in a 2x2 if i want to flower in these trays i think a 3x3 would be overcrowding so i wont be able to get to certain spots as i would with a 2x2 and how many gallon res would i be attempting to get

2.5-4 plants per sq ft, 5L res cap for each plant.

2.5 to 4 lets just say i put 3 per sq ft so i should be able to fit 12 ok so all i need is the pump,fill and drain fittings and planter then i have it, i got a rubbermaid 30 gallon i could use as my res i also got a computer desk that i can use for my planters stand its perfect because i can put the res right under top of the desk and keep it confind because its kinda like a small cabinet i was gonna use it to grow but said ill get better results in a closet if anything i can use it for clones in the future

This is the second set of fan leaves. Thanks, Al the man

i believe i have to run full strength nutrients now to get rid of the twisting of the leafs, i came across a chart that makes me believe it is related to not enough zinc i believe.. but plants are doing really well here a updated picture,

here is exactly 8 days ago

tallest was i believe 13 inchs

and below that is today, tallest is 20 inch smallest 15

Today i'm going to the hydro store to grab a couple things but let me know how i'm doing!