First Grow! Indoor RDWC Zkittlez

Haven't grown since college years but with taxes these days I'm taking the plunge into the deep end with a rdwc setup.
Here's a quick overview of what I have so far and what I'm planning. Any and all criticism and/or feedback is appreciated.

Gorilla 2x4x7
4" AC Infinity exhausting out the window with backdraft can and a huge ass carbon filter.
Two oscillating fans.
Portable AC vented out the window and insulated for those really hot days and my own sanity since the room doubles as my office. (I have sound proof headphones)
Spider Farmer SE3000 300W. Might look into adding another light for the next grow.
PAHydro 2 plant setup straight from Gary. Went with a pre-built system since I'm already learning enough as it is and didn't want to hassle with building something leakproof.
Top feed system for the seedlings, will remove once they get big enough.
GH trio for nutes

Adding soon..
Top off reservoir which I'll also use to preload nutrient change outs.
Bottom drain system to facilitate said change outs.
1/10 HP Active Aqua chiller just to really make sure everything is in check. Hope to avoid needing this to run hard, but I wanted the peace of mind.

I popped some Zkittlez feminized seeds into some rockwool Tuesday afternoon.. still waiting for them to pop.

Filled the system up for the first time last night just to check the leaks and configuration. I've since laid the hump pipe completely sideways since I have the buckets raised up in preparation for adding drain lines.

Two of the three seeds I planted directly into soaked rockwool on Tuesday afternoon have come to the surface!
I have the light on the lowest setting and 30" away currently.

Couple hours later. Need to keep an eye on them to adjust the light so they don't keep stretching!

Well, unfortunately I had to leave the house for a couple of hours yesterday and it turns out I had my LED dimmed down too much, and they stretched a bit. I was too worried about burning them up, but I think I have it a bit more dialed in now. With the light turned up my tent temp was a pretty consistent 82

I mixed up a gallon with 1ml each of the GH trio and added 200 ml to a spray bottle along with 200 ml of plain water to dilute the strength and gave them their first meal.

My next focus is figuring out a feeding schedule so that I don't let the rockwool dry out, it was pretty damn dry this morning. In a few days I should have my hydro setup 100% complete and ready to use. I'm planning to top feed them with the pump on a timer, once I can figure out how often these guys are going need water.

Third one still hasn't popped. I took a peek inside as best I could without disturbing anything and it looked as if it started growing upside-down. No big loss if it doesn't pop since I'm only planning to run 2.

Sorry about the second pic, didn't realize the camera had focused on the cubes and not the seeding, lol.

I would separate that rockwool a little bit and turn that seed around.. Surgery!

HydoDan said:

I would separate that rockwool a little bit and turn that seed around.. Surgery!

Click to expand...

Might have to give that a shot for some practice!

The more you try the more you learn.. Nothing to loose!

HydoDan said:

The more you try the more you learn.. Nothing to loose!

Click to expand...

I gave it a shot. The root was in a U shape with both the root bottom and cotyledons on the top. Did my best to lift the cotyls up and bury the root with a little piece of rockwool. Now it's up to the plant!

As long as you don't break em they'll grow.. Looks good. Your first patient should survive!

Well, looks like you might be right! The patient has slightly lifted its head, in an effort to join its stretchy bros.

Looks good.. should be just fine!

7 days from first contact with moisture.

I've made some more adjustments to the lighting, turning the power down and lowering them more, since I think I had it running a bit too hot for these young-uns. Currently at 12" running at 50% power.

Yesterday I built my top-off reservoir. Ran air lines for 2 air stones to it, since I had 2 open ports on my pump, installed the bulkhead line which will go to the rdwc res, and added a float valve which I will connect to a 1/4" water line going to the sink with a carbon filter on it. I thought about getting an RO water system but I'd prefer not to waste water if I can avoid it, so we'll see how everything does without it. May have no choice if I run into problems since my water isn't the best at a PH of 8 and PPM/500 of ~250.

Should be getting my chiller today so I can finish drilling some holes, running some lines, and getting the RDWC finalized.

Love seeing that seed make it.. Good job!

Drilled some holes and ran some tubing for the chiller, top off res and drain lines. Need to clean it up a bit more and add a drip tray or something under the chiller pump.

Then do another leak down test...

Day 5 from sprouting. The seedlings appear to be doing pretty well, given my mistakes so far. I've been feeding them a ~350 PPM mix at 5.7-6 PH, about 3 times a day before the cubes get too dry. The stretchiest one also seems to be turning into the biggest one. They each have at least one little root coming out of the bottom of the 1.5" rockwool.

First full rdwc test is mostly successful. I misjudged the water height for the float valve going to the res, but I'll just use that hole for my probes and re-do the top off res line. I screwed up the hole anyways by going through both the handle and the bucket wall. This test was a helleva lot easier than the first one since I have a line hooked up to the sink with a charcoal filter going to my top off-res with another float valve, which worked perfectly and filled up both the res and the full rdwc system in a couple hours. Last time I was carrying buckets of water up the stairs.

Most importantly, no leaks. Didn't pop the breaker with all the pumps/light/chiller/AC running either, so that's a plus. Definitely going to look into getting a generator for the impending power outages.

Day 6!

Made the definitely final modifications to the rdwc system. Moved the float valve from the top off res down and re-purposed that hole for my probes. Added two holes in the lid for the top feed pump lines. I've got a very slight leak in the elbow on the chiller return line, so I'm going to put hose clamps on everything and see if that goes away.

The two bigger seedlings have been moved into the rdwc! I set up the top feed to run for 2 minutes 3 times a day during the light period, but I'll need to keep a close eye on the saturation to make adjustments. Will continue hand watering the 3rd seedling just in case something happens to the others, maybe I'll find it a good home.

Very nice setup.. I see the patient is doing well!

Used the rest of the insulation I had to do the tops of the top off res and the rdwc res, and most of the plant site buckets.

All I'm doing now is keeping an eye on the moisture levels of the rockwool to make sure I don't drown these guys with the top feed and keeping the PH/PPM's in check, and hopefully I don't kill them.

Day 12.

I started getting what looked like cal and mag deficiency. I didn't add any to my tap water initially, so I added a small amount to the system for now.

Decided to just get a RO system and an inline water meter so I can accurately calculate how much water is in my system and what nutes are in it. Will be installing that tomorrow and flushing the system this weekend.

The sick seedling started getting what looked like mold on the stem so I immediately purged it.

Current stats:

Tent:
73F @56% RH

Water
420/430 PPM (260 from tap)
66F
PH 5.9

These weren't here this morning!