How am I doing? (1st timer) Advice is appreciated!

Update: Still working on my cabinet. I got most of the parts ready, but I still have to assemble everything. Here is a picture of what I have planned. Any thoughts? Thanks.


http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cabinetplanmkgl1.jpg

im really not a hydro man and dont know much bout hydro and i never really did take a look at ur pics cuz they were takin for ever to load now i actually looked and it KINDA looks like over watering how much times u water it a day or how long is the pump on???

Your plan looks sweet, only change I would make is to only have 1 125W cfl bulb in the clones chamber, 2 lights is overkill and will generate heat. otherwise looks like a solid plan.

NoDrama:

Thanks for the tip. I will go with just one for CFL for the clone room. My other question I forgot to ask though is about the carbon filter. I was originally planning to attached my carbon filter directly to the Stanley blower's intake, but the tight fit of the top chamber won't allow it. So now I am just planning to have the carbon filter as a passive intake like in the schematics. Do you guys think that will be an issue?

n00b:

Sorry about the pictures being so slow. I was thinking about using a smaller resolution, but I thought the detail might be useful. I will drop it to a smaller res.

About the watering, I have the plants set on a 15 min drip session every 4 hours. The one problem that I had is that my water level in my reservoir are higher than the bottom of my pots. I also thought it was going to be a problem, since all the reading I've done says to have the water 1/4" below the bottom of my net pot, but Whenever I check my roots, but are barely out of the rockwool, well above the water line.

I appreciate all the feedback guys!

Well I got too lazy to change the res yesterday, but I finally got to it today.
Another member recommended a few changes so I'm going to try them out.

Things to change:

1. Transplant my 1 inch rockwool cubes into 4 inch cubes.
2. Reduce my TDS to 2/3 strength (app. 1000 ppm).
3. Reduce my feeding schedule to once a day.
4. Increase the space between CFLs and plants.

I have made all the changes and here are the results:



My remaining 4 after their transplant.



My smallest and 2nd largest.



Close up of my second largest. It's lost all of its bottom leaves.



Close up of the runt. Barely 2.5 inches.



This is the 2nd largest plant's roots. The most roots by far.



My third largest. No roots extend from the rockwool cube. All of its leaves are very skinny and curled down.



Root growth of my largest plant. Only my two largest show any signs of roots emerging from theirs cubes.



A shot of the family. Any ideas why all the broad leaves are dying and all the new ones are curled?



Top shot. What is the burn on the lower left-hand plant (my largest).



Here's a show of my res. Is that growth a bad thing? Is it just be the Dr. Hornby's Piranha and Tarantula (beneficial fungi and bacteria) that I added?



Here's an update on my cabinet. I got the light/reflector set up and it seems to be working very well. It's a 250w HPS with a 48v coaxial fan (140 cfm). I've read how people dislike coaxial fans, but this one seems to be handling my corners pretty well.

-Peace

Update:

So I have retired the drip/dwc system and moved my babies to new 7 gallon tubs, which has been much better. They are now easier to handle and care for. I have also switched to hand feeding in the morning. At first I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass, but it is actually turning out to be an enjoyable routine.



I now water about a 1 - 1.5 cups of 1000 PPM solution per plant. In the beginning I was using 500 PPM every morning, but I think some of my plants were suffering from over-watering, so I've am putting them on a diet. I haven't watered in 3 days, but am planning to tomorrow morning. The rockwool seems mostly dry on the outside, but they haven't show any signs of under-watering. I am also hoping that this promotes some root growth, which I think it is in some.

Here are some moar pix (we'll start with the good).





My champion plant. Since the new changes (thanks to joejoe4444's tutelage) she (fingers-crossed) is doing much better. She has spurted to an impressive 7.5 inches and is looking strong and healthy. Her tips are still brown though. I'm not sure why. She is also regrowing her lower branches as shown in the pic above.



Then there's the Runt. She has made a huge comeback and is now third largest and looking like the second healthiest.

Now for the bad news...



My second largest plant. She is looking bad with almost all of her leaves curled up like talons. I looked it up and I think it's over-watering, hence the water diet. Doesn't really look it anything is getting better and in fact she continues to curl. She does have new growth where she lost he bottom leaves, so that's encouraging.







I don't know what's wrong with this one. She has claw leaves on top, but droopy under-watered-like bottoms leaves. I don't think it's under-watered, because it doesn't seem to have changed much over the three days. Whatever the problem is, I think it's bad because even the new growth is yellowing.



Any suggestions?

Bumpity bump bump.

no idea whts wrong they should be growing ,,, cant see a problem,.,

wht nutes are u using??

Hey wassup Joe? I am using Fox Farms Big Bloom and Big Grow.

I hit up my local hydro store yesterday and asked the guy about my lack of roots problem. He recommended I pick up a bottle of some Dyna-Gro Liquid K-L-N rooting concentrate. I got, but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I figure, even if it doesn't work for this, it should work later when I have to clone and shit, right?

Anyone try this stuff before? Any special suggested feeding regiments or just use the directions on the back?

Thanks.