My first ever grow.. White Widow Ebb and Flow with air stone

Hi there lads, I'm ROC1977, my friends just call me ROC! lol
Anyway I live in Ireland and am just sick to death of buying weed its too expensive and you can never be sure of the quality of it. Where I live its 50 euros for 3.5grams or 300 to 350euro for an Oz. Most of the weed is a real pale green extremely dry bud, with white powder on them. At first I thought they were THC/crystals or something. But when a report came out in the Irish media about weed being sold on the streets with crush glass in it to give the impression of strong weed, I decided to give it a miss and go back to the brown stuff. Although the has is made up from resin, oil and rubber. I thought that would be better for my lungs than red hot glass particals. lol.

Anyway I miss my green so I've decided to grow my own.


Right this is where I am now.

Firstly I decided to grow indoors (Ireland rains 7 days a week).
I have a anex/extra room/guest house at the back of my garden. Which I keep my Pc/Xbox 360/electric guitar,free weights etc you know a sort of lads room. Where when friends call over for a smoke we can go out there and not smell up the house and chill out. Plus I have a 8 year old girl, and don't smoke around her.

Anyway this room running water and more importantly a cupboard which is 2.2 meters high, 1 meter wide, and 1.2 meters deep. Its also wired with two wall sockets about half way up the wall. And one small halogen down light wired.

I found one of these "head" shops in the city center that sold seeds. So I picked up 10 dutch passion feminised white widow seeds. 70 euro.

I decided I wanted to grow them with Hydroponics. And went with a homemade Ebb and Flow system with an air stone inside the Reservoir.
Then I headed to my local B and Q (hardware shop) And got a dark grey tote which holds about 55lt, but I'm only filling it to about 40lts/10 US gallons, because its A: fucking heavy and B: don't want the container to break due to stress or pressure. Thats the reservoir.
Then found myself a tray 60cm wide, 40cm width, and 18cm high.
The got a atom 650 pond water pump and an Elite 801 airpump with a 20cm long airstone.
I used a lenth of garden hose for my tubing. At first I used 7mm tubing from the aquarium pumb, but that wasn't passing water in or out quckly enough.
I ended up using washing machine joiner/valves (not sure of the names but you can see them in my pics) And a lot of silicone...a lot of silicone! This part was the hardest part so far putting the thing togetter and not getting leaks.
I more or less put it together like most of the guides on youtube and around the web.
Res on the bottom and stuck the lid of the res to they flood tray, added an over flow pipe back into the res. And to the right a flood pipe attached to the water pump in the res.
Then I added the air stone and screwed the air pump to the wall above the height of the reservior.
I plugged the water and air pumps into timers.
My first question... Qo I need to put the air pump on timer? or should I just leave it on 24/7???

I'm guessing its 24/7, but thought I'd ask the pro's here!

I'm planning to flood the tray 3 times a day. My timers only work in 30mins cycles which is a bit of a bollox, but I've read that as long as the over flow keeps draining and its a constant cycle of water, and you've an air stone going its ok.
Plus my system only takes 2mins to flood and 4mins to drain.

And comments on flood times etc or advice would be great.

Now to the part which I seen on various forums, websites, guides etc. LIGHTS!!!

Right I've gone with these new energy saving blubs I got off Ebay.
Fastlight CFL's 6400k for propagation & vegetative growing. (Blue Spectrum)
2700k for flowering stage growing. (Red Spectrum)
150w Single Fastlight Reflector 470mm Long x 360mm Wide x 100mm High pre wired to 4mts of cable and a fused 13a plug.1 Pair of Easy Roll Adjustable Reflector Hangers.


I've only got one reflector at the moment, but got both light reflector, and hangers for 60 euro.

The main reason I got these is cost. Those HPS, HID lights are expensive and run up elect bills and I'm a bit unlucky and would problably but the place to the ground. lol
And I'm not trying to grow to supply the whole town, just enough for myself and a friend really.

I was expecting my lights Friday, but no luck. Hopefully I'll get them Monday. I've just decided to try geminate 3 seeds to get the ball rolling.

See my pics below and I'll try update when I'm not stoned, so I make a bit more sense than I am now!!! lol Peace

Seems like my pics won't upload.

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Bloody newbs!!! lol

Sorted it i think!!!! pics now added if anyones interested!!


Might I add the kids bike in the grow room will be removed once my plants (crossed fingers) go in.

Do you think I need to put reflective material on the walls? If so what?

i hope your not jsut starten 3 man that would be a waste in a container that big atleast do 6
i like the set up thow you can line the walls with mylar that will help seriously i noticed a difference between white walls and mylar
also check out sonic bloom ive been amazed with it

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2230035

jawman2000 said:

i hope your not jsut starten 3 man that would be a waste in a container that big atleast do 6
i like the set up thow you can line the walls with mylar that will help seriously i noticed a difference between white walls and mylar
also check out sonic bloom ive been amazed with it

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2230035

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I was thinking of only starting 3 because of only having 150w blue cfl and 150 red cfl. Would that be enough light for more than 3 plants or is it even enough for 3???

jawman2000 said:

i hope your not jsut starten 3 man that would be a waste in a container that big atleast do 6
i like the set up thow you can line the walls with mylar that will help seriously i noticed a difference between white walls and mylar
also check out sonic bloom ive been amazed with it

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2230035

Click to expand...

I only used 3 because I'm not sure how my lights will work when they arrive Monday.
I'll take a look at getting some mylar. Cheers!

Im a newb but im gonna follow your forum too see how your grow goes. Also to see tips from the masters. Good luck with your grow man.

Well all 3 of my seeds have cracked and have small sports. I watered 3 1inch rockwool cubes with rainwater I gathered. (rains a lot here in Ireland!lol)
I used rain water because I didn't have a ph tester at the time. And I knew rain had a Ph of about 5.0 which is ok ( i think).
I put a seed in each cube about 2mm down and covered them over.
I now have the seed sitting in my grow tray with just the fitted down light on them. I know its not enough light, but I was expecting my grow lights to be delivered this morning. All's good though, I tracked my lights and they are local, I went to the courier company and the guy I spoke to just happend to live at the end of my street. And he'd drop my package to me on his way home from work. (lights where in a Van that was out.) So hopefuly in the next hour I'll have my lights and can hang them up and really get the show on the road!!!
I went shopping today and got a ph testing kit. And some reflective material. Not mylar, but something similar I think. A lot cheaper only 8 euro for a 60cm high, 2.5meter roll. Its reflective radiator insulation. Hopefully it will do the trick.

Anyway... Got home and tested my res water PH. I filled my Res a day or so ago with pain old tape water, just to test my system works and for leaks (Now leaks..I'll get to that in a minute). The PH was 7.0. Which is a little on the high side I think? But I'm going to pick up some PH down in town in the next day or so. In the mean time my babies don't need the ebb and flow system so I'll just keep watering with rain water until I get the PH of my tape water right.

I've a question if anyone can help.
When do I need to start add nutrients?
Also I was thinging of getting Sensi grow/bloom
Would that be all I need to get? Do I need to get other suppliments? This is the real grey area for me so all the help I can get.

Thanks is advance.

By the way I'll add pictures a bit later after my lights (cross fingers) arrive.

ok just realised that the reflective shit I got is just that, shit!!!! compared to mylar. Which I just found is sold at 7 euro per squre meter at my local hydro shop!!


Still stuff I got might be ok for now.

Ok here are some pics of my room at this stage with my light and reflector and my seeds in the rockwool. All 3 seeds have sprouted a root, but you can't see them in the pics.

I went and got some Ph down today. I've just reduced my Ph from 7.0 to somewhere between 5.0 and 6.0. I'm using a color chart but its nearer to 5 then 6 so I'll say 5.4 lol

I picked up some Ionic Grow 1lt also. I won't start using nutrients for a while yet, until my plants start to grow a bit. I'll have to do a bit more reading in the mean time to see when I should start added them.
Unless someone wants to let me know?

ok here's my latest update. Last night I decided to add 1/4 strength ionic grow to my res solution. And have set my ebb/flow for twice a day. Once at 6am and again at 4pm. I put my 2 of my small 1inch cubes into larger 4inch cubes and the 3rd small cube into a net pot with clay pellets. The reason for the transplant so early was my flood tray would drown my plants if I left them just in the 1 inch cubes. And I thought I'd try one seed in clay pellets as a bit of an experiment. I put them under my 150watt Blue envirolite(some other make but the same thing).
I left the light about 10inches above the seeds for 48 hours. My 3 seeds are now showing small sprouts with those small false leaves.
Now I have changed the light setting to 18/6 so midnight tonight they will go dark and back on a 6am.
I've probably jumped the gun a bit, but it is my first grow so I'll learn from my mistakes.

See my pics below. Do my young plants look ok to you guys?

Hey again buddy. looks like you got the basics i hope some other guys (pros) start checking out this page there normally a great help. i dont know shit about hydro yet i figured i would start in soil first few grows. i will be following up on the page tho good luck

Strawberry said:

Hey again buddy. looks like you got the basics i hope some other guys (pros) start checking out this page there normally a great help. i dont know shit about hydro yet i figured i would start in soil first few grows. i will be following up on the page tho good luck

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Thanks for the interest Strawberry. Ya I'd like a few of the pro's to give me a few pointers too. But maybe they all just finished a harvest and are too stoned to bother posting! lol

Latest pics here. Starting to build a small system for cloning/sexing/vegin etc. Not finished yet, using 2 20watt Phillips CFL's. Should do the job for cloning from what I've read.
My 3 plants are getting bigger already, even that dodgy one is looking better.

Check my pics out

I haven't posted in a few days busy at work. I'll post pics tomorrow. That will be day 11 since they sprouted.

2 of the 3 plants are looking great. The one that sprouted funny is still looking wierd.
Pics tomorrow.

Well heres my pics day 11. What do you guys think.
ok I think.

I have nuts at 1.2 EC Ph 5.6/5.8

Envirolite Blue 18/6

Flood 3 times during lights on.

Guys if any of you pro's have tips or advice please post.
Also biggest of the 3 plants has white power on it. Looks like salt to me, but not 100%.

some more pics you can see the salt/white stuff on the bigger plant

hey i wouldnt worry about that white stuff its probly just dried up water spots or something ive seen it on my plants every now and again and it hasnt caused me any problems so i hope that helped ...widow87

widow87 said:

hey i wouldnt worry about that white stuff its probly just dried up water spots or something ive seen it on my plants every now and again and it hasnt caused me any problems so i hope that helped ...widow87

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thanks for the info bud.

Hey Rock, Looks like your heading in the right direction. I don't think the reflective materal your using is your best bet. I would definitly find some mylar, or just paint the area with flat white paint. Generally you don't want to add nute's for at least the first few weeks, real easy to burn the babys. Start out 1/4 strength, then up it to 1/2 in a week or so. Once their well established you can go full. Your PH is critical. The optimum number your looking for with hydro is 5.8. To high or to low will lock out the nute's. I would suggest picking up a digital PH meter. Rockwool works great as long as you don't over water it. Alot of guys say you cant overwater rockwool, but thats BS. Would suggest that once you start the ebb n flow, that you only allow the water level to rise to 1/2 below the cube, keeping the roots down in the clay pebbles happy. Since your going with the ebb n flow, you may want to use regular planting pot's with the holes in the bottom, rather than the mesh pots. Alot less problems with the roots getting tangeled, and less exposed to the light. Your probably going to run into problems with humidity, being your in such a rainy area. You can try some type of de-humidifer in the room. Also good ventalation will help alot. Hope some of this is helpfull for you. good luck on your grow.

pinspot said:

Hey Rock, Looks like your heading in the right direction. I don't think the reflective materal your using is your best bet. I would definitly find some mylar, or just paint the area with flat white paint. Generally you don't want to add nute's for at least the first few weeks, real easy to burn the babys. Start out 1/4 strength, then up it to 1/2 in a week or so. Once their well established you can go full. Your PH is critical. The optimum number your looking for with hydro is 5.8. To high or to low will lock out the nute's. I would suggest picking up a digital PH meter. Rockwool works great as long as you don't over water it. Alot of guys say you cant overwater rockwool, but thats BS. Would suggest that once you start the ebb n flow, that you only allow the water level to rise to 1/2 below the cube, keeping the roots down in the clay pebbles happy. Since your going with the ebb n flow, you may want to use regular planting pot's with the holes in the bottom, rather than the mesh pots. Alot less problems with the roots getting tangeled, and less exposed to the light. Your probably going to run into problems with humidity, being your in such a rainy area. You can try some type of de-humidifer in the room. Also good ventalation will help alot. Hope some of this is helpfull for you. good luck on your grow.

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Thanks for the advice friend. Ya the reflective material I have is heating insulation. I thought it might do but your right its not great. Going to change to Mylar soon. My room is already painted white matt.
Also my plants are in regular garden pots for the past few days.
I've only got one of those cheap Ph liquid things, with the color strip. Just got an EC meter off ebay for 20 euro. Which was 70 euro cheaper than my local hydro shop.

As for humidity, I don't think its much of an issue in Ireland. Ya it rains all the time, but the humidity levels in this country is extremely low, due it being so cold.
My flood fills up about 1.5 to 2inches up the side of my pots. My only issue with my flooding is my timer only works in 30mins. So it floods for that time. But I have my over flow out let set flush with the tray. So as it fills it starts to drain. I had to do this because my pump would over fill my tray.

As for my Ventilation, opening the door a few times a day is about as far as I am with that. And I've a fan set up to come on a few times a day.
I would have the fan on 18/6 but It cools my room to much at the mo as its freezing outside. As spring approaches I'll turn it on 18/6.
Current room temp 72, night about 65.

My biggest concern is the smell when it gets to flowering. I live 100 yards from the garda (police station) station. lol


I'll post a few more pics of my set up as it is now. Just let me find my camera.