My second grow (first grow in my new setup)

I am proud of my achievement, and I wanted to share (and maybe get some free words of wisdom for others who have input):

I finally transferred my second grow of babies from the plug tray to the flood tray!!!

I have been gathering the ingredients for this cabinet over the last couple of months thanks to the magic I pulled out of my ass with my first grow attempt in the linen closet, under what could be considered very adverse conditions compared to this. Hopefully this upgrade will serve me well.

Contents:

• 2x Lumatek 400w dimmable digi-ballasts
• 2x CoolTube reflectors
• 2x 400w HPS bulbs (decided to use HPS both veg and flower)
• 1x 40 gal res w/lid
• 1x 4'x4' flood tray
• 1x 1GRO 6" 400cfm inline fan
• 3x mini fans
• 1x 400gal/h pump
• 1x 5'x5'x7' Reflective grow tent (no-name eBay special)
• Xx Various timers, ventilation ducting, hose, etc...

For this grow I am trying the GH FloraNova series with GH additives (Floralicious Plus, KoolBloom liquid/powder when it gets into flower).

I am growing a few different strains to see which one will give me the best results, then pursue that strain in my next grow. Currently, in the nursery I have:

• 1x Milf
• 2x Jack Herrer
• 2x Granddaddy Purple

They are nested in 6" hydroton baskets, and the table will be filled every 3 hours. It takes about 5 minutes to fill the tray to a reasonable level, and about 12 minutes to drain thereafter. So I am hoping this isn't overkill (which I am hoping you will inform me if it is).

Also, I have the lights dimmed to 250watts for now. I am trying to ease them into the new spectrum and intensity compared to the seed tray. They are about 18"-ish off of the tops of the plants, and I am only running the big fan after it reaches about 80-85(f) in the tent.

Anyway, check out the pics and let me know what you think.

Really nice clean set up man, but if ur gonna buy 2 400 watter's y not grow more plants?

I planned on 9 for the given space, but these are all that pulled through :-/

I had 4 clones from my previous plant, but they all died (mold).

I am thinking I might top these out and trellis them to make up for the lack of plants.

oh thats suxs man, hey atleast u got sum really good plants going there. U should Scrog em, with the amount of space each plant would have enough room on the screen to grow evenly and huge colas

Just wanted to drop a quick 2 week update.

I've already posted these vids elswhere in the forums, but I wanted to also put the here for consolidation:

[video=youtube;VJtWJJBNqH0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJtWJJBNqH0[/video]
[video=youtube;oFKWAmWie34]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFKWAmWie34[/video]

in no way do I have any first hand experience with hydro but I think that watering them every three hours is a lot. Also your air temps are too high. Keep that fan on all the time that the lights are on and if you want you can have it come on for 30 min and off for 30 min when the lights are off. Thats how I set mine up with the timer that is a manual one that is in 30 min incraments. This might have been the reason for your mold too. Your set up looks great! Nice and clean.

My temp is only 75-80 at plant level. My fan is on a thermostat.

As far as watering frequency, if I water them less, they won't be happy. Hydroton doesn't hold water like rockwool. I'm curious why you think watering every 3 hours is a lot, but you think I should water every 1/2hr???

And the moldy clones were not in this cabinet... The died in the humidity dome.

see I have no idea about hydro. I was talking about the fan when the lights are off that you could set up a timer to have the fan come on for 30min and off for 30min to get some fresh air in there to give them new c02 and keep the mold at bay. what thermostat do you have? can you post a pic?

Oh, well there are little desk-style fans running constantly, and vent holes on the bottom. The only fan on the thermo is the exhaust. I'll get a pic after while. In the meantime, here is a quick update