tyler.durden
Well-Known Member
Hey guys. I've been a member here since 2010, and I've learned most of what I know from this site. I started growing in a small one bedroom in Chicago starting in 2010 - I began with RDWC, then switched to flood & drain with great success. I'd throw out my 'hot trash' at 4am in the dumpsters of an adjacent apartment complex - root balls of perlite, vermiculite, and rockwool, fan leaves and stems, empty nute bottles, etc.. I've recently moved just over the border to Indiana, a backward State where they don't even have a medical MJ program. It's funny because they are now surrounded by rec legal States, Illinois, Michigan, etc.. I used to have a small clientele of musicians and DJs that bought all I could grow. Through legalization, I lost over half of them to plummeting weed prices and an overabundane of product. I'm a professional musician, and I drive back to Chicago for most of my gigs, so weed clients now just let me know what they want during the week, and I deliver it to them after my gigs, usually on the weekends. Anyway, I don't have the option of throwing out hot trash anonymously any longer, so I decided to switch up to aero systems to avoid tossing bales of used grow media. Now I just burn the dried plant material in the fire pit late at night, usually while roasting a few s'mores. I bought this house for all cash, money that I've saved from my city grow for the last decade. I was fortunate to meet a master electrician through my brother-in-law (who also renovated my house). This electrician had plenty of experience setting up MJ grow rooms and meth labs, so I didn't worry at all about him setting up mine. They both work for a large drug dealer in the city who prefers to wash his money through real estate purchases, so he always employs the same loyal contractors to rehab properties, they have been with him for decades. The electrician wired my grow room with 8000 watts, more than I could ever use in there because I couldn't fit that many lights. It is nice not to have to run cords from all over the house anymore. I spent most of my savings on this house, but I plan to build it back up with my lucrative music business and the new grow. Should be able to do so since I don't have to worry about rent nor a mortgage payment any longer. Plus, the cost of living here is super cheap. The room isn't that big, about 13ftx7ft with 8ft ceilings. It is enough for a 4x4 veg tent and the rest of the space for flowering and equipment. I have a 12,000 btu window ac unit in there for the summer, and air intake from one window, and exhaust out the other through a large carbon filter. I built my aero/nft systems from designs that Stinkbud and Superstoner came up with, a la the Harvest a Pound Every Three Weeks thread. I'm really thankful for their guidance. TLDR, I know. So without further ado, let's go...
Built the first system, and needed to build 3 more. I'm flowering 3 systems under 2 1000w HPS Eye Hortilux bulbs run by 2 quantum ballasts. I needed an extra system clean and ready to go after each harvest, so 4 systems total.
I had some learning to do as this was a new style of growing for me. The water in this town is trash, it tries to kill every plants it touches. I was used to running sterile at the old place, just using Dutchmaster's Zone in the flowering rezes. This new water uses chloramines which I supplemented with the pool shock I use in my aero cloners. But I got root rot anyway. I tried again using both sodium chloride and/or pool shock. Even with the bleach at astronomical amounts, instant root rot. So I decided to go the bennies route. No go there, either, more root rot. I came to the hypothesis that there was enough chloramines to kill my bennies, but not enough to kill the ungodly amount of pythium from my tap water. So through trial and error I found the solution - I used API's tap water conditioner to neutralize any chlorine and chloramines, with an added bonus of neutralizing heavy metals. I then add my bennies. I only use API's Eco Fix now, I've tried great white, hydroguard, Southern AG's GFF with some success, but nothing works as well and is as easy as Ecofix, which is a super concentrated blend of beneficial bacteria. Both of these API products are meant for aquariums to keep fish and aquarium plants at optimal health, but they are tits for cannabis production, too. And they are super cheap.
First system, third try. Finally success!
Big ass AC for summertime. I cut out a side panel flap and put in a 6 inch register duct vent with screen over the outlet to the outside spray painted white. Looks very normal from the outside, though no one can see that as it is in my yard.
Second system built and installed
3 more weeks and things are looking great. I had to bend my GG4 WAY over as it was too close to the light, and it was shading other plants.
The second system was looking great, I filled out the canopy well via LST, and the double trellis is great for tucking at different stages. I put all the fan speed controller on this second system right in the middle for easy tweaking of the room's atmosphere - Exhaust fan, room odor fan also on a carbon filter, and the fan for the lights on its own closed air circuit (in from one window and out the other). Very convenient.
3 more weeks and I put in the third and final system, getting the hang of this now. Got Strawberry Cheesecake, Blue Dream, and GG4 in there -
Built the first system, and needed to build 3 more. I'm flowering 3 systems under 2 1000w HPS Eye Hortilux bulbs run by 2 quantum ballasts. I needed an extra system clean and ready to go after each harvest, so 4 systems total.
I had some learning to do as this was a new style of growing for me. The water in this town is trash, it tries to kill every plants it touches. I was used to running sterile at the old place, just using Dutchmaster's Zone in the flowering rezes. This new water uses chloramines which I supplemented with the pool shock I use in my aero cloners. But I got root rot anyway. I tried again using both sodium chloride and/or pool shock. Even with the bleach at astronomical amounts, instant root rot. So I decided to go the bennies route. No go there, either, more root rot. I came to the hypothesis that there was enough chloramines to kill my bennies, but not enough to kill the ungodly amount of pythium from my tap water. So through trial and error I found the solution - I used API's tap water conditioner to neutralize any chlorine and chloramines, with an added bonus of neutralizing heavy metals. I then add my bennies. I only use API's Eco Fix now, I've tried great white, hydroguard, Southern AG's GFF with some success, but nothing works as well and is as easy as Ecofix, which is a super concentrated blend of beneficial bacteria. Both of these API products are meant for aquariums to keep fish and aquarium plants at optimal health, but they are tits for cannabis production, too. And they are super cheap.
First system, third try. Finally success!
Big ass AC for summertime. I cut out a side panel flap and put in a 6 inch register duct vent with screen over the outlet to the outside spray painted white. Looks very normal from the outside, though no one can see that as it is in my yard.
Second system built and installed
3 more weeks and things are looking great. I had to bend my GG4 WAY over as it was too close to the light, and it was shading other plants.
The second system was looking great, I filled out the canopy well via LST, and the double trellis is great for tucking at different stages. I put all the fan speed controller on this second system right in the middle for easy tweaking of the room's atmosphere - Exhaust fan, room odor fan also on a carbon filter, and the fan for the lights on its own closed air circuit (in from one window and out the other). Very convenient.
3 more weeks and I put in the third and final system, getting the hang of this now. Got Strawberry Cheesecake, Blue Dream, and GG4 in there -
