RainForest

Hey any RainForest users. What is a good timer set-up for the Vortex? I read GH's manual on 24 hour on and the yada-yadas. But if anyone has any great Ideas, sweet. And much obliged.



Method1020

I run it 24/7. Its a good pump, dc voltage powered and not in the reservoir so no pump heat being transferred and the more moving oxygenated water hitting the root area the better right?? I would just watch water level, wen water level lowers the pump has to work harder to pull water up the step, ven though I think its a 600GPH pump, still, the less stress the longer the life, so keep your reservoir topped off. Depending on the plant sites your using, and I would hope if growing to maturity your using 6" plant sites, you may want to run the reservoir at 10 allons instead of the capible 15. This will allow more roots to receive solution via the spray, assuming the roots are exposed through the net pots already, if not, I keep mine filled to 15 gallons so the net post just touches the bubbling water. I also added area stones to mine, as the roots grow into the reservoir its acting somewhat like a DWC system as well, cant hurt to keep things as airiated as possible. I dont have massive PH or TDS drift, but for more rapid growth rates I want mmore root area exposed to the actual misting, so in order for that to work I have to reduce the amount of water so the roots arent just submerged, this will make a difference in growth rate obviously, but the lkelyhood of PH and TDS drift increase with the smaller amount fo water in the res, and it can happen quickly if you make changes or top off, so I would just keep an eye on levels.

It is an easy to use system and I can clean after use pretty easy. Not truely aeroponic however sinse the roots are mostly in the reservoir but maturity. But at least Im not cleaning spray nozels or trying to keep reservoir temps down from submersible pumps. This will work until Im done building my areoponic spray/ fogger system.

How are things with the rainforest 318 setup?. Im doing autoflowering and Im actually thinking that with the 18 site setuo and a little training, that would work maybe. They do not need near the alotment of area I have allwoed them in the 6 site. With non-auto's, the 6 site is perfect, but Im thinking with Auto's I can get away with an 18. Hows your scenerio working out thus far?

lottapot said:

How are things with the rainforest 318 setup?. Im doing autoflowering and Im actually thinking that with the 18 site setuo and a little training, that would work maybe. They do not need near the alotment of area I have allwoed them in the 6 site. With non-auto's, the 6 site is perfect, but Im thinking with Auto's I can get away with an 18. Hows your scenerio working out thus far?

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The reason I got the 318 instead of the 66 is so I could put the plants further away from the center, increasing the distance between plants. That's assuming you're not putting more than one plant per section, of course.

Right now I'm starting a grow with 4 plants and they're arrayed in a square, 12 inches on a side, so should be room to mess with them as far as training goes. Next time I'll probably do 6 plants equally spaced around the outer edge.

Looks like you're going to load up all 18 sites and go for speed. I'll be interested in how you do, since this is my first go-around with a RainForest and I'm playing it by ear at the moment.

Tav said:

The reason I got the 318 instead of the 66 is so I could put the plants further away from the center, increasing the distance between plants. That's assuming you're not putting more than one plant per section, of course.

Right now I'm starting a grow with 4 plants and they're arrayed in a square, 12 inches on a side, so should be room to mess with them as far as training goes. Next time I'll probably do 6 plants equally spaced around the outer edge.

Looks like you're going to load up all 18 sites and go for speed. I'll be interested in how you do, since this is my first go-around with a RainForest and I'm playing it by ear at the moment.

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hey guys...i had a quick quest. about the rainforest236 or 318...how many did you grow in the system to flower? did you grow them from start to finish in the 236 or 318? i was wondering about ordering it but im not sure if i can flower as many as i want im looking to flower at least 18 plants, will this system work for me? clones 3in to harvest of 2ft or more, if so how many you think i could do in this system going by those requirements? any and all help is greatly appreciate

tennvol said:

hey guys...i had a quick quest. about the rainforest236 or 318...how many did you grow in the system to flower? did you grow them from start to finish in the 236 or 318? i was wondering about ordering it but im not sure if i can flower as many as i want im looking to flower at least 18 plants, will this system work for me? clones 3in to harvest of 2ft or more, if so how many you think i could do in this system going by those requirements? any and all help is greatly appreciate

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I finished my 4 plant grow in the 318 a couple of weeks ago, and my next grow is only going to be 3 plants.

I let the 4 plants go, pretty much, only training one branch on the tallest, and doing nearly no pruning of lower vegetation. They filled the 5'x5' tent and I didn't have room to really inspect all the plants during the grow.

If you want to grow 18 plants to harvest, I don't know how you're going to succeed with the RainForest. I'm going to be trying 12/12 from seedling this time, to see if I can get each plant to put all its energy into one main cola and not spread out too much. If that works out, I can see growing 6 at a time, but not more than that. We'll see how things turn out.

For 18 plants, I'd go with an Ebb & Gro. That's what I'm going to be using after this next grow in the RainForest. I plan to use 12 pots, harvesting 4 per month.

Hey man - Im finsihing up a 6 plant grow in the rainforrest from seed to harvest. I left my sprayer on 24/7 and also added airstones to the bottom of the res to oxygenate the water. TIP: Cover the top of the rainforrest with something to cover light leaks..if not you'll get a little root rot.

For a DETAILED journal with pictures AND video of my 6 plant grow in the rainforrest check out the link in my sig. IM HARVESTING TOMORROW!!!

I have some qeustions. I hope you guys don't mind me asking.

1.) How often do you change the reservoir?

2.) when you say top off, I assume you mean adding more water. When you do add more water do you also have to add more nutrients?

If so, how much nutrients do you add when topping off seeing as the reservoir still has some nutrients inside?

3.) If you do change the reservoir, how do you change it? Do you set the rainforest inside of a tub and let the water drain out and then add clean fresh water?

4.) Will changing the reservoir disturb the plants in a major way?

I always wonder how they change reservoirs in aeroponics and DWC without hurting the plants..

Thanks for any replies..

StlSoldier531 said:

I have some qeustions. I hope you guys don't mind me asking.

1.) How often do you change the reservoir?

2.) when you say top off, I assume you mean adding more water. When you do add more water do you also have to add more nutrients?

If so, how much nutrients do you add when topping off seeing as the reservoir still has some nutrients inside?

3.) If you do change the reservoir, how do you change it? Do you set the rainforest inside of a tub and let the water drain out and then add clean fresh water?

4.) Will changing the reservoir disturb the plants in a major way?

I always wonder how they change reservoirs in aeroponics and DWC without hurting the plants..

Thanks for any replies..

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I used a water pump to drain mine, which never really empties it but gets close enough. I pump out as much as I can, then refill with plain water, let it run a few hours, then pump that out and refill again with pH-adjusted water, then add nutes.
Between changes I just keep an eye on the ppm while topping off, then add nutes in appropriate ratios to keep the ppm near to what I want it. I never know how much of which nutes are needed when doing that, but I get a rough idea from how much the solution becomes diluted.

I don't think the actual changing of the water damages the plants, but it seemed that watching the pH of the new water is the most important part, so I keep a close eye on that. RO water pH fluctuates more than tap water does, for some reason, so I spend a lot of time fiddling with that when I use all RO water.

I'm looking forward to getting an Ebb & Gro later this year, for one thing because of the reservoir being separate from the plants. That turns out to be a small pain in the butt with the RainForest. Most folks probably don't mind that because of the faster growth with the aeroponics. It's a toss-up for me as long as I don't mind growing a few plants at a time, but for more than that, I think I'm going to prefer the 12-pot Ebb & Gro.

Tav said:

I used a water pump to drain mine, which never really empties it but gets close enough. I pump out as much as I can, then refill with plain water, let it run a few hours, then pump that out and refill again with pH-adjusted water, then add nutes.
Between changes I just keep an eye on the ppm while topping off, then add nutes in appropriate ratios to keep the ppm near to what I want it. I never know how much of which nutes are needed when doing that, but I get a rough idea from how much the solution becomes diluted.

I don't think the actual changing of the water damages the plants, but it seemed that watching the pH of the new water is the most important part, so I keep a close eye on that. RO water pH fluctuates more than tap water does, for some reason, so I spend a lot of time fiddling with that when I use all RO water.

I'm looking forward to getting an Ebb & Gro later this year, for one thing because of the reservoir being separate from the plants. That turns out to be a small pain in the butt with the RainForest. Most folks probably don't mind that because of the faster growth with the aeroponics. It's a toss-up for me as long as I don't mind growing a few plants at a time, but for more than that, I think I'm going to prefer the 12-pot Ebb & Gro.

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Thanks Tav!

Yeah I have never grown with hydro before so it seems confusing. How do you know the right ratio? You just add small amounts until you reach the desired PPMs?

StlSoldier531 said:

Thanks Tav!

Yeah I have never grown with hydro before so it seems confusing. How do you know the right ratio? You just add small amounts until you reach the desired PPMs?

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I used the amounts recommended by my nute company, Gen Hydro. When I supplemented between res changes, I added smaller amounts in the same ratio. I was using between 3 and 7 nutrients at a time, and they were in different dosages.