LouDog's LED Lounge

[LouDog420]

Hey LouDog, loving the grow and your LED collection. Gonna be tough dialing in different plants with different panels but maybe you're the person for the job. Good Luck and Best Wishes on the grow(s)!

Just wanted to add to the Cal/Mag convo. Since no one has mentioned it I gotta say TPS Organic Cal/Mag, great stuff. According to the website it contains no nitrogen, (or about .01 percent from the amino acids in it), and you don't need much of it. Recommended dose is 1 to 2 ml per gallon so you might be able to use less and that may make it a bit more economical for you. And yes it comes in the handy 55 gal drum option .

CALMAG OAC | Organic

Organic CalMag OAC is a groundbreaking calcium and magnesium supplement registered with the WSDA. It features an organic acid chelate that immediately drives calcium and magnesium inside of plant cells, and allows for these critical elements to be used for growth and photosynthesis. Organic...

tpsnutrients.com

Thanks Fran, will look into it. Listed as organic, does it flow through emitters well without clogging?

Meanwhile, seeds to be shucked... sour jack f2s

 

[FranJan]

I was wondering about theirs. Thanks for the info. I don’t remember what I paid for 6 gallons of Growmore no N flowering CalMag however I know for a fact the recommended dose is 5ml per gallon so that could be a huge savings alone.
Have you run the complete TPS line? I gave their customer service a call when I was switching nutrients and their complete lack of technical support gave me a sour taste so I switched to jacks over a year ago and haven’t looked back.

Peace out,

LJ

That's sad to hear about their customer support. The only other product of theirs I use is their Silica Gold because of their formulation and results seem good.

Thanks Fran, will look into it. Listed as organic, does it flow through emitters well without clogging?

Meanwhile, seeds to be shucked... sour jack f2s

^^^ I think I bought a QP that looked like that once .^^^

Sorry, can't help with the emitter's question, I'm a simple soil grower but I don't think the TPS Cal/Mag is very viscous. Should work fine.

 

[gmanwho]

Running submersible 1/3hp pump. I've looped lines as much as possible to even out pressure, and err on the side of over feeding to make sure everything stays wet since we have drainage set up.

I also run a line straight back to the res so the submersible can prime properly and get running. I ran some numbers to make sure the head pressure with some conservative reductions with the manifold/pvc curves, and 1/2" pipe worked out before expanding from the old 40ct drippers to the 82ct currently in place. All seems to be powerful enough with enough static pressure building after the pump gets flowing.

Sitting at 1:20 feeds, 7x daily right now, which is around a 2% shot based on 1gal total container volume assuming the 1gal/hr pressure compensating drippers are doing what they're supposed to do





Ya, some plants definitely get some extra on the leak down. There's no real way to drain back to the res based on concrete block walls and the current pvc run that has to go up and over before coming back down to the level seen in the grow room and connecting with the poly mainline.

Thanks for the break down of your system.

Just a personal opinion ,I always steered clear of the submersible pumps in a reservoir when I found out most where oil filled. Don’t know if yours is. But just a thought.

My Understanding was that the motor/pump case was filled with oil to evenly disperse the heat generated from the elec motor to the outside pump housing. All that separates that oil from your reservoir is a 0.30cent rubber seal around that spinning output shaft to the impeller. That seal will wear down. When will it fail; who knows? I do know submersible pumps in the aquarium world is a no no. Rightfully so. But Imagine A 0.30 cent seal takes out a $xx,xxx harvest. Damn. There’s already enough that could go wrong. Might wanna check into that.


One area I always wanted to learn more was calculating pump feed gph, feed duration, then flow through x amount of drippers, then to runoff. Plant stage, amount and type of medium. Crop steering. It is an art in itself. If you know of any articles or links sites please let me know. Definitely an area that I need to understand more about.


wondering if your feed plumbing could benefit from an air purge ball valve. Maybe place it at the end of your return line inside your reservoir. During that split second before the water pushes the ball valve closed it can shoot water everywhere. Then after the pump shuts off the psi drops and the ball valve opens, could help drain the lines too.

Air Bleed Valves

Prevent problems with dirt contamination and air locks with the Air Bleed Valves for Drip Irrigation available with fast shipping from DripWorks.

www.dripworks.com

Man all this plumbing talk is getting me anxious to get back fully growing again. Moved to a new property, just keeping some moms happy. I cant build any real flower rooms till I know I’m done with any refinance walk throughs. In A Legal state but I’m cautious still cause of the size of the next plan.

Good to see some movement here and people posting.

Thanks man!!

 

[LouDog420]

Thanks for the break down of your system.

Just a personal opinion ,I always steered clear of the submersible pumps in a reservoir when I found out most where oil filled. Don’t know if yours is. But just a thought.

My Understanding was that the motor/pump case was filled with oil to evenly disperse the heat generated from the elec motor to the outside pump housing. All that separates that oil from your reservoir is a 0.30cent rubber seal around that spinning output shaft to the impeller. That seal will wear down. When will it fail; who knows? I do know submersible pumps in the aquarium world is a no no. Rightfully so. But Imagine A 0.30 cent seal takes out a $xx,xxx harvest. Damn. There’s already enough that could go wrong. Might wanna check into that.


One area I always wanted to learn more was calculating pump feed gph, feed duration, then flow through x amount of drippers, then to runoff. Plant stage, amount and type of medium. Crop steering. It is an art in itself. If you know of any articles or links sites please let me know. Definitely an area that I need to understand more about.


wondering if your feed plumbing could benefit from an air purge ball valve. Maybe place it at the end of your return line inside your reservoir. During that split second before the water pushes the ball valve closed it can shoot water everywhere. Then after the pump shuts off the psi drops and the ball valve opens, could help drain the lines too.

Air Bleed Valves

Prevent problems with dirt contamination and air locks with the Air Bleed Valves for Drip Irrigation available with fast shipping from DripWorks.

www.dripworks.com

Man all this plumbing talk is getting me anxious to get back fully growing again. Moved to a new property, just keeping some moms happy. I cant build any real flower rooms till I know I’m done with any refinance walk throughs. In A Legal state but I’m cautious still cause of the size of the next plan.

Good to see some movement here and people posting.

Thanks man!!

Great info as always. Haven't busted a seal yet. It's just so convenient to throw a submersible in there and not worry about any connections, bulkheads, etc.

Here's the main irrigation system/res. Simple farm animal watering trough, 100gal tank, submersible pump, garden hose connections leading to PVC manifold with connections to the main feed lines (top middle), a second hose for hand watering (far left), or the recirculate/bleed/anti-siphon line (far right).

There's a coarse filter on the pump output, as well as a 150 micron screen viewable in the pic right before water hits the pvc manifold.

I daisy chain two timers so I can run one as a general timer (on from 1pm-2pm) and the other as the second timer (feeds every 28.5 minutes for 1.5 minutes).

Air pump/stones for oxygenation.

It's all very high tech

Might as well include some plant updates...

Day 19, room shot

OG Chem cola under the Growers Choice ROI E-720

For pressure calcs, I may or may not have an engineering background where I had to suffer through fluid mechanics many years ago. I think the old saying of D's get degrees would apply there

It's all mainly just values that take some time looking up, then coefficients as multipliers based on your distribution system, pipe sizing, connections, bends, etc.


Do you think the air bleed is necessary with the anti-siphon? Not sure I understand the benefit it would provide, and pressure is high enough just letting that anti-siphon flow through a restricted ball valve for now, so I just let it flow.

Good vibes all

 

[jackspratt61]

Great info as always. Haven't busted a seal yet. It's just so convenient to throw a submersible in there and not worry about any connections, bulkheads, etc.

Here's the main irrigation system/res. Simple farm animal watering trough, 100gal tank, submersible pump, garden hose connections leading to PVC manifold with connections to the main feed lines (top middle), a second hose for hand watering (far left), or the recirculate/bleed/anti-siphon line (far right).

There's a coarse filter on the pump output, as well as a 150 micron screen viewable in the pic right before water hits the pvc manifold.

I daisy chain two timers so I can run one as a general timer (on from 1pm-2pm) and the other as the second timer (feeds every 28.5 minutes for 1.5 minutes).

Air pump/stones for oxygenation.

It's all very high tech

Might as well include some plant updates...

Day 19, room shot

OG Chem cola under the Growers Choice ROI E-720

For pressure calcs, I may or may not have an engineering background where I had to suffer through fluid mechanics many years ago. I think the old saying of D's get degrees would apply there

It's all mainly just values that take some time looking up, then coefficients as multipliers based on your distribution system, pipe sizing, connections, bends, etc.


Do you think the air bleed is necessary with the anti-siphon? Not sure I understand the benefit it would provide, and pressure is high enough just letting that anti-siphon flow through a restricted ball valve for now, so I just let it flow.

Good vibes all

Nice thick stems. Do you like the 720s?

 

[Vanilla Phoenix]

Looking good, Lou. Loving the simplicity of things with great results.

Gman always dropping that knowledge too.

Great thread up in here

 

[LJ farming]

Here is my high dollar high tech way of dealing with the lip on the bulkhead Loudog. I literally just cut the missing pieces out with a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder.

Peace out,

LJ

 

[LouDog420]

Thanks VP, definitely some great info for a bunch of dope growers and smokers

LJ, you do finishing work, don't you?? Lovely and functional. Thanks for sharing bud

Nice thick stems. Do you like the 720s?

I've ran the 720 for a year and a half maybe. Seems to do the job just fine, growing some fat and frosty flowers.

Did a group buy of 10 at the time for a discount, and 1 unit had to go back after one of the bars stopped working.

I've got an og chem under each one of the lights. So I'm interested to see what they all do, and any differences...

List of all LEDs we're running on the first page, not including the Mars Hydro, that is running as a veg light.

 

[LouDog420]

Hash Rosin Yields... 73u ice water using a 6 ton 3x5 dabpress with manual jack

 

[LJ farming]

Thanks bloyd.

Day 12, cruising... An easy afternoon, so we're hanging with the plants, refill a res, change out the CO2.

Feed sitting around 2.65ec.

Armor Si - 1.33ml/gal (dual purpose pH up, this lands me right around 5.9pH)
Calmag - 4.8ml/gal
jacks 3-2-1 (x 1.6)
MKP - 1.33g/gal
Micro - 0.133g/gal


Group shot

Mix of keepers under the Grow Light Science (bubblehead, OG Chem, Cookiewreck/ECSD OG Chem, AK47 f2 (2 phenos), and GG4 RIL)

Mostly OG Chem x NYCO under the Total Grow

More OG Chem x NYCO under the Grower's Choice

Mostly RKS x ChemD bx under the Spectrum King

Welcome to LouDog Alley, what happens in the alley, stays in the alley (until the end of stretch, after which come the cleaning crews)

Good vibes,
LD

Loudog,

Are you running Jacks recommended amount X 1.6? ie:
Part A 3.79 X 1.6
Or
Part A 3.0 X 1.6

Your plants look incredibly better than mine so I gotta change something!

Thank you

Peace out,

LJ

 

[LouDog420]

Loudog,

Are you running Jacks recommended amount X 1.6? ie:
Part A 3.79 X 1.6
Or
Part A 3.0 X 1.6

Your plants look incredibly better than mine so I gotta change something!

Thank you

Peace out,

LJ

3.0g/gal (x1.6) Part A
2.0g/gal (x1.6) Part B
1.0g/gal (x1.6) Epsom
Everything else as written in that post, at least for now



Day 20, a couple AK's

#9

#8, needing some bondage

 

[LJ farming]

Thank you very much I’m flipping the switch tomorrow so no more unplanned problems for me. Ha!

 

[LouDog420]

Thank you very much I’m flipping the switch tomorrow so no more unplanned problems for me. Ha!

Good luck. Every environment and plant is different, so still might take some tweaking. But, that's as good a starting point as any, imo.

I'll push epsom up to 2g/gal also, depending on how they look. So anywhere from 1.6-2.0g/gal.

Also forgot the trusty 0.8ml/gal drip clean

Then I flush 1ish days a week roughly (whenever the res empties, I'll fill it a third full with RO or RO+calmag). This was always the routine with big plants in 10's, so we'll see the difference in 1's, but seems to be good for now.


Day 21
Grow Light Science with a bunch of selected cuts (AK x2, bubblehead, GG4 RIL, OG Chem, Cookiewreck x ECSD/OG Chem)

RKS x ChemD bx #11 from Chimera

Violeta from Ace/dubi - Purple Malawi x PCK

 

[LJ farming]

I have not truly tested it out yet but it was recommended to me to substitute potassium sulfate for Mag sulfate after stretch. I substituted it for the last 2 weeks of my last grow and it seemed like it could have made a difference in terps but it could be wishful thinking?

I’m definitely doing it from week 4 on this time. However I start dropping CalNit Week 4 and replace it completely with the Growmore flowering CalMag by week 7 so 30% less CalNit week 4 and add 30% of the flowering CalMag recommended dose then 30% adjustment again week 5 and 6 and my ladies only get N from part A weeks 7-9. I’m far from dialed IMO but I’m ending up with beyond good quality some strains better than others IMO and a couple zips under 2 per light.

The ole man I’m learning from says N should be outta the mix by week 4 and it worked when I did it but my yield has went up about 25-30% leaving more N in weeks 4-6. After that IMO all you are growing is leaves to trim off later if you leave it 100% loaded with N.

That’s what I think I might know bud definitely no hard core proof just yet but I will be following 3 weeks behind you and only hopefully making planned mistakes! Ha As I have said I’m am only a year into this wallet and time stealing hobby but loving every minute of it.

Peace out,

LJ

 

[OG_Bishop]

i wouldnt drop the calcium... ever. you risk bud rot if you dont feed enough calcium.

 

[LJ farming]

If you are referring to me OG I do not drop Calcium. I slowly replace CalNit with CalMag during mid flower and 100% through late flower. All I’m trying to do is get rid of as much N as possible definitely not Calcium.

Peace out,

LJ

 

[LJ farming]

Well day 1 and my nutrient mix is working great what the hell did I do this time!

 

[LouDog420]

Pluck anything turning necrotic, flush with fresh nutes, and wait for the recovery. Hard to say without more details and I'm not the best diagnoser (not sure if that's a word...). I'd say cal and mag given the conversations

Gonna try out some gypsum top dress and might grab some low N calmag...

Mold is a big concern without the radiant heat of the HIDs. Thanks for the info bishop, will pump the Ca a bit longer than usual

Day 24 class picture

AK 8, super sativa

OGC x NYCO 3, straight orange fatty

 

[LJ farming]

Thank you LD I looked back at my notes and I had one bag of coir I used this run that wasn’t Canna and that’s probably about the number of plants I had with the issue in the beginning. I have always been lazy and bought Canna and never bothered pre charging it with CalMag or anything else. So hopes are that the different brand of coir I had and used up definitely hopefully possibly maybe should have been pre charged. Either way I did basically what you said and the plants that could have looked better definitely looks pretty good now on day 5. I will post pics tomorrow. Please tell me to scram if I am in anyway stepping on your thread. It is not my intent I’m just trying to learn from you at the recommendation of our mutual amigo!

Peace out,

LJ

 

[LouDog420]

All good bro, the thread's about sharing the knowledge, and the conversation just helps everyone.

Put together a Mars Hydro FCE-8000 for veg... I can do without ever doing that again. Just little pains in the ass, lack of tight tolerances for threaded pieces making for sore thumbs... An interesting design, but would have nightmares about building out a room of 20 lights with these things and setup...

Remote ballast is cool at least...

Added a new circulation fan in the big boy room also. Behind on the defo work, hopefully we'll crank that out tomorrow and maybe some new pics at 4 weeks in.

Good vibes all,
LD