new room, bio-bucket first-timer

[OGPurp]

Well, I'm taking my hobby to the next level and constructed a new 8'x8' grow room in my garage.

On the left, I've got my trusty 2'x3' ebb and flow table under my 400HPS (2 bagseed Indicas). On the right, there will be 4 bio-buckets under a 1000HPS, likely 3 Sensi Star and one Mango (they're in my DIY aero-cloner right now). The fluoro at the front is for my three mother plants, I need to figure out a place for them before the ladies go 12/12.

Since I've already done lots of E&F grows, this diary is probably going to focus on the buckets.



The room and bio-bucket setup are new, plus I need to travel a bit over the next few months, so I'm not expecting outstanding results this time. This first grow is to work out the bugs, and learn.

Tomorrow the buckets gets solution. I'm using the the GH 3 part set. Should I mix it 3-2-1 (the veg formula) like it says on the labels or use a different concentation?

Peace OGP

 

[OGPurp]

First clone in

First clone in



This afternoon I mixed up 30 gallons of solution (GH veg 3-2-1) and put the first clone (Sensi Star) into the buckets. The other clones are coming along nicely, but their roots just need a little more time in the cloner. The DIY water level indicator on my res really helped with the filling task - with all the pipes on top of it, checking the water level is a major chore.


The 500GPH Mag-Drive pump is great. I didn't time it, but it seemed to fill up the buckets in no time. I'm definitely getting more than the minimum recommended 7 exchanges per hour. I put clear plastic inside about 1/3 of the circumfrence of the net pots to keep the roots out of the drain pipe, and marked the lids so I can keep it aligned.



The 1000HPS is brighter than I imagined. It's about 2 ft away from the top of the clone.

 

[drummerlars]

good job mate keep us updated with the grow.

im building my 8 bucket bio system at the moment

 

[OGPurp]

All plants are in

All plants are in

Tonight I filled the last 2 remaining buckets with clones. Another went in last night, and the first one is looking green and healthy.

My res temps range from 70 to 72 F at lights on, on up to 78F during day. I bought some Reflectix and covered each bucket and the res, which hopefully should keep temps down.


I read another post about cooling nute solution by using an air pump drawing from a cold air source. I hooked up an air pump rated for a 100 gal aquarium to an airstone in each bucket. The pump is too loud to actually put outside, it would be too noticeable, but it's in the garage where it cools down at night. I'll be monitoring the effect on nute temps, and the plants should love the DO. You can see each airline, connected to a gang valve then going to the pump.




E&F plants are doing well, I put my last remaining clone (Mango) into an E&F pot and under the 400HPS.

 

[Maj.PotHead]

looks to be a nice setup right on

 

[OGPurp]

Veg Day 4: Leaves getting green again

Veg Day 4: Leaves getting green again

Some of the ladies turned a pale yellowish-green after going into the buckets. It may have been due to the pH being too high, so I've been slowly adjusting it downward over the past couple of days. Leaves are turning green again, first along the leaves' mid-rib and then out through the veins.





The airstones don't really seem to be cooling the res much. Res temps are ~ 79F at the end of the light cycle.

The E&F ones are doing well, but the transplanted Mango is pretty yellow. Anyway, I took 12 more clones (4 from each of my mothers) to practice using the aircloner. My success with the DIY cloner was around 40%, compared to other ICers reporting 100% so I'm giving it a try in the warm grow room, but with no aquarium heater.

 

[drummerlars]

updates??

 

[OGPurp]

Veg Day 7 -

Veg Day 7 -

It's been a week since filling all the buckets and ladies are doing well. The 4' x 4' screen is suspended over the buckets, currently 2 to 4" away from the tops of the plants. The largest plant is about 7" wide x 7" tall.





Roots are beginning to protrude below the net pots. In this picture, you can see the clear plastic that I inserted between lava and net pot, to (hopefully) keep the roots of of the drain hose.




My two E&F plants are hitting the screen, time to start folding them under.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Nice setup you have here OGPurp - plants are looking very nice. If you don't mind gonna sit in the corner and take some notes...

 

[OGPurp]

Veg Day 15

Veg Day 15

The largest SS is now about 16" wide, 9" tall, and they're up near the screen. I noticed some bugs tonight, spider mites I think, so I'm going to have to do something about that.



The two E&F indicas are doing really well, I tucked lots of branches under the screen tonight.



I don't have my good camera today, hence the crappy pictures.

 

[OGPurp]

Flower day 2: Renovations, 12/12 turnover

Flower day 2: Renovations, 12/12 turnover

I did LOTS of work in my grow room this past weekend. Here's how my ladies look:







First, I decided to remove the 4'x4' scrog screen and complete this grow without it, figuring I might need easy access to the buckets and plumbing, since this is my first grow.

Other renovations:

Got pump out of res, to keep things cooler. I also added a float valve hooked up to a big external res. Now the waterfall is higher, and the res gets automatically topped off as the plants drink away.





Since I added the air hoses as an afterthought, to try to keep the res cooler, I drilled holes for the airlines.

Also changed the lights to 12/12, let's see how big these get



I also assembled a cart that I'm going to cover with white/black poly and use for my mom and clone cab. That's two 23W CFLs, my first time ever growing under CFLs.



And I also put a lid on my E&F res, and also added a DIY level indicator so I know when to top off.

 

[MID TOWN]

lookin good

 

[OGPurp]

Flower Day 6

Flower Day 6

All 4 ladies are doing well. They average about 12" high and 18" wide. The widest is a a fat 24" wide (measuring from the tips of the sun leaves). Sensi Star is a great bushy, squat plant, I'm thinking about maybe growing one out in the backyard this summer I'm glad I abandoned my idea to scrog - they don't have the vertical growth and they're bushing out naturally.



Moving the pump out of the res was a great move. Now I'm starting lights on with a res temp of 65F, and it gradually goes up to 70 or 71F by bedtime. Before the max res temps were ~ 74, 78 at the extreme. I never would have thought a pump radiated so much heat, mine isn't even warm to the touch.

Anyway, I won't be able to see the plants for 9 days, let's see if bio-buckets are really so maintenance free as claimed.

 

[GreenLantern]

Wat up Purps,
The setup is bang on mate, im seriously swaying towards the buckets myself. Wat do you think of the system in general, compared to the e+f. Keep us posted i wana see how it all turns out.

 

[OGPurp]

Sup Green, thanks for stopping by.

For the bio-buckets to work, you have to keep the res cool (67F is ideal, I hear), so plan for this when you're designing your system (don't submerse the pump, maybe think about some cooling method). Another thing I noticed is my buckets + the waterfall height takes more vertical space than the E&F tray, which may be an issue if you're trying to grow in a tight spot.

On the plus side, bio-buckets don't require res change outs, no flushing until harvest. Also, it's a closed system so there's less evaporation.

Since you can easily automatically top up bio-buckets using a float valve, I also think bio-buckets are better suited if you need to leave your plants unattended for a while. E&F systems don't seem so easy to automatically top up and store lots of nute solution, unless you build something like Krypto's multi-flow.

Good luck, grow safe!

 

[OGPurp]

Flower Day 15:Growth explosion

Flower Day 15:Growth explosion

Lots of growth over the past nine days. The largest of the 4 plants in the buckets is 19" high, 26" wide and the others are just a wee bit smaller. Judging by the drop of water level in the secondary res, I estimate they used ~ 13 gallons of water over the past nine days. The root growth is impressive, as you can see - I couldn't stop laughing when I saw the root ball for the first time. Since it's warming up now, the res temp was ~ 76F about two hours after lights-on, rising to 78F by bedtime. Air temps range from 82 to 80F, and the humidity ranges from 60 to 40%.




The two E&F plants now extend about 14" above the scrog screen. Water level in the res went down about 6 gallons over the past nine days, but some of that must be evaporation from the tray. Pistil hairs are shooting out, and fortunately there's no damage from the plants being constrained under the low light.



The mothers are doing OK. I don't yet have a Sensi Star mom since those and the mango clones are taking their time to show roots as usual. The unknown Indicas all have shown roots, and I pulled and discard 2 since I have no current need.

 

[InNvBoarder]

Good setup guy ill be watching for those big fat colas!

 

[OGPurp]

Flower day 23

Flower day 23

The ladies are maturing nicely. Since the res temps were getting a little on the high side, I mounted an inline fan through the res lid to help with cooling. By keeping the res lid slightly ajar, I figure I'm getting at least -5F.

Otherwise plants are doing well. Air temps go up to 78 or 80, res temps are in the 70 to 72F range.

 

[Brian1975]

Looking nice! What do you think of the Mango? I have a flowering female Mango and I love the robust quality of it.

 

[OGPurp]

Brian, actually my Mango clones were disappointments and I only got one viable plant which is to become a mom. All 4 of the bucket plants that you see are Sensi Star.

I did grow a Mango in my previous E&F grow and concur about its awesome growth pattern. I love the fat colas, with no main stem dominating. I definitely want to do 4 mangoes in the buckets for a high-yield grow. Your plant is looking fine!