PC grow 100w pll, bubbler

[Elephunk]

shit... I just bought two noctua nf-p12s for my intakes. They are absolutely silent as hell especially with the silicone vibration dampeners except after running them today I was pretty worried I wouldn't have enough air flow into my case to cool properly... Although I do have an S&P TD-100 vent fan as my exhaust so I hope that balances things out. Were you using the nf-p12 as an intake also and it just wasn't cutting it?

 

[D.I.trY]

Hi elephunk. It really depends on the backpressure I have 1inch of carbon to pull through and a cooltube/duct , black foam intake filters etc. I was using only 1 noctua as an exhaust fan. The only way you will find out is to try. These pcs can be expensive to build! A lot of shit you buy more than once to build it right, at least the first time i'd say - you've bought them already so no doubt you will try them! Don't ditch them just on my report - although i will say these sunons kick ass.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Duuuude! Friggin awesome! Very happy for ya, man! Nice toaster work on the coolduct, lol. I've heard a few happy customers with those sunons. I have 2 x 80mm 12v Sunons I salvaged out of an old case and they are stronger than the 125mm's I have. They're also the loudest fans I have unfortunately. How's the tone on the AC ones? Do they have the same tone as a 12v pc fan?

Very welcome for the help mate. It honestly makes my day to see you kicked ass with it.

 

[D.I.trY]

Thankyou very much scrub! Theres a slight (50mhz? AC) hum that comes from the sunon's. Sort of like a magnetic ballast hum. You cant really hear it. For a fan, its not the worst problem.

There's a chance they might not make it much further because summer has come and i will hardly be at home (on a top secret carping holiday). I am going to rig some sort of siphon tube into the res with a large water container -hopefully it works. They drink it dry in about 3 days and im going to be away for much longer than that. I will also make sure all electrics are off the floor - should the worst happen and i create a massive spillage.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

dammmm dude they looken super great.

 

[ScrubNinja]

I hope they're ok! Wouldn't your ph drift way out even after 3 days, let alone longer?

 

[Pyrosin]

nice lookin grow you got there buddy. get a friend to look after your plants

 

[D.I.trY]

Hi guys, I got back a few days ago. Let me tell you that I had quite a few dreams/nightmares about how my girls were doing 100s of miles away back at home. Anyway, thanks god, they didnt dry up and all was good.

Ill start with pictures first because its innevitable that more people want to see the pics than to read what i have to say!

So that they didn't dry out while i was away (19 days) I put a large window plant container under my couch and filled it with about 20L of dilute nute solution ( about EC 1) and just siphoned it with a hose to the pc res. That way the water level would just drop much slower.



I did get some burning on the leaf tips and when i got back and measured EC in pc res it was at 3! I should have made the backup res solution much weaker.

Another thing, i havent replaced the nutrient since probably the 2nd week of flowering - in a 6l res! - just top ups with RO water or a nute solution. This is possible i believe because of the Beneficial Bacteria that i try to house in the res. I feed them regularly with small amounts of blackstrap mollasses ( a pea size) which gives them both the carbs and trace elements to grow and reproduce. The bacteria help the plants selectively uptake the nutrients that they need so less need to worry about maintaining the fertilizer balance. I also have the res temp set at 27C with the heater and as long as you dont kill your BBs you dont have to worry about any pythium or slime. I havent bothered adjusting the ph on the same philosphy that the BBs take care of the plants needs themselves.

Ive been using the very expensive dutch masters gold nutes but have probably only used 50 pence worth on these plants. I hate to see people flush their valuable nutes down the drain, perhaps they are being used more efficiently? - BBs guys, BBs!

 

[Aerohead]

Welcome back! Look at that monster you have there... Looking very good.

 

[D.I.trY]

thankyou my friend! its good to be back let me tell you!

Yours are looking damn good also!

 

[ScrubNinja]

Holy cow @ 3ph! You might be onto something with the BBs considering that.

DM is one of the cheaper lines here but I guess cos it's aussie made. I think I mentioned it before but Advance is a lot better value and sort of better if you like to add other products or boosters. I have nearly full 5 litre bottles of Gold veg and flower, lol. I'll never get through it at this rate! Also got a 5 litre potash booster which has had like a couple hundred mils used.

Anyway, welcome back bro. Looks very tasty. How long to go you think? You must have to cram it in the case after it's been out.

 

[D.I.trY]

Damn bitches! typed out a huge detailed reply i was seconds from hitting submit and firefox decided to crash and ask me if id like to restore absolutely nothing.

I didnt know dutch masters were aussie. They kinda sound like dutch wannabe fakers now. Oh well when i went to my nearest hydro store ( an experience i wont forget in a dingy basement in an industrial estate in the back end of nowhere) Dm gold range was probably the most expensive stuff. I also bought some liquid light and penetrator but in my experience this is a terrible idea in a micro environment. It really stretched them I was was once again cramped over on the floor tieing the bitches down, cursing, with aching back pains and all blood circulation to my legs cut off!

It was actually EC 3, not ph heheh. Thats about 2000 ppm according to my truncheon. Ph was 6.6 last time i measured it. Having done alot of ph adjusting throught veg and early flower i know what a pain in the ass it can be especially in such a small res that is only 6l when filled to the brim. I read that BBs like a neutral ph and will actually raise ph of acidic and alkaline soils up and down respectively. I figured why fight nature, let them take care of it so i dont have to, and see what they can do. I havent used any plant conventional plant boosters since very early in flower - only BBs and mollasses. Diversity of the BBs is key in my opinion. I used vitalink's biopac and also water from my pond, some of the colonised biofilter material and some sludge from the bottom. Its a very healthy oxygenated pond with large fish population. I think getting to this stage with almost zero maintenance of EC and ph recently, in a tiny res, is testament to the fact that they help massively. Sure, i've managed to burn leaf tips but if EC hadnt gotten so high while I was away i think this wouldnt have happenned.

AS far as when to chop - well i am in no hurry as i smoke this lovely himalayan hash, and i prefer heavier more mature buds anyway. Maybe ill give them 10 days more.

Yeah i do feel pretty guilty getting them out and cramming them back in again, they scrape against all the sides etc. and all stink breaks out!

Thanks for the questions.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

holy HOLY mofo. I wanna dub u as a super dooper good micro grower.

thouse pix so make me wanna do this. I could run 5-9 of these pc grow cab in my closet.

and anyone who ever says pc growing sucks ass has never seen what U and earohead and everyone else on here can do with them.

way to go bro.

so what kind of lights u got on em?

 

[Aerohead]

I believe he is also running PL-L's 3X36w? That is an outstanding clump of smoke you are gonna pull out of that PC case my friend!!

 

[D.I.trY]

thankyou for the really kind words guys. Yes, correct i am using 3 36w pll's. That equates to 109w i think so i got that wrong in the topic title. I am also using a reflector hand made by me which you can see better from the reflector link in my sig.

 

[D.I.trY]

was getting them out to show my buddy (couldn't resist showing him) and i thought fuck it get the camera out once more.

there's definately one pc thread getting all the attention at the moment - unfairly so if you ask me - but i would say that because i'm biased hehehehe.

the look on my friend's face was priceless

 

[Aerohead]

I was waiting for this update!! Unreal, that looks awesome indeed!!!
Can't wait to see what you yield? looks heavier than mine from the pics . I have learned alot from your grow man, way to use those PL-L's!! I am going to use a few things I learned from you on my next run.. The density of your grow is what I was trying for and you proved it can be done with these lights. Thanks !!!

 

[#1cheesebuds]

hell yah dude. looken super great.

 

[D.I.trY]

that's so kind of you to say those things mr aerohead :smile: Its been nothing but a learning experience for me too of course

I must say it turned out a bigger success than i initially expected. there were so many problems like slime infections, stinking my floor of the house by pretending carbon filter pads worked, hehe and certainly at around week three flowering, my general optimism was at its lowest because of heat problems causing way less than optimum growth.
Ventilation could have been a total show stopper. It boiled down to cooling the lights when i had zero space to install some kind of oscilating fan. I almost resorted to having a large duct from the pc and an external fan under the couch or something - but that would have spoilt the spirit of a pc grow a bit too much. Just so cramped with those pll bulbs, a filter, so i got the exhaust fans sticking out the back! Its not perfect but luckily in this bedroom i have low shelf in an enclave which the pc tucks under and hides everything at the back - you've probably seen it in the pics.



It just goes to show, everything is good. coco, organics, DWC, aero... Aeroponics is something I will maybe try one day. would love to get a really good colony of beneficial bacteria and fungi on the roots and put a heater in and set to 30 degree C. Perhaps you could try it for me aerohead. heh well, with that much oxygen and warmth you could surely have unparralelled microbiological activities going on around those roots! . I have come to believe many others who say this is highly linked to plants resistance to diseases and increased yield. I been reading some of the organic soil boards and compost teas are the dogs bollocks! User "richyrich" uses an earth worm casting compost tea and gets phenomonal clone root growth with high temps in something called an EZ cloner. no idea what it is really, the roots are either sprayed or misted though.

Thing is though, i will forever from now on put aquarium heaters in a dwc i use - and innoculate with nature - a lame phrase i just coined. I mean i will always use beneficial micro-organisms. You can culture these urself as in tea, or buy it in a bottle and i use pond water and stuff... geez isnt nature amazing and what's some people's obsession with sterilizing not just their plants but the world around them.

I have really waffled on here - apologies. I owe you another thanks aero. So far that i know of only you and i have installed these lights in pc cases. Its like they were designed to fit 3 in parralel in a 20cm wide pc case (the almost universal width of all cases). I dont want to offend people in love with spirals but these are so obviously more suited to the situation. I know it can be inconvenient to buy pll bulbs and balasts - like a delivery wait of a few days max! haha, seriously its nothing.

I'm sure aero thinks the same thing that i wanna see more people fit these things into pc cases - its fun!

 

[ScrubNinja]

You weren't waffling man, that was extremely interesting. Why would you set it to 30 though? Is that an optimal temp for BBs I guess? A friend and I have wanted to try outdoor dwc for ever but it's just too hot here. Maybe this could be a way forward, so I'll look on intently at your studies.

Can I ask where you and Aero locate your ballast/s?