Sergeant's got a brand new cab

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Your in luck Hazy.
I was doing some DO testing yesterday using my gal as a guinea pig and took some pics.
The tub. The roots have formed around the round airstone making a nice dome. It would make an awesome wig.

Root Soup, anyone?

 

[micro420guy]

That root soup looks soupy....its a nice. One question for you Sgt. When you change your firtz/solution what do you do with all the roots? Put them in a bucket with H2O. How careful do you need to be with the roots.

thanks.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Sgt, would a 5 gal res be overkill for a 150? I saw a 5 gal sterlite a the sto. Wasn't sure if it would be too big.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Disco,
I think 5 gallons would be tits. The more volume you have, the less likely your res will fluctuate from nute and water uptake.
The 16 liter tub I have olny hold a little over 2 gallons when filled to the bottom of the netpots. The way my cab is squeezed into the space between the furnace and water heater, I cant open the door all the way. The door only swing open about 75 degrees before it hits a wall. Because of that, I was limited on my tub and screen sizes. I'd love to have a bigger res.

The benefit of a smaller res is since I pick the whole shooting match up to change the res, my 2 gallon volume with plant and tub weighs less than 20 pounds. Five gallons would weigh over 40 pounds. I guess I'm a pussy?

I did soil for 5 years and I'm not looking back. I really like the extra growth and speed of hydro (speed meaning I can get the same results in hydro from 21 days of veg where soil would take closer to 30-35 for the same veg growth. Ripening speed doesn't change)

Micro420guy
I have another tub just like the res I use as a spare. They were 2 for $5 at Hemp Depot. At res chage time, I lift the lid, pick up the whole mess, and put it in a tub of tap water while the res is being dumped and refilled. The roots are plenty strong and dont seem to mind. lol There are a couple of cord roots (1/8" diameter) in the mix which provide the support when I lift.

I have noticed with the addition of either bleach or 27% hydrogen peroxide, the res doesn't have that slimey feel at res change time.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Thanks man. I've got a 4 gal tub for soil less scrogs, 5 gals would be an improvement if I could find what I'm looking for.

I've been leaning toward DWC or maybe RWC. If I can find the right size tub, it may end up being larger capacity than needed. I guess I could still use the same solution volume.

This is a great thread. I don't sees very many hydro ops this size. Thanks for posting all the info.

 

[hazydreams]

disco-

heres my plug for RDWC.

if you are having problems sizing a res with enough capacity inside the cab, simply buy a small res that fits in there and connect it to a larger res placed outside of the box via pump and a return hose of sorts. Voila RDWC. there are a variety of ways to plumb the system, i prefer the bottom fed design over other methods like undercurrent or the original biof bucket set up. but all of these are viable.

The benefit of running an RDWC with large external res is that temps of your cab have less influence on your reservoir temps. that means that your enviroment could be 77 degrees inside the cab but the water stays at a nice 68 in the res due to the large volume, constant exchange and cool exterior ambient temps.

its worth noting Sarges success has much to do with his enviroment. Sarge is pulling off his set up really well because of a few factors. he has enough ventilation that his cab is running 70 degrees or so. The cold air comming in from the bottom of the cab is directed right at the reservoir (added cooling), his air pumps are mounted out side. and hes got a hell of alot of air running into the reservoir. add the H202 hes using and life is ok with SWC. Take a few of these away and the results would be ugly. What Sarge designed and built is COMPLETELY necessary to get the low volume SWC to perform and not rot the roots off the bottom of the plant.

my cab temps are 75-77 degrees. i would never attempt his setup with out a chiller because of that. i could probally run the RDWC with out a chiller if the reservoir was external to the system and i had more space. neither of which was possible in my current situation.

I would push for an RDWC if the tmeps arent perfect. if they are similar to sarges, go for the SWC.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Thanks for the info, hazydreams. I probably don't have the conditions for swc.

I recon I've got lots of reading to consider. May go with dwc to get growing experience. If a recirculated setup works better, I'll definitely consider an external res.

I've been mulling the higher temps. I think I can manage so long as the res is deep enough for ~5 gals of water. I'd consider an even bigger res but don't want to overestimate for a 150. I also like the idea of pouring out less waste.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

wow dude she is looking great. nice and green. and thouse buds r gunna grow super christaly.

 

[hazydreams]

youve hit the big time where people start trollin.

let the haters hate.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Haters gonna hate.
I'm not even close to big time, though.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

That's what's so cool about it. Technology and ergonomics together in one package. You show that high-end grow hardware, methods and results aren't beyond the small growers capability and to a degree, expense. I sure am glad to see/read it instead of engineering and prototyping.

 

[HighDesertJoe]

Damn Sgt real NICE just read the whole thread. Can't wait to see more.
I might have to dump the cat box and give it a go.

 

[sophanox]

Amazing thread sgt, looking forward to your updates. I'll be borrowing a few ideas for my cab no doubt!

 

[chosen]

Looking good Sgt...

 

[hazydreams]

pimping you for an update because its been too long and i know its bumpin in that cab of yours.

 

[DigDuggreen]

yeah come on sgt. put up some new photos!!!!

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

HighDesertJoe, Sophanox, chosen and DigDuggreen

Thanks for stopping by and the kind words.
Joe, I'll have to get over your way and check out the cat box.
Hazy, Thanks for the bump. This one's 4u.

It's day 34 of flower.

The suspected calcium deficiency I saw seems to have stopped. I ran the res pH between 5.5 and 5.8 most of the time to increase uptake of Ca and did a couple of foliar feedings with dolomite lime dissolved in water. I also read somewhere that higher RH can lead to a Ca deficiency, since Ca is an immobile element and is transported by water movement from the roots to the leaves. With higher RH, less water is drawn into the leaves for transpiration, so less Ca is delivered resulting in a deficiency. Luckily, for the last week, it's been kinda cool and the ambient RH was near 40%. Anyhow, mini crisis averted.

I guess I'll start thinking about backing off the nutes starting next week. The res is at 1150uS atm. I'm still adding 27% H2O2 every other day at 2ml/gal. To date, I see no harmful effetcs from the peroxide applications.

The stretch has come to a grinding halt and were hopefully going to do same fattening up for the last 3.5 to 4 weeks. The majority of buds are filling in nicely, but some of the smaller ones are looking wimpy. This is the same thing I saw when grown in soil. Just not a real heavy yielding pheno with too much internode spacing.

Looking at how much height I have left and at some of the holes in the screen, I realize I probably could have vegged for another week. Next time, I'll have to polish the crystal ball better.

Some of the hairs on the tops are starting to go brown/red which seems earlier than last time. My first thought on the brown hairs this early was a hermie, but I haven't found nanners yet. Fingers crossed. If it hermies, so be it. I'm done with this pheno. Too stretchy imo.

The first pic is from day 32 at lights out. The second is from today.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

she's gorgeous

 

[hazydreams]

thumbs up on that man. she will fill out nicely. so what do you have brewing for selection in your neck of the woods? whats next a heavy indica?

 

[StupidBoy]

She's lookin good Sgt.