Something wicked this way comes

[down2grow]

So I'm having issues with drainage, two days running the ppk and two little floods. Set up is two rooms, 8 plants(7 gallon feed pan), one control bucket(55 gallon tough tote), one volume tank, 8 feeding buckets(each with 185 gph eco pump). Whole system is plumbed together with Goodyear hose, one side goes to the feeding buckets and the other side is the plant sites just like delta's on page 1. The first day it flooded I was in the room mopping when the pumps kicked on and saw that water was coming out of the bottom bucket of the plant site. So I went and looked at the control bucket which has a single 1/4" float valve hooked up and the water level was at 7". Obviously the control bucket was at its max and the water had nowhere else to go. So I installed a cereal container with a 5/32 hole drilled on the side close to the bottom to slow down the water flow from the volume tank so the system has a chance to level out. I thought it was gravy after that until my roommate texted me that there was a small flood again last night. Looking at the cereal box container right now, there's only like an inch and a half difference from the hole and the 7" mark. Should I install a taller cereal box container so the hole is more towards the bottom of the control bucket? Would that even make a difference? I went around with a tape measure and the water levels are pretty much even with the control bucket and the system is leveled out. Any ideas on what's going on?

I forgot to add that I'm pulse feeding 30 seconds every 90 minutes. The side that I'm having the issues with has two rows of plants and that plumbed to a single Goodyear hose via elbows and tees. Should I make a return line for each row instead of combining them into a single?

 

[Speed of green]

The plant sites need to be level shim up the buckets that are too full.

I think the two rows coming to one hose with t's is making a bottleneck and draining slower, since your plant sites arent level this could be where your lowest buckets are overflowing.

30 seconds is a long feed event. have you measured how much volume 30 seconds is?

The cereal container could be an exaggerated symptom especially if the bottleneck is taking too long to drain back through the control, your system would be chronically overfilling because your drain times are slow.

If you have a functioning system is it possible to just mimic that one to rule out some variables?

 

[delta9nxs]

So I'm having issues with drainage, two days running the ppk and two little floods. Set up is two rooms, 8 plants(7 gallon feed pan), one control bucket(55 gallon tough tote), one volume tank, 8 feeding buckets(each with 185 gph eco pump). Whole system is plumbed together with Goodyear hose, one side goes to the feeding buckets and the other side is the plant sites just like delta's on page 1. The first day it flooded I was in the room mopping when the pumps kicked on and saw that water was coming out of the bottom bucket of the plant site. So I went and looked at the control bucket which has a single 1/4" float valve hooked up and the water level was at 7". Obviously the control bucket was at its max and the water had nowhere else to go. So I installed a cereal container with a 5/32 hole drilled on the side close to the bottom to slow down the water flow from the volume tank so the system has a chance to level out. I thought it was gravy after that until my roommate texted me that there was a small flood again last night. Looking at the cereal box container right now, there's only like an inch and a half difference from the hole and the 7" mark. Should I install a taller cereal box container so the hole is more towards the bottom of the control bucket? Would that even make a difference? I went around with a tape measure and the water levels are pretty much even with the control bucket and the system is leveled out. Any ideas on what's going on?

I forgot to add that I'm pulse feeding 30 seconds every 90 minutes. The side that I'm having the issues with has two rows of plants and that plumbed to a single Goodyear hose via elbows and tees. Should I make a return line for each row instead of combining them into a single?

when starting mine up initially i got some air bubbles trapped in the hoses that acted as a partial block to reduce flow. remember, this recirculation is basically accomplished by gravity and there is not much difference in water levels after a pulse/feed.

some will move along slowly and clear themselves but i did have to put a hose barb fitting on a pump and blow water through the system from the reservoir side to totally clear them. you could just use one of the 185 gph pumps with one of the 1/2" fittings that come with it.

but, it could also be that you are overwhelming the "one hose two rows" arrangement.

if so, you can separate them or cut back on volume delivered and/or frequency of watering events.

what medium are you in?

 

[zeke99]

Can anyone assist me with the Jack's Hydro and Calcinit?

I can't find the notes from the first time filling my volume tank. My memory seems to be failing me, but I thought that I followed the directions on the Calcinit label, which called for 1/2 teaspoon of each, per gallon of water.

Yesterday I refilled the volume tank and this formula produced an EC of 2.8.

What is the formula for EC 1.2? My tapwater measures an EC of 0.2.

 

[delta9nxs]

Can anyone assist me with the Jack's Hydro and Calcinit?

I can't find the notes from the first time filling my volume tank. My memory seems to be failing me, but I thought that I followed the directions on the Calcinit label, which called for 1/2 teaspoon of each, per gallon of water.

Yesterday I refilled the volume tank and this formula produced an EC of 2.8.

What is the formula for EC 1.2? My tapwater measures an EC of 0.2.

1/2 tsp produces 2.8 so 1/4 tsp should produce 1.4 so minus your tap water that would leave you 1.2 in actual nutrients. since tap water that low in dissolved solids will usually be mostly calcium and magnesium you should be safe to mix on top of it.

 

[delta9nxs]

a tale of two sisters! stardawg x c99 #'s 6 & 7. myrtle and ivanka. they are approx 6 weeks into flower here.

1,2. ivanka left, myrtle right.

3. ivanka bud.

4,5. ivanka, fertile myrtle

6,7. ivanka, myrtle canopy density comparison.

8. a little teaser shot of the wreckage at 9 wks. it's getting very dense and finally just starting to turn. the first stigmas are withdrawing.

9. so, during this growing out process i managed to lose the clones i had taken of ivanka. i was down to the one flowering plant. i wasn't too concerned about it at first because i thought myrtle would prove to be the better plant. after all, ivanka was the one that displayed environmental stress in the same veg room as myrtle and a bunch of other plants that didn't. but, by the end of the 5th week it became obvious that ivanka was throwing superior flowers so i took another set of cuttings hoping something would root. something did!

 

[DelTaco]

Delta, those are some inspiring pictures. Is your last picture of a monster crop clone? If so, is that your preferred method of cloning or are you just testing it out?

How long of a veg and how many times do you top the plant in order for it to fill the screens like you are doing?

 

[delta9nxs]

Delta, those are some inspiring pictures. Is your last picture of a monster crop clone? If so, is that your preferred method of cloning or are you just testing it out?

How long of a veg and how many times do you top the plant in order for it to fill the screens like you are doing?

thank you!

the clone represents a last ditch emergency effort to keep a genetic alive.

but now that you mention it i am interested in the monster cropping technique, i just haven't had time to mess with it yet.

on the veg time question they spend about 2 weeks in the clone containers to get a nice root ball going. then the wick and all the roots that are outside of the container are cut off with scissors and the remaining root ball is transplanted to the intermediate veg room.

they spend approximately 2 wks here and fill the 2.5 quart containers with roots also before they are transplanted again to the final container. they are topped here as well. the timing on this transplant must be almost perfect because we don't have to do anything to the root ball usually. little spin is occuring and they take off immediately.

they then spend approx 5 weeks in the big veg room before flower.

 

[zeke99]

hey, yep, they have a single 1.5" sink tailpiece and are top watered miniature ppk's.

Please, if you don't mind, expand on this setup a little bit?

Is the float valve in the tank that these are sitting on?

 

[delta9nxs]

Please, if you don't mind, expand on this setup a little bit?

Is the float valve in the tank that these are sitting on?

hey! so, what you are looking at is 7 27 gal tubs around the sides of an 8' x 8' room. the first tub has a 750 gph pump in it. it is fired for 30 seconds every 30 minutes using a repeat cycle timer. this evacuates the tub the pump is in and redistributes the solution equally to the other six tubs via the red hose you see going around the room.. valve controlled at one gal each. this is enough cyclic volume to homogenize the solution. then our old friend gravity equalizes water levels through the return lines.

in order to not have to use a float delay container i mounted the float from the 600 ppm feed tank in the last tub.

then, all seven tubs each have a 185 eco pump in them connected to an uncompensated 6 way raindrip distribution head. these are connected to the plant containers with 1/4" od, .177 id drip tubing with little t's on the ends. if you keep them all the same length you don't need valves. this top watering is controlled by another repeat cycle timer.

in the first shot you can see the hose from the 185 eco and the distribution head.

the tubs have six 2" holes to receive the tailpieces. i maintain a 5" air gap here.

the plant containers themselves are 2.5 quart paint mixing containers from home depot. regular 1.5" sink tailpieces with some screen over the end.

 

[delta9nxs]

some veg room shots to show the activity there. clones from my plants. clones of recently acquired strains still in the medium they came in. i water them a few days under intense light then cut them off and re-root them. no transplant stall so it ends up being faster.

the plant in the first photo center is a turkish of some sort. all indica so i hope it stretches a little.

the solo plant is a second generation cutting of the White Master Kush x Monster Cookies. fully alternate so we''ll get to see what she's really like for the first time.

the last one is another stardawg x c99 #7 that lookes like it's rooting. i took 8 and put 4 in cups and 4 in the mediums of other plants. so far two are looking like they made it.

 

[delta9nxs]

hey zeke! here are some pics showing what the whole plant container looks like. then the little "T" terminal. i just hook them around the stem but maybe a rubber band is a good idea here. when there is no plant to fill a spot we drop the feed terminal over into the tub and put the reflectix cut out over it to help block light.

again if you keep the top lines all the same length they will deliver approx the same amount.

the plant you see here was transplanted from the clone container only five days ago.

 

[down2grow]

when starting mine up initially i got some air bubbles trapped in the hoses that acted as a partial block to reduce flow. remember, this recirculation is basically accomplished by gravity and there is not much difference in water levels after a pulse/feed.

some will move along slowly and clear themselves but i did have to put a hose barb fitting on a pump and blow water through the system from the reservoir side to totally clear them. you could just use one of the 185 gph pumps with one of the 1/2" fittings that come with it.

but, it could also be that you are overwhelming the "one hose two rows" arrangement.

if so, you can separate them or cut back on volume delivered and/or frequency of watering events.

what medium are you in?

Thanks Delta! I'm gonna try and clear out the holes with a pump when I get home. I'll report back if it cleared things up. I'm in washed turface/Mother Earth xl perlite, 50/50 mix.

 

[delta9nxs]

1-5. the Wreckage at 9 weeks. it will be coming down in 3-4 days. hard, dense buds. i had to climb a ladder to get these shots. i hope you fuggers like them!

6. Stardawg x C99 #7, aka Ivanka. 7 weeks

Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

 

[Mr Blah]

Thanks for climbing to new heights to get the shot
You thinking 3+lbs?

 

[Snook]

Thanks for climbing to new heights to get the shot
You thinking 3+lbs?

think he has a drone for those shots?

 

[MrBungle]

That 5th pic would be a great desktop background image.. Happy Fourth!!

 

[gmanwho]

damn!!!!

 

[starke]

Holy bud shot batman!

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

Not entirely the shittiest flat canopy I've ever seen. Decent work.