Something wicked this way comes

[967]

So a friend of mine just gave me a whole lot of rubber hose from a dairy farm he works on.. what's the smallest diameter hose you can get away with for return lines in this system? It's 1/4" inside diameter

I thought I could use two per bucket if need be, but that's twice the holes and twice the chance of leaking I guess

Also wouldn't mind using for drip rings if I can drill or melt decent holes in it. 1/8th" walls though so I'm not holding my breath...

 

[Snook]

So a friend of mine just gave me a whole lot of rubber hose from a dairy farm he works on.. what's the smallest diameter hose you can get away with for return lines in this system? It's 1/4" inside diameter

I thought I could use two per bucket if need be, but that's twice the holes and twice the chance of leaking I guess

Also wouldn't mind using for drip rings if I can drill or melt decent holes in it. 1/8th" walls though so I'm not holding my breath...

dont know what the dairy farm used the hose for but if they are throwing it away there's a good chance they installed new tubing and if thats the case will the old 'used' tubing affect your nutrient profile. I use that sized hose and after one run (3-4 months) it has all sorts of crud build up inside. It is replaced after every run.

 

[Snook]

I've tried most of D9s 'innovations' as he progressed from the first iterations of the PPK. My grows are small and when I went to the garden hose setup, nutrient profiles changed and remained much lower in the pulse rez, 800ppms vs 1100ppms previously. I went back to 1/4" and 5/16" hose and all is well. And as far as leakage goes, 9s' innovation of drilling a 1/16" hole smaller than the outside diameter of any hose one uses and pulling that hose/tubing thru that hole hasnt produced a drop of leakage since. High 9 hope all is well brother.

 

[967]

Hose was spare, pretty sure unused just coated in dust from sitting around. So are you saying you prefer the smaller diameter to the garden hose snook? I only have a 1.2×1.2 four plant grow so i probably don't really need large hose. Currently have fairly rigid 1/2" hose and bulkheads, can't move the plants around much at all with this shit

 

[Desert Hydro]

i there a good way to tell if im over watering? i was digging at some for roots and there dont seem to be an abundance like there normally is. i think i may be drowning them slightly. i was running 45 seconds every hour and a half. i cut it down to 30 seconds.

my environment is finally dialed in. RH is mid 60's at all times. co2 is 1050-1200 and ive got my feed strength at 1.8 with jacks. i have also been adding mb ferts vitamin and hormone booster and thats about it. ph is dead on usually sits at 5.8-6 at all times.

my plants also look like they are way behind where they should be. i checked the calendar and they are at about 4 weeks but they look like they are around week 2-3 max. maybe im just tripping since its a new strain. fuck my life i shouldnt have gambled on new genetics all at once lol. someone talk me down haha

i'll take some pics later tonight. dont laugh at my tiny buds. ive got one plant that looks like its at week one. no shit. i may drain the whole system and freshen up the nutrients.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

I'm not sure if this is possible can can you sample a small bit of drain off water and test it? I don't have experience with the ppk setups but what you describe doesn't sound good. Are any leaves showing any stress, curling or discoloring? What does your res water temp stay at? Is it possible your supply hose is baking in the light and heating up?

 

[967]

I've had similar problems to what you describe desert hydro back when I ran coco dtw. Didn't get to the bottom of it but plants generally came back in the following weeks. I think maybe the 18/6 to 12/12 slowed down onset perhaps... usually a quicker transition for me from 24. What veg cycle you running?

 

[Desert Hydro]

there was a bunch of crap happening until i got my VPD in check. not thats up to par everything has leveled off. i still think the media is staying way too wet and the roots are struggling to breathe. i changed the time to 30 seconds and almost three hours off. i didnt even have roots coming out of the tailpiece i checked.

the water level was also way too high in the buckets so i lowered that.

i didnt think of this either. the plants were monstercropped so i would almost guarantee thats what added the extra time to the transition. other than that it looks like everything is getting better slowly. once i dial the watering in i think they are going to reward me nicely.

 

[Snook]

Hose was spare, pretty sure unused just coated in dust from sitting around. So are you saying you prefer the smaller diameter to the garden hose snook? I only have a 1.2×1.2 four plant grow so i probably don't really need large hose. Currently have fairly rigid 1/2" hose and bulkheads, can't move the plants around much at all with this shit

As I remember, in 9s original design he (and I) used all 1/4"OD hose, muck buckets with an insert cut out of rubber floor matting (never used this configuration) to hold the plants container... my rezs' now are - 18gallon volume rez, and 4 gallon: control, pump and PPK rezs'. I did the garden hose but I too am in limited space and those giant garden hoses, along with weaker nutrient levels, made navigating the grow space a PITA.. next run I'll develop a modular 'floor' with 1/2" plywood so that feed tubing will be in between and below the general surface of the floor, protected from my stepping on them while moving around in there.

 

[bloyd]

dh they definitely look to wet. Increasing the air gap will definitely help. Are you sure you they are draining well. Perlite fines fucked up a couple of runs for me partially blocking tailpipe slowing drainage and causing root problems. Your watering doesn't sound excessive i would make sure things are draining properly.

 

[Desert Hydro]

dh they definitely look to wet. Increasing the air gap will definitely help. Are you sure you they are draining well. Perlite fines fucked up a couple of runs for me partially blocking tailpipe slowing drainage and causing root problems. Your watering doesn't sound excessive i would make sure things are draining properly.

my perlite is massive and i washed it well. i am going to slowly reduce the watering schedule until they improve. i have increased the air gap to around 4 inches. they water was previously just under the rim. if it needs to go lower i will have to drill a new hole for my float valve.

i am no longer concerned about their slow transition to flower since i am now almost certain that it was from the monstercropping. i will adjust the waterings further apart and less in duration over the next few days until things improve.

everything else is on point and getting more and more dialed in every day. been working on cleaning up old damaged leaf so i can keep track and it doesnt look like anything is progressing. in fact all new growth looks lush.

 

[Thirdtime]

My airgap is 4.5 inches and watering 20 sec every 90 min on good sized plants. Might be over watering a bit

 

[967]

My air gap is 4" and I water every 2 hours for 1 minute, mainly cos i don't have a seconds timer haha. What are we looking out for if over watering? Yellowing right and maybe usual wilting?

 

[Thirdtime]

Yellowing starting on bottom leaves and wilting

 

[967]

Well I got none of That, just downward cupping of leaves on one plant that is a diff strain. Put that down to humidity issues which I've resolved but plant hasn't come back from it yet. Could be heat stress too I suppose

 

[Thirdtime]

There's a pretty good section on deficiencies, disease and pest in the Infirmary sticky's here at ICMag.
I have one strain that doesn't like topping or transplanting and stalls prob has bad root system but once I harvest will tear into it and look. Prob not run again either

 

[967]

Yeah this one is just a clone I got from a friend. Shit plant really I'll see how it goes but I'm not too keen on the structure and so far looks like shit compared to my pineapple express. Just looking for something else worthy of growing but I think I'm gonna have to go seed again...

 

[Desert Hydro]

My airgap is 4.5 inches and watering 20 sec every 90 min on good sized plants. Might be over watering a bit

i think im at about 4" now after moving the float valve and adjusting. been dialing back the drip time slowly. but i think i may just drop to your schedule of 20 on 1.5 off.

gonna test a pump/manifold and see what the flow is in 20 seconds.

 

[Desert Hydro]

heres a shot from tonight before the lights came on. there is a little bit of leaf cupping up top. all the parameters are in check except for my watering schedule.

 

[967]

If you're overwatering with a 4" gap would I be right in thinking the medium holds too much water? After all the pwt is below the root zone so either the gap is too small or the medium not airy enough??