That Lil~shit's @ it again.....

[SirSmokalot]

I used to run a 27 gallon tote with float valve half way down. I'd mix it to the top every Sunday after a few days we'd-Thursday the levels got down to float and would refill with half tap half ro I had elevated on a milk crate in a 42 gallon trash can. The ppms would slowly lower throughout the week after the float was activated. By Sunday I'd be down under 200 ppm, I'd fill to the top and mix the next weeks solution
Just so easy and if you wanted it's just as easy to throw a pre mix into the top off Rez to maintain a particular level.
Had 1 set up for each light cuz at the time I was doing that I had a perpetual running. Was the easiest grows ever for me. Dripper a though I had like 20 min of work a week til harvest time. Work similarly for flood n drain

 

[SirSmokalot]

Dan wrap you Rez and lid wi reflecIXS. Should get you down to 75 or better and that's fine for flood n drain IMO
U REALLY JUST NEED A RADIANT BARRIER THE HEAT WONT PENETRATE MY REZ TEMPS SIT BETWEEN 70-75 except winter I get low 60s from cement floor

 

[dansbuds]

Cool ! Thanx Sir !!! for both tid bits of info

i like the float valve half way down idea !!!
& i just bought a roll of reflektix yesterday lol
\

was just down in the garden doing chores , & one rez is 76.5 & the other is 77.1 , so thats not to bad ! i'll be putting the reflektix on next rez change , so that should bring them down to a reasonable temp .
what do ya think about covering the rez lid with a piece of reflektix too ? might help keep some of the heat from the lights getting in . no ?

i've got the 40 gallon flat rez's with lids .

 

[SirSmokalot]

Dan wrap you Rez and lid wi reflecIXS

Absolutely I know it's in shade and all but every bit of insulation help IMO just cut I sheet for a cover cut a flap for lines or fill lid

 

[dansbuds]

any idea why my PH climbs back to 6.3 everyday ??? i set it to 5.8 & by the next day its up to 6.3 minimum . sometimes higher .

i have it flooding every 3 hrs for 8 minutes , takes that long to fill , then another 7 to drain . EC is at .7 & i set the PH to 5.7 every day & its back up on the next day .
plants seem to be growing , but very very slowly , no signs of any problems with them . no PH imbalance .....

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

any idea why my PH climbs back to 6.3 everyday ??? i set it to 5.8 & by the next day its up to 6.3 minimum . sometimes higher .

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i have it flooding every 3 hrs for 8 minutes , takes that long to fill , then another 7 to drain . EC is at .7 & i set the PH to 5.7 every day & its back up on the next day .
plants seem to be growing , but very very slowly , no signs of any problems with them . no PH imbalance .....

With plants that small, try only flooding once a day until they start to grow some. I had the same problem with ebb and flow using rockwool. Once I went to flooding once a day, they started growing faster, and it wasn't long before multiple floods were needed.

 

[dansbuds]

With plants that small, try only flooding once a day until they start to grow some. I had the same problem with ebb and flow using rockwool. Once I went to flooding once a day, they started growing faster, and it wasn't long before multiple floods were needed.

they're under 600 watts of light ! you don't think they'd dry up with only 1 flood ? theres nothing there to hold moisture , just the pebbles ......
plus i'm not so worried about the growth as much as i am the PH climb overnight . that shit ain't normal from what i've read ......

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

they're under 600 watts of light ! you don't think they'd dry up with only 1 flood ? theres nothing there to hold moisture , just the pebbles ......

That hydroton holds more moisture than you would think. I had a 3 x 6 table that I had the thing loaded with hydroton like you do. Except I had 2 1000 watt lights over it. One flood with small plants like that was fine, until they got bigger. Admittedly I had my little plants in 3" rockwool cubes. But they sat on the top of the hydroton, and the flood never went that high, only flooded the hydroton.

Maybe try it with two floods. Once right after lights on, and one halfway thru lights on. I bet if you stuck your hand down inside the hydroton a few hours after a flood, you would feel the moisture that's still there. I could be wrong for your set-up. But I do remember having to cut down on floods in the beginning due to too much moisture surrounding the roots, and slowing growth.

 

[Ganoderma]

Rockwool and Hydroton are different. They each have their own watering needs, one holds water and the other one doesn't and lets it flow through. Moving them closer to the light would be my focus or setting up drip system. From what I've notice over the years is that it take 5-7 days before the plants actually start to grow again after transplanting.

 

[SirSmokalot]

Dan my guess is narrowed to a couple possibilities
1. If you are running an air stone in Rez it can do that especially with certain nutrient brands that are less stable, not meant for recycling system
2. The drain line splashing creating DO can do it also like an air stone, lower drain tube to avoid waterfall effect.
3.wrong nutes for that type of system .

Almost always when it's climbing like that after you know for sure it had settled on your mark, it's the air in the solution buffing the PH upward

 

[SirSmokalot]

Also when the plants really take off and begging to feed harder, you might notice the opposite happening on the days they just drink a lot and eat less as the water is consumed and not the nutrients the ppms rise and the ph lowers due to higher ppm. Requiries top offs to maintain a balance sometimes. This is one of the reasons I prefer to go drip coco Dtw. Just mix set n forget til fill time. No worry about temps of anything other than the room itself. No worry of root problems or problems spreading. Don't get me wrong these systems are pretty bullet proof when you figure it out, but so many ways for ME personally to fuck it all up lol. One piece of critical equipment goes out, screwed. I got a pump and a timer for fail points. That scares me enough lol

 

[dansbuds]

Dan my guess is narrowed to a couple possibilities
1. If you are running an air stone in Rez it can do that especially with certain nutrient brands that are less stable, not meant for recycling system
2. The drain line splashing creating DO can do it also like an air stone, lower drain tube to avoid waterfall effect.
3.wrong nutes for that type of system .

Almost always when it's climbing like that after you know for sure it had settled on your mark, it's the air in the solution buffing the PH upward

i've got a 185gph pump in there that runs on a timer every 6 hrs for a half hour to just make sure everything stays mixed up . i'm going to unhook that tonight to see if it helps .
my drain tube sits on the bottom of the rez , no waterfall effect .
nutes ..... i really hope not !!!

my hydro store guy says its because i'm only at an EC of .7 . he says i should be at 1.0 at least to help maintain the PH ....... dunno how much i believe that .
also says that it takes awhile to buffer new hydroton & it should level off once i get the EC higher It has a chance to buffer ......

whats your thoughts on this ?

I may just wind up sticking to coco if i can't get this system tweeked ..... didn't think there'd be this many variables fuckin with me .

 

[Chunkypigs]

I'd say your hydroton is buffering, how did you treat it out of the bag besides rinsing?

why are you quitting coco when you have it so dialed?

 

[dansbuds]

How long does this shit take to buffer ? i've been running it for over a week now !
just rinsed it like 4 times .....what am i supposed to treat it with ??? this is the first i'm even hearing i have to .....

long story short ..... cuz i want to try it lol

 

[Ganoderma]

i've got a 185gph pump in there that runs on a timer every 6 hrs for a half hour to just make sure everything stays mixed up . i'm going to unhook that tonight to see if it helps .
my drain tube sits on the bottom of the rez , no waterfall effect .
nutes ..... i really hope not !!!

my hydro store guy says its because i'm only at an EC of .7 . he says i should be at 1.0 at least to help maintain the PH ....... dunno how much i believe that .
also says that it takes awhile to buffer new hydroton & it should level off once i get the EC higher It has a chance to buffer ......

whats your thoughts on this ?

I may just wind up sticking to coco if i can't get this system tweeked ..... didn't think there'd be this many variables fuckin with me .

It's been a long time since I used an EC meter, I've been using a ppm meter so I'm not current on a conversion between the two. My veg ppm levels are around 500-600ppm.

If your PH keeps swinging like that, have you tried to set your PH at a lower point. Some times I'll have a res that does that during the first week.

Hydroton is supposed to be PH inert. At least the older hydroton was, I cant say if any of their newer batches are the same.

 

[lil~greensprout]

my hydro store guy also says that it takes awhile to buffer new hydroton & it should level off... whats your thoughts on this ?

Bingo !

Hey guys, I see you've all been busy... I had too go nocturnal
this time with my chop as the unseasonably nice weather had everyone
in the hood out and about of their houses for the first time in months.

While I had my doubts about the overall amount of weed that I had in
there, once I got too chopping it became quite clear that I had never
seen piles of weed that big "ever" come out of my lil grow room before !
I had too send the old lady over to the grocery store for more brown
bags as I had used all the bags I normally Re-use... and clean out her
stash under the sink as well. Needless too say I couldn't be happier !

Smiling and profiling,
Sprout.

 

[tleaf jr.]

Glad to hear bout the heavy harvest ...yea this time of the year brings out the nosy neighbors for sure, but it gives me a reason to be bringing in big ass bakes of promix lol..

 

[dansbuds]

Bingo !

Hey guys, I see you've all been busy... I had too go nocturnal
this time with my chop as the unseasonably nice weather had everyone
in the hood out and about of their houses for the first time in months.

While I had my doubts about the overall amount of weed that I had in
there, once I got too chopping it became quite clear that I had never
seen piles of weed that big "ever" come out of my lil grow room before !
I had too send the old lady over to the grocery store for more brown
bags as I had used all the bags I normally Re-use... and clean out her
stash under the sink as well. Needless too say I couldn't be happier !

Smiling and profiling,
Sprout.

Thats fuckin awesome Brutha !!!

 

[lil~greensprout]

tleaf, I just back the pick-up into the garage and unload it there.
My neighbors are cool and all, but I don't want too push it either.

Dan, New hydroton is a pain in the ass, your guy is right though once
it get's "seasoned" in a bit it will be fine. I used too wash mine out
really good between runs and it always lead to Ph. problems... I have
enough for two runs and I now let one set of rocks dry out in between.
I built a shaker box out of 2x4s and some screen material and simply
shack, rattle and roll the old roots and other shit off the hydroton.
Haven't had any Ph. problems since... too much magnesium, that's a
whole other story, it seems the water here doesn't need any extra.

Stick with it and it'll all work out in the end, just got to get the kinks
worked out of the system, there is always a learning curve involved
with anything that's unfamiliar... your a smart guy. you'll figure it out !

Thanks everyone for stopping in, lot's of good info being shared...

Peace out,
Sprout.

 

[Ganoderma]

I built a shaker box out of 2x4s and some screen material and simply

I just take a bucket lid net pot to shake out the roots. A little bit at a time, the small roots fall out of the holes and the larger pieces of roots that don't fall through are easy to pick out.

your a smart guy. you'll figure it out !