Vertical first attempt

[redspaghetti]

Its easy to raise the bucket by urself but to get it right you gotta do it slowly

instead of cinder blocks get some half that size and start one by one, once you get all of them up on the smaller block, now it would be a lot easier to move them on to the big block

this might take you half hour to do so but your plants will love you for it

other then that you can wait for them to grow to that height ehehe

happy growing bro

cheers,

 

[Aerohead]

Thanks Red, That would work but I still need to bring the temp up a little so I am going to hang the filter up high and go bare bulb asap...

While I am waiting for something interesting to happen I thought I could post some pics of the dwc system and the clones in it.
I am using 7 5gal buckets 6 black for the plants and 1 white for the control bucket. I use white for the control bucket because it's easier to see the color of the nutes and any potential problems, only drawback is the light causes algea with the white bucket so I wrapped it with black duct tape and cover it with a black towel.

In the control bucket I have a 12 watt air pump running 4 24" flexible wands and a very small (4 watts) fountain pump pushing water through a 1/4 inch line to a bucket in the center of the chain. This is just to be sure enough water exchanges between the buckets to get an accurate PH reading of all 6, I couldn't imagine PHing 6 buckets individually... I also use a 40 watt air pump to drive 6 48" flexible air wands one for each bucket.



Now for the clones, I haven't had them very long and they were in kinda rough shape nutrient wise but very bushy and mature for clones. They are rooting very well and when I get the light closer I expect them to explode. Check out these Romberry and Critical Mass clones.

 

[Aerohead]

This is a little off topic but does anyone know why I can't post pics in "original only" format? It's driving me crazy, I can only post thumbnails linked to original, The original only option doesn't show up in the list. It sucks because I see everyone else posting big pics and I get jealous...

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

This is a little off topic but does anyone know why I can't post pics in "original only" format? It's driving me crazy, I can only post thumbnails linked to original, The original only option doesn't show up in the list. It sucks because I see everyone else posting big pics and I get jealous...

The only way I know how to do it is to have your gallery open in another tab and click the pic you want and below it is a box for BB Code, copy that and paste in in your post. HTH

 

[Aerohead]

The only way I know how to do it is to have your gallery open in another tab and click the pic you want and below it is a box for BB Code, copy that and paste in in your post. HTH

Thanks buddy, tested it and it works, I no longer have large picture envy...

The room got down to 66 last night lights on, I have to make the time to mount that filter and ditch the tube. I did go buy some nylon straps and hardware to mount it, just no time yet to take the plunge... I will change it soon.

 

[ILoveit]

What day in veg were those pics taken in?

 

[Aerohead]

What day in veg were those pics taken in?

Those pics were taken on day 4 after I dropped the clones in the buckets. They aren't exactly vegging with the light that far away but I believe it kept them from shock during transplant. Root structures are strong can't wait to drop the light and begin veg stage.

 

[ganja_hasi]

they seem to love their new home

 

[Aerohead]

I made the time to change a few things in the room, I was able to put some spacers on an existing shelf in the room and use nylon straps (thanks MC) to keep it from rolling off the shelf. I put the cooltube in storage for hotter weather and dropped the bulb down lower.

You can't see it in the pics but there is a fan on the floor under the bulb blowing up at the carbon filter, I also have a small oscillating fan in the corner that will later be upgraded for a larger one.

 

[Devlove]

I will definately be following this because I am about to set-up something similar in a tent, I've never done dwc what is the controller that they are hooked up to? You mentioned you dim your ballast for your eyes, I just got some welding glasses as recommended on this site and they definitely help. Amazon welding glasses shade 5. Good luck man looks good.

 

[Aerohead]

I will definately be following this because I am about to set-up something similar in a tent, I've never done dwc what is the controller that they are hooked up to? You mentioned you dim your ballast for your eyes, I just got some welding glasses as recommended on this site and they definitely help. Amazon welding glasses shade 5. Good luck man looks good.

The controller is very simple it's just a bucket with a very small fountain pump that moves water through a 1/4 inch line to the center of the chain of buckets. This allows me to check or change the water without having to disturb the plants. The buckets are connected by 1/2 inch lines so I can PH them all at once. There are no sprayers in the buckets this is straight DWC very simple, IMO, easier than soil and better growth. Let me know if you want to try dwc and need suggestions setting up the buckets.

Yes the welding goggles are a good suggestion and are still needed even with the ballast dimmed, that sucker is bright!!

 

[Devlove]

I would love to see a step by step on how to make/use them if you have a link. Thanks.
I don't know if you've checked out the vertical dwc in this section but I am going to use a screen on my buckets like him.

 

[Aerohead]

I would love to see a step by step on how to make/use them if you have a link. Thanks.
I don't know if you've checked out the vertical dwc in this section but I am going to use a screen on my buckets like him.

Sorry no tutorial I just kinda made it up as I went along, bought the buckets and lids with net pots at my local hydro store. Also bought two 1/2" fittings for each bucket and installed them as low as possible and connected them all together in a ring shape.

I did have to install a very small fountain pump to force the water to exchange between the buckets. I used a small pump to make it simple no chiller, float valves, ect. Idea is just to keep the water moving enough to get an accurate PH from the control bucket.


Time for an update, nothing too interesting yet just waiting for the clones to explode. They are bushing out nicely but I have two that are lagging a little bit in size, hope they catch up soon.

 

[Aerohead]

Having some issues with the clones:


I am seeing signs of overwatering, slow growth in the clones and this shouldn't be. Water temp is 69F EC .8 PH 5.5 (stable) and plenty of air bubbles, upgraded to an 80 watt commercial air pump run through micro diffusers.

They came in 4" rockwool cubes (much to my disappointment) I HATE rockwool. I have seen it work well for flood and drain but I have been using aero or dwc in hydroton for the last 20 years and have little experience with rockwool.


My theory is that even though roots are out of the baskets and in the buckets a significant mass of the roots are still in the rockwool cubes. I believe these roots are starved for o2 because the rockwool is holding the moisture rather than exchanging it with the system.

My water level was previously right to the bottom of the pots, I just increased it to half way up the pots in an attempt to force the rockwool to exchange water.

Any opinions what to do here are welcome, should I just ride it out until more root mass is in the buckets or attempt to remove some of the rockwool? If I had it to do over again, I would have taken hours to pluck the clones out of the rockwool to begin with.

 

[Aerohead]

Raising the water level to submerge part of the rockwool cubes seems to have worked, 2 days later and the clones have perked up and are showing signs of growth again.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

To hang my carbon filter I put up a couple shelf brackets and used some nylon strapping that I tied knots in to hang it from a board, put screws in each end of the board so it can't slide off.

I had the straps from when I hung it from hooks but if I were to do it again I think I would staple the nylon strapping to the board. HTH

If you use a cradle of Bungee [rubber] rope, you isolate the vibrations of the fan from the ceiling, handy for stealth or if you or a neighbour is trying to sleep nearby.

 

[Aerohead]

I made some changes to the room, decided to veg with the 400w CMH, also changed out my commercial 80w air pump for two 4 outlet GH air pumps, much quieter, the 80w pump was loud enough for neibors to hear and that's no good.

Now that I look at the pic, I think I am going to lower the CMH a little bit and keep it running through the whole grow.
I am thinking I can veg longer this way and let those girls get taller since I can use both lights. I plan to kick on the 600w when I flip to see what I can get out of 6 plants and 1kw.

 

[Aerohead]

So, I'm off to a slow start, been dialing the system in as I go so it's constantly changing.
I plan to clean up all of those messy cords and air lines soon, I will also need a larger fan to blow on the plants before flower.

I am thinking about swappping out the 5 gal control bucket with a 25gal tub because I am going to grow these girls larger than originally intended.

Here is a pic, (for reference the HPS is running at 400w) above the 400w CMH, I will bump the HPS to 600w as soon as the plants get a little bigger.





Here is one of the clones, they are bushy, can't wait to see them in a month...

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

It is looking great man, nice work.

 

[Dopeboy668]

Wow, your right those are some bushy clones. What are you gonna use for support when they get taller an wanna lean over?