GrowCab 2.0 is here, Time for round 2.

[letam06]

Alright. So things seem to be looking pretty good. High temps are no longer a problem at all. Stays cooler than my room. I opened up the intake to fit a 120mm fan that I purchased from newegg. It moves roughly 75 CFM and was around $15. I also replaced the exhaust fan for the flowering chamber with the old intake fan. Originally I took that fan out of my beautiful AMD Phenom II 940 Black Edition x4 Quad Core Powered PC, ha-ha. That 80mm fan moves roughly 45-50 CFM.

I also acquired 2 new strains the day before last. I have Power Kush and Lemon Skunk. They were cloned roughly a week ago by a friend in an Aero Rubbermaid Cloning bucket so they have already established a very nice root system in the 2" Net pots with Poly Grommets. Problem is they came with spider mites. This happens every time I get clones, I get spider mites from the other grower. Luckily this time they are at a very very small amount. Sprayed them with a mixture of Neem Oil and Pyrethrum. He already hit them once a couple days before I received them.

I am also having a small problem though. My friend told me to not worry about it since he grows hydroponically and this is my first go with it. The plant that is in the single bubble bucket is showing signs of overwatering. The airstone inside is a top quality micro-bubble airstone that was $10 for 6". Those are the only ones my friend uses and says they are the best. The plant also looked amazing for the first week and a half or so. This started a few days ago. I changed out the reservoirs and cleaned both containers today. Also cleaned the airstones, anybody got any recommendations for cleaning airstones? Currently the reservoir contains a nutrient mix, the reservoir holds roughly 1 Quart or 1/4 of a Gallon. The nutrient solution is also PH adjusted to between 5.5-6. The nutrient solutions contains per quart:

• .75 ML Boost
• .75 ML Grow
• .5 ML B1-Red
• [FONT=&quot].5 ML MagiCal[/FONT]

The plants in the 6 planter bucket look just fine and its basically the same setup just with 2 lower quality, micro-bubble airstones. The 6 banger also holds 2.5x more water than the single bucket hence 2 airstones. The weird thing is the plant looked amazing for like a week and half. Each week when I changed the reservoir and I would slowly bump up the nutrients and every time the plant just boomed with crazy rapid growth. It is showing no sign of a nutrient burn at all, just over-watering. When I fill the res to roughly the bottom of the 2" net pot, after the following 18 hour photo-period, the res will be down to about 1.5" to 2" from the bottom, so she drinks alot. So I dont think its a nutrient problem and I don't see how it could be slowly drowning the roots when it gets better than worse than better. . . and the airstone is more than efficient for that size container. the container is like 6.5" across so the airstone barely fits and its of excellent quality, I know someone who uses them religiously, and with how fast she drinks and how many roots are there, how could overwatering be a problem? Any help with be much appreciated.

 

[letam06]

WAIT!!!! Could it be possible that the black tape that is used to light seal the reservoir is soaking up light causing the nutrient solution to get to warm? That makes sense, The 6-Banger is covered with aluminum tape which reflects light and doesn't absorb it. Yet again it did just fine for a week and a half? What are the symptoms caused by having the nutrient solution to warm?

 

[letam06]

+REP to anyone who can help fix my problem.

 

[dr green dre]

hmm ... i dont think its overwatering , and your ph seems correct whats your e.c? Are your net pots submerged in the water? if they are try and leave a gap from pot to water.
I didnt know you could overwater hydro unless your over spraying it.
hope you sort it..

 

[PurpleRhinoceros]

First, i like your set up. I'm very impressed. I am not sure how your first try is so good.... Even though you are saying you are having problems. You might just be over reacting. I'll dive deep and see what you got going on exactly. brb reading

Edit. I do love you're bubble bucket. It's tight. I don't have a camera, but I found that a 5in net pot fits into a 2qt pitcher perfectly. It's crazy.

 

[letam06]

haha, thanks man, I would call this doing really well. but thanks anywase, givin it my best shot. short on time right now. But water level is roughly .5-1" below the net pot. Not sure exactly on the EC, know of any cheap meters? The full nutrient mixture is on the top of the page, but it is showing absolutely no symptoms of Nute burn. Also noticed some browning of the roots. dont know it its died from the B1Red solution or if its actually lightly brown. Is there any disadvantage of adding hydrogen peroxide to your reservoir? Would it effect the nutrients at all like make some more available and other less?

Also noticed what looked to be like underfertilization on the lemon skunk and power kush. So I gave it a light vegatative mixture roughly 1/3 strength. thanks for your help guys. much appreciated.

After I get out of work I will post a bunch more pictures cuz Im getting worried about the clones. Dont want my babies to be unhealthy now.

 

[letam06]

The overwatering equivalent for hydroponics is the roots dont recieve enough air. This will show overwatering symptoms along with slow growth, droopy leaves that are dark green in color, possibly some root rot which are all symptoms that I am starting to get.

 

[oOBe RyeOo]

haha, thanks man, I would call this doing really well. but thanks anywase, givin it my best shot. short on time right now. But water level is roughly .5-1" below the net pot. Not sure exactly on the EC, know of any cheap meters? The full nutrient mixture is on the top of the page, but it is showing absolutely no symptoms of Nute burn. Also noticed some browning of the roots. dont know it its died from the B1Red solution or if its actually lightly brown. Is there any disadvantage of adding hydrogen peroxide to your reservoir? Would it effect the nutrients at all like make some more available and other less?

Also noticed what looked to be like underfertilization on the lemon skunk and power kush. So I gave it a light vegatative mixture roughly 1/3 strength. thanks for your help guys. much appreciated.

After I get out of work I will post a bunch more pictures cuz Im getting worried about the clones. Dont want my babies to be unhealthy now.

I got a Sunleave's TDS meter for $26... I thought that was a decent price to pay for one.

If you are using and micro nutes the h202 will kill them.

 

[PurpleRhinoceros]

You are using hydroton right? I'm pretty sure you can keep that submerged in your water as long as the air bubbles can penetrate your medium. I use coco crouton vs hydroton and I submerge my medium completely. The bubbles work their way through the medium. Don't see a reason why it wouldnt do the same thing in hydroton.

But yeah, pretty much looks great. God I need a camera. People would like me a lot more if i had one. But eh, in time. Gotta pay for other things first.

I'm not strongly familiar with the nutrients you are using, but from what i can tell:
boost has your calcium in it, so you always have to add it to your solutions mixture first to prevent lockout
I, like some of my grower friends like the nitrogen out during the last half of bloom. Or at least getting it as low as possible.
http://www.technaflora.com/products.php?product=10
i was just looking at that. you might want to examine the values of everything you are using and then maybe follow what other people have done to modify that nutrient schedule without getting anything else. It's good nutrients, but somebody out there always has a better way of using it.

 

[sparkabowl]

Are you still using tap water? Maybe it's too hard, but then again the other plants are fine. I'd try getting the EC with a meter, or at least some pH'd RO water from the store.

Your plants all seem pretty fine to me though, you should see mine. I want to try something like that in the future once I can get growing in soil down right. Is the air pump very loud? I sleep next to my cab so that is a big consideration for me. Good luck man.

 

[letam06]

I got a Sunleave's TDS meter for $26... I thought that was a decent price to pay for one.

If you are using and micro nutes the h202 will kill them.

I havent been using any H202 recently. I have put like 2ML in with the single plant a while back and i was using micro nutrients (B1-Red/Green/B.C. Boost), and it did not kill them. Actually made the roots whiter. H202 is used with hydroponic setups quite frequently to kill bacteria and add oxygen to the water. I just want to know if it is possible it could lock out any nutrients or anything disadvantageous. The two clones in the 6 planter have not had any H202 yet. I just added 4ML of 3%. Roots are getting kinda brown and I am noticing some problems with growth. Purplish/Grey spots are starting to appear on the leaves and some are dying and shriviling up/contorting. PH of solution is 5.5-6.0. I am also using a 1/3 strength veg mix as they have been rooted for over a week. What is going on????

First 2 pics are of the single bucket plant. The one that is droopy. The others are of the Lemon Skunk and Power Kush clones and what I think is their nutrient deficiency. These pics are from about 8 hours ago. They symptoms are worse now, it was in the night period most of the time. Some lower leaves are roughly 60% covered with necrotic spots and curling upward around the edges while shriveling up. This is on both plants. About 30%-40% of the leaves are affected now.

 

[letam06]

I will post updated pictures tomorrow. Hopefully it gets better after it gets some light for a good 8 hours or so, but with my luck, probably not. Thanks for the help.

 

[PurpleRhinoceros]

I don't even refer to this anymore, but look at it if you want. It's pretty helpful. I practice a regular foliar feed regimine to prevent deficiencies from occuring and use neem oil in my foliar feed to prevent pests from reproducing on my plant if they ever do come around.

http://advancednutrients.com/hydroponics/articles/hydroponics-gardening/know-about-fixing-nutrient-problems.php

 

[letam06]

Thanks PurpleRhinoceros, That is a good reference page. Well I do not think it is a nutrient defeciency anymore. It has been in a nutrient mixture for over a day now with symptoms getting even worse, Leaves are getting more and more covered with the purplish blotches and shriveling up. The edges of the leaves are curling upward towards the center of the leaf while the tips are contorting. I noticed the roots are browning more. I'm worried they are going to die and I have no idea why. I thought maybe the roots were browning because of light leaking through the roots but I relight-proofed the reservoir and lid yesterday and still they are looking worse. I will post updated pictures in a couple more hours show exactly the symptoms and how it looks. The nutrient solution has:

• .5 ML BC Boost
• .5 ML BC Grow
• .25 ML B1Red
• .25 ML Root66
• .25 ML MagiCal
• 1 ML Sugar Daddy
• 4 ML 3% Hydrogen Peroxide.

But the way its looking right now is I am going to just change out the reservoir again and put nothing but PH 6.0 water in it and hopefully that will help. I have no idea what is going on with them and any help is super appreciated. Please help save my babies! lol.

These pictures show exactly whats in my nutrients so hopefully one of you guys on here will know what is going on with my plants.

 

[letam06]

Are you still using tap water? Maybe it's too hard, but then again the other plants are fine. I'd try getting the EC with a meter, or at least some pH'd RO water from the store.

Your plants all seem pretty fine to me though, you should see mine. I want to try something like that in the future once I can get growing in soil down right. Is the air pump very loud? I sleep next to my cab so that is a big consideration for me. Good luck man.

I am still using tap water, its hard water. I know its not the hard tap water because a month or so ago my soil plants grew just fine. Also the other plant in the single bucket is doing pretty well to. The airpump is very quiet. It was super cheap to. I bought it at walmart for 10 bucks and it has 2 air oulets on the pump to hook up at least 2 airstones.

 

[sparkabowl]

Sweet, only $10 and Wal-Mart will let me return it if it's too loud. I never knew hydro air pumps are the same as the aquarium ones.

Bummer about the mystery with your plants. I was wondering, is it possible that in your setup nutrient solution could be bubbling and splashing on the leaves? I've heard of people burning their leaves with nutrients, but I think it was really strong or undiluted. I dunno, just something I was thinking as an option, because it seems you've checked everything.

 

[PurpleRhinoceros]

Well, i'm not exactly sure... but you didn't use tap water in hydro last time?
Might as well go with RO water from publix. its 79 cents a gallon, no tax and you can get it de-ionized with balanced ions.
It is a little annoying having to buy a few RO jugs a week, but it's def worth it. Both the time and the money.
I just don't trust tap water in my hydro. Edit: I don't trust my cities water*

Also I don't think you should put h2o2.....
It's just my opinion, but i'm pretty confused when it comes to using h202 to kill bacteria in the reservoir. Isnt the environment already highly oxegenated enough that aerobic bacteria are the only type that survive and anerobic die off in oxegenated water?

When using totally synthetic nutrients, sure of course h202 sounds great, you don't need bacteria to process the nutrients for the plant. All the nutrients are synthetic right? Pre-processed for the plant to easily uptake?

For nutrients that get broken down by bacterial cultures, you want the bacteria to thrive. These nutrients can be both part organic and part synthetic.
I assumed Thrive alive was your bacterial culture, but after reading it.. I'm not sure. This is their claim.
"Its professionally balanced formulation contains vitamins and nutrients, which are cultured in premium quality British Columbian sea kelp."

Listen, I'm not exactly sure but it makes sense. If h202 is treated for the purpose of killing bacteria, and your nutrients require a certain amount of bacteria to be properly digested by your plants, then don't treat with h202.
It's just that I grow DWC with mayan microzyme and white widow(mycho fungi), two beneficial micro organisms that help my plants digest their food. And I use coco croutons as my medium so they have a place to live. I have read (probably bias studies) hydroton isn't good for beneficial organisms.