all I have to say is that I don't use humboldt nutrients as a base, I only run their additives. I use Roots, ginormous, and their bud up powder. the reason I say this is that in total in two spots I'm now running 9000w and I always buy in gallon or larger sizes. I saw your comment about hn's prices and figured you should buy their 20l sizes and what not. you're a bright girl and probably have that all sussed out. but..... that's the only thing I could see that could be different...... big massive bulk nutes. we run a Heavy 16 base and buy the 23l of both a and b. expensive up front
For my previous grow of 6000 watts, the one gallon sizes of Grow/Micro/Bloom and the 1 gallon of ProZyme and the big jug of Roots is basically what I was using. They've changed their formulas about 6 months ago to use a static amount of G/M/B and then the additives as the plants need them which did cut down on ProZyme usage by half, but then again it added White Widow powder too, yet they reduced the Big Up powder requirement in half.
Since nutrients do have a shelf life, I try to keep as few as possible to make sure they are always changing. If they are on my shelf for more than 4 or 5 months, I usually throw it away and replace with new anyway. I dont know if its OCD or not but had a 150ml tin of the Roots smell like rotten eggs from a warehouse that didnt rotate their stock. One of the few times in my life I've almost vomited.
This is an absolutely SICK grow...I also love the fact that this is your real life job so I know it will be fun to watch and you'll really know what your talking about as well. I don't think I can give you plus rep again but this setup alone deserves it...wait to go kitty.
Even though its my job, like most employees, I dont really know *exactly* what I'm doing yet. Every time I upgrade a system or do something new there's consequences, whether good or bad! Mostly its about keeping the right cycle so something is always flowering, and that can be a hard thing to pre-plan in advance if you arent exactly sure how many plants you need etc....... That's why i like grow journals, everyone seems to help out and its a good time.
one last thing. you run 400w in veg right? we run phantom dimmable thousands at six hundred for a week and then 750 for a week and then 1000w for the final week. makes for a nice "hardening off" if you would. online they're something
like 310 or so
I have a 8 bulb T5 HO that emits something like 400 watts (406w I think?). Its very long as you can see in the pictures, so despite it being 400w, its really just the same as 4 96w T5's in an array, it isnt much more light for the clones than needed. For vegging, I'll use a single 1000w on the 4x8 Flood Tray at a height of around 24-28" above the plants. MH, of course. I vegged once under a 1000w lamp for 3 weeks then flowered and the plants were at 5 plants per light. I think it'll take a week, week and a half this time around since there will be 16 plants per light instead of just 5.
For me, using bigger and dimming just makes me always want to use max settings anyway -- I'm a light WHORE -- MORE MORE MORE!!!
I'm not sure how the drain part of flood and drain works with a table and a barrel . . . Cause gravity's not your friend with a barrel? I guess you have the headroom to have a flood table above a barrel. . . . Do you plan to use an ebb n gro controller? Sorry, my imagination is running wild.
The 4x8 flood tray will be put on a wood frame that is about 2 feet off the ground. UNDER it will be a 5 gallon bucket with a float in it where when it gets full from the table fill, it pumps back to the reservoir. Since flood trays use a high and a low valve, the water comes in on the low valve, overspill exits the high valve, and then there will be a smaller third hole and hose that always drains to the red bucket, just not as wide of a hose as the other two. That way it always drains to the 5 gallon bucket but not faster than its being filled. When its filled filled, any overage will go out the top drain also to the red bucket. I hope that made some sense, if not, I'll have pictures for you in a week