4x1000 DWC Bubba Kush and Extras

TokenGinger

New Member
So first post, I guess I'll just get to the good parts. ***This meets all local medical cultivation regulations***

Room + Atmosphere:

400 sq ft Garage
It was a bit of a project to insulate the ceiling and seal the garage door but totally worth the sealed environment. Home Depot has a good deal where you get the blower for free with the purchase of 1k yards of r13 attic insulation. I definitely recommend doing this even if you dont grow. It lowered my summer electric bill noticeably for the short time before turning on the lights. I Sealed the garage with a basic insulated false wall. Baffled the noise and insulated well enough for air conditioning.

10x10 Grow Tent
Bought it for $300 still in box from a guy on craigslist who got it in a storage locker auction. I couldnt pass up the deal...

5 Ton 13 Seer Trane Split AC Unit
Another craigslist buy. If youre patient, you can find pretty much whatever you need in good condition. This AC was removed from a repo'd commercial building in like new condition. The air handler wasnt even dusty. Could I have gotten away with a smaller unit? Sure.

Gen-1 CO2 Generator
Compressed CO2 is better for heat but with 5 tons, I didnt think I was going to have a problem and went with gas, which lasts me longer.

PPM-4 CO2 Controller
Not the most accurate but definitely the cheapest and gets the job done.

Active Air 150 Carbon Filter with 12" Fan
Was the biggest filter in the store and smell was a real concern of mine. The filter and fan are standalone and serve only as an air cleaner and circulation. Angled specifically to blow across the ballasts to help displace any heat(probably not a big deal but if I'm moving air, might as well make it usefull).

2 x 8" Fans and 100' of 8" ducting
So this was a tad creative suggestion from a friend. Each fan serves two purposes. First purpose is to circulate the air from the tent, back into the room. Second purpose is to cool the lights. So in order to accomplish both, each fan is ducted to two reflectors with an 8" duct splitter at the end. An AC duct is attached to each splitter with the 3rd port of the splitter left open inside the tent. So for the 1-5 minute rule of thumb for grow room air circulation, this is total overkill but for light cooling, it's right on the money. Two additional AC ducts are routed to the tent floor for bucket and pump cooling(this is HUGE!). By using the chilled air this way, the cool air circulating through the buckets drops each bucket temp to 68 Degrees. Plus it helps keep the pumps from getting hot.


Lighting:

4 x 8" Lumii Vented Reflectors
No functional reason for this specific brand. The local store had a good sale.

4 x 1000 Xtrasun Adjustable eBallasts
Same as the reflectors, these were on sale. The sales girl is actually really honest when it comes to the products they offer and she highly recommended. Given the more expensive items she was steering me away from, I figured I could trust her suggestion.

Auto Pilot 4-Way Light Controller
I heard the 8-Way has two switches, allowing you to flip the lights on in stages. I've heard this helps, and I've heard it doesnt matter... You decide...


Hydro Setup

19 x 5 Gallon Independent DWC Buckets
Picked them up from Lowes w/ buckets for cheap. Add the elbows, gromets, blue hose for water level, 5.5" heavy duty net pot, and a 4" air stone. Wrapped in mylar bubble wrap to help with light. Left these independent to get a little more accurate from plant to plant.

6 x 600GPHish HydroFarm Air Pumps
Went with the smaller size, solely for the purpose of redundancy. If one fails, I can add the 3 still water buckets to 3 of the other pumps until I can get back from the store with a replacement. 4 buckets per pump is not 100% but its safe.

4' x 4' Scrog Screens
I have 4 but using only 3 this time and comparing vs free standing

Nutrients
Mainly General Hydroponics Flora series with a touch of a few others here and there.

Clones
15 x Bubba Kush
1 x Holland Haze Harijuana
1 x Blackberry Cheese
1 x Jedi Kush
1 x Black Water
1 x Harijuana OG

Below is photos from the day of planting.

Started at 600w per ballast. The clones have been under T5 for about a week and the mother was also T5 so 1000 right away was suicide.
 

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TokenGinger

New Member
Here is after the first week. All clones are starting to get comfy.

Bumped the plants to 750w after a few days once I was sure they didnt have any shock.
 

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TokenGinger

New Member
This brings us to today, the end of week 3. Tried 1000w a few days ago but wasnt happy with the look of the plants. The magnesium deficiency signs stopped after the roots began touching the water. I'm thinking it had a little to do with size of the clones vs what the roots could uptake. Hand watering the rockwool must not have been enough. Cubes were drying out after about a half a day. They're really starting to explode now! A few more weeks of veg still.
 

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TokenGinger

New Member
Thanks man. Still in the root training phase of vegging. Top growth looks great but purposely leaving the buckets low to get the roots to stretch. About one more week or a little more and Ill have the buckets topped off just below the pots. Considering how much of the roots are still above the water line, I expect theyll explode with top growth once the level is raised.
 
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