DIY Closet DWC Grow - First grow ever

Hulk Nugs said:

hey man was wondering how often you check your res water - ph, ppm...i normaly change my res water in my areo and dwc every 5 days

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I have my little journal I keep. I enter readings at least twice a day, and I look at the readings more often than that. Each time I look at Room Temp (read from an old fashion thermometer, as well as the digital thermometer), Room Humidity, Water Temp, Water pH, and ppm in the water.

The pH situation with mine is I am either at or above the desired pH. In other words I have only ever used my pH down. Think I wasted money on the pH up.

At the very beginning in the dwc, like for the first few days, the pH kept wanted to be up near 6.8, I would adjust to 5.6, and after 12 hours or so the pH would be back around 6.2. Once I started using the nutrients at full strength the pH was much more stable. I still need to adjust the pH after I put in all the nutes and supplements, but once I adjust it once, the pH seems to stay at that level more consistently.

So the answer is I check pH a few times a day, but only adjust when it gets above 6.1 or so. And then I try to get it down to 5.5 or 5.6 so it has room to raise a little (like it does) to get to the optimal 5.8.

I have only changed my rez once. On day 15 of the grow. And I have only pH adjusted around 5 or 6 times since the start. (3 or 4 of those in the first few days).

Hope that answers the question. Let me know if it doesn't.

wow everyu 5 days? That uses a lot of nutes. From what Ive seen people do if you just keep an eye on your ppm / ph and top up your water daily some people do not evan change once.

Lookin great jiga. I need to get my mommy in a small bucket aero system so I can get her under my 400 watt.

Survolte said:

wow everyu 5 days? That uses a lot of nutes. From what Ive seen people do if you just keep an eye on your ppm / ph and top up your water daily some people do not evan change once.

Lookin great jiga. I need to get my mommy in a small bucket aero system so I can get her under my 400 watt.

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I know it is expensive, but I want to use my main Grow and Flower nutes up, so I can get the better stuff.

I have read many people (and people with good results too) that say they do not change their rez the whole grow. I believe them, and I think my setup would handle that ok. However that is something I will try with later grows. I want this one to be perfect.

After seeing the condition of things after 2 weeks of not changing water I am not too worried about leaving the water longer. It may be different however once the nutes get to the levels they are going to, and once the roots fill the whole tank. I may not want to chance leaving huge root balls in old water.

A ton of bubbles helps too. Have enough bubbles and algae has much less of a chance of taking hold.

Survolte, I'm glad you are still alive after your adventure. I've lived in a place where the cops busted in the door of a neighbors house at 2am. Turned out is was bad information, but having 20-30 armed men outside isn't the best experience. Also good to hear the little ones survived your absence.

What did you end up getting at the hydro store?

right on man thanks for the info ....tried to give you some more rep but they wont let me ill go spread it around and then bring some back to you ...............i changed my res water every week cause i see things starting to float in it ........ maybe thats why my plants look so small compared to yours

Hulk Nugs said:

right on man thanks for the info ....tried to give you some more rep but they wont let me ill go spread it around and then bring some back to you ...............i changed my res water every week cause i see things starting to float in it

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I don't know if it would help or anything, but I really love my root zone tank additive stuff. I use Dutch Master Zone, but I think every nute company makes something similar. It is like what hydrogen peroxide does, only more beneficial. Supposedly it keeps the water conditioned and keeps an environment difficult for little critters to establish themselves in.

My stuff cost $20 for the bottle and it is going to last me FOREVER. For 30 gal I use 30 mL a week. And I have a Liter. So I guess like over 30 weeks of the stuff.

Dutch Master should give me a discount for all the good I talk about them. Maybe they'll fly me out to Australia (where they are). Do they grow good weed in Aus? Do they have tough laws? Sidetrack anyone?

I posted this as a thread in Grow Room Design, but wanted to ask all my homies following this thread.

I am going to be getting a 250w mh for vegging next grow. I thought I could put the 250 watts on the plants during flowering for extra lumens and spectrum.

Where do I put the 250? I drew a pic with choices. The first is how things are now, one 400 in the middle of the closet. I know it would be optimal to get 2 150w mh's and put them on either side of the hps, but that's just too much.

Also, secondarily, should I get a conversion bulb for the mh to make it 650w of hps, or do you guys think 400w hps + 250w mh would be a good combo? Again, I know it's my preference and neither one is 'wrong' but I want opinions.

i would go with c ....

but you been doing more reading then me ..... cant go wrong with any of them

All i Go my last trip was a pump mister heads and a black tray with a humidity dome, oh and a temp/humidity thing. I think Im going to make an aero bucket for my lil girl and get her in it under my 400w for some serious vegetation. She will be my mommy. After I cut my clones and they are ready to veg/flower Im going to stick her under cfls I think.

Im glad to see your plants are doin great. They look a little droopy, but very healthy. The widow looks a little small, but I bet she will turn out amazing.

check out my journal again sometime lol : P

The plants just grew and grew today. The walls are proving to be good growth markers, as in I can see how much of the leaves are resting against it. Every time I look more of each leaf is against the wall even more. At the rate the girls are growing, I think I will have to switch to flower soon.

Today I spent some time rearranging stuff in the grow room. I moved everything on the walls up a bit (meters, power strip, thermostat), this way I can seal off the bottom part of the closet. What I am thinking is to cut out some wood I have to make a 'rim' around the top of the rubbermaid, in order to keep the temps separate. The temps in the grow room have been a tiny bit low, so the circulation fan isn't coming on, making the humidity really hight. Plus the water temp slowly rises. So I'm going to seal off the bottom, and make a new hole in the door that will circulate air constantly at a low rate (in the tank area). This should keep the water temp, and a little humidity (from condensation) out of the grow room. I know humidity isn't bad for veg, but I don't think I want 80% humidity for flowering.

I also switched things up a bit. Plant #3 and plant #5 are Monsters and they were pretty much hiding plant #6 (white widow), so I switched #3 and #6. So I moved 6 forward and put 3 back. The room looks totally different to me. It was really interesting seeing how the plants have grown the way they have. The parts of the plants that 'run into' the other plants, sorta stick up funny, trying to get light.

I really love watching my plants grow. They are good little girls.

Hey guys,

My Dutch Master Penetrator gold just got here. I am about to mix this with the liquid light and stap myself in for explosive growth.


Can you tell I'm excited.

jigfresh said:

Hey guys,

My Dutch Master Penetrator gold just got here. I am about to mix this with the liquid light and stap myself in for explosive growth.


Can you tell I'm excited.

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nice. What are you using now? liquid light and dutch master penetrator? Are those foliar spray stuff or what? Maybe ill look into it on my next trip.

Survolte said:

nice. What are you using now? liquid light and dutch master penetrator? Are those foliar spray stuff or what? Maybe ill look into it on my next trip.

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Up to today I had been spraying with DM Liquid Light - "puts your plants into overdrive by restoring their lost photosynthetic power." Now I am using DM Gold Penetrator - "unique Dual Action Delivery that takes the nutrients or supplements that you spray on your plants and delivers it deep inside the active leaf tissue where it is explosively released with high energy uncoupling saturating the cells with your foliar payload!".

I think I said before that a lot of people use the penetrator no matter what brand or type of spray they use.

With the stuff I have been using, including today, I have noticed a big difference after using. That day, and next day especially, then a day of great normal growth, then spray again. I want to spray it more often, but I don't want to mess anything up, and they are growing so big and fast anyways.

One thing... it's expensive. For me Liquid light was $60 - Liter, and $30 - Liter for the penetrator gold. (there is also penetrator, it is $24, but I figure why use the old product, I'm a sucker). However that should last me a long time. For 4 weeks veg I would use 180 mL of each. Same for flowering if you feel like it. They say up through week 4 of flowering as well. So that would be 180 if I did it again. Even if I'm heavy handed that would be around 400 mL of each/ per grow. Meaning it would last at least 2 full grows. But I think my veg time will be shorter than 4 weeks, and I don't think I'll use it through week 4 flower, so I'm guessing it will last me 3 grows. That's $30 per grow. Not too bad, I guess.

Update Day 19 --------------------------

Today I cut some mdf wood I had laying around to separate off the tank area from the grow space. This is for water temp, and grow room humidity reasons. Added temp control of the grow room is a bonus.

I sprayed the girls with the Liquid Light/ penetrator combo as previously mentioned. I guess it made the liquid light more powerful. It's really hard to tell what's better and what's worse. I feel like my plants are always doing between 60-70 on the freeway. If you aren't looking at the speedometer it's hard to tell a difference. I hope someone understands that. So anyways, they looked amazing after spraying and lowering the light back down for a couple hours. I checked on them and couldn't believe things. Everything perks up so much with that spray. It's like an instant inch of height.

I also installed the screen to get a look at it. I put screws in the wall that I am going to hook the screen to with diy hooks made from galvanized wire. At the moment it is being held up by the screws, but I'll need to hold it down once the plants start pushing on it.

So guys, I've read when the plants stick up 3-4 inches through the screen AND/OR when the screen is 75% filled is the time to switch to flower. I know that sounds easy enough, but I'm convinced I'm not going to get this right. It still isn't for a few more days at least, but I'm nervous. In my reading many people say that overgrowing a scrog is a real mess and hard to deal with, and many report diminished yields. But I feel like most of the time it was because the people outgrew their height, and ran into the light or something like that. I have height room to spare, so would accidentally overvegging the plant not be so bad for me?

I'm guessing you'd have to be an experienced scroggier to answer that and I think they are all reading 'advanced grow techniques'.

The first pic is of the bottle I got today. The next two pics are from yesterday and today. Then a view of the stem and where I cut her on plant #2. Next is a view of the girls before they get wrangled down. I know sog is a different thing, but I see what they are talking about with the sea part. I want to go swimming in it. Then are two pics of the screen. I had to cut two holes out for the power strip so I'm down to 231 holes to fill with buds.

Thanks for watching everyone. I hope you are enjoying the progress.

looking good mate.........thats only 19 days of flowering ..dam looking really bushy and big are those sativas ??.........didnt see a pic of you seperating the grow area ......you doing that just for humidity reasons ?? or you going to put a veg under there ?? i would say you could switch to flowering if you want or wait another week but they look like there good to go ........ if i remeber correctly the long you veg the bigger the harvest will be........keep up the good work man looking forward to the flowering

Hulk Nugs said:

looking good mate.........thats only 19 days of flowering ..dam looking really bushy and big are those sativas ??.........didnt see a pic of you seperating the grow area ......you doing that just for humidity reasons ?? or you going to put a veg under there ?? i would say you could switch to flowering if you want or wait another week but they look like there good to go ........ if i remeber correctly the long you veg the bigger the harvest will be........keep up the good work man looking forward to the flowering

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I'm on 20 days of vegging, but remember, I got them when they were two weeks old, so I'm not sure what to count from. I'm counting from when I put them under the 400w light, and into the dwc.

And I haven't separated the areas yet, I'm just cutting wood for it. I'll be sure to post pics.

Update Day 20 ---------------------------------

I made a trip to Michaels, Home Depot, and Lowes tonight. I picked up another hurricane glass/ cool tube, for my double light deal I'm creating. I get a pvc fitting at home depot to allow the water pump to stay inside the reservoir, and connect a hose when I want to drain it. I'll show pics of that too when it gets put together.

Lowe's I got a sheet of sheet metal, for the batwing reflector to come.

The plant grew more through the screen today. They look very happy. I'm trying to arrange the plants a little, so the white widow can get more light. I really want her to catch up, but I'm not too worried about it. I bet she will be the prize of the field when harvest time comes around.

Tomorrow I will go to ace to buy the final pieces of the new light reflector, then put the bad boy together.

The separating of the tank area is going slowly as it is raining around here, and I don't have a garage, only a deck. And while I like to live dangerously, using power tools in the rain just doesn't seem worth it. And while I do a lot of work inside the house, I don't really want everything covered in saw dust.

I believe I'm going to order a 250w metal halide ballast, t15 bulb, and socket. Also, if things work out I'm going to order a light meter.

Oh, and we got our electricity bill today. Usually we spend around 70-80. This time it was 150. Ouch.

jigfresh said:

I'm on 20 days of vegging, but remember, I got them when they were two weeks old, so I'm not sure what to count from. I'm counting from when I put them under the 400w light, and into the dwc.

And I haven't separated the areas yet, I'm just cutting wood for it. I'll be sure to post pics.

Update Day 20 ---------------------------------

I made a trip to Michaels, Home Depot, and Lowes tonight. I picked up another hurricane glass/ cool tube, for my double light deal I'm creating. I get a pvc fitting at home depot to allow the water pump to stay inside the reservoir, and connect a hose when I want to drain it. I'll show pics of that too when it gets put together.

Lowe's I got a sheet of sheet metal, for the batwing reflector to come.

The plant grew more through the screen today. They look very happy. I'm trying to arrange the plants a little, so the white widow can get more light. I really want her to catch up, but I'm not too worried about it. I bet she will be the prize of the field when harvest time comes around.

Tomorrow I will go to ace to buy the final pieces of the new light reflector, then put the bad boy together.

The separating of the tank area is going slowly as it is raining around here, and I don't have a garage, only a deck. And while I like to live dangerously, using power tools in the rain just doesn't seem worth it. And while I do a lot of work inside the house, I don't really want everything covered in saw dust.

I believe I'm going to order a 250w metal halide ballast, t15 bulb, and socket. Also, if things work out I'm going to order a light meter.

Oh, and we got our electricity bill today. Usually we spend around 70-80. This time it was 150. Ouch.

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your plants are looking amazing mate. Im really thinking about foliar feeding like you are. It doesnt sound too pricey, and you really make it sound worth it.

Damn those plants look healthy and bushy, congrats

lovely looking plants, they look realy well looked after and healthy!! well done.

can any1 tell me were i can read how to SCROG GROW PLEASE????

taffo143 said:

can any1 tell me were i can read how to SCROG GROW PLEASE????

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This helped me get started:
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/scrog-sog-training-techniques/66135-sog-scrog-bible-best-guide-i.html

or you can just watch me.

dam just clicked on the link way to baked to read all that ...... only way to get it done right the first time thoe...... i need to read more

Note, this is my second time writing this, so if things are cut short, it's because I'm pissed off.

Survolte said:

Im really thinking about foliar feeding like you are.

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Here's my thoughts on foliar. People either say the stuff works great (like me) or they say it ruins your plants. With things like that, where there is minimal input like 'foliar did nothing at all', it seems to me like people do it right with good results or wrong with bad results.

I am not one to turn down a good conspiracy theory, but some just don't make any sense. For example, I don't think it is in anyones interest for nutrient companies to 'lie' and sell stuff (foliar) that totally doesn't work, or worse yet, that harms the plants. I know nute companies (like any company) wants to increase sales and profit. So I can see the motivation behind inflated claims, 'new and improved' products, and 'specialized' products. However I do not see the motivation behind selling a product known to not work. That would harm the companies brand, losing them moeny. I don't trust much in this world, but I do trust people's desire to make money (especially those people who run business').

So my trust in greed of others make me beleive in foliar sprays (that doesn't even make sense to me)

robotninja said:

Damn those plants look healthy and bushy, congrats

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Thanks a lot. They knew it was my birthday and they wanted to be dressed up appropriately. The inviations said 'wear lots of leaves'.

taffo143 said:

can any1 tell me were i can read how to SCROG GROW PLEASE????

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Here's another: http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/48363-scrog-method.html

and no need to yell, we're all listening.

Hulk Nugs said:

dam just clicked on the link way to baked to read all that ...... only way to get it done right the first time thoe...... i need to read more

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My secret with long ass things like that, is to read them a whole bunch of times. I'll smoke a big bowl and just power through it, never mind you aren't paying much attention. Do this one a day or every other day, just blast through it. Then when you have the time and motivation, spend 20-30 minutes really paying attention, and all those other times you blasted through it will really help. You get familiar with things, even if you don't realize it. Plus it gets written in your brain. Have you ever found yourself singing a song you don't like and didn't even know you knew. There is this really bad 'nickelback' song I can't stand, but I know all the damn words. I don't even know how. Anyways, same deal, you learn it without knowing it, then when you really want to learn it good, it's already there.