First grow, Rainforest 66, Secret Jardin

This is my first official grow. I aquired some WW, Ice and Crystal seeds, but decided to go with bagseed for my first attempt. The setup is as follows:

Secret Jardin DR120 (grow tent)
600w MH/HPS light w/ digital ballast
Rainforest 66 aeroponics system
General Hydroponics standard 3 part nutrients
w/ Canna Rhizotonic and Boost

Temperatures in the tent stay around 79F-84F with a humidity fluctuating between 50%-65%.

It took two days to germinate the 6 bagseeds, and they were put in the rapid rooters late June 4th. For the most part they appear healthy to me, but it seems like they are now getting a slight yellow tinge to the leaves. It could be me getting paranoid about them, though. What do you guys think so far? Any advice/criticism is more than welcome.

You are getting paranoid. That is normal for the first set of leaves to do that. Where did u get the seeds from, the internet? I am about to buy a Rainforest 66, Is it easy to get started, I have also heard people recommend you put a couple air stones in the tank to get more oxygen in the water and to move the nutrients around good. That is what I am going to do when I buy a rainforest 66 this week. Also, do you have a cooltube for your light, I don't so I am worried about temps because I just bought a growtent too.

The seeds that are in the Rainforest right now is just regular bagseed. The other seeds (WW, Ice, Crystal) came from marijuana-seeds.nl, but they aren't being used for the first round just in case I mess something up due to lack of knowledge.

The rainforest was pretty easy to start. It pretty much comes with everything you need to get started. 3 part nutes, liners, lids, hydroton, and the hardware. I havent thought about putting airstones in the resevoir, but I think that is something I am going to look into. Thanks for that tip!

The hood for my light is a Easy Cool 6 and I have a 275 CFM (I think I got the number right) fan with flexible ducting to cool the fixture. Initially I had heat problems because my 3rd floor apartment gets hot this time of year (80+ degrees late in the day). I ended up having to get a portable A/C unit for my bedroom where the tent is. If your house doesnt get this hot I doubt you would have any need for additional cooling. I would at least recommend getting some sort of exhaust fan for the tent. My secret jardin knows how to hold in that light and heat.

Rep+ to you my secret jardin using friend. I got plans to get the DR300 just need my house first lol... but nice start I'll be checking in.

I am going to be checking in two to see your progress because I am getting the rain forest too.
Good luck

I love the secret jardin so far. Everything about my setup was based on various different things I saw recommended on RIU. I specifically got the rainforest based on a thread started by email468 where he used a rainforest 66. I realize that its going to be difficult growing 6 plants to maturity in there, but if I keep them trimmed well I figure I can get through it.

I have a new set of pictures taken today. Last night I noticed that the PH in the reservoir was sitting at 6.6 from the 5.9 I had it at originally. I think this may have had a part in the yellowing of some plants. I brought it back down to 6.0, and today at about 12:00pm I checked it again on lunch break. It was back up to 6.4 so I brought it down to 5.9. I guess I am going to have to check the PH several times a day to ensure that it stays at the proper levels. Here are the pictures and other stats for today:

DAY 9 VEG - 6.12.08
================
TEMP = 78F
HUMIDITY = 61%
PH = 5.9

I am going to work on being a little more detailed on my grow log. All of the pictures will be posted in order from plant 1-6 in each update. Plant one is at 9 o'clock in the full sized picture in the opening post, and the count works clockwise.

nice!!!!!!!!!!

If you havent noticed by now some of the plants are having some slow growth while a few are having rapid growth. The yellowing on plant 3 is still there, but no other plants have the yellowing to this degree. Several of the plants have a slight yellow tint on the tips of the leaves, but its only noticeable if you look hard.

DAY 10 VEG - 06.13.08
=================
Ambient Temp = 74.3
Tent Temp = 78.4
Original PH = 6.1
Adjusted PH = 5.9
PPM = 490

Plants 1-6 in order below:

Today I see that the leaves of plant 2 are starting to curl noticeably. Perhaps this is a Mg deficiency?

DAY 11 VEG - 6.14.08
================
Ambient Temp = 75.9
Tent Temp = 78.6
Humidity = 58%
Original PH = 6.0
Adjusted PH = not adjusted
PPM = 460

Plants 1-6 in order below:

i think email468 would love to see this thread.... if you have any problems, tell him i sent you!

looking good so far!

I actually sent email468 a link to this thread today. One problem that I noticed after posting my last pictures is that some of the leaf tips are turning brown. Some worse than others. I took a couple of pictures of the worse ones, but they are kind of blurry. You can still see the brown tips, though. At this point I am not sure what is going on. Based on some research a lot of people say that brown tips indicate that the nute concentration is too high. I am not sure if that is the case here. The reason I say that is because my tap water which I use in the reservoir starts at 280 PPM before adding anything in. Right now my reservoir with nutes is at about 460 PPM so that means 180 of that is the nutes and PH adjustment solution. That actually seems kind of low to me, but maybe that is the problem? Oh yeah did I mention that some of the leaves have curling on the edges (not the tips)? Maybe both of these problems are from a single cause. I hope someone can help me with this before it gets worse! Pictures are below.

On Sunday (the 12th) I noticed more leaf tips burning and spots started to form on several leaves so I decided to drain the reservoir and refill with PH balanced water. I will leave it like that until tonight or tomorrow. So far I haven't noticed any further damage to the plants. The only thing that is changing is the plant that started to curl is still curling. I don't know what to do about that. I will see if that gets any better when I start adding nutes slowly. I just added a couple of airstones to the reservoir based on suggestions from pimp and email468. I also think I am going to invest in a reverse osmosis system.

DAY 13 VEG - 6.16.08
================
Ambient Temp = 75.4
Tent Temp = 78.6
Humidity = 59%
Original PH = 5.9
Adjusted PH = 5.8
PPM = 540 (and that is with no nutes)

Here is a wide picture of all of the plants, and then plants 1-6 in order.

Do you like the rainforest 66 so far, is it easy to drain and refill, and do you think it is good for a first time hydro system, are your plants growing fast in it? THanks I am either going with this system or DWC and I cannot decide which would be best for me.
Also, is the PH in this system staying level pretty good or are u having to adjust it more then once a day?

I like the rainforest so far. Now...in order to drain it I would recommend some sort of pump. I am actually using a siphon hose and doing it the old fashioned way (like you would siphon gas from a car). To refill it I have a 18 gallon tub that I fill halfway, do half nutes, and put it in. Then I do the other half. What I really need is an electric pump and be done with it. Without that its kind of a pain.

The plants seem to love the rainforest. Except for one that is my token sickly plant. As far as PH...when I fill the reservoir with fresh water I need to watch it closely the first two days because my PH tends to go up rather quickly at first. After the those 2 days it remains fairly constant. I am putting that on the fact that my water is extremely hard and basey out of the faucet, and I havent let it sit for at least 24 hours before putting in the rainforest.

Overall, if you have a pump to drain/replace water I feel the rainforest is a good choice. Its easy to maintain, its one complete package, and it isnt all over the place in a thousand seperate parts like some systems. The ease of use makes it an ideal candidate for a first time grower. Growing 6 full sized plants would be a little tough, but doable. If you start with 6 un-femmed seeds then it's ideal because some will be removed when you start flowering and the plants get bigger. To be honest the next thing I am going to get is a waterfarm system if you have looked at those at all.

Nice grow.

Those plants look great!

Thanks guys. Lets hope I can keep it up! It is looking like I am going to have to finish this up by the beginning of September because my girl and I decided to move when our lease is up in this apartment. Its either finish them or move them, and I am not sure I feel comfortable with the second option.

DAY 15 VEG - 6.18.08
================
Ambient Temp = 74.6
Tent Temp = 77.00
Humidity = 58%
Original PH = 5.8
Adjusted PH = not adjusted
PPM = 480

Pics of plants 1-6 in order (the picture of the ballast is for assrabbi):

Looking very good, kristus! great job!

you can do six plants - but it will get crowded (but that's OK).

sorry it took so long to visit (i'm here now) - but i figured you'd PM me if you ran into problems....