First time grow journal (Alaskan Ice)

So this is going to start as a backdated grow journal. I started my home garden in the last week of June in my 3x3x8 closet. I made my own hydroponic system using an old plastic bucket I picked up from a hardwood store a while ago. I used a simple pump I got from my buddy and a small fish tank bubbler i had lying around. I cut two holes into the bucket top. I filled my pots with lava rocks and used grodan delta hydroponic blocks. I used the Sun Systems New Wave T5 24" 24watt Flourescent light on 24 hours for the first 4 weeks. Here are some pictures from the start of the Grow. Please feel free to ask any questions about the grow that you may have and any advice for future grows (that I will share) is greatly appreciated. The first 3 pictures are from the earliest stages while the next few are about a week and a half before flowering. Thanks for the input!

nice me and my grow partner are starting some ice soon will be watching + to rep for a dope ass medical strain that yields heavy 800+ outdoors

move the light a little closer and get your self a bigger air pump the more bubbles the better, make that shit boil, add a little desk fan to move some air.

I've got a full size Ionic breeze in there now, to circulate the air and clean it to reduce the smell.

Thanks!

Ok. So I started flowering on July 21st. The plants have been on 12/12 for the last 5 weeks and 2 days. One plants has skyrocketed and is over 40 inches tall from the base of the plant to the top. The other smaller one is still healthy but only about 25 inches tall. Both plants are female and I can see little white hairs starting to grow from the joints. I added a new light to the closet last week an 8 bulb 24 inch 48 watt fluorescent lamp which is now dedicated to the big plant with the original 4 bulb 24 wall light focused on the smaller plant. Lights go out at 8:50 pm and come back on at 9:10 am. I'm using general hydroponics advanced nutes. The seed pack says that flowering time is 9 weeks. I'll keep taking pictures as new developments occur. Thanks for your comments!

wow nice plants dude. i bought some alaskan ice seeds in amsterdam a few months ago, i am going to grow this one as well a bit later this year. im curious to see the finished product as they were sold out of the bud when i was over there..

I hung a black sheet on the inside of the closet so when the lights are out no light can seep in through the cracks around the door. 4 more weeks!

beautiful plants

It has been 8 weeks under 12/12 lights and they are starting to form some buds. Tons of crystals and bright white hairs everywhere but the buds aren't filling out the way I expected them to. They probably just need more time. I've tied the tops of the big plant down to help light reach more of the buds and to keep them from getting burnt by the lights because the plant is continuing to grow at an astonishing pace. If the buds fill in the way they should I wouldn't be surprised to get about 600 grams from the large plant and probably about 150-200 grams from the small plant, which is actually filling in much better than the larger lady is. The seed bank said that the Alaskan Ice flowering time was 9 weeks but it looks to me as if these plants may take more like 12 weeks to mature and finish flowering. Comments and questions are appreciated.