HELP PLEASE!! New RDWC grow - 1st time. Seedlings in trouble! SOS

Hello all

I need some help. Went all out on first RDWC grow. 4x4 tent in closet, 600 watt MH/HPS, 4 65Watt CFL's, 6in Centrugal Fan with big carbon filter, water chiller keeps res between 68-72, humidifier in the room (not the best), solid air pump, oxygenation in each bucket, 4 buckets total.

Air flow: Outside 6" vornado outside tent, solid oscillating fan hung in tent, and like I said 6" Centrugal expelling air.

Growing in rockwool with hydrotons around. Water movement is good, water temp good.

Air temp: fluctuates between 77 (night) and up to 88 (day) - I know that's high, don't know how to fix that without an AC.

Humidity: Been trying to keep it up. get it up to 50 with wet towel and humidifier and misting. But it can go down as low as 34 if left unattended.

Water: checked in morning and at night. Using RO water pHed to 5.5-5.8, is right up to the bottom of the net pot and it looks like the hydrotons are getting plenty of water.

Feeding: top feeding 3 times a day with about 4 ml of pHed water. Misting each time. With airflow in there the moisture doesn't last long.

Seeds were germinated using towel method and propagated with LED lights, then moved to system at sign of first leaves (cotyledons)

Had a few mishaps with the buckets and PVC so had to take plants out for 4 hours to clear up leaks.

They are all between a week to 10 days old.

1 is Aurora strain
3 are master kush
all from nirvana.

Don't know what to do!
Need help from experienced growers. I so badly want this to work.

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1 is the aurora - yellowing of true leaves, white tips, one curled up, long stem
2 is kush - white tips, very slight
3 and 5 are the same kush plant - no white tips but clear downturned leaves
4 is kush - gentle yellowing, white tips, second true started

Do I need to check the roots? HELP PLEASE, these babies need your help.

what is the ppm.ec of the water? are u giving them any nuts at this time? and how long have they been in your RDWC

PPM is 8.
They have been in the system since last Friday. So for 5 days approximately.
No nutes except for the aurora. It was germed first. I thought it was yellowing from lack so I gave it 1/8th strength nutes 2 times. I have stopped that. Nutes are GH Lucas formula.
Getting 18 hours of light, 6 hours of dark.

I should add that there was a Exhale CO2 bag in the room until today.
And the CFL's are about 2-3 inches away from seedlings. Is there too much light? Too much air flow? I'm so confused.
C

u are doing fine, give it time, it is in shock, i normally start my plants in soil till they get about 2-3 nodes and then take them out of the soil rinse there roots till it is just the roots and stick it in my net cup with roots as far down as u cna get it and wait about week and they will kick back up. give your plants lets say about another 3-5 days max and if no roots put it in soil and water and put a humidity dome over them and u should be fine

Really? I'm so worried and discouraged bro.
Is it ok for me to take out the grow cube to check for roots and put back in? and what wetness should the bottom of the grow cube be?

u can take it out but no need. roots can take a while to get situated and start. trust me been there done that and just makes it work, u are doing everything right just let nature do the rest mmkay

Is the 3 times a day top feeding necessary? Could that be an issue?

It is not an issue, it is not needed at this time. It might slow down root growth maybe but i am no sure on that. i dont top feed in my DWC

but you top feed them when in soil for a while right?

yea but water goes down in the soil and the plant searches for water. I hate rockwool imo

Ok, thanks man.

i let my seedlings get a strong root system popping from the bottom before i transplant into rockwool, transplanting to early can cause stress, a strong root system should have multiple root hairs coming out the bottom, not just one small tap root.

and the only time u should top feed rockwool is when you its not in DWC yet and when u first place it in DWC until you see the roots popping out the bottom of ur net pot, once u have a couple roots coming out bottom of net pot and your water level hitting the bottom of inch of the net pot, (dont let it touch the rockwool to prevent root rot)

once the roots have became strong in your water your rockwool will never dry out because the roots pull up so much water thru the roots pasing thru the rockwool it keeps it at the perfect water retention.

rockwool works well for me its all how you treat it..

NEVER squeeze it.. always check water level by giving it a little gravity shake, dropping it really quick and then pulling up really quick, like your rolling dice really hard lol.. or.. well.. if u do it correctly, you will automatically think of the perversion of what it looks like your doing.. but none the less. the best way to get water out.. if u squeeze it , you are compressing something that can not puff back out therefore you lose oxygen in the rockwool which increases chances of root rot.. this is also how i gauge if i need to add more water, if i do a gravity shake and no excess water comes out i will add a small amount of water until it runs out and give ONE gravity shake.. then let it dry out again.. a combination of drying out and watering up is the beginning of a successful plant in my opinion

Thanks Cody... So I should keep top feeding?
And I have another issue I just realized. Root discoloration. On 3 of 4 plants.
There's some reddish/brown color on some bits of roots.

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OK, so here is the roots of one of the plants. I looked at 2 more and they looked similar. If you look close you can see the brownish discoloration on one. It looks like that area of the root has been thinned a bit. This can't be good.
The bottom of the rockwool isn't really wet, and the hydrotons that aren't next to the open area of the netpot aren't really wet either. I don't know if that's a good thing. Help this newbie, please!

i know with it being your first grow, (it is mine as well) its very easy to get caught up with everything and worry about every little thing even if its perfectly healthy, your root system is developing well, if u had one small tap root that was brown you might worry a little, but i see multiple healthy roots there, dont worry about that little small browning, although you can let your Rockwool dry out good before you water the rockwool, and it normally only take 1-2 fl. oz. to water a rockwool cube,

you can add hydrogen peroxide to your water which increases more oxygen and kills diseases such as root rot and what not..

this is just my .02 , hope it helps

Ok, so here is the update. I have pics that were taken last night. This makes it about 7 days in the system. I don't think anything got worse.
I added about 60 mL of H2O2 to the res which is about 8-9 gallons.
I syringe feeded all the plants about 10 ml of 1/8th strength nute water - pH about 5.6 - PPM~125
They are only under CFL's now, about 3 inch distance. Turning off the 600W has helped a lot for temps and humidity. Can keep the humidity over 40 and the temp between 77-80. And the chiller is working better with less heat, keeping the water 68 which hopefully (along with the peroxide) will discourage any growth, if there is any.
Thanks brothers.


These 2 pics are Aurora: It seems like there is an improvement in the overall health from previous. White tips spread a bit more, but the pallor of the plant is better and the second set of true leaves grew a lot in 24 hours. I assume this is a good sign despite the discoloration. Stem is getting darker, not sure if that's a good thing or not.


This is Master Kush 1. Pics didn't go great, but you can see this issues. Very slight yellowing, very small whitening of tips that hasn't gotten worse, but the leaves have downturned a bit more. That worries me.


This Master Kush 2. It's probably the healthiest of all the plants. No discoloration, second true leaves are just getting started, stem shorter and thicker than the rest. Problem with this girl? Those downturned leaves. I don't want to handle them much but I touched the leaves. They don't seem overly dry or overly wet, but they are small and delicate and I don't want to mess with them too much, so I can't really tell if it's a watering issue.


Master Kush 3: Probably the most "vigorous" of the plants, there are white tips that are spreading very slowly with a light green header advancing towards the node. Other than that the coloring is ok. Those leaves are pointed down though. That's killing me.

Plan for the weekend is to flush out the system, give it a good cleaning, flush, and replace current water with fresh 1/8th strength nutrient water with H2O2 supplementation and maybe a little cal-mag.

Any advice?
Cal-Mag a good or bad idea? If good, how much?
Cody said 1-2 fl oz for a rockwool cube. I only give each plant about 12-15 ml (around half an oz) of top feed a day. I also mist directly on the leaves and stem and upper hydrotons 3x per day minimum, maybe 4/5. I know there is water that reaches the rockwool from the netpot, and the roots get moisture that way also, since the airstone keeps the water bubbling up, but these look like there is watering issue. Maybe it's just a case of overwatering with the foliar spray?

Help a guy out. I'm doing as much as I can to not lose these ladies.

Bump. Anyone? Could use some feedback.

you havent put any nutes in the water yet?? after 7 days....top feeding with nute syringe.. wth?

1. Do that asap at 1/4 strength( add nutes first then PH ) to your Rez ( 200 ppm on .7 scale is a good start and work your way up)
2. STOP USING h202!! just dump you reZ every two weeks and wash your bucket. Will keep everything clean.
3 DID you PRESOAK your hydroton in 5.7 PH ed water before using??
4. Lower you water level to an inch below the net pot.
5. STICK TO ONE STRAIN for gods sake. Every strain requires and can handle different PPMs and specific treatment. You are making hard on your self..

1. no nutes yet. plan to clean everything out tomorrow and add fresh water with nutes. 200 ppm it will be. haven't done a great job of being extra sanitary so I think that's best.
2. What's wrong with H2o2? I've heard great things. And honestly since adding it there has been a big change in the color of the most stressed plant (aurora). Planning on flushing often anyways.
3. I did NOT do that. Should I still do that? Is it too late? They were rinsed out very very well. What's the problem with the hydrotons unsoaked? pH imbalance around the roots?
4. Noted. Water level is lowered.
5. Too late for that

Thanks much man. Any more feedback?