New grower here. Hey everybody! Review my setup?

Hello everyone. Good vibes out to everyone. Review my setup?

I am just starting my first grow. Hoping to get some advice and feedback along the way. I have learned A LOT from reading posts on here. Unfortunately, I didnt find this site until after I began this adventure so there are also some 'lessons learned'.
I have a 3x3 tent set up in a spare bathroom (actually in the shower). I am using a CMH 315.
For ventilation, I have a 4inch inline fan connected to foil ducting that is ran to an adjacent room with better ambient temp (living space). I suck the air into the tent from this fan. I have a 6 inch carbon filter connected to a fan (both in the tent) that removes the air from the tent thru a 6 inch foil duct ran through my ceiling and attached to a vent in my roof. My temps in the tent run in the high 70's. My humidity is around 30-35%. I added a humidifier thinking it needs to be higher since without the humidifier I was at about 20%.

I have 3 plants started from seed that I got online. I really do not know much about the strains other than what I have read on the internet. I live in a non-legal state so i am used to just getting whatever is available. One of the seeds is a Dwarf Low Flyer. The other two are Sour Bubble.
I started the seeds in a paper towel (Jan 27th). After a couple days they cracked and I put them in jiffy pellets (stem down) and placed them in one of those seed dome trays with the heated pad and T5 light.
It took about 3 days for the seeds to appear. I then transplanted them to plastic cups with holes in the bottom filled with Happy Frog soil. I have been watering them once a day with distilled water (ph tested at 6.5). The light is about 18 inches above the cups.

After looking at other grows on here, I am starting to think my little sprouts are growing really slow. I am hoping some of you kind folks can give me your thoughts and suggestions on my setup.
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I would not water every day.

cyoho84s said:

I would not water every day.

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Thanks for replying! Can you elaborate? Should I water every other day? I was watering them every day because I thought the soil felt dry.

I water when it is dry

For me its every other day.

Ok cool. If you think everything else with my setup looks good then I will focus on my watering (over-watering). I will skip watering them today and see how they look in a couple days. I would be interested in any ideas you or anyone else may have in tweaking my setup (total newbie here).

From your description your setup sounds good.
Starting with T5 before switching over to your CMH is a good move.
Humidity is a little low. You want something in the 40-60% range.
You can put a clear 16 oz plastic cup over them to create them some humidity while they are small. And water less. Let that taproot search for the bottom.
If you started Jan 27 in a paper towel you are right on schedule and all your beans popped so that's great!

drsaltzman said:

From your description your setup sounds good.
Starting with T5 before switching over to your CMH is a good move.
Humidity is a little low. You want something in the 40-60% range.
You can put a clear 16 oz plastic cup over them to create them some humidity while they are small. And water less. Let that taproot search for the bottom.
If you started Jan 27 in a paper towel you are right on schedule and all your beans popped so that's great!

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Awesome!! Thanks for the input. This is exciting! Its funny to me how "seed + dirt + water + light" can seem so complicated when you are starting out. I suppose the overhead spent in getting all of this together contributes to my nervousness

Use a peice of tape and label the cups

Other then that have fun and dont love them to death

Alrighty friends,
I did not water them last night. I did not have any plastic cups to cover the plants so I used bags instead. They do look a little more curled and droopy today. I am hoping this is the intended results of not watering.
Thoughts?

NRPS71 said:

My humidity is around 30-35%. I added a humidifier thinking it needs to be higher since without the humidifier I was at about 20%.

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Should have rH a lot higher...ideally 60-80% is acceptable during veg. Flower under 50%.

NRPS71 said:

I have been watering them once a day with distilled water (ph tested at 6.5). The light is about 18 inches above the cups.

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When my plants are this young I only use a water bottle to mist the top of the spray until its really nice and wet. This way I can control the water flow and not disturb the top of the soil/surface too much from just pouring directly onto the soil/surface itself.

Happy growing...

Great info.
They do look better today!

Any tricks to raising the humidity? I have a humidifier in the tent that my wife donated to my cause. I don't think it is very powerful.
Also, I read somewhere that the humidifier can mess with the carbon filter (like clog it up?). I am not sure what to think about that. Seems like a lot of people use both with no issues.
I will crank the humidifier up to full and turn the exhaust fan off for now. I don't think I need to run the exhaust at this point anyway. There is no smell yet and my intake fan seems to be keeping the temps down.

You guys are all great. I will name a bud after each of you

Welcome to RIU!
Usually when I have my intake on a higher setting than my exhaust, my humidity drops.
Warm Wet rag on a fan spikes up the humidity great. Even laying out warm water helps.

My lil seedlings I water with a bottle of Nestle pure life. I just poke a fine hole in the top n give them just a few squirts. Nothing over dramatic.

Even use a Powerade bottle with multiple tiny holes in the cap . Bottle is (64fl oz 1/4 of a gal) i use for veg. Gives good perculation when watering

Rolla J said:

My lil seedlings I water with a bottle of Nestle pure life. I just poke a fine hole in the top n give them just a few squirts. Nothing over dramatic.

Even use a Powerade bottle with multiple tiny holes in the cap . Bottle is (64fl oz 1/4 of a gal) i use for veg. Gives good perculation when watering

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Great ideas. I like it.

Be cool to get a couple of these and have like a rainforest type of environment. Ultrasonic foggers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00PAK245E/ref=pd_aw_sim_147_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1BGDX76SKHTFCAB3B68K&dpPl=1&dpID=51SQ8qkkoCL

That is pretty cool. It has me now wondering... is there a chance having water vapor like that floating around my tent could hurt my CMH bulb? It isn't covered with glass, it is exposed under the hood.

Hey I'm a newbie myself an I made a humidifier with two of them foggers it got my humidity up front 40% to nearly 60%. I got a separate container an put them in there with my inlet ducting connected to it. When I go check on my ladies in a few hours I'd be happy to post a pic if that would be any help to you?

Sy82 said:

Hey I'm a newbie myself an I made a humidifier with two of them foggers it got my humidity up front 40% to nearly 60%. I got a separate container an put them in there with my inlet ducting connected to it. When I go check on my ladies in a few hours I'd be happy to post a pic if that would be any help to you?

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Sure thing! I would like to see it.
Thanks!

Sy82 said:

Hey I'm a newbie myself an I made a humidifier with two of them foggers it got my humidity up front 40% to nearly 60%. I got a separate container an put them in there with my inlet ducting connected to it. When I go check on my ladies in a few hours I'd be happy to post a pic if that would be any help to you?

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Hell yeah that's cool. I use a modded one in my cab. I can't get my humidity past 50 tho. Challenges of winter growing lol