Please help! 600w, 4x4 tent, first timer..

Hey guys,

I'm just one of those patients who is just sick and tired of paying high prices for the top shelf meds and decided to do something about it. After locking myself in my room for about 2 weeks for a little research on rollitup.org and a huge database of marijuana growing books and videos (I seriously looked like this = but I was focused man!! Sort of.. to stay awake, I had to smoke more herb and when I smoke, I tend to forget a little.. actually, a lot but I'm willing to take that side effect any day!)

I ended up with a 4.9'x4.9'x6.5' tent with a 600w hps hortilux light (its the one with boosted blue spectrum "Super Hps" but I don't know the specs because I rushed and threw away the box ) I have a 6inch fan blowing from a can 33 carbon filter through a cool tube reflector. I also have a 12 inch fan oscillating with a humidifier right next to it. The only air I have coming in is a cheap 8000 btu air conditioner. I need to buy something to blow air in the tent but I'm not sure which fan I need. (I'm leaning towards just an air purifier and just duct tape the air flow part to go inside the tent because I have no real air flow through the room where the tent is in) As of right now, when I zip up the tent fully, the tent collapses inward because there's not enough air going in and my oscillating fan starts clicking because it gets stuck and I just want to punch the damn thing. Oh, you ask why not move it? it's because I thought for my first grow, why not experiment on which pruning system (scrogging with LST, FIM, or just simple bending) I wanted to do and get the max amount of plants possible in the tent... I then proceeded to buy a 4x4 tray for 16 plants(*) and that all equals to there's no space in my tent for anything anymore so the fan is barely maneuvering inside
Does my air conditioner and fan inside the tent have to be on at all times even with the lights off? I know there's no need for Co2 though.

The box for the tent said that the max weight is 110lbs and I have a can filter, fan, and light hanging from it and everyday I pray that it wont fall. (Beware! do a little research when buying a tent because it could be built flimsy like mine)

The 4x4 tray holds 16 plants in a drip system. This is where my problem arises.. I don't want to put the reservoir under the tray inside the tent where the plants are held because that's about 12 inches of potential growth so I bought a pump to drain the water out of it but the pump doesn't seem to work too well (its a powerful pump but I have to mess with it each time I turn it on to actually start draining the water and I need to fix it some how (any suggestions? Pictures below)

My reservoir is a 25 gallon see through tank (I know if light hits it, algae will be an issue but will a blanket over the reservoir suffice?) When I turn off the pump that feeds the drip system, it seems to stay on and just drain the whole reservoir and flood the tray (any suggestions on how to fix this?) also, I read somewhere that it should be 65F-70F for the reservoir or was it for the roots?

For watering, I read so many different things, so can please someone clarify for me? In my system, how much do I have to water my plants? When I get the 16 clones, I'll transfer them into a 6"x6" rockwool and I want to just keep the rockwool barely moist?!? as in, water twice a day for 5minutes? well, I guess I need to figure that one out on my own but if anyone has the same setup it would be much appreciated kiss-ass . How much water do I start off and how much do I gradually end up watering my plants?(or is this another thing I need to figure out on my own? as in, variables like how much my strain drinks, how hot my reservoir is?)(Still kind of confused about this)
Misting my plants should be done 3 times a day?

For the Nutrients,
I currently have:
Sensi Grow Part A and B (I wanted Canna but I'm all in and I'm so broke maybe next time)
Cal-Mag
Bud Candy
Scorpion Juice
Roots Bloom
Greencure Fungicide

And someone said I Need:
Bat guano (I think Bloodswell?Budswell?)
Voodoo Juice
Can anyone explain what these are meant for? and with these, would it complete the nutrients needed for the macro and micro nutrients that the plants need?

I'll read the instructions for, when to add the nutrients but could anyone tell me if these are the nutrients I pretty much need for a top shelf grow if done correctly? I was planning to add only 25% in the beginning and gradually build up and maybe only put 75% strength of what the bottle says? or should I just put the recommended amount?
For this Example:
" [FONT=&quot]When I start from seeds I feed them PLAIN water for ~ 2 weeks. By then they are on about their 3rd or 4th set of leaves.

Veg feeding Schedule looks like this....

Week 1: 0 ppm (When you get your clones?)
(Please answer if known, is week 1 veg. when you buy your clones?)

Week 2: 0 ppm
Week 3: 200ppm - Start the 3rd week with 50ppm. Increase by 50ppm each day until 200ppm is reached.
Week 4: 200ppm
Week 5: 300ppm
Week 6: Increase by 100ppm each day until you reach ~600ppm.

Week 7: Flowerin' time. Whole different schedule. "

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Is this the correct format I should follow for when I add my nutrients? Also, what is week 7 (flowering stage?) and the rest of the schedule like? I only copied and pasted this much and I forgot where I got this info from (This is why drugs are bad...)

The P.H. for my system should be 5.9-6.2 is this correct?

For topping off and refilling my reservoir, I'll leave 15 gallons of R.O. water (is reverse osmosis water really necessary? my water that's filtered through pur from my faucet has a 234 ppm reading and I think 8.4ph? (I really didn't really care about the ph because I need to add nutrients later that will mess with the ph anyways) and I read a post here of an easy way to topping it off is, just mark a line on your reservoir when you have your ideal amount of water and top it off with water everyday with a one gallon jug and if you reach 12 gallons or 12 days you wash and refill your reservoir with new nutrients and water. How much Hydrogen Peroxide do I use and would it cancel out any of my nutrients? and clearex should be used throughout the grow?[/FONT]

For the rockwool slabs (the 3"x3' or is it 3'x3"? sorry it's late .) I know to cut the bottom part with 3 large slashes and the top part, a big X on where the 6"x6" rockwool will sit. All this cutting being on the plastic that comes with it but.. I just don't know when to lay the slabs down .

Co2 wise, I dont have the funds for a system right now so I found a posting saying you can build a cheap alternative with yeast and sugar in a 20oz bottle. My question is, does anyone know the actual amount of Co2 that these emit?(if possible can someone tell me the exact readings of Co2 with a 2 liter bottle with 1/5 yeast, 1/5 sugar, with 3/4 water) Some said that the plants closest to this was getting yellow from too much Co2. But I want to know If I'm better off buying just a Co2 tank for right now and slowly just manually release Co2 in 80F-85F(?) since I have time because its only really necessary for Co2 in flowering stage?

One Last thing, I'm so sorry guys but I've heard that neem oil? and a wet betty? will do the trick for pests but all I know is, you're supposed to mist your plants with it. I dont know if my greencure fungicide and scorpion juice is enough though.

Thank you guys so much for reading and hopefully answering some of my questions that I have. I'm sorry it's so long but I didn't want to keep reposting and this way we can all learn .

Oh yeah, when I mean top shelf I mean when I smoke it, I'm so high I knock out. Later on, when I get better at this hopefully I'll grow the herb that you cant even fall asleep because you're so high!

(Sorry guys, I don't have a digital camera but I tried with my phone)

(*)There are 3 Prop. 215 Patients who live in my household and marijuana is grown for medicinal purposes only.

I am no hydro guy, perhaps one will chime in on your hydro related questions. The biggest concern that I have is all that weight on the tent frame. You should consider placing the carbon filter on the floor somewhere. I know you are cramped for space, but that looks like an accident waiting to happen. This battle is won in the planning stage and it looks like your tent is too small for what you need to do.

Little Tommy said:

I am no hydro guy, perhaps one will chime in on your hydro related questions. The biggest concern that I have is all that weight on the tent frame. You should consider placing the carbon filter on the floor somewhere. I know you are cramped for space, but that looks like an accident waiting to happen. This battle is won in the planning stage and it looks like your tent is too small for what you need to do.

Click to expand...

Yeah it would be nice but I don't think I would put the filter outside the tent unless I end up buying another 6inch fan (one for intake and one for exhaust)
I'm trying to figure out a way to stabilize the tent itself.

Hi,

I'm not a serious hydro person, all soil here. But I'll throw in some comments on what little I know, and in best of order as I can.

Do air cond and fan have be on 24/7? AC is there to control temp and humidity. If you find that your humidity is going up too high or temp is as well, leave it on and keep it controlled. If the room that your tent is in is also relatively cool, you probably wont need it at night.

Pumps typically have to be primed. Make sure the pump is submerged in the water when you start it. If siphoning is a problem, what I have done in the past is poke a small hole in the tube so that when it the pump turns off, air can get into the tube and stop the siphoning. Just make sure the hole drips/squirts back into a safe location (like the resevoir). This is probably what's happening in the second question actually...

Blanket should be fine. Least amount of light as possible. Could always spray paint it black and leave a small strip unpainted so you can see the water level. Water temp: Not sure.

Bat guano has lots of micro nutrients. Little things that will make your final product that much better. I think the voodoo juice is the same.

P.H for what little aeroponic systems I've done is 5.8. Your tap water seems to have sufficient dissolved solids that I would use R.O. water in your case. Since you're only using ~15-20gal / week, you can buy 5 gallons at a time at the supermarket for ~$2, or get a system that can produce 3gal/day for ~150.

Neem oil is good. Follow directions on bottle.

Lastly, CO2: Because it's a smaller room, you can start cheaply by doing a fermentation CO2 generator. Later on, move to a tank system and do the calculations. Just note that if you've got fresh air going in and out of the system quickly, your CO2 isn't going to stick around long.

Hope that helps.

WOW, that looks good! You should build those for a living. God Luck