Grow Mediums First Grow! DWCooler Cream Caramel 600w

[tarzansmoke]

Hows it hangin AF? Long time watcher and I finally mustered up the courage to start a grow journal with the hopes and prayers of actually finishing my journal with pictures of some beautiful buds.
That being said lets get into the detes of my grow

Strain: 1 x Sweet seeds' Cream Caramel

Lights: Currently 3 x 1650 lumen CFLs running 24/0, however hope to get my 600w HID today or
tomorrow which will run 18/6.

Grow Room: Closet grow, dimensions roughly 4feet wide, 10 feet long, and about 7
feet high. I have one 20" box fan blowing towards the cfls and my baby, but I plan on adding
another with the anticipation of my 600w, which will be used at 50% to avoid a substantial
rise in temps.

Grow Method: DWC(ooler), using a 4 outlet Air Pump from Petco (too high to remember
the gph

)

Conditions: Grow Area - 80F
Res Temp - 67F
pH - Fluctuating between 5.5-6.5 every 24 hours or so

Nutes: General Hydro Hardwater Micro & Bloom. GH pH Down & Baking soda for pH up

Day 3ish: In all honesty its probably been a week however my initial setup leaked and
killed off one of three plants. I still got 1 Cream Caramel and a Toxic Blue 33 which will
probably be a mother plant, as she is in slow veg right now.

Below are some pics of the setup, for now.
Thank you for stopping by, I can use any help and assistance so feel free.

From Seed:

The original Three

Current CFL setup until HID arrival

Cream Caramel Survivor with signs of root growth.

Happy Growing!stylez rasta smoke

 

[Pal23]

Hey man, loving the cooler set up - I've been looking into containers for a DIY recirculating DWC bucket and this is pretty cool. Does the cooler actually help with res temps at all or is it just a container for your grow? Either way loving the set up dude, can't wait to see what comes out of there

 

[DWCocha]

Hi Tarzan.styles rasta Looks like your set to grow mate.Do you have a ppm/ec meter ?. You really need one to measure how much feed to give them.Also PH is essential throughout the grow ... for the 1st 3 weeks you need to be between 5.5 & 5.6 (no higher) ...then after seedling stage & in veg they need it between 5.7 & 5.8 (again no higher than 5.8 .Then once you switch to bloom you keep it between 5.8 & 6.0 .If you can do that & keep the feeds EC right you should do fine Coolio You say the PH is swinging from 5.5 -6.5 ?. You need to try & get that stable at 5.5/5.6 in the next few days or by the time those root hit the water .

You will prob need some cal /mag as well dude ... & calibrate that PH meter as often as poss or get a better one they can lose accuracy fast & screw over your grow before you start !:thumbs::smokebuds:GOODLUCK High 5

 

[tarzansmoke]

The cooler does wonders for temps man, currently right by the plant is pushin 90F, due to a new HID, which will be in my update, but my res stays between 64-68F! And the cooler is my start to finish grow reservoir, I just need to head down to home depot eventually to get Styrofoam sheets to create a permanent lid, the lid I have right now is more temporary, but works fine for now. Thanks for the well wishes tho!

 

[tarzansmoke]

And hey Viracocha! I don't have a ppm meter just yet, but I will have to order one because the local hydro store is not lenient on price at all! And I'll keep a close eye on my pH meter, I usually test it in my regular tap water (pH about 7.0-7.2 or so) and if that is not accurate would calibrate to see fit but no probs thus far. And as far as the pH, I have read a few articles saying it is natural for pH to drift in the plants as they can have different nute lockouts at different levels? I would rather not let my plant become accustomed to me always ph downing it, as I may not always be home to do so. Ive tried keeping the pH at 5.8 constant on my last attempt and that seemed to only cause more fluctuations, especially when I was stuck at work on overtimeStones slap. Ive read this may also be due to my small reservoir(3 gallons). And I understand I have no nutes yet, which may be the reason for your suggestion of such a tight ship, lol, however since this is in all actuality not the 4th day, and more like the 7th, due to the terrible tribulations this baby has had to go through, having to re-grow her roots, I may introduce a tiny portion of nutes later today and see the response,(like a drop of micro and 2 drops of bloom). And because im using GH Micro Hardwater, it is supposed to battle many of the problems that could occur in my absence of having an EC/ppm meter. Ill be using the lucas formula for feeding, but I would love ur help if you see any signs of deficiencies or plant health depleting etc, and thanks for the tips, I need all the help I can get:tiphat:

 

[tarzansmoke]

Now time for an update!

Day 5ish

Grow Area Temps: Lights on: 90F Lights off: 79F

Grow Res: Lights on: 68F Lights off: 64F(Thank God for coolers)

pH: Letting it drift from 5.5-6.5 every 24 hours, then adding a couple drops of pH down

Pictures!:
Grow Light came in!

New setup:

Readings:

Gro-gress lol

 

[tarzansmoke]

Day 7ish

Grow Area Temps: 87-89F

Grow Res: Lights on 68F: Lights off: below 64(my thermometer stops at 64F lol)

pH: 5.7-5.8 remaining steady, pH downed like two days ago

Also introduced tiny amount of nutes just to literally test the waters lol, 2 drops
micro, 4 drops bloom. We'll see its reaction, regardless, shes got some serious
root growth, letting me know my bubbles are in perfect harmony with her stylez rasta smoke
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[AutoOtto]

Welcome to the forum and good luck on your first grow diary, hope you end up with a bountiful harvest. Loving all the experiments people are doing with DWC these days, makes it so easy and cost effective to do hydro! :smokebuds:

 

[Nam80232]

Hope every thing goes your way! Leaving a huge :karma Cloud: for you. When you get a chance head over to the intro forum and introduce yourself, and to the family!

 

[tarzansmoke]

Thanks for the well wishes to the both of you! Ill post an update hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday, so you all can see the significant growth that has come about. I started out with soil and somehow effed that up, and having researched quite a good deal on hydro and dwc, I already had some of the things I knew would generate growth for my struggling plants. Thank God I was right, but im thankful for everyone at AFN for endless info and guidance and look forward to being a part of this community!