Grow Mediums Hippy Fish's Stone Dragon - The Insomnia Slayer in RDWC

[eggmansky]

Tex,
I'm a first timer. I thought using ONLY distilled water would eliminate a whole series of mistakes/problems. BOY WAS I WRONG! My first two weeks were a nightmare of wild PH swings. As soon as I started using tap water kept in a big tub with a bubbler (to eliminate chlorine) the PH became easily manageable. Consider Nutrients balanced for Hard Water. I'm currently at day 50 with buds I never dreamed I could produce. I beat the shit out of my girls with wild PH swings...they stayed small thru veg. Roaring comeback. Good luck on yer next nuts...and READ, READ, READ!

 

[TxOld Dude]

022815
Day 42
Temp: 86F
Water: 75F
pH: 5.8
ppm: 564
Plants aren't using any nutes at all. The ppm increase is from added calmag.

Here they are for what it's worth. Tell me what you think. At minimum they will remain for 1 more week, then it's jerk 'em or keep 'em. I'll drop new beans after I figure out the water cooling issue. This peltier is too small for the load and needs to be upgraded.


As you will see, what looks like deposits from the epsom salts but may be powdery mildew that has popped on the hydroton from the temps and was promptly dispatched with peroxide, just in case. Got my financial issues nearly handled and after that we're back in business.

P.S. Forgot to mention I'm going to be relocating the entire operation to another room after some "security" upgrades for blacking out the windows, upgrading the air ducting, and changing to a single 600w HID in a CooltubeXL.

UPDATED:
Ya'll decide and tell me what you think. Jerk 'em or keep 'em?
If I keep 'em, would now be a good time to switch from MH to HPS? All vertical growth has pretty much stopped.

 

[TxOld Dude]

Tex,
I'm a first timer. I thought using ONLY distilled water would eliminate a whole series of mistakes/problems. BOY WAS I WRONG! My first two weeks were a nightmare of wild PH swings. As soon as I started using tap water kept in a big tub with a bubbler (to eliminate chlorine) the PH became easily manageable. Consider Nutrients balanced for Hard Water. I'm currently at day 50 with buds I never dreamed I could produce. I beat the shit out of my girls with wild PH swings...they stayed small thru veg. Roaring comeback. Good luck on yer next nuts...and READ, READ, READ!

Sorry for the delayed response!

Never had that problem with RO. Actually switching to RO eliminated my ph issues. It does matter with certain nutes when to add fert and adjust ph. General Hydroponics nutes have buffers that resist ph changes. If I have to adjust ph AND add nutes, I adjust ph first and then add nutes. Otherwise it gets REALLY weird. As the plants use up the nutes, the ph starts to swing. Balance the ph first before adding nutes if they are buffered. The only thing that should happen is the ppm going down as the plants use it, but the ph should not fluctuate more than a couple of tenths;i.e. 5.9 to 6.1.

Also, I always run the system for a week at least to allow it to balance out and stabilize. Wild ph swings can come from lots of different issues, but not from using RO or distilled water unless your distilled water is inconsistent. Always check each container for base ppm before adding it to the system. If your using RDWC you have to allow time for the solution to change out a few times (mix) and for the ph to settle down.

 

[TxOld Dude]

030115
Day 43

Temp: ?
pH1: 5.7
pH2: 5.7
ppm1: 254
ppm2: 262

Added:
8 gals RO water @ 20 ppm
25% rate CaliMagic 1-0-0
20% rate GH Bloom 0-5-4
Dutch Master Gold Zone:
aggressive rate 12ml/5 gals

Ok guys, I've done a full blowout of the RDWC and we're back to just plain old DWC. While I was at it, I went ahead and changed the bulbs to HPS. This thing was completely out of hand with the failed res cooler. After a full bleaching and cleaning (again!), I reloaded everything with a few additions listed above.
The smell coming off these girls is SO nice! Very garlicky-skunky!

 

[TxOld Dude]

Cocha, was it you that uses the cch2o Current Culture system or was it someone else? We're looking at starting with 3-4 systems of UC8 under 1kw HID lights, IF our legislation passes for 2016 implementation in Texas. We literally want to drop beans at midnight +00:00:01 on the start date.

Any opinions on the nute mix? Anyone?
BTW, do I catch a hint of lemon rind from these girls?