Alaskan1's Flo n Gro Mixed Bag Grow

Alaskan1 said:
Yes Bass, that's a 4x8 tent. I got it off fleabay for 190 shipped! Pretty nice setup. I can give you the link in a PM if ya like. You can see some light coming out of the tent through the zippers but it's not bad. Won't affect the grow at all.

Lights are very nice but they weren't air tight. Had to use some duct tape to get them air tight.
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ya shoot me a looky lou at where ya got it. 4x8 has been in my thoughts.
 
253chiefin said:
nice you have a plan B, always handy to have. well im sure tomorrow theyll take it back no problem. im excited for you to get this grow rollin. i have my fingers crossed for ya bud. i hope tomorrows updates will be all good news:goodluck:
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Yeah me too!. My clones are lookin pretty weak. They need more light then I can give them at the moment until they go into the tent.

Once the grow is going I'll be swapping out the light in my 4x4 tent, setting up the carbon filter and fan. Get those head cheese plants into flower.
 
If you can't get the lights leak free, put the fan after them, then they will be at "vacuum" not pressure. Filter, lights, fan, attic......
 
Alaskan1 said:
Hey OG,

I have the carbon filter zip tied to the top back rail of the tent, the fan is sucking air through that and then pushing the air through the lights and then back out the top where I have duct to the attic. Nothing is low except for the fans to circulate air.
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Where is your intake located? I have my filter/fan up high like you, but I have the cool air intake low near the bottom of the tent, opposite corner from the fan/filter. I just open one of the lower port holes opposite of the filter down low. Cool air is pulled through this open vent passively, and from the bottom up to the filter/fan. The cool intake air passes over the canopy as it comes in. I feel like this is the ideal way if you can make something like that happen... OG was right about cooler air down low. Stratification makes a big difference in temps so your air near the ground is much cooler than the air near the top.

Alaskan1 said:
Yes Bass, that's a 4x8 tent. I got it off fleabay for 190 shipped! Pretty nice setup. I can give you the link in a PM if ya like. You can see some light coming out of the tent through the zippers but it's not bad. Won't affect the grow at all.

Lights are very nice but they weren't air tight. Had to use some duct tape to get them air tight.
Click to expand...

Yeah, airtight is something they're not, alright. I used 2 layers of painters tape (for easy removal) to seal them last time, and it helped a lot. My lights are on their own fan, though, and yesterday I added a filter to the exhaust to take care of any odors that leak through the hoods. Hopefully that'll do it this time.

Alaskan1 said:
Good God, could I possible run into any more trouble.
The lights on my NEW controller do not work and the fill pump stays running even when the res is empty. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Is the pump really still running, or is the water just still pumping/flowing? I ask, because it would be possible that you have a siphon issue (remember our discussion about the small hole in the fitting?) Maybe you've confirmed it's not that, but that's the behavior if that hole is missing or covered.

When you say it keeps running after the res is empty... Do you have enough water in the reservoir? Or, are the buckets being overflooded? If the buckets aren't being overflooded, you'll need to have more water in your reservoir, they won't stop just because it's empty, they stop when the buckets are flooded to capacity.

One other tip/note: I noticed (fortunately right away) that if I unplug something besides the main plug on the Flo N Gro, and plug it back in, the system doesn't operate (at least correctly). The fix is simple - unplug and replug the main plug in after everything else is plugged back in - seems to reset it. BUT, good thing to know in case it ever comes up for you. Now, I always unplug the main plug if anything at all. Speaking of which, are your pumps plugged into the controller bucket properly?

Bummer you've had some issues, but it sounds like you're getting them worked out. Better now than trying to do this with plants in there... :goodluck:

Sorry if some of this makes you go, "Of course I did that!" but it's difficult not seeing things in person or not being there, and I'd like to help/provide insight if I can... :)
 
Xlr8 said:
Where is your intake located? I have my filter/fan up high like you, but I have the cool air intake low near the bottom of the tent, opposite corner from the fan/filter. I just open one of the lower port holes opposite of the filter down low. Cool air is pulled through this open vent passively, and from the bottom up to the filter/fan. The cool intake air passes over the canopy as it comes in. I feel like this is the ideal way if you can make something like that happen... OG was right about cooler air down low. Stratification makes a big difference in temps so your air near the ground is much cooler than the air near the top.
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Yes, I have one of my lower vents open slighly, can't really see it but yes, I do have a lower air intake.



Xlr8 said:
Yeah, airtight is something their not, alright. I used 2 layers of painters tape (for easy removal) to seal them last time, and it helped a lot. My lights are on their own fan, though, and yesterday I added a filter to the exhaust to take care of any odors that leak through the hoods. Hopefully that'll do it this time.
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You would think they would come air tight, we pay enough for these damn lights lol



Xlr8 said:
Is the pump really still running, or is the water just still pumping/flowing? I ask, because it would be possible that you have a siphon issue (remember our discussion about the small hole in the fitting?) Maybe you've confirmed it's not that, but that's the behavior if that hole is missing or covered.

When you say it keeps running after the res is empty... Do you have enough water in the reservoir? Or, are the buckets being overflooded? If the buckets aren't being overflooded, you'll need to have more water in your reservoir, they won't stop just because it's empty, they stop when the buckets are flooded to capacity.
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I spoke with Titan yesterday. Some of the things that they were saying and what I was seeing putting it together didn't add up. Seems they updated a thing or two and the video doesn't reflect that.

The drain portion of the process wasn't working correctly. The float was sticking and not turning off the drain when there wasn't any more water to be had. There was a piece of plastic stuck inside the slide of the float. Had to have been from the manufactuer. Got that little sliver out and it works now!

Xlr8 said:
One other tip/note: I noticed (fortunately right away) that if I unplug something besides the main plug on the Flo N Gro, and plug it back in, the system doesn't operate (at least correctly). The fix is simple - unplug and replug the main plug in after everything else is plugged back in - seems to reset it. BUT, good thing to know in case it ever comes up for you. Now, I always unplug the main plug if anything at all. Speaking of which, are your pumps plugged into the controller bucket properly?

Bummer you've had some issues, but it sounds like you're getting them worked out. Better now than trying to do this with plants in there... :goodluck:

Sorry if some of this makes you go, "Of course I did that!" but it's difficult not seeing things in person or not being there, and I'd like to help/provide insight if I can... :)
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I should be planting today YAY!

Thanks X and OG for watching the journal and helping me out. I appreciate your effort!!!!!! +reps for you guys
 
Glad you got the pump/shut-off thing fixed. Coolio! I called Titan once, and the guy they transferred me too engineered the product. He was super helpful and I was pretty impressed by the level of help/knowledge. Pretty nice being able to work things out with the guy who designed it vs. a customer service rep in some other part of the world.
 
Todays update,

I have everything up and going. babies are is their new home YAY!!!!! I have pictures I'll put up tomorrow.

Did run into a self made error. When putting the water into the res it was too warm. Was about 90 degrees when it went in. Put some ice into it and then some cold packs. Got it down to 78 right now and about ready to go throw some 1 litre ice bottles into the res to help get the temp down even more. Had no choice to run it like that.
Two of the plants are looking pretty weak at the moment. I hope they bounce back from the stress. Tent temp is currently 78 and I'm working on getting that back down to the 72 to 74 range.

I am going to run the lights for 24 hrs and water them every 3 hours for half an hour until they all get settled into their new home. Once things have stablized I'll lower the watering amounts and drop the lights to 18 hours to begin with. After a week of that I'll start them on the GLR lighting.
 
NICE its up and running! those temps will go down after time once u get those 1 litres in. glad to hear your up and going now bud! im happy to hear their in their new homes.. theyll be shocked for about a week then theyll start growing again..maybe 4-6 days if you take great care of them
 
253chiefin said:
NICE its up and running! those temps will go down after time once u get those 1 litres in. glad to hear your up and going now bud! im happy to hear their in their new homes.. theyll be shocked for about a week then theyll start growing again..maybe 4-6 days if you take great care of them
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Well 4 are looking pretty sad at the moment. I had 2 in bubbler buckets and I had to cut the roots to get them out of the net pots. I am very sure they ain't happy about that at all !!!!!!!!!! They are all drooped over and wilty. I hit them with some Thrive Alive B1 green and hope that perks them up.

My 2 Lemon Kush plants aren't looking happy either. I did the same with them. Thrive alive and hope for the best. All the plants are currently getting 1/4 nutes. Hope thats enough to get them thru.
 
Congrats on getting things going! I didn't think of mentioning this, but it's okay to leave them in their net pots when moving to the flo n gro - that's what I do. IE, I let them veg a bit in a bubble tub, and then transplant it net pot and all into flo n gro. I just pack hydroton around the net-pot, roots and all. Less stressful than removing from netpot, and it works great.
 
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