chetthizzle
420 Member
Well I originally posted this in the growroom design page when I was planning my setup. When I started the grow I continued to post there but since the grow is in effect I decided to repost my last post here and continue from there. Hope I am not breaking any rules.
Because this is the first post in the actual journal let me kind of give you a little background info.
Synopsis of Plan
This is my first grow I officially started on the 2nd of March. I am using two SuperLockers (2.0 & 3.0 version) and two Procyon 100's to veg my plants in and then I plan to transfer them to a 4x4 tent (5x10 in the future) for flowering using a Procyon 300 (Hopefully two in the future).
SuperLockers
The Superlocker 3.0 was bought new from a site out of state and I picked up the unit at the factory to keep from paying state taxes. I purchased the 2.0 used from a guy off craigslist and upgraded it with the t-5 lighting and a Procyon 100. I am also going to upgrade the carbon filter. Pics indicated as SL#1 is the Superlocker 3.0 & SL#2 Superlocker 2.0 version.
SuperLocker Lighting
One Procyon 100 & two t-5 florecents for each unit.
Hydro System
In the tent I am still considering which option to go with. I am considering the Big Boy Hydro System 12 bucket system (18 buckets in the future). As I mentioned above I am inexperienced so if you have any input on this system please let me know. I I was looking into originally getting BubbleFlow Buckets made by Supercloset but they are too expensive for a 12 or 16 bucket setup. I was also considering the C.A.P. Ebb & Grow system because I could get 18 2 gallon pots for about 500.00 but it seem like I found one site for the 18 bucket system for 384.00 Then I found out some of the problems people were having with those and learn about the similar but improved version of the system The Big boy system equipped with 3 1/2 gallon post and sells for 519.00 for the 18 3.5 gallon set or even better would be the Class 5 model 12 5 gallon bucket for 569.00.
What does the ebb and grow system do that the bubble buckets dont and vice versa?
I am trying to figure out the difference between the 2 kinds of systems. If the Big Boy system doesn't have the aeroponics would it be hard to add?
Nutrients
Even more important for me in deciding the system I will use for flowering is how will I determine the amount of water kept in Big Boy's 55 gallon reservoir. Its strange to me when I calculate "Big Boy System upgraded to 18 pots (18 x 3.5 gallon buckets = 63 gallons) or "Class 5 System" upgraded to 12 pots (12 x 5 gallon buckets = 60 gallons) More than the 55 gallon reservoir.
Does this mean I will literally have to replenish the 55 gallon reservoir everyweek? Do you need to fill this to 55 gallons because if so I could not afford the Advanced Nutrients I have chosen as my nutes. This is something I really need to calculate as I am trying to determine how much nutrients I am going to need but I know I can't afford to refill a 55 gallon barrel with new nutrients every week at least not until I recoup some of the initial cost.
Grow Tent (Flower Room) Lighting
The flower room for now will have 1 Procyon 300 and hopefully I will upgrade to 2 in the near future. Each light covers approximately 25 sqft. So when I upgrade my 4x4 to a 5x10 I will have appropriate lighting for two 300's.
Plants
For my plants I chose clones because time is of the essence. 1 Blue Dream, 9 Blueberry Kush, and 4 Girl Scout Cookies clones.
And finally let's get to the grow...
The Grow
I also am going to be I ran into a couple of setbacks but the project continues to move forward. The two Superlockers (SL #2 & #1 backwards respectively) are up & running. I've purchased and placed a total of 14 clones inside SL# 1 &2 veggie chambers. 1 Blue Dream, 4 Girl Scout Cookies, & 9 Blueberry Kush.
Initially the first plant I purchased, the Blue Dream, was placed in the cloner section of SL#1 because of I didn't know what to do with it at the time, lol. A couple of days later I purchased the other clones all in soil and plastic cups. When I brought these home I placed them along with their cups inside the veggie chamber of the 2 SL's to get them adjusted to the new environment and the Procyon LED's. Big mistake was seen the next morning when I realized I had the damn LED's too low. I guess 4-5" above the plant is not too wise huh? Well I corrected this mistake but it was obvious there was some leaf burn issues.
My SL's are stored in a storage area where it gets pretty cold at night. Well on the 2nd night the internal temperatures of the SL's was in the mid 50's. I tried several stupid things to solve this problem. I won't mention them all just a few like, blowing hot air from a hair blow dryer through the vents, placing some regular house lightbulbs inside the unit (got more burn issues from that), or placing both Procyon and a 150 watt HID in each unit (Can someone say burn it after it is grows and not while its growing)!
In between those stupid things I did do a couple of things that made sense like, finding the locations where the cold air was coming in and blocking them, insulated the bottom of the unit from cold air. Because the lockers sit directly on concrete the steel gets just as cold as the concrete. I thought about elevating them to get them off the ground but 2nd thoughts made me think of California Earthquakes and the units tipping over. Moving on after doing this the temps in both units were 60f & 61f respectively. By what I read, and I remind you this is my first grow, the temps should be 65-75f for plants in this phase. So I fired up a 150 watt HID light and placed it right in front of the 2 SL's and voila. Temps were just right about 68f so I even removed the socks I had stuffed in all of the air vents to block air lol.
Well by the 3rd day I transplanted all of the plants from soil to hydro but only turned on the aeroponics and not the drip or sprayer thing.
When I was transplanting the plants from soil to hydro, I found a sprout growing in the container that had one of the GSC clones. Could be anything but I was able to get that little sucker's 1/16" root and place her in some neutral ph water soak rockwool and threw her azz in the cloning chamber. Well its been two days now and it (whatever it is) is loving life so far. I can't tell what kind of plant it is but hopefully it will be another Girl Scout Cookie. Check the picture and tell me what you think.
On the forth day I changed the water and added my first dosage of nutes. Did I mention that this was the first day that I tested the ph. Oh My! the water in all the reservoirs were at about 7.5. So needless to say adding the nutes and checking my ph that day really showed on day 6. At this point I am only have the Advanced Nutrients PH Perfect Sensi Part A & B but I am going to purchase the Hobbyist level next week or so. I purchased the Sensi Part A & B because I do not have time to keep checking PH levels, water temperatures, humidity etc... all that stuff you experts or anybody else who has some sense is doing. Because time is of the essence, the more I can automate the better and not having to worry about ph is all the better. I really need to invest more money into temperature monitoring equipment. Anyone know where I can get a good deal on those 24/7 meters that reads tds, ppm, and ph?
I guess I need something to measure water temperatures too. it would be nice to have just one unit or a couple of units but they have to be protable and easy to take from SL#1 to SL#2, and the tent. Where do you guys get this stuff and how much is it? Some of the ones I have seen cost hundreds of hundreds of dollars.
Moving forward to the present day, Day 6 it appears that most of my plants suffered some sort of leaf burn besides the one Blue Dream who spent it's beginnings in the cloning chamber and the little sprout now in the cloning chamber. Regardless of the burns I notice new growth has appeared on all of the plants with a really nice green color. That's about the best thing thats happen to these plants since I bought them.
That is pretty much where I am with the grow for now I will post pictures but need some help so please read on.
I still need some advice on a few things concerning the design of my setup, hopefully someone will help. As you can see from my pics my lockers are placed side by side. i would like to purchase a co2 bottle, regulator, solenoid, and timer but is there a dual output regulator or device I can purchase? I've seen dual tank regulators but I do not want two tanks but one tank with a regulator that can distribute to two different units. Any suggestions? I seen one listed for beer kegs but I assume that would not work or will it. And if it can, can I still plug up a solenoid and timer to automate this product. If anyone knows of such a product please share.
As far as my pictures they are probably going to really be out of order as I am trying to upload and I think I uploaded the first pictures last and vice versa. Also have been using 2 different cameras so the sequence of events may not be adequately depicted from the picture order.
Doesn't look like none of the newer pictures uploaded or maybe Iexceeded the mb limit. Whatever the case I will figure it out later and re-post time to hit the sack.
Because this is the first post in the actual journal let me kind of give you a little background info.
Synopsis of Plan
This is my first grow I officially started on the 2nd of March. I am using two SuperLockers (2.0 & 3.0 version) and two Procyon 100's to veg my plants in and then I plan to transfer them to a 4x4 tent (5x10 in the future) for flowering using a Procyon 300 (Hopefully two in the future).
SuperLockers
The Superlocker 3.0 was bought new from a site out of state and I picked up the unit at the factory to keep from paying state taxes. I purchased the 2.0 used from a guy off craigslist and upgraded it with the t-5 lighting and a Procyon 100. I am also going to upgrade the carbon filter. Pics indicated as SL#1 is the Superlocker 3.0 & SL#2 Superlocker 2.0 version.
SuperLocker Lighting
One Procyon 100 & two t-5 florecents for each unit.
Hydro System
In the tent I am still considering which option to go with. I am considering the Big Boy Hydro System 12 bucket system (18 buckets in the future). As I mentioned above I am inexperienced so if you have any input on this system please let me know. I I was looking into originally getting BubbleFlow Buckets made by Supercloset but they are too expensive for a 12 or 16 bucket setup. I was also considering the C.A.P. Ebb & Grow system because I could get 18 2 gallon pots for about 500.00 but it seem like I found one site for the 18 bucket system for 384.00 Then I found out some of the problems people were having with those and learn about the similar but improved version of the system The Big boy system equipped with 3 1/2 gallon post and sells for 519.00 for the 18 3.5 gallon set or even better would be the Class 5 model 12 5 gallon bucket for 569.00.
What does the ebb and grow system do that the bubble buckets dont and vice versa?
I am trying to figure out the difference between the 2 kinds of systems. If the Big Boy system doesn't have the aeroponics would it be hard to add?
Nutrients
Even more important for me in deciding the system I will use for flowering is how will I determine the amount of water kept in Big Boy's 55 gallon reservoir. Its strange to me when I calculate "Big Boy System upgraded to 18 pots (18 x 3.5 gallon buckets = 63 gallons) or "Class 5 System" upgraded to 12 pots (12 x 5 gallon buckets = 60 gallons) More than the 55 gallon reservoir.
Does this mean I will literally have to replenish the 55 gallon reservoir everyweek? Do you need to fill this to 55 gallons because if so I could not afford the Advanced Nutrients I have chosen as my nutes. This is something I really need to calculate as I am trying to determine how much nutrients I am going to need but I know I can't afford to refill a 55 gallon barrel with new nutrients every week at least not until I recoup some of the initial cost.
Grow Tent (Flower Room) Lighting
The flower room for now will have 1 Procyon 300 and hopefully I will upgrade to 2 in the near future. Each light covers approximately 25 sqft. So when I upgrade my 4x4 to a 5x10 I will have appropriate lighting for two 300's.
Plants
For my plants I chose clones because time is of the essence. 1 Blue Dream, 9 Blueberry Kush, and 4 Girl Scout Cookies clones.
And finally let's get to the grow...
The Grow
I also am going to be I ran into a couple of setbacks but the project continues to move forward. The two Superlockers (SL #2 & #1 backwards respectively) are up & running. I've purchased and placed a total of 14 clones inside SL# 1 &2 veggie chambers. 1 Blue Dream, 4 Girl Scout Cookies, & 9 Blueberry Kush.
Initially the first plant I purchased, the Blue Dream, was placed in the cloner section of SL#1 because of I didn't know what to do with it at the time, lol. A couple of days later I purchased the other clones all in soil and plastic cups. When I brought these home I placed them along with their cups inside the veggie chamber of the 2 SL's to get them adjusted to the new environment and the Procyon LED's. Big mistake was seen the next morning when I realized I had the damn LED's too low. I guess 4-5" above the plant is not too wise huh? Well I corrected this mistake but it was obvious there was some leaf burn issues.
My SL's are stored in a storage area where it gets pretty cold at night. Well on the 2nd night the internal temperatures of the SL's was in the mid 50's. I tried several stupid things to solve this problem. I won't mention them all just a few like, blowing hot air from a hair blow dryer through the vents, placing some regular house lightbulbs inside the unit (got more burn issues from that), or placing both Procyon and a 150 watt HID in each unit (Can someone say burn it after it is grows and not while its growing)!
In between those stupid things I did do a couple of things that made sense like, finding the locations where the cold air was coming in and blocking them, insulated the bottom of the unit from cold air. Because the lockers sit directly on concrete the steel gets just as cold as the concrete. I thought about elevating them to get them off the ground but 2nd thoughts made me think of California Earthquakes and the units tipping over. Moving on after doing this the temps in both units were 60f & 61f respectively. By what I read, and I remind you this is my first grow, the temps should be 65-75f for plants in this phase. So I fired up a 150 watt HID light and placed it right in front of the 2 SL's and voila. Temps were just right about 68f so I even removed the socks I had stuffed in all of the air vents to block air lol.
Well by the 3rd day I transplanted all of the plants from soil to hydro but only turned on the aeroponics and not the drip or sprayer thing.
When I was transplanting the plants from soil to hydro, I found a sprout growing in the container that had one of the GSC clones. Could be anything but I was able to get that little sucker's 1/16" root and place her in some neutral ph water soak rockwool and threw her azz in the cloning chamber. Well its been two days now and it (whatever it is) is loving life so far. I can't tell what kind of plant it is but hopefully it will be another Girl Scout Cookie. Check the picture and tell me what you think.
On the forth day I changed the water and added my first dosage of nutes. Did I mention that this was the first day that I tested the ph. Oh My! the water in all the reservoirs were at about 7.5. So needless to say adding the nutes and checking my ph that day really showed on day 6. At this point I am only have the Advanced Nutrients PH Perfect Sensi Part A & B but I am going to purchase the Hobbyist level next week or so. I purchased the Sensi Part A & B because I do not have time to keep checking PH levels, water temperatures, humidity etc... all that stuff you experts or anybody else who has some sense is doing. Because time is of the essence, the more I can automate the better and not having to worry about ph is all the better. I really need to invest more money into temperature monitoring equipment. Anyone know where I can get a good deal on those 24/7 meters that reads tds, ppm, and ph?
I guess I need something to measure water temperatures too. it would be nice to have just one unit or a couple of units but they have to be protable and easy to take from SL#1 to SL#2, and the tent. Where do you guys get this stuff and how much is it? Some of the ones I have seen cost hundreds of hundreds of dollars.
Moving forward to the present day, Day 6 it appears that most of my plants suffered some sort of leaf burn besides the one Blue Dream who spent it's beginnings in the cloning chamber and the little sprout now in the cloning chamber. Regardless of the burns I notice new growth has appeared on all of the plants with a really nice green color. That's about the best thing thats happen to these plants since I bought them.
That is pretty much where I am with the grow for now I will post pictures but need some help so please read on.
I still need some advice on a few things concerning the design of my setup, hopefully someone will help. As you can see from my pics my lockers are placed side by side. i would like to purchase a co2 bottle, regulator, solenoid, and timer but is there a dual output regulator or device I can purchase? I've seen dual tank regulators but I do not want two tanks but one tank with a regulator that can distribute to two different units. Any suggestions? I seen one listed for beer kegs but I assume that would not work or will it. And if it can, can I still plug up a solenoid and timer to automate this product. If anyone knows of such a product please share.
As far as my pictures they are probably going to really be out of order as I am trying to upload and I think I uploaded the first pictures last and vice versa. Also have been using 2 different cameras so the sequence of events may not be adequately depicted from the picture order.
Doesn't look like none of the newer pictures uploaded or maybe Iexceeded the mb limit. Whatever the case I will figure it out later and re-post time to hit the sack.