DWC, Bubbles, CFL Grow Box, and Closet. First grow, ICE and Bubblelious

Yes you can clone at the end of veg and take a top if you want to. You want something actively growing. Sometimes I take some of the undergrowth that won't produce much anyway.

I like to wait a couple of days at least after I take clones to let them heal up but that may be overcautious.

What I see you don't have is cloning gel. I think that helps.
 
Moving Day veggie 28 days. Root Porn

Today was moving day. It was just to crowded in the box
28 days of Veggie,
PPM out 800
PH out 6.3

In New Tub, 5 gallons of mixture in. going to 12/12 Flowering
PPM in 900
PH in 5.7

Issues and notes. The box I built is just a little to small and I am going to construct another one 2'x2'. I do believe I will be able to use this box for Clones.

Heat is hitting almost 90 by the lamp, 77 where the plants are at with a fan blowing over them. I am going to keep an eye on it most of the day and deal with the heating and ventilation as things go along. The tub is on concrete floor and so far keeping a temp of 68-70 degrees.
400 watt is 20" from top of big plant. (To Far?)

I did make the exhaust outing for the 400, I have a fan to hook up but still have not pick up the hose or made the hole for the exhaust. That will be done this weekend once I get everything.

movin out picture.
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Lots of bubbles. I can put that bubble icon in my footer.

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Roots

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The new home. :)

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By all means use the Deep Water Culture logo! Grow hydro - check, understands enough to explain it to others - check. Not a drama queen - check. 3 for 3 and you're in! LOL!

20" is just fine for their first viewing of the light. Eventually you work it down to about 12" for best coverage but no use shoving it up their nose just yet.

At the top of the plant is what you need to worry. Hooking up your venting will solve that and keep that 90* from building over time to affect your ambient temps to much. Lots of air above the tank and lot of air in the water will keep you safe.

You should be able to remove the pump soon. I do it when the roots are over 3" into the water. Eliminated a potential problem. Over time things can get into pump and cause it to overheat and therefore raise your res temp.
 
H6251686 said:
How do I vote for him? send me the link, I will vote for him. Been on here for 3 for 4 months, never really voted for anything. lol
Click to expand...

420 Magazine's Member of the Month Contest: May 2010

Voting starts next week.

MC is our leader and Chief Deep Water Culture. You ought to join our gang.

How to Become a Bubble head

Many on this site have asked me to gather our group of growers called the Deep Water Culture together and state the reason we band together for the good of all. We Grow Hydro in all of it's forms and specialize in Deep Water Culture and DWC (deep water culture). Let me introduce some of the...
www.420magazine.com
 
Thanks Roseman for the link, I posted. And yes, I will be joining the Deep Water Culture. Can't thank you guys enough for all the help an info I have read on here.

RES update.
Seems like dealing with larger quantities of mixture is easier. I will now only be checking the res once a day.
water temp - 70
PPM out 810
PH out 6.2

PPM in 900
PH in 5.4

Roots are almost hitting the water.
I did not move the light.

Crazy I had no Idea I could remove the pump after the roots get into the water. lol
I thought it ran through the whole grow.
I am glad, cause when I ran the water hoses, I didn't really give a lot of lead to get into the res. Kind of cramp to get my test glasses into the res. But I am getting it.
 
I am often asked the questions "which pump should I use?" and "when should I remove the water pump?"
Here I would like to discuss the use of the water pump in the single Deep Water Culture reservoir tank. StealthHydro offers 2 different manufactured submersible water pumps. The ActiveAqua Pump offers sizes of 40 gph, (gallons per hour) 160, 250, 400 gph. They also offer the Sunleaves DuraPump, that is larger, stronger and comes in 160, 245 and 600 gph. The 400 gph and 600 gph larger pumps are only for small outdoor ponds and very large hydroponics systems that use multiple tanks from one pump. I am privileged to be a member of a group of over 100 Deep Water Culture growers that meet daily on a web site and discuss and compare our experience with the Deep Water Culture Systems and using different pumps. We have all agreed that the smaller the pump the better. It is better to have a smaller trickle of water mixed with bubbles than to have a solid hard stream of water from a larger pump. We also agreed that the smaller pumps do not produce as much heat, and they cost less, but they are not as durable. I have used the SunLeaves 245 gph pumps in 4 consecutive grows, and they are still pumping strong. Both brands are easy to disassemble to clean. When and if I ever have to replace a water pump, I will go with the more economical 160 gph SunLeaves Pump or ActiveAqua Pump because either provides the right amount of water and bubbles and it runs slightly cooler.

When should the pump be removed? Look at these pumps, after they were used for 4 weeks and I removed them.

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a nasty pump


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Pump with dead roots in it


Nasty looking after 4 weeks of use, aren't they? Allow me to stress or emphasize this; a submersible water pump can harbor dead debris, dead roots, and possibly mushy yukey slimey stuff that really jacks up the pH. After two weeks of use, you should give your water the sniff test to determine if the water pump is possibly spoiling the water. It should smell like fresh cut iceberg lettuce or alfalfa sprouts, and not have a bad odor. Most all water pumps have a filter in them that needs cleaning after three weeks, or get the pump out of there after 3 or 4 weeks or when the roots are well established in the deep water. A nasty filter is why you notice the need to increase the use of the pH Down after 3 or 4 weeks.

After the first two weeks, and then daily, your pH will normally climb from 6.0 to 7.0 in about 18 to 24 hours because the plants are eating the nutrients and the water level is going down, and becomes more acidic. If the water jumps to a pH of 7.5 to 8.0 in a day, you have a problem, and 99% of the time it is dead debris, dead roots or dead leaves in the tank or trapped in the water pump. Remove and clean the filter in the water pump after two or three weeks, or after the roots are established in the deep water, or get that water pump out. Then the pH will be more stable.

I have looked and looked for replacement filters for the pumps and I can not find any. I have learned they can be soaked in bleach for several days and the bleach just melts the decaying roots away. Then I use vinegar to rinse the bleach away.

Or you can replace the filters with these plastic pan scrubbers:

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2 plastic scrubbers

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a plastic mesh pan scrubber


Simply clean your water pump, and replace the filters with one, two or three of the mesh pan scrubbers, depending on the size of your pump.

An alternative to disassembling and cleaning the pumps is the use of the SunLeaves Submersible Water Pump Bags offered by StealthHydro. I'll never do another grow without them.
Water_Pump_Bags.jpg

SunLeaves Filter Bags for submersive Water Pumps
 
Hi, Your plants look great and welcome to the Deep Water Culture.

I just have one comment about a potential problem I saw. I saw a lot of light going in the sides of your tank where the hoses are. Tape or doing something to stop the light. That can and will lead to huge problems.
 
Done and thank you for stopping by an watching over me. I really do appreciate it.
Hey Alien,
Your sig links ain't workin. :(

30 days 2 days Flowering
Holes are plug,
PPM out 950 (up again)
PH 6.3

PPM in 900
Ph 5.7


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I hope all is having a great 3 day weekend.
 
Hang on I think we need a moderator. I just tried MC's links cause he has one of the same I do and his don't work either. Maybe they moved RM's pages. I also tried MC's humidity ling which isn't working either. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...can we get some help or info on what shall we do?
 
H6,
In about two weeks, we hope to get up a Deep Water Culture Contest. Information will be posted on the Deep Water Culture Home Thread here:

Deep Water Culture - DWC

Another method of supplying a ratio of Oxygen and nutrients to plants in a reservoir while submerging the root mass in water 24 hours a day
www.420magazine.com

Deep Water Culture miss a lot of great discussions and debates about Deep Water Culture on that thread. This week, we saw on that thread that StealthHydro was offering an additional 15% Discount if you used the word MEMORIAL as a coupon. With the Deep Water Culture 10% Discount, that was a great savings. Please visit the HOME thread often to stay alert as to what the Deep Water Culture are up to. MostlyCrazy was nominated for May Member of the Month and I think voting starts today or tomorrow.
 
OK RM. Thanks, I look forward to seeing the information.
Time for an update.

30 days old 3 days flowering.
Memorial day, (yesterday) plants were top.
PPM out 840
PH out 6.1
water temp 74


PPM in 980
PH in 5.7
water temp start in 62

Pulled the pump today. Plants are looking nice but one of them is short on root growth. I put a gallon of water in the fridge and added that to the tub along with another gallon at room temp to get the water level up for the plant that has short roots. The water level now is about a 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of the net pot.
I hope this is ok? Please object now if not so I can make switches.

Next question,
Can I start trimming some the fan leaves off to get some more light down on the lower plants. They are starting to get really bushy.

Notes: gotta be careful when moving plants and adding nutes. Spilled a little on a couple of leaves the other day. you can sure tell I did. But on that, it should be much easier since I pulled the pump and I can now pick up the whole top moving them all at once when it comes time to do nutes and water.

Here they are before I pulled the pump

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Root pics.

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Working with camera in getting close ups.

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I think this one turned out pretty good. I think I see something coming out. :yahoo:

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And here they are back in place.

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So let me know, Water level to high? trim some fan leaves?
:thankyou:

(note to me, write a freakin macro to adjust pic size and auto upload to gallery.)
 
DO NOT CUT THEM.
IF you think they are blocking some lights, then get some paperclips and hold them back, if you insist on doing anything, but DO NOT CUT THE FAN LEAVES OFF.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, When a large FAN leaf starts yellowing toward the end of flowering, say it is half yellow, that means in the photosynthesis process, that leaf has ate nutrients, absorbed some LIGHT and made food for the plant and buds and NOW, half of that is gone, or used or consumed. Well, what about the other half? Can not it's energy still be used or consumed?
AND when it is ALL consumed or used, that leaf will naturally just fall off.

AND you say it is blocking LIGHT?
GREAT and GOOD, that means it is getting the LIGHT it needs and deserves more than the other leaves do, to do it's job, to make food and grow.


Years ago I tried removing lower fan leaves to allow more Light to penetrate in. When I did remove more than a couple, the plant went into shock for a day or two, and quit eating or only ate half as much, and just went on "stand by" mode. Then, after a day or two, suddenly I saw that big fan leaf replaced by a new leaf, and I saw my plant use the energy to replace that leaf and grow it back FAST to the size it was, more than it used that energy to grow the plant bigger and make more buds or bigger buds.

I now believe that removing fan leaves is pointless, and that a leaf has a purpose and will serve that purpose until it is dead. Then it will naturally fall off. You will have small and large lower leaves just naturally wilt and fall off daily.


Don't ever remove fan leaves before harvest for several reasons.

1. The fan leaves MAKE AND STORE energy for the plant. The fan leaves are doing a process called photosynthsis, and it is the most important part or task or job the plant does, to make it grow. They make the FOOD, the sugars and carbs needed to grow.

If you remove a FAN leaf, the plant will stop growing taller until it can replace that removed fan leaf.

Removing a healthy fan leaf is a big waste of time..they are rapided replaced, unless you are in the last 2 or 3 weeks of flowering.


2. Even if the fan leaves are yellowing in late bloom I do not remove them until they are almost ready to fall off. The yellowing in the fan leaves at late harvest is the plants metabolism at work. She is transferring all stored energy in the fan leaf to bud production. It is the easiest source of energy she has late in life. Let that leaf do its job.

The Wrong reasoning is like "I could run faster if I was lighter and weighted less, so I am going to cut my legs off".



From the Growers Bible by Jorge Cervantes:
Leave leaves alone! Removal of healthy leave hacks up a healthy plant. Removing large or shade leaves DOES NOT make plants more productive. This practice DOES NOT supply more light to smaller leaves and growing tips. Plants need all their leaves to produce the maximum amount of chlorophyll and food. Removing leaves slows chlorophyll production, stresses the plant, and stunts its growth. Stress is a growth inhibitor. Remove only dead leaves or leaves that are more than 50 percent damaged.
 
The water line is supposed to leave a one to two inch air pocket between the bottom of the cups and the top of the water.

Do I see an air pump on the floor? If the electricity goes off, it will back suck water into the floor.
And the Lights shining on an air pump will heat the air going into the tank.
 
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