KJ's T5/CFL 1st Time Grow

[KarlJay]

Lights just went on and I checked if that leaf would line up with any of the lights, it doesn't. It's FAR to low to hit ANY light. The pulled leaf was VERY dry where the affected area was and moist everywhere else.

However, one of the portable lights was in that area, probably a few days ago, so it might have burned last week.

Strange, really looks like a light burn.

Oh, well, off to the update:

I'm on the new 12/12 light schedule starting today. The tallest is 30" so I'm a bit late getting into flower, if they tripple in size, that'd be 7 1/2 feet tall NOT counting the grow bag! No way can I handle that in that room, it has 8 foot ceilings!

The HPS light has been shipped, it's from Southern California, so should be here in about 1 more day. So, I haven't changed any of the lights, they are mostly veg lights and I'll keep them going as side lights.

The nutes have been changed per the chart, Micro/Bloom/Gro all being in equal amounts, CaliMagic has stopped.

They've recovered nicely from the HEAVY defoliation, they looked like stick men after the cut

Changed the water in the clone machine, still straight PH'd water. They look great, I think I can see some root nubs but it's hard to tell, no actual roots seen yet but they are looking healthy.

We'll see soon if they are true females or not.

I think most of these are going to be pretty large plants.

Anyone got any advice on anything special to do during the flowering stage?

 

[mcloadie]

You gonna use molasses?

 

[KarlJay]

You gonna use molasses?

Not sure how to use it. Isn't it really thick?

What do you do, add it to the water, how much and when?

What does it actually do?

 

[mcloadie]

Not sure how to use it. Isn't it really thick?

What do you do, add it to the water, how much and when?

What does it actually do?

Unsulphered blackstrap molasses. as an organic gardener, I don't feed the plant, I feed the soil, healthy soil, healthy plant. I actually use the plant to tell me whats wrong with the soil. The molasses provides your living soil organisms with carbs, they grow and are happy, returning your favor by converting the nutrients in your soil to a form that plants can absorb. I tried it both ways and I will always use it from now on. 1 tbsp./gallon water, and I use it almost every water and feed, every 4th or 5th time I'll give the plants just plain water. It made my buds denser, and my plants healthier.

 

[bigblunts209]

Nice grow!
But if you dont mind me asking..how come you didnt just buy a nice T5 instead of spending all that money on walmart T8s and cfls? i started off with cfls and T8s just like you but it all adds up.

 

[KarlJay]

I see 4 bulb T5s for about $130. My 4 bulb cost $44 + about $12 for the bulbs, nearly 1/3 the price.

All of the local shops wanted about $300/$350 for an HPS setup, I wanted to get started right away and didn't want t overpay for the equipment and didn't have time to shop around. Ends up I can get 2 complete 600W setups with digi ballast, both bulbs, timers, cooltube, for about the same price as 1 1000W setup for a local shop.

The other reason is that I restore cars and those T5s would be sweet in my paint booth or in a shed. I'm remodeling the house, so even the CFLs would be usable, so no loss, pretty much everything could be used elsewhere when/if I'm done

One of the problems with the HPS/MH setup is it really doesn't have much use beyond growing.

Before I started, one of the guys involved told me it'd be about $1,500.00 to get setup. At this point, I'm about $1,100.00, but that includes the clone machine/closet and the 4x7 outside grow room too.

The 600W HPS/MH w/cooltube, timer and both bulbs adds another $170... but overall this should give me excellent lighting as I'll have a broad spectrum and a bunch of light from the sides.

I don't really know if it'll result in more yield or not, it's hard to say what difference it'll make. The HPS is about 100K Lumens, so that'll put me about 200K lumens and that should cover the area I need.

 

[KarlJay]

Nice grow!
But if you dont mind me asking..how come you didnt just buy a nice T5 instead of spending all that money on walmart T8s and cfls? i started off with cfls and T8s just like you but it all adds up.

I just checked out your grow, DAMMM that's a long root Never seen a foot long root on a 4 inch plant !

Nice setup, like the clone machine, looks like the same basic setup as mine.

I noticed one of your plants looks just like mine did, tall and skinny, I didn't get mine to fill out too much, but I'll see how she handles flowering.

I kinda have all types, short/wide -- tall/skinny, so I'll see which ones produce the most. Those short ones are a bit of a bear to trim out.

 

[KarlJay]

Update: Got the 600W HPS/MH setup in and have two problems:
1. When I hooked up the ballast, nothing happened, so I checked the fuse and it was blown. It came with a spare fuse, so I put that one in and it blew as soon as I plugged it in. I have emails sent to both the Amazon seller and Apollo. The Apollo site has a phone number, but 1st try was busy and next 3 tries was no answer.

2. The side wings on the cool tube come with brackets and screws but no instructions. The brackets hold the wings, but don't have anything to hold them to the tube. I've looked online and saw no information on how to mount the wings.

I really hope they don't expect me to ship this thing out, have it tested and then wait for another unit to be shipped.

 

[mcloadie]

Update: Got the 600W HPS/MH setup in and have two problems:
1. When I hooked up the ballast, nothing happened, so I checked the fuse and it was blown. It came with a spare fuse, so I put that one in and it blew as soon as I plugged it in. I have emails sent to both the Amazon seller and Apollo. The Apollo site has a phone number, but 1st try was busy and next 3 tries was no answer.

2. The side wings on the cool tube come with brackets and screws but no instructions. The brackets hold the wings, but don't have anything to hold them to the tube. I've looked online and saw no information on how to mount the wings.

I really hope they don't expect me to ship this thing out, have it tested and then wait for another unit to be shipped.

#1 How many amps is that fuse?
#2 Did it blow the fuse with the fixture connected? If it did, try another fuse with the fixture disconnected.
#3 Does it have any "burnt" or "got hot at some time" smell? Mainly the ballast.

 

[KarlJay]

#1. The fuse says T10AH250V So I guess it's a 10 amp 250 Volt fuse and I'm using a 120 volt outlet.
#2. connected. No more fuses, I'll check if a local supplier has them
#3. it doesn't smell burnt.

They ship both 110 and 220 cords, I wonder if it came setup for 220 and your supposed to do something special for the 110.

I'll re-read the instructions, but it only has a dimmer switch and nothing else you can switch or change. It reads: Input 110/220V Line current: 120V/5.4Amp 220V/2.6Amp

So it really has to be automatic switching between 110 and 220.

I used to connectivity setting on the multimeter to test the cords and light socket as well as visually inspected the socket and all looks and checks out good.

 

[KarlJay]

Ok, just got an email from Low Baller [the Amazon seller] he says a replacement has been sent! Last one only took a few days, so I guess I can wait a few days. He also sent an attachment for free shipping back to him.

The question now is did I screw up in the setup process?

Here's what I did.

Using a paper towel, I grabbed the bulb, screwed it into the base.
Plugged the tube into the output of the ballast.
Set the ballast to 100%
Plugged in the ballast.

Was I supposed to plug in the ballast THEN plug in the tube/hood? ...That doesn't sound right, because the digital ballast is supposed to automatically see which bulb is connected.

That's actually the next question, the ballast doesn't have an HPS/MH switch, so I must be able to tell which one it is or have a "fire up" routine that works for both bulb types.

 

[KarlJay]

Here's the cool tube. It's labeled as a 400W, but I really can't see where that would matter except maybe the wiring to the socket.

Anyways, here's the problem.

The wings are supposed to go on the sides of the tube and reflect down/outward. I can't seem to figure out how to set them up.

This is what I got:
8 screws
2 wings
2 curved brackets

The wings will only attach one way [unless I'm not seeing another way] unless I bend the wings. In other words, the holes don't line up any other way, so I'd have to bend the edges to get them to fit.

See in the above pic where the wing bends, if I were to mount the wings on the other side, I'd have to bend the edges in order to get the holes to match up.

This is what it's supposed to look like [unless I'm wrong]. Two problems here, the reflective part of the wings is facing the wrong way, there is no way to mount this to the tube. If I drill a hole, it would go thru the glass tube!

If I just rest the wings on the top, and maybe tape the brackets, it would be out too far, facing the wrong direction [unless I bend the brackets].

Edit: wow, sorry for the fuzzy pics

I don't think they would sell a 'kit' like this and not have a way to mount these.

edit: It's hard to see from the pics, but the last two show upside of the tube then the downside (bulb side) of the tube.
I've looked on YouTube to see of someone else has this setup and I can't find any videos

 

[KarlJay]

Here's a pic from Amazon showing the tube setup.

You can see the the brackets go on the back side [up side] of the tube and line up with the edge of the glass/metal. There's no holes there to attach the brackets.

I don't see the brackets in the pic, so they must be on the back side of the wings and the lower right shows two screw heads, that means that I have the wings screwed onto the bracket correctly.

So they must expect us to bend the brackets and find our own way to mount them to the tube?

 

[mcloadie]

Ok, just got an email from Low Baller [the Amazon seller] he says a replacement has been sent! Last one only took a few days, so I guess I can wait a few days. He also sent an attachment for free shipping back to him.

The question now is did I screw up in the setup process?

Here's what I did.

Using a paper towel, I grabbed the bulb, screwed it into the base.
Plugged the tube into the output of the ballast.
Set the ballast to 100%
Plugged in the ballast.

Was I supposed to plug in the ballast THEN plug in the tube/hood? ...That doesn't sound right, because the digital ballast is supposed to automatically see which bulb is connected.

That's actually the next question, the ballast doesn't have an HPS/MH switch, so I must be able to tell which one it is or have a "fire up" routine that works for both bulb types.

You did it right, and all your elec. checks were a good idea when talking to dude for replacement.

 

[mcloadie]

Here's a pic from Amazon showing the tube setup.

You can see the the brackets go on the back side [up side] of the tube and line up with the edge of the glass/metal. There's no holes there to attach the brackets.

I don't see the brackets in the pic, so they must be on the back side of the wings and the lower right shows two screw heads, that means that I have the wings screwed onto the bracket correctly.

So they must expect us to bend the brackets and find our own way to mount them to the tube?

I don't even see the brackets, it looks like it's just resting on there, which we can't have. It has to be secured, if worse comes to worse can you take the glass out and drill a hole to attach it? I think one would be sufficient.

 

[KarlJay]

After looking at this, I think I'm going to just take the reflector out of the glass tube, attach the two wings to it, bend it as I would like it to be, then mount it on the outside of the glass tube.

I see other hoods that are like this and the total reflective surface would be about 17" and it has tabs that I can use to mount to the outside.

I think this might actually be better because I can make the light reflect a bit wider like the more expensive hoods.

 

[mcloadie]

After looking at this, I think I'm going to just take the reflector out of the glass tube, attach the two wings to it, bend it as I would like it to be, then mount it on the outside of the glass tube.

I see other hoods that are like this and the total reflective surface would be about 17" and it has tabs that I can use to mount to the outside.

I think this might actually be better because I can make the light reflect a bit wider like the more expensive hoods.

You got it bro.

 

[WizHigh]

Just checking in over here. Grabbing a seat. Did a little resading so far. I see you have alot of DIY things on your journal. Thats awesome x10. How are those bags working out, they seem like they would be great for a drain to waste table. And that Apollo light problem you have is a bumber. Hope you get it fixed. Or you can just hang it vertical and do a grow like that. Have the light hanging in the middle of the bunch of plants around it.

 

[KarlJay]

Just checking in over here. Grabbing a seat. Did a little resading so far. I see you have alot of DIY things on your journal. Thats awesome x10. How are those bags working out, they seem like they would be great for a drain to waste table. And that Apollo light problem you have is a bumber. Hope you get it fixed. Or you can just hang it vertical and do a grow like that. Have the light hanging in the middle of the bunch of plants around it.

Thanks! I just got done checking ur grow, looks great!

I'm actually pretty impressed with the grow bags. I really wanted wider than the 5 gallon bags, but they didn't have them in stock at the time. I'm a bit concerned about moving them, because when I transplanted them, the new soil on the bottom didn't mesh well with the root ball. The fresh soil was fluffy vs the root ball being packed. I was concerned about the roots being damaged by moving the bags around, so I'm extra careful.

Next time I'm going straight to bag so they root in well, I was root bound going into the bags [my fault, waited too long].

Some bags are thin, this are just about right, you can grab them and move them without tearing them, others were like heavy trash bags and I would pass on them.

I'm not happy about the light, I'm in flower with 6500K lights! I don't like that, but it's only a few days.

The response from Low Baller [Amazon seller] was awesome. No shipping cost to me, same day ship out from him! Hard to beat that!

I really hope I didn't do something wrong in hooking up the ballast. I've rewired my whole house and have a sub fusebox indoors and all the wires are thicker than code, but I noticed a spark when hooking up a timer to that same outlet. However, the ballast is fuse protected, so there should be NO WAY to damage it by plugging it in. Also, the outlet checking device says the outlet is properly wired.

Once the new light is here, I'm putting up 2x4's on the ceiling so I don't have to drill more holes in the joists. Right now, the plants are crowded in the back 2 rows. The row of CFLs is using space on the table and needs to be hung or moved to the side because the plants are just too wide for this setup.

It's funny how the room started out as a HUGE grow room, and now with the plant growth, clone closet, it's kinda crowded in there It's actually an 11x9 room too!

 

[KarlJay]

Update: just got the replacement ballast, plugged it in without any light hooked up and it was spinning the internal fans, so I unplugged it and hooked up the light and it popped the surge protector. I tried it again, and it popped the surge protector and the reset switch on the ballast.

Hooked it up to a different outlet and it popped the reset switch on the ballast.

I checked the wiring of the outlet and it had two lights on the checker, the other outlet shows one light on the checker.

Clearly something is wrong with my outlet wiring!

I'm off to buy a new outlet checker, this one is very old, and I don't understand the chart that's printed on it. It's one of those three light code types and it's not clear if this is wired right or not.

I really hope I didn't blow both of these, they are fuse protected so they should be ok. It's kinda funny, I'm running my computer, fans, lights, TV, fridge... everything with this wiring setup, I plug this ballast in and POP!

I know lights will work without a ground and with the feed/return switched, but would that actually blow a fuse on a ballast and yet everything else works?

Confused!