Let’s Get Nuts: 1100w LED With UV & IR, 5x5x6fr, CO2, Build-Up

[ReservoirDog]

Well now here's my liquid nutes starting with the commonplace GH liquid trio that’s divided into primary nutes veg, secondary nutes and budding nutes primary. Cost was 120$ Amazon. Prices were going up 10$ per weeks for a short period over/after Christmas and that’s what spurred me to take on the powdered nutes in my previous post. On the right, next row down and in squared off 1 quart is Hydroguard. It’s a beneficial bacteria, bacillus amyloliquefaciens, that will colonize my reservoirs and feed off the nutes. It’s presence will preclude any damaging organisms getting a foothold. It is quite expensive at 100$/quart however most people don’t know that you only need to buy it once. It is possible to effectively and inexpensively maintain a concentrated colony in a separate container that you can use to inoculate every freshly changed Rez. I’ll be sure to create a tek when I make mine. As it happens this bacillus is also being successfully tested in mushroom industry where issues of pest infections are even bigger issue, so I’ll definitely use with my shrooming. Go science!

The next one, small clear bottle left of hydroguard is silicon in silicon phosphate form. Silica is one of the best things you can use nutrively to protect plants core health from stress caused by pests and environment both. In my experience it creates a plant stronger by 10 fold, capable of carrying much larger flower, and very resistant to damage. Huge stems result which permit you to blast your fans, which has knock on effect of keeping insects and moulds from settling. Always mix first before all nutes or it WILL precip out and ruin mix.

Beside that is some local seaweed goo, beside that is calmag. In front is just ph probe calibrating fluid. I hope to pick up some humic acid still and I do have some soluble mycorrhizae coming from Amazon still. That’s pretty much my nutes. Comments?

It's not "silicon phosphate" as I wrote, it's Potassium Silicate. But you knew that because it's written on the dang bottle. *sigh*. Another useful and inexpensive chem is Potasium Metabisulphate. I have it in grain form (is common in tablets and used by sneer and winermakers, sorry 'beer and wine-makers') and I use when creating a tea or inoculant and I'm too lazy to fire up the still for pure water. It keeps chlorines from nuking your beneficials - apparently. I mean, it seems to have worked for me in this way in the past, but it's not like I can see the little bacillus high-fiving each other in there and worshipping me like a god. Hmmm... to-list 1. Buy or build microscope.

 

[ReservoirDog]

So, to remind readers, we’re building a DWC bubbler with dripper system from scratch. That includes the full room with 2, 5x5 tents and the required ventilation, air conditioning, de and re humidification, heating, lighting, room sealing and treatments. I’ve been listing of all the pieces because I know how easy it is to buy things you don’t end up using and I’m curious to see, and also willing to share, whatever insights I gain from this part of the process. I’m also unable to make any more progress on the entire project while waiting for a 20$ part… so….

We’ll focus on the dripper system now. Essentially it consists of an aquarium pump inside the rez delivering nute fluid to a manifold where the stream can be split into piping for delivery to each net basket. Two moanifold types are displayed above. One has 9 leads on it the other 4. My designed setup has only two net baskets in every 17gal Rez and by that stage I personally feel the dripper offers no advantage as root system is fully developed, however immediately after propagation, the vegetative state seems to benefit a lot from the dripper addition.

My planned design is to use a separate but interchangeable system for vegging, one that hosts 6, 4inch baskets on Rezervoir lids that will fit on the same 17gal. tubs but also a larger 30 gallon tub if I feel the extra water is necessary due to hot weather or a thirsty strain. This design neccesitates the multihead manifold but it’s also nice to have the adjustability so you can run a trickle over roots and not a torrent.

This one’s a six line and looks adjustable but I haven’t don’t any experimentation with it yet.

 

[ReservoirDog]

We have a reaped “wasted money” culprit right here. Not much of it thankfully, only 7 bucks of miscl. Plastic chucked in with some more useful pieces of an Amazon order (see above). It’s basically a dirt plant dripper kit that will attach to your kitchen sink or garden hose. I was interested to give it all a whirl. Hopefully the Teflon tape is decent I’m definitely planning to use it up. I think the generous retailer has included a whole 50cm of the stuff. I’d be interested to hear of any hydroponic growers who use these sprayers. Maybe I’ll attach them to my dripper system.

 

[ReservoirDog]

The theme of these individual component posts has been the “risk of consumerism in all human ventures” as I list every last item on my from-scratch room build-up and eventual grow (don’t worry it’ll definitely happen, ever since committing to grow weed I can no longer afford to buy it! (Please send care packages in lieu of later date trade!))

Anyway this air pump is interesting in that it will service the number of plants I want to grow, ish, but when I plugged it in I recorded 89 decibels of a most distressing sound. So, I ordered General Hydroponics heavy duty yet supposedly very quiet pump from a national hydroponics retailer along with some 17 gallon pots with flip lids and two large air stones - in November. That 325$ order appears to be the projects first real cash-fire as the product has not arrived and the national hydroponics retailer is ignoring my communications.

So I attacked the problem from a different angle.

I built a muffler for the pump with a 6 ft long silicon tube with a 1/4 inch inside diameter. This can be longer if needed and offers a large side benefit of permitting the grower to go hunting for cooler air sources if tempuratures begin to climb in the reservoir. I can say from experience that placing this intake tube into a covered hole in the ground only 2 feet deep has significant impact on reservoir temperatures. I found also that using a manifold to air stone length of over 6 ft for each stone has further sonic benefit. My decibel readings now are consistently under 65 and sounds are of a quality that makes them much easier to tolerate in their immediate presence, and imperceptible 7ft away on the other side of a very thin wall. Still, I want that order because I need to have redundancy in such critical systems. That and the 300+ bucks.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Automatically controlled, and wifi enabled, temperature and relative humidity. Ah yes… it feels like a luxury, and is to be sure, but automation allows the plants to be free of human failings and exist in the perfectly stable paradise that less fortunate plants no doubt dream of having. When you combine that with wifi which permits the grower to plot these parameters live onto a chart where he can use his human ingenuity in figuring out how to solve the problems he faces then you have something very powerful. That, and I can decide to take some damaging moisture out of the environment during late budding without shocking my plants with cold when I decide to turn on the ac in the middle of the night to dehumidify,, because my small convection heating system (next entry) will turn on automatically and even it all out. Nothing ‘green’ about that thumb. Oh the things we humans will do… actually, I’d never do that that’s what my exhaust fan is for…

 

[ReservoirDog]

These little beauties are going to anchor the heating element, no pun intended, of my hvac. I plan to use a simple, insulated light fixture that will have these pointing in the air like mushrooms, with a wire mesh cage around them capable of holding up a cake pan full of lava rocks. There are going to be smoke alarms inside and outside the tent, however these elements are designed to provide warmth in chicken coops and rabbit hutches where similar or greater fire risks exist. I’ll post a tek on this system when I’ve got the first one finished. They are rated at 1200watts. Not insignificant. At this time of year nighttime heating is mandatory to keep from shocking the plants.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Yet another ugly, wonderful apparatus from Inkbird. This is their consumer level co2 controller. One of multiple equally critical elements to an added co2 system I have waiting for installation. This link in the co2 chain will be plugged in to the same timer as the lights and when powered up constantly monitor for co2 levels. Because I purposefully want high co2 levels in the (sealed btw) grow room, I set the controller up just like you would another inkbird controller, programming the low level at which you want the system to release co2 and the level at which it should stop. There will be a separate co2 alarm outside the grow room assuring no one is injured by leaking gas. I have a 1 large and 1 small full tank of recycled c02 on hand and a gauge system still in the mail. The final element is a very low tech rubber hose with holes in it to be installed above the lights where the heavier than air co2 will rain down on the plants and ultimately increase yield plus reduce grow time noticeably.

 

[DonChiefums20]

Nice equipment its about to get exciting in here. I feel like I need some ink birds also at least for the heat

 

[Reave]

I use the inkbirds for humidity to turn on the exhaust fan which also keeps the heat down. I don’t use a temp one but my tent is in a climate controlled house and I use LED low heat.

 

[DonChiefums20]

I use the inkbirds for humidity to turn on the exhaust fan which also keeps the heat down. I don’t use a temp one but my tent is in a climate controlled house and I use LED low heat.

Ya my tent is in a basement temps are low 70 with veg light on. So Im going to use it to add some heat.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Ya my tent is in a basement temps are low 70 with veg light on. So Im going to use it to add some heat.

I predict my temps will be similar. At night I have reason to be concerned about cold temps as my grow room is completely airtight and sealed off from the rest of the house. I'll be documenting how the auto temp system works out but I would urge you to consider this temp controller. It costs half what the Inkbird did and has two temp probes. People I trust recommended it to me. It can either run off the two probes with one heater/cooler for each or you can run it as just one probe/zone and have it control both a cooling unit and a heating unit. Cooling could be an exhaust fan or air conditioner. BTW some people have had good results using a heating blanket for heat. They are very resilient and won't catch fire if wet. just lay it on the ground. I know some people will have kittens reading that but 'they aren't your father's heating blankets', as they say.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Phew. I wasn’t sure I was gonna pull this off to be honest. Space was so tight and I had to make a few customizations to get it done. I guess putting two 5x5s in a 10x5 was ambitious but we’ll see how I get on with the second. Loving this tent though. Totally light tight and I like the choices LumoX made to get this priced midfield. Excellent zips, double light blocking material for each one. Good strong material just not Gorilla weight (thank god). Tents I’ve noticed lately are about the only thing that are going down in price. I put up the gold tape for a few practical, normal reasons but more importantly it looks tres cool and will make it easier to differentiate between tents in my photos for y’all.

 

[ReservoirDog]

These insulation foam boards went in to each of the three windows like this one. First came a couple of good washes and then some frosted privacy adhesive to keep things looking normal from the outside. I really recommend the window products from Rabbitgoo (great name) they have the highest quality, think product that requires no glues, just goes on with static electricity and soapy water to keep things workable. They even have a mirrored option that’s very slick. Speaking of, that insulation is all taped up because I fell through it. I fall a lot. I have bad vertigo day in, day out and it cost me my hearing lately. Suddenly the room will just start spinning, hard. Like I had been spinning in place as fast as I can… I broke a leg, a few concussions, lots of stitches…. and nobody can figure out why. I lost my left ear like ten years ago but this year the right blipped out and hasn’t come back (once before it did this but came back). It’s a bit scary, and I get such severe migraines, that last for days. I dunno sometimes, anyway, major victory today getting the tent up on my own. Very chuffed.

 

[Bill284]

These insulation foam boards went in to each of the three windows like this one. First came a couple of good washes and then some frosted privacy adhesive to keep things looking normal from the outside. I really recommend the window products from Rabbitgoo (great name) they have the highest quality, think product that requires no glues, just goes on with static electricity and soapy water to keep things workable. They even have a mirrored option that’s very slick. Speaking of, that insulation is all taped up because I fell through it. I fall a lot. I have bad vertigo day in, day out and it cost me my hearing lately. Suddenly the room will just start spinning, hard. Like I had been spinning in place as fast as I can… I broke a leg, a few concussions, lots of stitches…. and nobody can figure out why. I lost my left ear like ten years ago but this year the right blipped out and hasn’t come back (once before it did this but came back). It’s a bit scary, and I get such severe migraines, that last for days. I dunno sometimes, anyway, major victory today getting the tent up on my own. Very chuffed.

Good morning @ReservoirDog how are you doing today my friend?
I like the gold accent on the poles.
But I am having a kitten over the electric blanket.
I still haven't recovered from the fire, that makes me cringe more.
Please put insulation or something else if required.
I'd just hate anything to happen.
Vertigo omg, it sounds really bad in your case I'm so sorry.
My brother in law had it, he fell playing Frisbee with his daughters.
Died on their front steps.
Please be careful, isn't there anything the doctors can do?
You poor guy that's a tough thing to get through every day.
Can't wait to see this puzzle finally assembled.
It'll be great.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[ReservoirDog]

The AC Infinity folks sent me a free example of their advanced ‘controller 67’ upgrade and it got to me a week ago, even though I’m still waiting for the AC Inf. 6” inline fan I ordered before Christmas.

I also ordered a backdraft vent from AC as well and I’ll be sure to report on its effectiveness. Anyone with experience with backdraft units is welcome to chime in. I’m a little worried it won’t activate properly but so long as I don’t put any major bends in the ducting they assure me it will work as desired. I want to be able to maintain a seal on the room during lights on unless heat gets out of hand but I’d like to have airflow at night. All of this hopefully, mostly, computer controlled.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Trying to put up the lights right now, realized I don't have a clue...

 

[ReservoirDog]

Ok lights are up with the four ratchets provided and I rigged up a safety wire for the inevitable near disaster. The former alpinist in me does not like a crap bivouac, safety lines are a must. Sometimes I used to sleep with my harness on at home so I would sleep better hanging off the mountain. These rezzies are my veg rez, the flowering rez are 5 inches lower. These ones only leave you 5ft0 to grow a plant from the deck to the light, hopefully the extra 5 inches of the flowering rezzies will be enough when the time comes. Obviously I knew about these dimensions the whole time thus I’ve been studying some of the more aggressive training techniques. This wasn’t a problem outside 20 years ago! Of course problems overhead did exist - helicopters were for real even 50 miles from civilization, so I’ll take the trade off.

Can’t believe I have exactly the same again to set up right beside it. I’m so stoked it’s unreal.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Currently... it's all I can do not to grab a yoga mat and sleeping bag and go to sleep inside my tent. This really does feel more like a summit bid than gardening, and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Reave]

Yeah you really unloaded on equipment. I look on in awe.

 

[ReservoirDog]

20$ myke ffrom Amazon. Thing is you only need a little to start your own supply, like worms or bacteria. Once again I’ll report my findings good or bad in a blow by blow tek here on 420.