Maer's 540W Advanced LED — G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
- Thread starter Maer
- Start date
Magic beans
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Hey Maer, heres a link to one of Mr. Smiths DIYs. Im sure youll like this. DIY Recirculating DWC PVC Tube
Hey Maer, heres a link to one of Mr. Smiths DIYs. Im sure youll like this. DIY Recirculating DWC PVC Tube
- Thread starter
- #183
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
I am too tired to post it all now, but the light box is build CO2 tank refilled, coolant loop running (and cooling ever so slowly). Coil coil installed in nute res, basically everything is done.... so tired.
I am too tired to post it all now, but the light box is build CO2 tank refilled, coolant loop running (and cooling ever so slowly). Coil coil installed in nute res, basically everything is done.... so tired.
- Thread starter
- #184
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Well, yesterday was an eventful day, working to well after midnight in the grow area.
Yesterday was transplant day for the girls. I took them out of the cloner gave them a haircut down to 6", put them in net pots with a fresh collar, and massed them with my handy hanging gram scale.
With a fairly uniform plant size the differences in mass are mostly due to root mass, so this should give me a good idea of mow much root mass impacts production in hydro. Here is a shot in the cloner before the trim:
And here they are in the NFT:
I also got my Advanced LED 400W Diamonds Series - I build a custom air cooled light box for that and my two Advanced LED 180W Extreme Flower series lights. Here are some shots of the box and the lights:
Everything else I have been working on was activated, the AIR-4 got everything plugged in, HEPA is running, clip fans are in gently blowing on the plants. The PPM-3 CO2 monitor may have a bum sensor. I took it outside and calibrated, but in the closet it reads a constant 1451+ which means it never triggers the CO2. Here are some shots of the closet:
The coolant res was filled, the we added 2 gallons of RV antifreeze, as I mentioned before that stuff is non toxic - just in case of a coolant leak. After we pressure tested the coolant loop we started a little insulation on the cold lines:
And since it excites me:
The cool coil is in the res, it is keeping the res about 2-3 degrees higher than the coolant water, which IMHO is a success. The res is also getting some nice aeration from the return, do you think I need a stone too?
It seems my girls got an extra 4 hours of light today... they were in the dark from 10pm Sunday to 11pm Monday.. then the light stayed on until almost 1pm.. 14 hours... lights on at 8pm (only 7 hours dark) to 8am... not ideal but I think it will be OK.
Will let you know how everything is working after work today!
Well, yesterday was an eventful day, working to well after midnight in the grow area.
Yesterday was transplant day for the girls. I took them out of the cloner gave them a haircut down to 6", put them in net pots with a fresh collar, and massed them with my handy hanging gram scale.
With a fairly uniform plant size the differences in mass are mostly due to root mass, so this should give me a good idea of mow much root mass impacts production in hydro. Here is a shot in the cloner before the trim:
And here they are in the NFT:
I also got my Advanced LED 400W Diamonds Series - I build a custom air cooled light box for that and my two Advanced LED 180W Extreme Flower series lights. Here are some shots of the box and the lights:
Everything else I have been working on was activated, the AIR-4 got everything plugged in, HEPA is running, clip fans are in gently blowing on the plants. The PPM-3 CO2 monitor may have a bum sensor. I took it outside and calibrated, but in the closet it reads a constant 1451+ which means it never triggers the CO2. Here are some shots of the closet:
The coolant res was filled, the we added 2 gallons of RV antifreeze, as I mentioned before that stuff is non toxic - just in case of a coolant leak. After we pressure tested the coolant loop we started a little insulation on the cold lines:
And since it excites me:
The cool coil is in the res, it is keeping the res about 2-3 degrees higher than the coolant water, which IMHO is a success. The res is also getting some nice aeration from the return, do you think I need a stone too?
It seems my girls got an extra 4 hours of light today... they were in the dark from 10pm Sunday to 11pm Monday.. then the light stayed on until almost 1pm.. 14 hours... lights on at 8pm (only 7 hours dark) to 8am... not ideal but I think it will be OK.
Will let you know how everything is working after work today!
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Wow! Looking great. I like the sealed box for the LEDs. Looks like everything is well-thought out. You are going to be amazed at how fast they grow over the next 2 weeks!
Wow! Looking great. I like the sealed box for the LEDs. Looks like everything is well-thought out. You are going to be amazed at how fast they grow over the next 2 weeks!
Magic beans
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
and so it begins...
and so it begins...
Like stevehman said it is a very well thought out grow you have going.
I will be following this one closely! cheeee hooo!
I will be following this one closely! cheeee hooo!
- Thread starter
- #189
Sealed grow space to contain CO2, all lights (even LEDs) produce some light, so the light box allows air from outside to cool the lights and exhaust outside the space. Cool idea (pun intended)!
- Thread starter
- #192
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Day 0 of Flower
res temp: 69
ppm: 800 before nutes 1459 after
ph: 5.0 after adding nutes 6.0 before
Room Temp: Its complicated (see graph)*
RH: *see above
I realized this morning (12:30pm) the timer was not on auto, but on "on", which is what led to the extra light time last night. So anyway at some point I ran out of plugs on the "Always on" strip so I plugged something in to the timer strip.... the wrong thing... the nute pump... so it was off for about an hour and the nutes did flow back in to the res which overflowed... but not so bad just a couple gallons.
So when I turned on the chiller last night it was reading 77 degrees, after the 13 hours of lights on (with no water cooled A/C or DH - bloom door open) the coolant reservoir temp dropped to just 69. Over the next 8 hours it dropped to 67, 66 for a second but then for lights on I had to turn on the water chilled AC so it went to 67. So the jury is still out if I need a larger chiller or not, although I fear it is too small.
Another note on the pH. Last night after I added the nutes the pH was 3.9 this morning was 6.0, of course that was after the flood so maybe I should throw that out but I think the plants took up a ton of calcium.
Day 0 of Flower
res temp: 69
ppm: 800 before nutes 1459 after
ph: 5.0 after adding nutes 6.0 before
Room Temp: Its complicated (see graph)*
RH: *see above
I realized this morning (12:30pm) the timer was not on auto, but on "on", which is what led to the extra light time last night. So anyway at some point I ran out of plugs on the "Always on" strip so I plugged something in to the timer strip.... the wrong thing... the nute pump... so it was off for about an hour and the nutes did flow back in to the res which overflowed... but not so bad just a couple gallons.
So when I turned on the chiller last night it was reading 77 degrees, after the 13 hours of lights on (with no water cooled A/C or DH - bloom door open) the coolant reservoir temp dropped to just 69. Over the next 8 hours it dropped to 67, 66 for a second but then for lights on I had to turn on the water chilled AC so it went to 67. So the jury is still out if I need a larger chiller or not, although I fear it is too small.
Another note on the pH. Last night after I added the nutes the pH was 3.9 this morning was 6.0, of course that was after the flood so maybe I should throw that out but I think the plants took up a ton of calcium.
- Thread starter
- #193
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
The other thing I noticed was what I think might be a little bleaching on one of the plants. I have the lights about 4 inches closer than they recommend (for the DS) at 20", so it is my fault if that is what it is. Just goes to show how powerful these lights really are.
At first glance I thought it was PM, but I touched it and it did not wipe off, that pattern is definitely in the leaf, not on.
I think this one might be directly under a UV (non viable, what do I know) LED so maybe that explains why this one is bleached and not the others.
The other thing I noticed was what I think might be a little bleaching on one of the plants. I have the lights about 4 inches closer than they recommend (for the DS) at 20", so it is my fault if that is what it is. Just goes to show how powerful these lights really are.
At first glance I thought it was PM, but I touched it and it did not wipe off, that pattern is definitely in the leaf, not on.
I think this one might be directly under a UV (non viable, what do I know) LED so maybe that explains why this one is bleached and not the others.
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Sorry to hear about the flood, that was my thought with the feed coming in from the bottom. That chart looks pretty cool. I need to get a data logger myself, it would make keeping records that much easier.
I wouldn't worry too much on the light bleaching, there may be a bit of an adjustment stage that they will go through getting used to the new light. If the new growth shows signs of bleaching them raise them up a few inches until they adjust.
Sorry to hear about the flood, that was my thought with the feed coming in from the bottom. That chart looks pretty cool. I need to get a data logger myself, it would make keeping records that much easier.
I wouldn't worry too much on the light bleaching, there may be a bit of an adjustment stage that they will go through getting used to the new light. If the new growth shows signs of bleaching them raise them up a few inches until they adjust.
- Thread starter
- #195
Well we both know this is just the beginning.... we are working on something that will make one temp / humidity sensor look like a square stone wheel.
Magic beans
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Hey Maer to your question above id say you really dont need an airstone. With the type of system youre running, and with the water temp staying cool you should be good to go!
Hey Maer to your question above id say you really dont need an airstone. With the type of system youre running, and with the water temp staying cool you should be good to go!
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
I just reread that post a ways back and realized that's a 400watt DS, that is going to put out a lot of light. Those are going to be some happy plants.
I just reread that post a ways back and realized that's a 400watt DS, that is going to put out a lot of light. Those are going to be some happy plants.
OG13
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Maer, before you change chillers, try adding another coil. I don't know how many feet you have now, but it doesn't look very long. You can check by measuring the outgoing coolant temp vs the ingoing coolant compared to the res temp. If outoing is close to ingoing temp, you can make the coil longer, (try to get closer to res temp). I don't know if I said that right or not, will reread in am.
Maer, before you change chillers, try adding another coil. I don't know how many feet you have now, but it doesn't look very long. You can check by measuring the outgoing coolant temp vs the ingoing coolant compared to the res temp. If outoing is close to ingoing temp, you can make the coil longer, (try to get closer to res temp). I don't know if I said that right or not, will reread in am.
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
How much room do you have to raise those lights? Once the girls do their stretch you'll need to raise them up. Also, are you planning to SROG them to keep the canopy level and at a manageable height?
How much room do you have to raise those lights? Once the girls do their stretch you'll need to raise them up. Also, are you planning to SROG them to keep the canopy level and at a manageable height?
- Thread starter
- #200
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Looks like I have some major problems.
The coolant res temp got as low as 66 today, as of now 5 hours after lights on at 5pm the coolant res is at 74....
Here is what the temps look like over the last 2 hours, you can clearly see when the air cooled AC kicks in the temp drops in less than 5 mins, the DH also runs only about 5 minutes per cycle.
Looks like I have some major problems.
The coolant res temp got as low as 66 today, as of now 5 hours after lights on at 5pm the coolant res is at 74....
Here is what the temps look like over the last 2 hours, you can clearly see when the air cooled AC kicks in the temp drops in less than 5 mins, the DH also runs only about 5 minutes per cycle.