Maer's 540W Advanced LED — G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
- Thread starter Maer
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #142
good one..
Cmon bro step up with some numbers, pics or something, sniping from the back is a bit annoying.
Thats a sick little setup you got Maer!
I have been taking care of a friends medi grow! He uses Leds and is getting rather impressive results.
subbed
I have been taking care of a friends medi grow! He uses Leds and is getting rather impressive results.
subbed
- Thread starter
- #144
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Today's Journal entry will be entitled: There will be foam
First lets start off with a shot of the roots in the cloner:
And some new arrivals today, AIR - 4 and CO2 Tank:
The bazooka DIY Icebox got some foam and got mounted in the closet:
Mounted the RO on the wall, moved my RO res to the shelf made yesterday above my nute res, connected the RO res to the nute res:
Foam foam and more foam, and also I cleaned up the electric - mounted it above any poitential condensation drips:
It also seems I have a small leak that cant be fixed, I tried silicone, rubber self sealing tape... we will see
Today's Journal entry will be entitled: There will be foam
First lets start off with a shot of the roots in the cloner:
And some new arrivals today, AIR - 4 and CO2 Tank:
The bazooka DIY Icebox got some foam and got mounted in the closet:
Mounted the RO on the wall, moved my RO res to the shelf made yesterday above my nute res, connected the RO res to the nute res:
Foam foam and more foam, and also I cleaned up the electric - mounted it above any poitential condensation drips:
It also seems I have a small leak that cant be fixed, I tried silicone, rubber self sealing tape... we will see
RickyW
New Member
Wow, talk about closed minded.
Maer, nice journal bro although I cant say I can add anything to yalls nerd feast. I will try to keep up, maybe Ill learn something (meaning maybe Ill understand what your talking about here and there.) Doesnt seem like this is your 3rd grow bro. Im looking forward to the action after seeing the "preview"
<soapbox>
blackberry, if you used some common sense and the search feature on these forums, you'd see more than plenty evidence of 'one good crop'. Apparently the wherewithal to use the search feature eludes you.
I'm more apt to believe this is an attempted troll on your part, which points further to your immaturity - I'll give you a 2/10 on this attempt. Many points off because mainly, you fail to provide evidence of even one 'bad crop'.
Now, go play with the idiot children and close-minded trolls at the other sites.
</soapbox>
Sorry to shit on the thread, Maer, but that really pisses me off. Not that people don't believe that LED's are worth using, but that they've never bothered to LOOK at the current crop of growers using them, and the fantastic results. Garbage IN, Garbage OUT.
- JZ- Thread starter
- #147
I usually ignore them. If I answered every stupid post I see, I would have a full-time job on my hands.Actually you expressed my thoughts better than I did. I just get pissed off when people snipe like that with no numbers or facts.
Anyway, where is the drip? Is it in the PVC connections? I know that they can be a pain, I had just slip-fitted my system together and had a few drips on mine as well, just put drip pans under them. I wanted to be able to reconfigure, disassemble and clean the system easily so made a few compromises.
I notice your inlet to the NFT is on the bottom instead of the top. If your pump stops for any reason the system will drain back into the res, make sure you have enough space for the complete volume of nutes. That is one of the reasons I had mine feed from the top. But you still run a chance of a siphon effect that way if the pump fails, so a small hole drilled near the water line on the inlet pipe will prevent that (it will start sucking air and break the siphon).
That is going to be one crowded space. Looking forward to seeing it in action very soon!
- Thread starter
- #149
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
This is why I built in shutoff valves, I have one at the res, and one on each tube. Still it probably wasn't the brightest idea and I may change it and put in a couple unions also to make changing things out easier.
This is why I built in shutoff valves, I have one at the res, and one on each tube. Still it probably wasn't the brightest idea and I may change it and put in a couple unions also to make changing things out easier.
- Thread starter
- #150
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Wait I don't understand your fix? Now I get it lol
Wait I don't understand your fix? Now I get it lol
- Thread starter
- #151
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Here's a quick graphic I just threw together to show you what I mean. This is the most simplified design of my system. I have an arrow pointed to where you would want to drill a small hole in the supply line to prevent a siphon from occurring in case of a pump failure. You could even drill the hole a little higher and have it at a 45 degree angle shooting into the nutrients to create some added aeration.
The advantage of doing it this way is you don't have to be present to turn valves off in case of a pump failure. If the pump stops working the nutes will flow back into the res through the pump, the hole will prevent them from all siphoning back. If you feed from the bottom, you have a gravity feed back into the res and have to shut it off with a valve.
If you are out of the area when the failure occurs, your entire NFT will drain into the res causing two potential problems.
1) Overflow of your res (you will have about 1/2 gallon of solution per foot of pipe filled at 60%). If you have 14 feet of pipe, you need to have about 7 gallons of "head-space" in your res to account for any overflow.
2) If you are gone for an extended period, your NFT will be dry and your plants will be without nutes until you return. In a setup like this it will only take a few hours before you have some serious damage.
With the top feed pipe, your res will never completely empty, your biggest risk is lack of aeration to the nutrients.
Here's a quick graphic I just threw together to show you what I mean. This is the most simplified design of my system. I have an arrow pointed to where you would want to drill a small hole in the supply line to prevent a siphon from occurring in case of a pump failure. You could even drill the hole a little higher and have it at a 45 degree angle shooting into the nutrients to create some added aeration.
The advantage of doing it this way is you don't have to be present to turn valves off in case of a pump failure. If the pump stops working the nutes will flow back into the res through the pump, the hole will prevent them from all siphoning back. If you feed from the bottom, you have a gravity feed back into the res and have to shut it off with a valve.
If you are out of the area when the failure occurs, your entire NFT will drain into the res causing two potential problems.
1) Overflow of your res (you will have about 1/2 gallon of solution per foot of pipe filled at 60%). If you have 14 feet of pipe, you need to have about 7 gallons of "head-space" in your res to account for any overflow.
2) If you are gone for an extended period, your NFT will be dry and your plants will be without nutes until you return. In a setup like this it will only take a few hours before you have some serious damage.
With the top feed pipe, your res will never completely empty, your biggest risk is lack of aeration to the nutrients.
Here's a quick graphic I just threw together to show you what I mean. This is the most simplified design of my system. I have an arrow pointed to where you would want to drill a small hole in the supply line to prevent a siphon from occurring in case of a pump failure. You could even drill the hole a little higher and have it at a 45 degree angle shooting into the nutrients to create some added aeration.
The advantage of doing it this way is you don't have to be present to turn valves off in case of a pump failure. If the pump stops working the nutes will flow back into the res through the pump, the hole will prevent them from all siphoning back. If you feed from the bottom, you have a gravity feed back into the res and have to shut it off with a valve.
If you are out of the area when the failure occurs, your entire NFT will drain into the res causing two potential problems.
1) Overflow of your res (you will have about 1/2 gallon of solution per foot of pipe filled at 60%). If you have 14 feet of pipe, you need to have about 7 gallons of "head-space" in your res to account for any overflow.
2) If you are gone for an extended period, your NFT will be dry and your plants will be without nutes until you return. In a setup like this it will only take a few hours before you have some serious damage.
With the top feed pipe, your res will never completely empty, your biggest risk is lack of aeration to the nutrients.
Seriously man, you gotta stop posting stuff like that of I'm going to end up building some kinda hydro setup , damn you! *shaking tiny fist*
Disclaimer: I still will just be a dirt grower, but that doesn't mean I can't bring my previous experience with aquariums and brewing to bear on the process of growing meds in dirt. So there. Even if it does look like hydro.
- JZ
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Ganja Techies (Not NERDS) I'm very fascinated by your DIY...
Ganja Techies (Not NERDS) I'm very fascinated by your DIY...
Magic beans
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Man Maer, the anticipation is building. 11 pages and still not started. Preparation is key to success. Youre completing quite the awesome system! I might have to study your journal because NFT is on my list of projects for my 4x8 grow tent when I get another spot. I'm excited to see how your system turns out. And btw, thats an ingenious idea positioning the drain pipe upward to control nute water level. Cant wait to see this thing take off!
@SteveHman: if you two worked together on perfecting a system like you said, I would be one of your very first customers. Shipping charges would SUCK lol
Man Maer, the anticipation is building. 11 pages and still not started. Preparation is key to success. Youre completing quite the awesome system! I might have to study your journal because NFT is on my list of projects for my 4x8 grow tent when I get another spot. I'm excited to see how your system turns out. And btw, thats an ingenious idea positioning the drain pipe upward to control nute water level. Cant wait to see this thing take off!
@SteveHman: if you two worked together on perfecting a system like you said, I would be one of your very first customers. Shipping charges would SUCK lol
- Thread starter
- #156
Thanks Magic! Sorry for the delayed gratification, I am behind schedule!
So here is today's work. I built a stealth window box on the window in my mechanical room. I don't care about LEO, I DO care about nosey neighbors and their teenage kids, and people that are straight thieves. It also doubles as a storage shelf:
Then I built a box for my coolant res so I can get some serious R rating going. Pump visible in the first picture:
And then I completed about 95% of the manifold, I added ports and drains for my cloner and my chiller, which will be a device off the cooling loop. You can also see my Danner 1800GPH mag drive pump in this pic:
A partial list of things still to do:
Exchange my CO2 tank
Fill coolant res, add Propylene glycol
Build light box
Install cool coil in chiller and connect to coolant loop
Connect chiller to coolant loop
Pressure test coolant loop
Transfer plants
WIN!
OG13
New Member
Re: Maer's 540W Advanced LED – G13/Haze - DIY 4" PVC Revised StevehmaNFT Grow
Maer, I would set the Humidity lower....what is the next setting available? 60% is too high, it's going to be very dense in there, don't want any PM.
Maer, I would set the Humidity lower....what is the next setting available? 60% is too high, it's going to be very dense in there, don't want any PM.
- Thread starter
- #159
OK, I will put the set point at 40 and see how that works out. My only concern is this will cause my DH to run constantly.
- Thread starter
- #160
Seriously man, you gotta stop posting stuff like that of I'm going to end up building some kinda hydro setup , damn you! *shaking tiny fist*
Disclaimer: I still will just be a dirt grower, but that doesn't mean I can't bring my previous experience with aquariums and brewing to bear on the process of growing meds in dirt. So there. Even if it does look like hydro.
I did 2 cycles in dirt and I cannot stand mixing and watering every couple days. I have seen people with auto watering dirt setups, with drains built in but then you still need to worry about soil pH then. This is my first hydro try so I hope I like it...
Even if I did scrap the NFT and go back to dirt or another hydro system I can still keep the same SGE / CO2 setup.