Rex's Perpetual Hydroponics, LED, 4x4 Tent Using TBC 10 Gal System: All Are Welcome, Come Learn & Help

[Rexer]

I change the res every Friday. The fluctuation begins after a day or two. I am working (the wife is working) on getting the log in a format I can send.

The below (in blue) is from a conversation that FelipeBlu was having with a different member, but I believe it fits with what you're experiencing. He's much better at explaining this then I am. Just make sure you're mixing your nutes correctly, and continue adjusting PH accordingly. You'll push her through.

How's your roots looking ?(to be safe)

"The dropping pH is most likely related to the change in nutrient consumption.

During Veg, the plant consumes a lot more NO3(-) than K(+), which results in the pH increasing because the plant releases OH(-) to maintain ionic balance within the plant.

During flowering, the plant will uptake more K(+) and other cations like Ca and Mg than anions like NO3(-). As a result, she will release more H(+), which causes the pH to decrease."

Great information. But all four still get fed from the same nute reservoir, correct?

Yup, they all get fed from the controller bucket.

Thus, my joke, based on you complaining about the GG not liking the N as much as the others.

To be honest, i completely missed that .
Its turning into one of those days, where i can't see what's right in front of me

But in reality, if that's true, couldn't you have two separate reservoirs outside with two separate feeds, each one going to two plants, thus having the ability to completely mitigate the GG issue (issue, lol, too strong a word)?

Oh she's got/had/continues to show issues lol. And yes each bucket in theory could be supplied by its own external reservoir, and not share nutrients. But that's a lot of extra infrastructure (piping, pumps, chiller work, etc.), and nutrients ($).

And it's also a reason that many growers opt for running a singular strain, vs multiple from a common/shared reservoir.
I prefer the option of having several strains to smoke from, and I've found that if I follow the simple principle of keeping 2/3 happy, I'll be happy with the results.

 

[InTheShed]

And this:

But all four still get fed from the same nute reservoir, correct?

There are three plants and one res in there.

 

[Rexer]

And this:

There are three plants and one res in there.

Its turning into one of those days, where i can't see what's right in front of me

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Day 41


Cabinet temp: 25C avg
Cabinet RH%: ~50%
Previous PPM: 383
Current PPM: 309
Adjusted PPM to: 309
PH: 5.4 (ph'd up after checking)
Res temps: 19.2C
Water level: average of 6L/day down


So, i hope everyone has had a great week! The plants in my Cabinet seems to have enjoyed their week, and the last batch of nutes seems to have done the trick. There has been no progression on either the Calcium or magnesium deficiencies. I did get the RAW Kelp, and added in 1/4 teaspoon on Monday.

The two seedlings in soil have survived . It's safe to say the second one will be transplanted into a 3 gallon container later this week. Right now they're being fed the equivalent of 2g/gallon (MC), pH 6.3.

20220224_143910.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Selas

20220224_144010.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Cilla

The Blackberry Auto is something special to watch grow. Everyone should grow one at some point...its been neat to watch the purple start on its own at such a young age of the plant.

20220224_143648.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41

20220224_143635.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41

20220224_143745.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41
Roots

The Wappa is bushin out, and I've been doing selective defoliation on her daily.

20220224_143729.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Wappa Autoflower Day 41

20220224_143753.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Wappa Autoflower Day 41
Roots

The Gorilla Glue seems to be doing OK, despite her dislike for the Nitrogen. She'll just have to live with it, as both the Wappa and Blackberry seem OK. I'll take 2/3 being happy.

20220224_143659.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Gorilla Glue Auto Day 41

20220224_143802.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Gorilla Glue Auto Day 41
Roots

And that's all for now folks! Thanks for stopping by, I'll be doing another res change in the next day or so, and I hope everyone has a great finish to their week

Oooooooooh that purple is coming through I'm excited to see it full bloom. Looking great.

 

[Rexer]

Oooooooooh that purple is coming through I'm excited to see it full bloom. Looking great.

Thanks! Here's a much better picture of it!

 

[InTheShed]

Ahhh...the sugar balls!

My fem autoflower has sugar balls

This is a 55-day old Blueberry feminized autoflower grown in soil outdoor/indoors at night under CFLs. It's flowering. I have another seed from the same batch that is 11 days ahead and looks great. The only difference is that this one has LST. Oh, and this one has testicles with trichomes...

www.420magazine.com

 

[West Hippie]

Thanks! Here's a much better picture of it!

That’s cool I want to see colors early instead of waiting 9 weeks. Root porn still looking great .
I was looking on the @Hafta post are you topping off ever couple days with ro water or water and nutrients? Couldn’t make it out on the spread sheet.

 

[Hafta]

That’s cool I want to see colors early instead of waiting 9 weeks. Root porn still looking great .
I was looking on the @Hafta post are you topping off ever couple days with ro water or water and nutrients? Couldn’t make it out on the spread sheet.

@Rexer
I mix individual nutrients in a quart or two of ROwater (I only attempted TAP water as a buffering agent. Too high of an EC) before adding them to the reservoir. I try to let a few more roots get exposed to air so I let the res drop a couple of gallons before adding (a dowel for a dipstick). The top off is whatever is left of two gallons after mixing nutes.

Here is a photo of today's root system.

From the prior post, should I increase the amount of potassium and CalMag or should I just try to buffer it?

 

[West Hippie]

@Rexer
I mix individual nutrients in a quart or two of ROwater (I only attempted TAP water as a buffering agent. Too high of an EC) before adding them to the reservoir. I try to let a few more roots get exposed to air so I let the res drop a couple of gallons before adding (a dowel for a dipstick). The top off is whatever is left of two gallons after mixing nutes.

Here is a photo of today's root system.

From the prior post, should I increase the amount of potassium and CalMag or should I just try to buffer it?

Nice clean roots, the pics of your girls look great. I hate ph fluctuations but it comes with the territory unless your running ph perfect nutrients. You’ve done nothing but an awesome job on those girls.

 

[Rexer]

Ahhh...the sugar balls!

My fem autoflower has sugar balls

This is a 55-day old Blueberry feminized autoflower grown in soil outdoor/indoors at night under CFLs. It's flowering. I have another seed from the same batch that is 11 days ahead and looks great. The only difference is that this one has LST. Oh, and this one has testicles with trichomes...

www.420magazine.com

Purple Sugar Balls eh?

That’s cool I want to see colors early instead of waiting 9 weeks. Root porn still looking great .

Thanks, seriously though, hunt down some Blackberry genetics, It's quite the experience.

I was looking on the @Hafta post are you topping off ever couple days with ro water or water and nutrients? Couldn’t make it out on the spread sheet.

Hafta- West is whom I've learned a lot of what I do (hydroponics), and am doing (RDWC) in this grow from West.

@Rexer
I mix individual nutrients in a quart or two of ROwater (I only attempted TAP water as a buffering agent.

so your doing hot top ups? Adding mixed nutes each time there's a drop? If your having some issues, try what I recommend below. It shouldn't hurt, and at worse you can switch back to how your currently doing it.

Too high of an EC) before adding them to the reservoir. I try to let a few more roots get exposed to air so I let the res drop a couple of gallons before adding (a dowel for a dipstick)

im assuming that you have airstones in there, and understand that your trying to build air roots. Try to keep a steady level, top daily if possible. If you want to make things even easier, do this:

Top up daily with just RO water, PH adjust from there. If shes not eating or drinking much, back down the EC (dilute).

Your PPMs should continue to drop Once shes feeding .

Once you get down to the last roughly 30% of your original PPM you may start to see more of the weird ph fluctuations, that's the stuff that FelipeBlu was talking about (the blue quote), and that will be hopefully around the time for a res change.

. The top off is whatever is left of two gallons after mixing nutes.

Here is a photo of today's root system.

From the prior post, should I increase the amount of potassium and CalMag or should I just try to buffer it?

If your not seeing any deficiencies, carry on . You've done magnificent with her

Love those roots!!

 

[InTheShed]

Hella post Rex!

 

[Hafta]

Thanks @Rexer, @InTheShed , @West Hippie and everyone else that commented. I will try to let the EC drop by just adding RO daily and using pH buffers.
Yes there are four air stones in the res.

 

[West Hippie]

Purple Sugar Balls eh?

Thanks, seriously though, hunt down some Blackberry genetics, It's quite the experience.

Hafta- West is whom I've learned a lot of what I do (hydroponics), and am doing (RDWC) in this grow from West.

so your doing hot top ups? Adding mixed nutes each time there's a drop? If your having some issues, try what I recommend below. It shouldn't hurt, and at worse you can switch back to how your currently doing it.



im assuming that you have airstones in there, and understand that your trying to build air roots. Try to keep a steady level, top daily if possible. If you want to make things even easier, do this:

Top up daily with just RO water, PH adjust from there. If shes not eating or drinking much, back down the EC (dilute).

Your PPMs should continue to drop Once shes feeding .

Once you get down to the last roughly 30% of your original PPM you may start to see more of the weird ph fluctuations, that's the stuff that FelipeBlu was talking about (the blue quote), and that will be hopefully around the time for a res change.



If your not seeing any deficiencies, carry on . You've done magnificent with her

Love those roots!!

I used to top off with nutrients and always had some kind of problems but then I ran into the rifleman and tead just topping of with water changed immediately. Improvement was in three days . I remember my spare time here was finding everything hydro . And everyone don’t let Rex bs you , he had an awesome grow inside a tv cabinet and still proving hisself .
Hell yes to the blueberry, I’d be happy with one that looks like a sunflower. Any medical benefits from the blueberry?

 

[Hafta]

Nice clean roots, the pics of your girls look great. I hate ph fluctuations but it comes with the territory unless your running ph perfect nutrients. You’ve done nothing but an awesome job on those girls.

Thanks West. She is a solo, I only germinated one seed.

 

[West Hippie]

Thanks West. She is a solo, I only germinated one seed.

Holy moly that girl is going to make you happy. Keep taking those photos with close ups and get into these 420 contest because that gal is awesome . The contest is in my signature!

 

[Rexer]

I used to top off with nutrients and always had some kind of problems but then I ran into the rifleman and tead just topping of with water changed immediately. Improvement was in three days . I remember my spare time here was finding everything hydro . And everyone don’t let Rex bs you , he had an awesome grow inside a tv cabinet and still proving hisself .
Hell yes to the blueberry, I’d be happy with

Ahh West, you're way too kind

From a Different breeder, but some good info on the BlackBerry:

Holy moly that girl is going to make you happy. Keep taking those photos with close ups and get into these 420 contest because that gal is awesome . The contest is in my signature!

Agree 100%, she's a beautiful beast!!!

 

[N420]

Just catching up Rex, hydro plants are looking real good! That early purple on the blackberry is so cool, every purple strain I've grown don't show anything colored until they are well into flower! Something tells me that Blackberry is gonna be a special plant!

Also wanted to say congrats on the soil girls ( just putting it out there)
up pot, you've taken to the soil growing quite well!

 

[Verbalist]

Day 41


Cabinet temp: 25C avg
Cabinet RH%: ~50%
Previous PPM: 383
Current PPM: 309
Adjusted PPM to: 309
PH: 5.4 (ph'd up after checking)
Res temps: 19.2C
Water level: average of 6L/day down


So, i hope everyone has had a great week! The plants in my Cabinet seems to have enjoyed their week, and the last batch of nutes seems to have done the trick. There has been no progression on either the Calcium or magnesium deficiencies. I did get the RAW Kelp, and added in 1/4 teaspoon on Monday.

The two seedlings in soil have survived . It's safe to say the second one will be transplanted into a 3 gallon container later this week. Right now they're being fed the equivalent of 2g/gallon (MC), pH 6.3.

20220224_143910.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Selas

20220224_144010.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Cilla

The Blackberry Auto is something special to watch grow. Everyone should grow one at some point...its been neat to watch the purple start on its own at such a young age of the plant.

20220224_143648.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41

20220224_143635.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41

20220224_143745.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Blackberry Auto Day 41
Roots

The Wappa is bushin out, and I've been doing selective defoliation on her daily.

20220224_143729.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Wappa Autoflower Day 41

20220224_143753.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Wappa Autoflower Day 41
Roots

The Gorilla Glue seems to be doing OK, despite her dislike for the Nitrogen. She'll just have to live with it, as both the Wappa and Blackberry seem OK. I'll take 2/3 being happy.

20220224_143659.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Gorilla Glue Auto Day 41

20220224_143802.jpg

• Rexer
• Feb 24, 2022

Gorilla Glue Auto Day 41
Roots

And that's all for now folks! Thanks for stopping by, I'll be doing another res change in the next day or so, and I hope everyone has a great finish to their week

Looking great brother Rex!
Blackberry will most likely reward you with nice deep purplish nugs

I’ve noticed that my GG seem to be little N sensitive…or shes still getting out of the ”childhood”. Tips tend to hook down even at ~100ppm N.

Let us know how you like the Kelp after a week treatment, when you start noticing the benefits!
How big a tank did you add that 1/4tsp to? I wouldn’t add more than 1/8tsp per 10L.

My TD grows a new thick, compact and MASSIVE root mass - plant looks like she wants to get rid of those old long flimsy roots.
But ye, this is all by Kelp combined with Phosphorus and nitrates.

PS. If any Ca def symptoms still keeps appearing, you could try to give a little foliar feed. Kelp has almost all the micros and plants easy to absorb it via leaves.
Just don’t give too much as foliar feeding is ~20x stronger and auxins are absorbed from the leaves to the growth tips.

 

[Jon]

Forgive my ignorance. Still working on the answer to my question which I am obviously not expressing very well. What I want to know is, is it POSSIBLE to have multiple reservoirs with separate nute mixes to feed separate plants, if you WANTED to do it that way, and if so, how hard/pain in the ass/extra work/not worth the hassle would it be? I assume with multiple reservoirs they would somehow have to live outside the tent. I mean, what if one wanted to grow 20 plants, 5 each of 4 strains, in 10x10 or whatever, and one already knew the strains and knew in advance that they would have different nute requirements/preferences. Wouldn't that be a scenario where having multiple reservoirs with different nute mixes be a potential advantage?

Hopefully that's more clearly expressed.

 

[Rexer]

Hella post Rex!

I completely forgot to say thank you for that

Just catching up Rex, hydro plants are looking real good! That early purple on the blackberry is so cool, every purple strain I've grown don't show anything colored until they are well into flower! Something tells me that Blackberry is gonna be a special plant!

Thanks N420!
This is a first for me too where the purple shows up so early.

Also wanted to say congrats on the soil girls ( just putting it out there)
up pot, you've taken to the soil growing quite well!

Thanks N420, but I think I'm still in the easy part for the soil. I should have bought some super soil, oh well next time

Looking great brother Rex!
Blackberry will most likely reward you with nice deep purplish nugs

I’ve noticed that my GG seem to be little N sensitive…or shes still getting out of the ”childhood”. Tips tend to hook down even at ~100ppm N.

Let us know how you like the Kelp after a week treatment, when you start noticing the benefits!
How big a tank did you add that 1/4tsp to? I wouldn’t add more than 1/8tsp per 10L.

My TD grows a new thick, compact and MASSIVE root mass - plant looks like she wants to get rid of those old long flimsy roots.
But ye, this is all by Kelp combined with Phosphorus and nitrates.

PS. If any Ca def symptoms still keeps appearing, you could try to give a little foliar feed. Kelp has almost all the micros and plants easy to absorb it via leaves.
Just don’t give too much as foliar feeding is ~20x stronger and auxins are absorbed from the leaves to the growth tips.

Thanks V!
My system is holding roughly 60-70L of water/nutes. So I added the lowest recommended Kelp dose to start.

That Kelp got gobbled up quickly, it didn't take long for the water to return to a clearer state.

And yah, my GG auto is insanely sensitive to N as well, so I'm guessing that's a strain trait?

Want to hear something funny? I don't foliar feed, at all. I understand the benefits, it's just something I don't do lol

Forgive my ignorance. Still working on the answer to my question which I am obviously not expressing very well. What I want to know is, is it POSSIBLE to have multiple reservoirs with separate nute mixes to feed separate plants, if you WANTED to do it that way, and if so, how hard/pain in the ass/extra work/not worth the hassle would it be?

Hey Jon, I'll try my best. I think it's more a matter of me doing bad explaining. And there is no need to apologize


Possible yes.
Extra work: For every extra reservoir added, your workload gets multipled by the extra reservoir numbers (I.e 3 reservoirs would be 3 times the work, daily).

Each reservoir would need to be ph adjusted Daily, and PPM tracked. And PPM Adjusted

Each reservoir added, will add to the amount of nutes dumped weekly, incurring higher running costs. This will also add a lot to the work of resetting the reservoirs.

Remember RO water works best in hydro. And they are not quick to pump out loads of water (something that needs to be taken into account). Or at least mine takes a hell of a long time to pump out 70L.

The only limit for reservoir numbers is how much space you have to accommodate them, how deep your pockets are, and how much patience you have.

I assume with multiple reservoirs they would somehow have to live outside the tent.

Correct, unless you have one really big ass tent, and a lowish plant count.

I mean, what if one wanted to grow 20 plants, 5 each of 4 strains, in 10x10 or whatever, and one already knew the strains and knew in advance that they would have different nute requirements/preferences.

You could (assuming those numbers are just theoretical).

Wouldn't that be a scenario where having multiple reservoirs with different nute mixes be a potential advantage?

It depends on your prescriptive, and that's what I'm trying to convey .

To me the added costs, increased workload, and added daily tasks, removes any advantage received.

It's not something I would advise anyone new to hydro to attempt.

Hopefully that's more clearly expressed.

I probably butchered the explanation again, but the long short of it is yes, multiple reservoirs can be done. It's just avoided in rdwc to keep it simple.