3 Tanks 'n' 18 soldiers.

[Mr Burns]

Man, I'm startin a hydroponic GJ! :o

Some may remember I was going down the bubbler route and I almost got there. The net pots were all cut in and I only needed cover the buckets with foil tape and plumb it all in, not forgetting I had an army of new air pumps on red alert. After preparing the set up I looked at just how much air I was about to push, and how much effort goes into making a circulating bucket set up. I understand the principle idea of a bubbler is it's stand alone nature but I want more fluid and lots of it. The idea of having a remote res that would increase the total fluid capacity gave me a buzz, so whatever I chose I had to add a remote res.

So here I am in the world of NFT

3 tanks to take 18 plants.

First I needed to address the condensation that although I rid it 99% during the last grow, it could appear in patches on the walls below the canopy.
Rather than giving the plants wind burn I decided to remove the lower third of the wall board and insulate behind it.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1793&stc=1&d=1139270440

I also took this chance to install a pond liner which in the event of a catastrophe would hold the nutes rather than flood out the new build.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1794&stc=1&d=1139270447

And install an electric heater with fan. The wall socket goes to remote timer.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1795&stc=1&d=1139270447

Extraction also went up an inch to a new 6 inch acoustic with new scrubber and insulated ducting through to a silencer box. The 5 inch you see poking through is one of the passive intakes terminating over a hood space.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1812&stc=1&d=1139274317

After much searching on NFT tank sizes I found one that would max out the room size with 1 inch spare around each of a total three tanks.
Taking the remote res into acount I joined them circulating fashion and laid them in.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1796&stc=1&d=1139271221

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1797&stc=1&d=1139271229

[midwestbluntman]

Sweet burnsy,
its lookin excellent in there.Cant wait to see all the soldiers in a row fightin for the light.I'll be watchin this one for sure.

[Mr Burns]

With the tanks laid in I built the remote res. I had an idea that I'd discard the individual pumps that came with each tank and go for a 2800ltr pump with the remote res having an overflow facility.

Discarded pumps.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1800&stc=1&d=1139272199

Replacement.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1801&stc=1&d=1139272217

Remote res skin fittings in place.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1802&stc=1&d=1139272217

Overflow chamber. This is how I imagined to introduce nutes. The overflow will always hapen as the pump overloads demand for the three tanks. This overflow chamber is the furthest point from being introduced to the NFT table tops and plant roots which makes it the best place for introducing any additives. Anything introduced would need to travel through three tanks and back to the res before getting at root level.
The glue looks bad but I lost it with the hot glue gun and forced the glue stick back out of the gun. Some gun innards came out with it which will never go back in, but the guns never worked better now you push the glue in by hand..... :confused

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1803&stc=1&d=1139272217

In with the plumbing. Notice the silver feed pipes terminate in an elbow and small bore final piece.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1805&stc=1&d=1139272217

That had to change. There was no control over the feed rate other than a sliding bit of plastic on the original pumps intake. So I added these critters. Fully servicable taps that you pull apart with your fingers.
Theres now no plumbing components that came with the original kits.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1806&stc=1&d=1139272217

Heres the other side of the room from the pump. This is the two level overflows that are housed in the res overflow chamber.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1807&stc=1&d=1139272217

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1804&stc=1&d=1139273158

[Mr Burns]

Heres the biggest bonus of this NFT with remote res and overflow set up, if the pump failed the res would drain down into the NFT sumps and flood the upper table and root zone.
So if shit happens, the roots will be far better to be sat in fluid than hot air no? When I found this I was smiling like a cheshire cat! Add a float valve/switch and you could have bubbler NFTs in the event of main pump failure!
Quick, patent office number...................... :p

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1809&stc=1&d=1139273346

[Mr Burns]

So on with cutting out the rockwool holes and 3 small cabins for the table taps.
Plants go in tomorrow.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1810&stc=1&d=1139273691

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1811&stc=1&d=1139273691

[dredank]

damn burns you got yourself something real nice goin here, i am all over this:D

[LdyLunatic]

WOW.....you've been busy!!!! nice...can't wait for more :gthumb:

[Mr Burns]

Thanks me lovelies :o

I'd forgotten to add. Having two overflows one above another could work as a sign for things getting tight in any of the three feed pipes from the res. Right now as a new and clean system the overfill only comes from one overflow with only the occasional dribble from the second.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1807&stc=1&d=1139272217

If anything restricts flow the second overflow would run which I'd then pull the taps apart by hand, let a fwew litres run through and then replace. If this didn't bring the overflow rate back to one pipe It would mean a pipe fault which could be backflushed into a stocking or similar.

The 10 soldiers went in today. The Flood and drain system I made up by my own thoughts gave good results from peat pellet

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1833&stc=1&d=1139357756

to this.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1828&stc=1&d=1139356782


http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1829&stc=1&d=1139357487

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1834&stc=1&d=1139357487

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1835&stc=1&d=1139357487

Slight chnge to the overflow pipes. Anti vacum flutes.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1836&stc=1&d=1139357487

[CB]

say burnsy

look'n real nice bro indeed.....seems you have been busy indeed :eek:

alot of great info so far and cant wait to see this grow

just got one ?

what are you use'n for cover's over the table's? cant tell by the piccy

old age and all ya know

grow on

[arnold layne]

wow.
that is one helluva setup ya have there burnsy.
very nicely thought out.
you're gonna have some happy ladies in there.
i like the automatic bubbler backup idea.
Quick, patent office number......................


Call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000 for assistance from Customer Service Representatives and/or access to the automated information message system.




:D
peace-
arnold layne

[Cranky]

thats what i was waiting for.....PLANTS:D

fukin damn fine job there bro....i can see youve been hard at it pal;) damn fine set of roots already aye....gonna see some monster sized cloa's in this one me thinks.

looking forward to seeing how a newb to hydro gets on and will be looking for the tips on what best for this and whats best for that;)

good luck bro

cranky

[Mr Burns]

Dre, Luny, Westy, Cheap, Arnie and Cranks. Thank you all for the kind words.
It's a nice feeling being back in the loop you know. It must be driving you mad not being productive Cranks but at least I had some mods and conversions to do between grows, my thoughts go out to you Cranks :tumble:


Heres a couple of Qs for you peeps. I've took the PH to be perfect at 5.8 at this stage of veg, and an EC of 1.5 / PPM of 1050 or CF of 15. If anyone can elabotrate I'd appreciate the input.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1842&stc=1&d=1139417841

What I do have on the plants is a slight pale mottled effect on just a few leaves. If anyone can comment on them I'd appreciate your views.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1843&stc=1&d=1139417841

[arnold layne]

hey burnsy-
it kinda looks to me like the onset of a nute burn.
i'm thinking that the ppm might be a bit high.
what's the ppm/ph doing over a 24hr period?
peace-
arnold

[Mr Burns]

Arnie.
PH went up .2 and the PPMs stayed the same.

Any thoughts?

[Mr Burns]

First lights out pic. You can see that the leaf is generaly looking sweet.


http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1845&stc=1&d=1139433082

[arnold layne]

hey burnsy-
well, it sounds like they're taking it ok....
if the ph were dropping, and the ppm rising, it would be trouble......
how's your h20 quality?
rh?
are the spots still only happening on a few plants?
i've read thru this journal a few times just now (to make sure that my buzz wasn't getting in the way ;) ), and i didn't see any mention of strain.....
what's the background on the plants? what are ya using for nutes?
one prob i had with a large multi plant res in dwc, was that the different plants (even beans from the same bud) took nutes differently. some would thrive, and some would burn.
how do they look now?

peace-
arnold layne

[Shadows]

Whats the starting ppm of your water burnsy? 1050 seems way high for their stage in growth. I seem to remember seeing a few members elsewhere say that they dont break 1000 ppm until after they are like week 2 of flower. It is highly likely that you are bring on a burn issue, even if your ppm is unchanged. Different strains in the same res have different uptake requirements, so the ones that are feeding may be offsetting the numbers of those that are burning, if that makes any sence to ya...

[Mr Burns]

You're both correct in the nute burn. Thanks for pointing it out guys, muchos appreciated. This morning it looked like this.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1846&stc=1&d=1139515019

So I drained off 50-70%, topped it back up with fresh and rebuilt the nutes to 840ppm or an EC of 1.2. The thing is guys, I bought these up on the flood and drain cab at 840/1.2 so I thought bumping it up would be the way to go. Perhaps the flood and drain method can take a highrt nute rate being wet for a far shorter period?
Thanks for the input cause although I'm not fretting I feel better having another set of eyes across the canopy.

The first thing I've noticed with this hydro game is the phenominal stem growth in girth. To think it's only a few days is just astounding and although the greenery is by far faster developing than soil the stem growth has just blown me away in comparison.

Arnold I'm sorry not to have answered sooner but the strain is white russian from clone. I've topped each plant 5 times across the board so it's a gamble as to how they'll come out.
The nutes are Canna A&B Aqua and only cause I got a stunning deal by buying 20 litres of each A&B Vega and Flores.

Does anyone have a rough guide on nutes throughout the grow? Surely theres a mid range ppm & PH chart as a guide?

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1847&stc=1&d=1139515019

[midwestbluntman]

ah ho looks like someone is getting hooked on the water gardening.nice set up bro,can ya get a pic of the whole thing in one shot?sweet meters you got there also,are they battery powered or optional electric?I got some WR X WR im going to throw in some jiffies this weekend.Was waiting to see what happened with heavens Stairway first,now that it seems things will be ok again im fixing to pop them.

[arnold layne]

hey burnsy-
so were all of the clones from the same mother?
wr sounds delicious....i've thought about trying it......
as far as the ppm and ph go, i start a bit low, say 350ppm for young plants 1-2 weeks into veg.
as they develop and want more, the daily readings tell me by how much.
ppm starts at say, 350, ph 5.8.
the next day, ppm is 320 and ph is 5.9-6.
i bring the res up to 380ppm ph 5.7-5.8.
the same works in reverse.
increase or decrease back to the starting point plus difference.
i've had some plants that wanted 1400ppm or better in flowering, while a plant from the same parents would only handle 1100ppm.
if it's in question, i'll try to err towards underfeeding and use the above method to tell me where to go from there.
i usually do a ph'd h2o flush with no nutes for 24hrs after a diagnosis of burn, but perhaps bring the ppm down a bit lower for a day or 2 to let them recover.
peace-
arnold layne

[Mr Burns]

Westy, the meters are battery powered. It says 3 AA batteries should last 18 months if alkaline.

Arnie the clones were from the same plant yes. As far the schedule you mention it sounds good. It'll seem much better as I get into it so I'll post how things go.

[vernonsupreme]

well i guess i'll grab my seat over here since i lost my vantage point on that other site.....

[The Hooded Claw]

Damn. Was that almost a year ago!!