My First Grow Journal...EVER! 600W MH/HPS Bubbleponics Cabinet Grow

[ellz]

I'm over it now. I am going to keep doing what I do, but keep a backup of everything should I get tired of it for good.

[ellz]

Nope, not referring to you. None of the people on this post actually. I just hate drama and I thought this place would be different but I found out last night that it is just the same as everywhere. Too many opinionated people with their minds already made up about something.

[Daskahn]

Sorry to hear that ellz I truelly am going to miss you.. I'll probably still follow along assuming your not referring to me lol

[ellz]

Yeah that pic really gives you a great comparison of the size. I am thinking I may just go with 2 plants instead of four. It would be a lot less crowded in the bottom. I will know for sure when I buy one and see how it compares to my net pots.

[alltatup]

Interesting how when you start talking root balls, 20 gallons may not look so big, huh. You are right about it depending on the size you want your two or four plants to be!

[ellz]

20 gallon. It is on the next page in a post I made. This page cut it off.

[alltatup]

Sounds like a good plan all around!! How big is the new rez gonna be? Huge, huh...

[ellz]

For my next reservoir, I am thinking about going with a Rubbermaid Brute 20-gallon tote. Here is a webstore with a bunch of pictures (but likely not where I will order it from): https://www.webstaurantstore.com/rub...RoC4mQQAvD_BwE

As I look through the pictures, the one that stands out the most to me is the one of the person holding a watermelon at the top of the container.

That really shows me the size of the container itself and makes me think it would be better to only do two plants in that container, side by side, centered under the light. I could go with larger net pots and I would put a string trellis above them so I could walk the plants out from the center. If you figure that watermelon as one root ball, that would give two plants a lot of room to get big! Otherwise, I could try doing as many as four and just grow them a bit smaller but in all honesty, if the root ball is being represented by the melon, it looks like four could work out without too much clutter below. I would likely only fill them with 10 gallons of water so there would be a decent air space above the water. As for the fan coolers I made, they would be left out of this design and replaced by a reservoir cooler I will also be building. Just stuff to think about but luckily I have time to think and prepare while this batch is finishing up!

[ellz]

08/05/2017:

07:30PM: Both the plants sure are drinking up the water! I had to add close to 2 gallons to each reservoir again today. This time I only used pHed HydroGuard water...NO NUTES! I saved my left over 1.3ish gallon to add tomorrow and will change the mix completely on Monday. I am still planning on swapping to flower Monday as well. I could really let them go another week, but I am not sure just how much bigger they would be by then. At the rate they are growing daily, they might be too tall by then. Plus, being that this is my first run on this system I can get a much better idea if I do start them after only a month of just how big they will get during flowering and adjust next time. My thinking is that if I let them get too tall and run out of height for my light, I am going to be facing bigger problems at the end of the grow if the buds are touching the light! And besides...I am super eager to see if they are girls, and if so...to see just how big they will get! Pictures are below of the plants on day 33. Thanks for reading!

Side Note: Once this grow is done, I plan on replacing my two reservoirs with on single larger reservoir making it that much easier to maintain. I can still grow four plants at a time like I am now but instead of trying to control two different reservoirs I will only have to control one! That means if I want to buy a cooler I only have to buy one! If I have to change nutes, I only have to drain one tank! Plus, the root balls will all have a ton of room versus now where they are getting bunched up a little bit. I am also going to completely redo the plumbing on the new reservoir so that there are ZERO extra hoses in the water! There will only be the four air lines but they will be on the sides of the reservoir. I will likely replace the stones with the bubble discs that stick to the bottom. I can put four along the bottom under where the plants will be and run the hose along the bottom to keep it out of the way of the roots much easier that way! I am still going to run 3 drips to each net pot like I did on this system because it drips the water evenly all around the roots instead of in only one spot like with a single drip line. As for the built in drain feature...that part I am up in the air on. I could run a T-fitting from the water pump and have an on/off valve on the side port that can be turned on to drain the system as I stated before, pumps can't run without being submerged unless you get a bottom feed version. With what I have now, I could just leave the hose adapter in the water long with a length of garden hose that can be pulled up when I need to drain the thing. I can just hook it to my external drain pump and have it empty in about 2 minutes. I could even use only plastic components for the hose that stays in the reservoir so that I don't have to worry about any corrosion. Man...seems like I am rambling on and on but I have a lot of ideas for my next time through. Luckily, I can work on the next reservoir now and have it perfected by the time this batch is done!

[ellz]

I was also considering 6PM to 6AM. Still not 100% sure on it just yet. It will either be one of those two for sure...that's all I know, lol!

[ellz]

Correct...it is basically exactly what I built with a few upgrades. It's insulated. It has the plumbing in the lid and out of the way, and there is a built in drain feature to the pump. I am almost positive I have it figured out now. The water leaves the pump and goes to a split. One side goes to the drip, one side goes to the on/off valve and drain hose. There may be another on/off valve for the drip that you turn off when you turn on the drain switch. However, even without a on/off at the drip, the smaller hose size would be the second choice of the water to flow since the other side is much larger. So once you turn on that valve, the water automatically just flows out the bigger hose.

My only complaint about the way this whole thing works is that the pump is never supposed to run without being submerged in water. So what do you do when you get close to the bottom of emptying it? Just leave that in?! That is why I think I am looking into switching over to a single, larger reservoir and keep using my external water pump. It works great but it's a pain to use in the two smaller reservoirs. I imagine in a bigger one it wouldn't be so bad. This is the water drain pump I use now: https://www.amazon.com/SumpMarine-11...JCMABQ6KN2JJY8

[Daskahn]

So essentially it's what you already have plus a top feed system? And a drain plug? I just think if I'm looking at this right all you need to do is add a hole and a hose at the bottom of your current totes idk though so don't take my word but I think that's what imma do next lol

[ellz]

You wouldn't be able to grow in all the spots most likely. From what I have read you only want to use a quarter of what is there...so 2 spaces on an 8-pot or 4 spaces on a 16.

[Daskahn]

Everything in this system seems fairly simple to replicate.. I don't see how you could possibly grow that many in that small of a space but eh.. everything else seems like a piece of cake

[Sheesh]

Hey Ellz, I just flipped last night and I run my lights overnight. I chose lights on at 6 pm and off at 6 am. The main reason is to avoid the daytime heat. 6 pm works better for me personally because I can work on the grow early enough in the evenings. I'm too tired by 9 pm to spend an hour or two feeding, training etc. The negative side is that I can't go near my plants for up to 20 hours at a time. If I'm done at 10 pm, can't open the tent until 6 pm the next night (unless I want to get up before 6 am).