Upwards/praying leaves

[ChameleonJackson]

Hi, long time reader, first time poster here. I've been slowly getting my plants to grow from seeds over the last 2 years and I think I've finally cracked a stealth grow. I'm used to growing vegetables and not flowers so the whole thing has been a learning experience as I go and I think I'm at the last stage before I get a decent flowering and harvest but the leaves on top have suddenly started growing upwards like in the pictures. Some places say it's a sign of a good strong growth but other are saying the plant is struggling (that doesn't make sense to me since the plant would expensive a hell of a lot of energy to meet the demands of maintaining turgor like that). The water temperature is about 18C ambient air temperature about 21C and kept stable, I'll be honest humidity isn't going to be possible to control where it is. It was getting 18 hours of light, dropped to 16 in the last 2 weeks and overall it looks healthy on the face and is holding itself very well considering how thin its stem is.
One thing I have noticed is that it doesn't have any smell at all which has taken me by surprise. Sadly I can't remember the strain, it's an auto flower so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
🤙

[Gingerbeard]

The reaching is not a bad thing. But it looks like you do have issues with pH or Cal-Mag in pictures 1 and 4 and buds trying desperately to develop. Don't fret the smell until you get some good bud development. If you can afford the electric, stick with an 18/6 light schedule throughout the grow. Light requirements are different for autos than other plants.
If you have 2 years under your belt, what is different between this grow and others?
How old is your plant? What is your medium? What is your pH? What are your nutes and schedule? Are you using Cal-Mag? What is your light?

[ChameleonJackson]

Thanks so much. So my set up is really rough and ready. It's a hydroponic setup running "nutrient A and B" with just some full spectrum UVB A and B lights for pet reptiles. pH sits quite nicely between 5 and 5.5 (I'm really picky about my pH). I tend to do a top-up of the nutes once a week and replace all the medium and nutes every other week to things clean. Unfortunately this is as far as I've been able to take a grow because they've died from different reasons mainly due to pH at first but later root rot which is why I'm getting sketched out being so close. I'm going to be straight I haven't used any cal-mag at all, but I can easily grab some.
This little girl is about 4 months old by the way. I'm really proud of her so I don't want to lose at the last hurdle

[Gingerbeard]

Got it.
May I suggest you start a new post and click 'Hydro' in the prefix or have something 'Hydro' in your title? Your responses will be much more on point than those about praying leaves. Give the same information you've given.
I'm bowing out because I don't know hydro.