New Grow with Dinafem auots & automatic watering system

[Campesino]

I am using 2.5ml/Gal H2O2, It is not the standard stuff for cuts. The first aid stuff is 3%, the stuff I'm using is 29% (Nutrilife) and burns your hands!

SM-90 is amazing. I use it in Veg and the Hydro guy ensured me that there are no issues with continuing through Ripen. It not only prevents bacteria, but it is a surficant, which is very helpful with drip systems (keeps them running clean) and helps water move more thoroughly through the coco. It also promotes root development and transpiration. I love it in Veg and don't know why I stopped in Flowering - its just that I saw few doing it... And info online is scant. But I am confident in recommending it now and will use it always going forward. My tank smells amazing now
3ml/gal or use it as pH up replacement (very alkaline)

 

[Cronk]

does sm-90 make the res ph unstable? did you add it with the nutes, then ph the whole batch? did you find that once set, the ph stayed where you put it?

 

[Campesino]

The pH has been much MORE STABLE with the new additions. It had been climbing significantly before. I was adding 5.7 and it was always climbing to 6.3. On this tank I filled with 5.7 and it only climbed to 5.9. PPM/EC more stable too!
Both b/c less/no bacteria!

 

[Cronk]

got both things. smells nice, although it didn't smell bad yet. my hydro guy says to wash the res every time it gets empty. I'm sure that's right but difficult for my situation. I guess I'll buy a second trash can and swap them out. do you wash your pumps and lines and all?

 

[Campesino]

Yes, My guy said I could top off once, but should empty and clean with H2O2 otherwise. So if I fill to 10 gal that gets me 3+ days and if I top off then I can empty and clean about every week or maybe 6 days.
Yes, I soak the pump and lines in bucket with H2O2 diluted with water when I clean/change res.

 

[Cronk]

Day 27.

4 grams Mega Crop per gallon
1mg per gallon Cal Mag +

ppm no cal mag 567
ppm w/ xtra cal mag 677
ph in 6.1
ph out 6.0

Added about 1mg cal mag/gal to mix, boosting what's available in Mega Crop. Leaves are looking odd, clawing on a few, curling on the sides a small amount and looking off color. not yellow but not deep green and smooth. Growth is fast, though so I need to go check the symptoms and report back.

I washed my res and refilled. there was some slime on the bottom but probably because this is the fist time I'd cleaned it and only started H2Os and SM-90 a week ago. I hope that stuff keeps it clean from now on. Cleaning the res every week is going to be a pain. I wonder how all the growers on youtube with massive reservoirs do it. they seem to just keep filling it

I see pistils so I'm guessing flowering has started and I'll see a continued fast growth. I see some flowers just starting on one. Defoliated lightly on all plants.

The light may have been too close for the young plants, even though they look like they're 5 weeks old. Backing off to about 20" or more

 

[Campesino]

Plants are looking good. I'm not seeing the issues you report, but can't zoom in on pics much.

H2O2 and SM-90 have made my tank so much nicer. I really felt the last clean out that I did was unnecessary. So if you have to go to less frequent clean outs, I don't think it will be a problem when running H2O2 and SM-90. Play it by nose

pH and EC are much more stable in the res too... I almost don't worry about them anymore

My grow is becoming too simple and I am getting bored with the lack of work

 

[Cronk]

it's the plant foreground right. It's very subtle and hard to see in photos. I'm sure it;s not a big deal right now. Maybe the res clean will take care of it. Also, the Cool Bloom and extra cal-mag may help. I'm just going to keep an eye on it. I;m pretty sure the clawed leaves on the two upper plants were from wind burn because after moving the fan 2 days ago it's not getting worse and is less noticeable.

Thanks man

 

[Cronk]

for me I'm happy that it's a fairly hands off system, time is limited these days. I really like the autos too so far. I do think they;re going to be sort of small , though compared to my last grow. It's a good thing

 

[Cronk]

Plants are in flower, tiny buds everywhere and responding well to continued defoliation or trimming & LST.

BUT, I;m battling the slime in the reservoir. My res is 80 degrees F and that white slime is building up on my pumps and hoses. nasty stuff. Luckily no signs of root rot or the like so I guess I'll be bleaching everything and starting over again.

What is a cheap way to cool a res?

EDIT:
sadly I think I'm going back to hand watering. I've been researching this topic off and on and everything seems to point to res temp. Since I would need to buy a cooler appliance that I don;t want to spend for at this point, the effort battling the slime for the next 8 weeks makes me think hand watering a few times per day is better for this grow. Until I can figure out a cooler.

EDIT 2:
I wonder if the higher temps in general in the tent will have effect on mold on the outsides of the fabric pots. I think the constant wetness may be causing some white surface mold near the bottom of them. It's between 78 and 89 in there. I had hoped my room would be just cool enough to keep tops 85 till the end of the grow but I don't know now. I think I need to let it dry out a bit and do more research.

Abandon ship, get in the dingy and head for the island, reload the guns and sneak back to the ship in the darkness to take it back.

 

[Cronk]

It's done. Auto feed system taken out of service. Everything soaked in bleach and run through lines. That shit was nasty.

back to tried and true hand watering via GWE tutorials. I'll figure it out for next time, perhaps the winter grow as temps are easily below 70F in the grow space

EDIT:
I think I can keep the res in a cooler location and run longer lines. I reckon the lines will crap up.......

 

[Campesino]

I drop frozen water bottles in my tank. Works great, but requires my presence twice per day. My tank doesn't get higher than about 72 on its own though

I think that Obi-Wan would have advice for you. Probably in a very different direction

The issue is lack of Dissolved Oxygen, not temperature per se. If you can increase DO then you will resolve the root problem (pun intentional).

On the surface of the pots, that isn't mold, just salt deposits

 

[Cronk]

80F is apparently a tough situation in a res from what I'm reading. Yes, need more O2. maybe bigger pump, more stones but does that really dissolve into the water or just dissipate?

it was really great having the watering and dumping done for me. I kept the sump in place to run after I water.

Big, fun hobby full of challenging problems and loads of rewards

 

[Obi-Wan]

Sorry to hear you had to take the auto feed down. Some thoughts for next time. Is it possible to move the res to the other side of the tent in effort to shorten some of your feed lines? You also want to avoid long flat runs like the one you have in front of the tent, ideally the would be on a slight incline coming out of the pump and then a slight decline towards the drippers. This will allow the lines to empty in either direction when the pump shuts off and avoiding any water sitting in the lines between feedings. If I had to guess this is where the slime is originating. Long feed runs are also a drain on DO levels and at 80 F you need to continuously be pumping oxygen into the water to keep the DO levels up. 80 F is definitely warm even for my taste, you may be better off with multiple air stones rolling the water in the res rather than the circulation pump as it’s contributing to your higher res temps. Popular opinion would be that you need to lower your res temp below 72 F but ideally you don’t want the water temp to be more than 10 degrees cooler than your root zone temp otherwise your roots can get temperature shock and since roots are happiest at 72-82 F maintaining a res temp lower than that isn’t optimal for growth. Since you’re air temps are between 78-89 it’s safe to assume that your root zone is around 85 F. Pythium is always present in water even at temps below 70 F, the reason it thrives in warm water has nothing to do with the temperature of the water and everything to do with the level of DO in the water being too low. Common practice is to keep cooler res temps because it’s easier to increase DO levels in cooler water, but warmer water temps with higher levels of DO would be better for the plants. Everyone’s environment is different so there is no one water temp that is ideal for every grow space. In your case even with water temps at 80 F you should be able to produce DO levels of 7-8ppm with adaquate air stones and with shorter feed lines those DO levels can make it to the roots. If you wanted to get creative you could attach an aeroponic spray manifold inverted in your res just above the water level for topside aeration and submerged stones to add oxygen from within.

 

[Campesino]

Awesome input Obi-Wan
I think flat runs in supply lines is great observation. I’m happy I tagged you here. I learned a couple things too. You are winning me over with arguments of warmer res.
Cronk I understand the decision but hope you are able to figure it out and put the auto system back to work. Rooting for you either way.

 

[Cronk]

Thanks Obi-Wan for that info. I'll have to consider all that and figure out how I can accommodate those needs. I have fairly limited config options here with placement of the tent and res, moving them around causes problems for other things going on the the space. I was thinking of moving the res to a cooler location and running longer, vertical but I guess the pump won't run water straight up for 12 feet, if it would the xcess would drain back into the res. It's much cooler below on the concrete floor. Nice hidden location

As for DO, I wonder what kind of air pump would give me that. I have an aquarium pump for 40 gallons and a 4" round air stone. Not enough? I'll look around for more air options. I hadn't thought the recirc pump would raise the temp that much, good call. I also have a little excess water.line under the plants. I could make those more direct, cut out the excess

Maybe a smaller res and a splitter for multiple stones. Maybe a smaller res, that way I could lift it up so the lines drain. ...just refill every few days. I may mix up a 5 gallon bucket and see how long it can go without slime with what air I have

I appreciate your input

 

[Obi-Wan]

Aquarium pumps are rated differently due to the fish consuming lower levels of oxygen. I would look into a hydroponic air pump with 4 outlets rated at around 200-250 GPH, more is better but that should be good for a 20 gallon res and I would pair it with 4 air stones. After hearing about your air pump I really think an upgrade would make a huge difference. I assume your alternate location for the res is a basement, if your objective is to keep it cooler I don’t see why it couldn’t work and the vertical drop would clear your lines of any standing water.

 

[Cronk]

The reservoir shat the bed. 80F temps just allows blooms of slime bacteria in a few days. No point in fighting it with chemicals every day so I took it out, cleaned it and went back to hand watering. I have a fix I'm working on but for a later date. It was great up to this point. Fast growth, no sign of overwatering, really rapid development. I really think this is the way to go if temps can be controlled

So, 2x per day hand water Mega, Cal Mag+, Liquid Cool Bloom, same as last time

continued light defoliation and LST. One plant has buds started everywhere. I have about 8 colas on each plant from topping and LST and I think if I train them right they'll be just as good as the manifolds I did last grow. Super fast growth with these autos, bigger than I expected from reading about the strains.

I'll Lollipop in a week or so depending on progress

 

[Campesino]

Plants look great, no worse for the slime.
I think rapid growth and large size is result of 4x, but they’ll certainly do alright at 2x. Not sure about you though. 2x hand watering is tedious. Solve DO and line draining and I think you could be back in business.
In any event you are doing great with the plants

 

[Cronk]

thanks, Camp. It's big fun no matter what happens.