First time hydro grow. Looking for advice! Pics included šŸ˜

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JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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Hi all!

This is both my first hydroponic grow as well as my first post on any growing forum. I have a lot to learn and I'm hoping to not only grow some awesome bud but my grow my knowledge base as well!

The thing that pushed me to post was that my plant seems to be showing some signs of stress and I can't quite narrow down the cause. I'll try to be as descriptive and include as many pics as I can of my setup. Basically the leaves are starting to point up and there's a bit of yellowing starting to occur.
  • Trying out DWC with a 5 gallon bucket, net pot filled with clay pebbles and air pump
  • Net pot is sitting about 1.5 inches above the water level. Bottom of pot gets pretty wet and roots and starting to poke through.
  • Using a 24"x24"x58" grow tent with intake and outtake fans with a carbon filter
  • Using 1000w LED grow light place 24 inches from the top of the plant
  • Since plant is still a seedling, I set the light to give 7000 lux
  • I'm using nutrients I got from Amazon (https://diablonutrients.com/). I used their recommended dosage for seedling but have no way of directly measuring the ph. I didn't think that would matter that much since it's still so tiny (although the yellowing looks like it could be nutrient deficiency?).
I'll include pics below. Hopefully somebody can give some advice! Thank you!
 
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PK1

PK1

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welcome to the farm. You should either get black buckets with lid or cover the orange bucket and the lid so no light can penetrate through.
Your 4" air intake. Have that against the pale so it blows right to the side. This will help keep the water in the rez cooler.

For your nutrients. I dnt know diable but you have to follow the schedule that is provided. However, devide everything in two. Majority of times the feeding chart is hotter than what the plant can take.

I need some more information for the yellowing.
Water resource? Tap water ph and ppm? Rez ph and ppm?

you should get your temperature of the tent higher. 80f to 60+% RH is best at this time for your girl
 
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Mr.GreenthumbOG

Mr.GreenthumbOG

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Ya. I would make sure no light getting into the bucket. Also. Probably too much light to the baby girl.
Mr.G
 
Mr.GreenthumbOG

Mr.GreenthumbOG

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You NEED to be able to measure PH and PPM/EC levels. Get some probes, donā€™t guess. And donā€™t go by the manufacture recommended amount.
Mr.G
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

18
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welcome to the farm. You should either get black buckets with lid or cover the orange bucket and the lid so no light can penetrate through.
Your 4" air intake. Have that against the pale so it blows right to the side. This will help keep the water in the rez cooler.

For your nutrients. I dnt know diable but you have to follow the schedule that is provided. However, devide everything in two. Majority of times the feeding chart is hotter than what the plant can take.

I need some more information for the yellowing.
Water resource? Tap water ph and ppm? Rez ph and ppm?

you should get your temperature of the tent higher. 80f to 60+% RH is best at this time for your girl

Thanks for the response! I think what I'll do to save money is to wrap my bucket in aluminium foil. That should stop light from getting into the bucket. After reading all the comments on this thread I decided to get pocket PH and TDS readers. They should arrive tomorrow. I'll post readings when I can. I tried looking for a tiny space heater that would set the heat in the tent. Ideally I'd like something where I can set the desired temp and it will maintain it.
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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Looks like light burn, also make sure you donā€™t have like leaks in that res.
Black food grade buckets are usually better because they donā€™t let in any light.

Thanks mate! I tried dimming my light as much as it would allow and I also raised it higher in the tent. I was only able to get it down from 7200 lux to 6000. Hopefully that does the trick. If it still shows burn I might have to mitigate the light some kind of film. I'm open to suggestions :)
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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You NEED to be able to measure PH and PPM/EC levels. Get some probes, donā€™t guess. And donā€™t go by the manufacture recommended amount.
Mr.G

I hear you. Thanks for the advice! As mentioned above I'm going to wrap my bucket in aluminium foil and I also bought PH and TDS readers. Will post readings as soon as I can.
 
PK1

PK1

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Thanks for the response! I think what I'll do to save money is to wrap my bucket in aluminium foil. That should stop light from getting into the bucket. After reading all the comments on this thread I decided to get pocket PH and TDS readers. They should arrive tomorrow. I'll post readings when I can. I tried looking for a tiny space heater that would set the heat in the tent. Ideally I'd like something where I can set the desired temp and it will maintain it.
tinfoil works, start getting used to that ph and tds meter. You should also get a storage solution for your prob. This will not allow it to go bad in long run.
for heater i would suggest to get one that has only on and off button and then get one of those inkbirds from amazon. This will allow you to set the high and low temps and it turns the heater on when it's needed.

You should also get some sort of enzyme. apparently the popular one is ag something.. lol, i keep forgetting the name. @Aqua Man knows it
 
tobh

tobh

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Another option you could do for getting less light (i agree, that looks like light bleaching to me) is set some cheese cloth above her. Hell, garden centers carry a material that does the same thing for sensitive crops. Cheese cloth is just cheaper.

Good work on getting the pocket meters. You cannot run hydro without them. while the "rules" say that maximum nutrient availability is only between 5.5 and 6.5 in hydro, I call bullshit. That being said, pH fluctuations will cause all kinds of fuckery.

@PK1 you're thinking of southern ag, which is a bioculture. An enzyme is something like hygrozyme. But yes, you need to determine if you're going to run sterile or live, and go forth accordingly.

If sterile, run either pool shock or hydrogen peroxide + enzymes

If live, run [southern ag or hydroguard] + enzymes

The purpose of running sterile or live is to avoid pathogens like pythium (root rot). Doing nothing is a huge gamble, so most hydro guys do one or the other. I've done both, and frankly for a first time hydro grower, sterile is the easy route.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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All great advice above... you will need a ph and ppm meter.

Ideally a source of ph down that is phosphoric or sulfuric acid.

What is your source water?

The light through that pail will cause issues so I suggest swapping to a black pail or light proofing it.
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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I have some updates! Unfortunately no PH or TDS meter yet but hopefully that comes tomorrow.

To those who asked @PK1 @Aqua Man, I'm using tap water + the diablo nutrient combo I mentioned earler.

@PK1 @Growrx @Mr.GreenthumbOG @Aqua Man I covered my bucket with aluminium foil (see pics below). I also added more clay pebbles to cover all the gaps in the net pot. Hopefully that blocks out enough light!

@PK1 I also pointed my intake towards my bucket to cool the reservoir as you suggested (pic below).

@tobh Thanks for the reply! I'm not sure if I have any cheese cloth lying around. I'lll need to check. I guess there's nothing wrong with the light not being perfectly consitent across the plant? Also, I'm new to enzymes, going live or sterile. I'll have to look those up and do some reading. As previously mentioned I am using tap water.

I have another question. I have a water conditioning solution that I use for my aquarium. Would that be of any use here?
 
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JoshGElias

JoshGElias

18
3
All great advice above... you will need a ph and ppm meter.

Ideally a source of ph down that is phosphoric or sulfuric acid.

What is your source water?

The light through that pail will cause issues so I suggest swapping to a black pail or light proofing it.

Sorry I didn't thank you for the reply above. Kudos on the community of this forum. Got some solid members here.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I have some updates! Unfortunately no PH or TDS meter yet but hopefully that comes tomorrow.

To those who asked @PK1 @Aqua Man, I'm using tap water + the diablo nutrient combo I mentioned earler.

@PK1 @Growrx @Mr.GreenthumbOG @Aqua Man I covered my bucket with aluminium foil (see pics below). I also added more clay pebbles to cover all the gaps in the net pot. Hopefully that blocks out enough light!

@PK1 I also pointed my intake towards my bucket to cool the reservoir as you suggested (pic below).

@tobh Thanks for the reply! I'm not sure if I have any cheese cloth lying around. I'lll need to check. I guess there's nothing wrong with the light not being perfectly consitent across the plant? Also, I've new to enzymes, going live or sterile. I'll have to look those up and do some reading. As previously mentioned I am using tap water.

I have another question. I have a water conditioning solution that I use for my aquarium. Would that be of any use here?
Seachem prime? I used to but don't bother anymore. By law max is 4ppm and most are around 1 ppm. No issue to plants and have found none towards beneficials either at my 1.5ppm but if brewing teas better to go RO. Which your not doing.

Also you wanna go sterile or live.
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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@tobh Aye I found some cheese cloth! Works great! Got the lux down from 6000 to 3500. When do you think I should crank it up? Maybe when I get my first fan leaves?
 
TheBadChoice

TheBadChoice

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I can see one thing that needs improvement, you wanna get your air pump above your water level in the bucket. Donā€™t want that water back feeding into the pumps manifold and why all the stickers lol that bucket isnā€™t a Honda and it wonā€™t go faster with them šŸ™‚
 
PK1

PK1

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Goood choice has a point on that air pump. Also, get your air intake against the bucket. bacteria build up loves warmer water, since you've got no enzyme or western ag. About the aquarium, i used it for a while but stopped just like aquaman mentioned. Waste of money.

Now if your aquarium has no plants and just straight fish, than use that water as your base water and then add your nutrients to it. That's only if its not a planted tank. Fish only produce nitrogen

also, get that enzyme before the plants grows further. You can get all that or you could just get Z9/Z7 their same thing depending where you are located. if you want to see how it works then head over to my diary and see it for your self
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

18
3
I can see one thing that needs improvement, you wanna get your air pump above your water level in the bucket. Donā€™t want that water back feeding into the pumps manifold and why all the stickers lol that bucket isnā€™t a Honda and it wonā€™t go faster with them šŸ™‚

LOL am I sensing sticker envy? Good call on the air pump. Just need to think of a way to suspend it without it vibrating against something and making a bunch of noise in the tent.
 
JoshGElias

JoshGElias

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@PK1 I did point the air intake toward the bucket as you previously suggested. It comes out at the bottom right of the tent in my latest pics. Unless I misunderstood?
 
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