Post UC Questions and Concerns Here

[smokey_waters]

Night humidity 20 degrees lower than day??

Read that from the cch2o gen. rec's chart. I never hear anyone talking about lowering humidity at night. In fact, from what I've heard, the problem is it gets higher at night. So do people adjust to lower humidity at night, and if so how? There's day/night temp controllers but I haven't seen that for humidity. So are people adjusting it manually every night?
Thx,

 

[QuarterbackMo]

This thread would be 1000x better if everyone got used to using EC instead of ppms, since the majority of the posts here talking about ppms is fuckin useless.

Here is the calculator:

http://www.cannastats.com/articles/calorama.htm

In fact, all the farmers should get used to the conversion. EC is universal. PPM is not. If someone has a .7 meter and is reading ppm 500 from someone who has a .5 conversion meter, and they follow suit...

then they are underfeeding.

And vice versa.

Especially critical the other way around.

INSTEAD OF:

"my plants are doing awesome at 800 ppm in the fourth week of flower"

HOW ABOUT:

"my plants are doing awesome at 1.6 EC in the fourth week of flower"

that way if I have a .7 meter conversion, I know I can emulate that program at 1120 ppm...NOT 800.



WORD. :banana1sv6:

Actually my friend if I say 700 ppm you should know I mean on a .7 scale because .5 scale is tds :) just sayin.

 

[QuarterbackMo]

Hi,

3 q's:

1) When I'm dropping rooted clones in rockwool into the UC system (where they veg), should I wait until the roots have grown to the bottom of the net pot ( approx 1 1/2" down from where the roots started) b4 putting in nutes or should they have nutes right from when they are dropped into hydroton??

2) if I start their nute level at 250 ppm, and by week 2 I want to increase ppm by, say, 100, would I be adding nutes to the epicenter so I can control increasing by exactly 100 ppm as opposed to upping the top off rez by 100 ppm which would take time to filter into the system, thus not really raising the
system by 100 b/c it would take too long??

3) I tried draining the system by connecting a hose to the epicenter drain valve-didn't work. Was the hose too long or what am I missing? I did the same thing w/ the cylindrical rez and it drained.
Thank you,

1.) If your in a cube once you see roots make a single layer of hydroton around the bottom of the netpot drop the clone in and fill the rest. If its from a cloner fish the roots through the holes in the netpot and keep going till the stem hits the bottom then fill with hydroton. Keep the water levels high for the first week or so trust me even with the water levels above the bottom of the netpot they don't care its not gonna hurt them, there is mad oxygen in that water.

2.)If you wanna increase the ppm just dilute your add back into a gallon of water and add it in a quarter of a gallon at a time or so into the epi... each time you add nutes wait a min or 2 for them to move around before you add more. I view the top off as just being there to keep the ppm and water levels in check... and to add in boosters slowly. Unless your in a UC solo I wouldn't try to flush every week that's a lot of work for no reason... I go 3 weeks between flushes and my plants are always nice.

3.)Get a long 1/2in to 3/4in hose and a 400gph submersible pump and stick it in the epi until its pumped out all the water it can. You might be able to fit a bigger pump in the xxl Idk about that though as I use the xl model.

Hope that helps,
Happy Growing :passingjoint:

 

[ttystikk]

This thread would be 1000x better if everyone got used to using EC instead of ppms, since the majority of the posts here talking about ppms is fuckin useless.

Here is the calculator:

http://www.cannastats.com/articles/calorama.htm

In fact, all the farmers should get used to the conversion. EC is universal. PPM is not. If someone has a .7 meter and is reading ppm 500 from someone who has a .5 conversion meter, and they follow suit...

then they are underfeeding.

And vice versa.

Especially critical the other way around.

INSTEAD OF:

"my plants are doing awesome at 800 ppm in the fourth week of flower"

HOW ABOUT:

"my plants are doing awesome at 1.6 EC in the fourth week of flower"

that way if I have a .7 meter conversion, I know I can emulate that program at 1120 ppm...NOT 800.



WORD. :banana1sv6:

Funny you should mention this now- I just switched yesterday. Same reason.

 

[bigdaddyg8]

on Friday just fired up 11-18-11 a current culture h2o 8gal 6 site in a 7x10 room . first time i run hydroponics . 20yrs ago use to grow in soil . good to know you are here !

 

[ttystikk]

I do see where it can cause serious issues. I myself automatically assume when given a ppm reading it is .7 Maybe when posting ppm we could at least give our meter conversion. My meter is set to .7 but fortunately I can set it to .5 if needed ~ Dutch Master assumes .5 Advanced Nutrients assumes .7


I have been trying to find one of those calculators Thx

I have a Bluelab 'truncheon' unit- which by the way is a great piece of equipment. Rather than give a numerical reading in a little window, it shows a blinking light on a scale up the side of the stick. Each of the levels has all the conversions in place, so it's easy to convert from one to another.

That said, I still like and prefer to work in basic readings, as opposed to converted chart numbers like ppm @ 500 or 700, etc. I'm liking the simplicity and direct approach of using EC, so I'm going with it.

 

[ttystikk]

Read that from the cch2o gen. rec's chart. I never hear anyone talking about lowering humidity at night. In fact, from what I've heard, the problem is it gets higher at night. So do people adjust to lower humidity at night, and if so how? There's day/night temp controllers but I haven't seen that for humidity. So are people adjusting it manually every night?
Thx,

That chart is very confusing in some important ways. For instance, if you're going to use a scale like 'ppm', then at least color code it so it matches up with the CO2 you're to read it with- at first, I couldn't figure out why the ppm and EC scales didn't match, it took me awhile to figure it out.

 

[bigdaddyg8]

light green

i am a first time hydroponic grower . i rooted 6 small cuttings till the roots were growing through the bottom of the rockwool cube . then transplanted to the net pots with growstone . 6 site cch20 with a1,000 watt high pressure sodium with a raptor reflector and two circulating fans in a co2 environment . my problem is the plants are turning light green and the tips are starting to brown . ph 5.5 IONIC nutrient ppm 420 .they have been in for 7 days . 2 days ago i noticed looking through the growstones that the rockwool cubes looked dry and my water level in the epic center had dropped a 1/4 inch .i refilled the epic center up to the ridge on the bucket . then i started to water from the epic through the top of the plants 2or 3 times a day .
any input with this matter would be greatly appreciated .
thanks
bigdaddyg8

 

[Supernova]

Benes

I have been running 5 XL8 systems for a year or so now and love the results. However I still come across root rot and have a few questions. When in early veg I give the plants a low dose of Aquashiled (5ml/gal) and as the manuf suggests I give it more every 5th day. This seems to work fine, but my issue begins when they start to drink a lot. Lets say they go through 6 gallons solution every other day. What I started to do was add 10ml/gal to every top off mix. Then looking back at my charts I started to wonder if it was overkill to add the original batch every 5th day while giving it the 10ml/gal every fill up. So what I did was eliminated the 5th day refill on all the plants that drink a lot (late veg, flower). So after a changeout in those weeks my system gets the innitial 5ml/gal AS but gets it on every top off at a dose of 10ml/gal. This seems to work best when they are really drinking. However with the 2 cases of root rot that have come up throughout the year I am wondering if my thinking is all wrong.

Should I go back to AS every 5th day? maybe split the difference @7.5ml/gal. no matter how much solution its going through or which week its in?

I guess I started to treat the AS like a nute...even as I wrote this post out I am realizing thats probly not the idea of benes.

What happens every 5th day to the benes? Do they dissapear? Used up? Die? will they create or become biofilm?

 

[Papa]

I have been running 5 XL8 systems for a year or so now and love the results.

i'm curious Supernova, what do you run your water temps at?

 

[Supernova]

Temps 65-68 in solution.

 

[smokey_waters]

@bigdaddy- I'm having the same issue. Plants look dry. I started top feeding, but not sure how much and how often. I'm in day 7 myself and I think this is an important issue to iron out.

Top feeding- When to do it? How much liquid? How often?

Thx,

 

[ttystikk]

i am a first time hydroponic grower . i rooted 6 small cuttings till the roots were growing through the bottom of the rockwool cube . then transplanted to the net pots with growstone . 6 site cch20 with a1,000 watt high pressure sodium with a raptor reflector and two circulating fans in a co2 environment . my problem is the plants are turning light green and the tips are starting to brown . ph 5.5 IONIC nutrient ppm 420 .they have been in for 7 days . 2 days ago i noticed looking through the growstones that the rockwool cubes looked dry and my water level in the epic center had dropped a 1/4 inch .i refilled the epic center up to the ridge on the bucket . then i started to water from the epic through the top of the plants 2or 3 times a day .
any input with this matter would be greatly appreciated .
thanks
bigdaddyg8

@bigdaddy- I'm having the same issue. Plants look dry. I started top feeding, but not sure how much and how often. I'm in day 7 myself and I think this is an important issue to iron out.

Top feeding- When to do it? How much liquid? How often?

Thx,

Until roots are coming out of your netpots, you need to keep the water level at least touching the bottom of the pots. Once there are significant roots coming out, then you can gradually let your water level drop, but in my experience I find that I never get good results if the water falls more than an inch below the bottoms of my netpots at any time.

 

[Dr. Gre3N ThUmB]

Yeah guys mostly you just need to be sure that the roots are in the water. There is really no need to top feed. As long as there is enough water to keep the uc running you should be fine. One problem i noticed with the uc is that if you grow true monster plants the roots can slow down the water to where the pump runs dry. To remedy this i bought a 350 magdrive pump and used that instead of the 950 and at one point i even had to put a valve on the end and slow it down even more. When i say monsters i mean it, you guys are in for a real treat if you haven't grow with the uc before. 1 plant can equal 10 or more of your buddies lol.

 

[ttystikk]

i am a first time hydroponic grower . i rooted 6 small cuttings till the roots were growing through the bottom of the rockwool cube . then transplanted to the net pots with growstone . 6 site cch20 with a1,000 watt high pressure sodium with a raptor reflector and two circulating fans in a co2 environment . my problem is the plants are turning light green and the tips are starting to brown . ph 5.5 IONIC nutrient ppm 420 .they have been in for 7 days . 2 days ago i noticed looking through the growstones that the rockwool cubes looked dry and my water level in the epic center had dropped a 1/4 inch .i refilled the epic center up to the ridge on the bucket . then i started to water from the epic through the top of the plants 2or 3 times a day .
any input with this matter would be greatly appreciated .
thanks
bigdaddyg8

you may be low in either nitrogen or calcium, or possibly both to have light colored leaves. If you're already in flower it might be a bit late to deal with this- I'm having similar issues.

 

[smokie]

top off 55 gal reservoir question

@UCHQ
What is recommended for top off res? air stone and water pump/water fall , just air stone , just water pump , or nothing at all.

 

[ttystikk]

@UCHQ
What is recommended for top off res? air stone and water pump/water fall just air stone just water pump or nothing at all.

Depends on whether you're running utes in your top off res or not. If you don't- and I don't- then don't worry about oxygenating it. If you do, then you have a host of issues to contend with, including pH, how the EC of your top off res will affect the nute balance- and pH- of your main system, etc. and yes, in that case, it's probably wise to aerate your res.

 

[phup]

UCHQ please help me figure this out. Plants are in 4" rockwool cubes, 12" high and water level is just at bottom of netpot. 7 days ago as a result of a mistake ph dropped to 3.5 and stayed there for 24 hours. That definitely hurt the plants, but I have since flushed the cubes via top feeding with RO water and the current solution is ph 5.5 EC 0.5-0.6 and 68 degrees. Room temps are 78-82, humidity is quite low at 25-30.

I cannot figure out why these leaves are twisting so badly and do not seem to be getting any better. One of the my systems that is in the same room but did NOT have a dramatic ph drop is still exhibiting similar signs, albeit not quite as severe. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Dr. Gre3N ThUmB]

Thats got something to do with a lockout or something. Ive seen that a couple times in my grows but if I changed the water it would always straighten up. Have you been putting a bunch of ph up or down in the water, are you sure your meters are right?That leaf under the curled up ones definitely has been locked out. I would say to calibrate your meter and then change the water, use only base nutrients and try not to use any ph up or down just keep it in between 5.5 and 6.5 and if its just barely out of range use just enough to bring it back. Also you can run the water a lil colder and its better ive been letting it float from 63 to 67. For plants that size you want the ec at like .75 or a lil higher too.

 

[BCrocker]

Read that from the cch2o gen. rec's chart. I never hear anyone talking about lowering humidity at night. In fact, from what I've heard, the problem is it gets higher at night. So do people adjust to lower humidity at night, and if so how? There's day/night temp controllers but I haven't seen that for humidity. So are people adjusting it manually every night?
Thx,

My room is at 50 all the time. I think i need a large dehumid. Only have two whirlpool 70 pint units. Bump on this question and any dehumid referrals?