Ace Malawi And Cycloptics Greenbeams: Caught In The Under Current!

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DapperDon

DapperDon

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Since you decided to rush things now rather than take the steady approach by letting them veg properly, then the only thing I can suggest is that if your roots are not able to touch the recommended water levels (1 inch below the net pot) then you should use a halo ring and top feed.
 
timmur

timmur

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Using grow stones. Most of the plants have roots long enough to easily reach the bottom of the bucket, but I can't "thread" all of them through the bigger net pots on the UC. Got a few to poke through and adjusted water level so that it just reaches the roots.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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timmur said:
Using grow stones. Most of the plants have roots long enough to easily reach the bottom of the bucket, but I can't "thread" all of them through the bigger net pots on the UC. Got a few to poke through and adjusted water level so that it just reaches the roots.
Click to expand...
Top feed and be done with it. This will allow you to not have to make so much soup as well as the flooming benefit.
 
smokedareefer

smokedareefer

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As other's have said. 1 inch below the pots for the water level. I found that the air bubbles breaking at the surface area is usually enough to let the girls drink. I your concerned about it you could use a ring as Don suggests or just hand water a few times a day.
 
ken dog

ken dog

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I fill with an inch-and-a-half of hydroton, whilst weaving the roots... then fill the rest with wetted rockwool cubes whilst centering the main stalk.

I fill my system 1 inch above the bottom of the net pot, which touches the roots which are weaved between the hydroton... Then I let the water level drop naturally until it is at the bottom of the net pots, where I leave it.

Here are a couple of pics taken a moment ago, of a Gorilla Glue #4 that is just getting ready to be flushed... This plant is 3 months old.
 
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ken dog

ken dog

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If you already have the pot full of Rockwool...

Initially, put the water level at the bottom of the pot so the Rockwool gets wet and stays wet at first... Then let it drop naturally to 1 inch below the bottom of the pot.
 
timmur

timmur

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No rockwool, just grow stones. I have a few stray roots sticking through the net pots. I adjusted the water level so that it just touches the bottom of the net pots. As the roots start coming through the net pot, I'll adjust the level down until it is one inch below the pot. Manual top feeding is not a good option, but if it comes to that I'll mod the system to do so automatically. I'm gonna try to leave the water level where it's at for now and if they don't stall then I will stick with that. If they stall it's top feed. I don't expect to stay at this water level for very long so hopefully this doesn't cause a problem.
 
timmur

timmur

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So here's an update. My EC is at .8 and pH is at 6.20. The pH swung up to 6.60 over the course of one day so I adjusted it back down to 6.20. nutrient strength has been about the same for 3 days. Should I go down in strength or up?

IMG 0502
IMG 0501
IMG 0500
 
ken dog

ken dog

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At the peak of my flower, at the highest EC that I had during my grow, I was at .7 EC.. Or 490 PPM on the 700 scale.
I see some of your tips are slightly burned... I would back off a little.
 
UCMENOW

UCMENOW

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timmur. If you're running stones only you need to get that water level up substantially. Your plants are dehydrating and the pics you've attached reinforce that. Given your scenario I would recommend bringing water level up to 3rd rung from bottom of pot. It will take a few days but plants will rehydrate and begin evapotranspiring properly again.

Would also agree with kendog (respect to you brother) about redcing nute strength.

Also, while plants are stressed consider reducing light intensity to assist in recovery.
 
timmur

timmur

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Thanks UC! I'm raising the level now and reducing EC to .6. I'll try reducing light for a day or two as well.
 
timmur

timmur

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So here's the latest. I completely drained the system, removed the plants, removed the O2 grow system, and installed the stock aeration pump/diffusers. I suspect that I was over oxygenating in the epicenter causing nutrient/mineral precipitation and destabilizing the solution. I found little stones in the epicenter when I emptied it and I know it wasn't from inadequate mixing of nutrients in solution as I mixed in advance of topping off system. I lowered light levels and set the EC @ .35. That was yesterday. The plants look visibly better with less clawing/curling and tips look better.

The Dangers of Early Adoption!

I'm not entirely sure that the O2 Grow was an issue, but I wanted to take some variables out of the equation. It looks like it takes over oxygenation in the epicenter to get the modules to decent DO levels. When the O2 Grow was active, I was getting 110% - 120% super saturated DO levels in the epicenter and 55% in the modules. I now believe that it would take an emitter for each module for the O2 Grow to be effective in the UC. Another confounding factor is the fact that i still don't have inline DO monitoring. Agrowtek has promised it for months, but still hasn't delivered. All things considered, the O2 Grow is going on the shelf until I have a some stability.Here's how the girls look this morning.

IMG 0506
 
All4freedumb

All4freedumb

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What up Timmur, you have a beautiful set up there that I think will suit you and your plants well as they take off. Growing form seed takes a lot of patience. Let them take off naturally. There comes a time that they will just take off. Right now those girls are just getting their feet wet in a system that has everything readily available at all times. That's why we can stay at such a low EC. Esspecially you coming from seed. I grew from seed and stayed under 200ppm, 700 scale for a month... I had it at 300ppm at time of flip. I'm glad UCMENOW got to you and addressed your water level and high EC. I think you will be seeing a turn around pretty quick. Try not to take away or add too much as you are solving an issue or getting new plants settled, as they need time to heal or settle.
I noticed you said you do top offs? When mixing your nutes for your system for topping off how do you do that? When i used to do manual top offs I would put 2 1/2 gallons of water in a 5 gallon and add A, mix and dump in epi. I then would do the same with B and so on with Cal Mag and whatever else. I did not mixed them all together prior to dumping in the epi..
 
timmur

timmur

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Thanks All4. It is a nice setup, but there's no replacement for experience growing! I'll figure it out, but some of it is of the "school of hard knocks" variety! I've read nearly every UC thread here on the farm, so I should've known not to make this rookie mistake.

I have a top off res (110 gallons), but I haven't used it yet. I've been mixing the nutes at the epicenter by sifting very slowly. I get really good mixing and no fallout. The fallout I noted in the previous post wan't from poor mixing, rather it looked like precipitate (rocks). The Veg & Bloom mixes very well as long as you sift it slowly.

@UCMENOW
Thanks for reminding me of the basics and guidance on the water levels. I'm reducing light levels until tomorrow. If they look like they are recovering I'll bring it back up.
 
timmur

timmur

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Since I dropped the nutes as recommended by Current Culture, the plants look like they are suffering from mag deficiency again. The EC has remained @ .35 and the pH stayed steady @ 6.1. According to CC, I should reduce nutrient concentration as the levels are stagnant? Is this correct? I thought that if my nutrients were too low, they would drop and pH would rise. Is this correct?

I'm really struggling to get the system balanced and I thought I could figure out direction based on reactions from the system (pH and nutrient levels rising or falling). Why am I seeing what appears to be mag deficiency if I'm over strength in nutrients?

So can someone give a definitive answer on whether or not I need a cal/mag supplement? Veg & Bloom is not supposed to require it, but I'm looking for confirmation. Thanks.
 
ken dog

ken dog

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Thing is, the nutrient levels are supposed to drop every day... And if they are not dropping, that means that the plants are locked out.

I think that is what they are talking about when they are saying that the system is stagnant right now... there is really nowhere to go, as .3 is the maximum EC that one is supposed to be at in veg.
One should start out at .2 or so, with just a trace of nutrients and a trace of Cal/Mag.
I just checked my notes on my last grow, and I was at 150 PPM on the 700 scale, which is about 2.2 EC.
3 weeks later I was at 180 PPM. .. every day it would drop 10 or 20 PPM, and I would raise it back up to where it was the day before.
 
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timmur

timmur

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Thanks ken. So drop down further, right? Once I get low enough, they should consume nutes and ec should drop a little each day?
 
ken dog

ken dog

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Yes... they need to start feeding before the roots start to die off, and you have to grow new roots behind the ones that died.
 
timmur

timmur

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So the conductivity is at .20. No cal/mag as I thought I didn't need it. Getting some here on Thursday. PH is at 6.10. So the ec should drop if the solution is too low, right?
 
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