DIY - Over, Under, Sideways, Down...Sky High builds an Under Current knockoff

[winta]

dam sky dont know how i missed this but daaam! very nice bro!

 

[sky high]

You guys are too kind.

OKcomputer42..... you can do it bro. Compared to my old 5 gal DWC system this thing is a breeze to keep rockin'. I laid out the links where I got my peices and parts in the first few pages.... and for me that was most of the battle. Once I had the goods in hand I used Texas Kid's threads and the UC page itself to have something to go on as an "as built" and off I went. All-in-all it's an easy system to construct, IMO.

I originally thought about consrtucting an 8 bucket system. Thank Godd I came to my senses! I'm seriously overgrown with 6 pods in here...with 8 I coulda easily walked into the jungle...never to return again!

One AP-100 or equivilent is sufficient. I definitely oversized this aspect of the system, and once I finish up with this grow I'm gonna repipe the air side for ONE pump and run it full blast rather than dialing each one down to about 1/2 via the use of inline valves. 2 pumps is serious overkill for 6 buckets.

I would highly recommend the reflectix product to cover all peices and parts. I'd love to strip all of it off (but I'm not gonna..LOL) and see where the water temps go.... but the combo of having the mix bucket/pumps/etc OUTSIDE THE ROOM and the reflectix is giving me that edge I needed to avoid buying/running a chiller. Temps this AM...5800 watts on... 75F in the space....65F water temp. no A/C.....just fannage.... the thermometer outside right now say 40F...... fuckin A..... I need a WAREHOUSE FULL of these babies and a coupla whole-house attic fans and we'd KILL IT.

I may also investigate trying to run this system "organic" in the future. I've been experimenting with brewed teas (again) for the dozen or so soil-grown plants I have on hand and am seeing results (clear effluents fulll of goodness) with a few products that may very well be clean enough to add in to this type of system (vigourous action/low temps).

All-in-all it's a grand experiment. After growing in soil for over 15 years and comparing the growth rates/etc. I'm realizing all of the buds I've >>>failed to grow over the years<< after seeing this thing jam...even in "half-assed" mode with the pH problem and the "first run" learning curve well in place....

thanks again for the comments and for stoppin by! ROCK IT mo-fos!

s h

 

[RMCG]

I may also investigate trying to run this system "organic" in the future. I've been experimenting with brewed teas (again) for the dozen or so soil-grown plants I have on hand and am seeing results (clear effluents fulll of goodness) with a few products that may very well be clean enough to add in to this type of system (vigourous action/low temps).

I would love to see someone do this. Wonder what the smell would be like? Somewhere along the lines of a skunky sewage / slurry treatment plant I think.

 

[UCMENOW]

There's no T in RDWC ;)

In my experiences with using Actively Aerated Compost Teas with water culture I found there to be lots of headaches with very little benefits.

pH instability, biofilms and insoluable components ended up making for more frequent dump outs/ nute changes and between the biofilms and insoluables there ended up being lots of potential food sources for opportunistic pathogens if something goes wrong (elevated water temps, nutrient excess, etc.)

I found that if I used the teas at say a 1/16th strength of what is normally recommended there did seem to be some benefits in quality of fruit without having the headaches caused by all the extra organic material not compatible with water culture.

I found the best way to use organics with water culture to be as foliar sprays, given the plants are more than capable of uptaking complex nutrients, aminos, poly phenolics, humates, etc through their leaf tissue.

It is possible to use coco in the met pots above the water line and use that media as a sponge to absorb direct dosages of natchy nutes to the root zone.....the key being to only apply enough to the coco so as to experience zero run off into the mineral rich nutrient solution below, this allows for the use of the natchy without fouling the nutrient in the system.

 

[sky high]

A wealth of knowledge, as always, UC.

I experimented a bit with organics in my 5 gal bucket system over the last 4 weeks of bloom (Roots HPK) with good results....however, there was a bit of funk on the bottoms of the roots at harvest where the sediments would settle out. IMO, had there been far more circulation in the system this would have been avoided. Just a guess though.

I'd be scared of running coco in my UC.....but that's just me.

more pics soon. We're progressing here...but the pH problem was certainly a setback.

s h

 

[Shady]

Sup sky high! Have you seen mrdizzle's use of Coco to veg and then place the coco basket into a bucket with hydroton for his MPB's? Very creative... Well, anyways I'm eagerly awaiting some sick bud shots, tree shots, and closeups... :cool

 

[UCMENOW]

Sky High on the High Side

I like the natchy in the last 4 weeks....that sounds like a good approach. Just be sure to really disinfect that system before the next cycle so as not to inoculate the next grow with little nasties :)

The coco technique can work well as long as you keep the nutrient solution no less than 2" below the net pot to avoid wicking and excess moisture on the rot crown.

Can't wait to see your nugs......

 

[sky high]

Once again....thanks for the info, UC.

I spent a good bit of time in the room last night tying things up. This AM I kinda feel like Colonel Bob!

Yup, kids...it's Howdy Doobie time!!! (sky sparks a BB fatty and passes to the left)

It didn't take long or very many of the "yo-yo's to see I'd fookin go broke using those things, so I grabbed a roll of black twine and some zip ties and made my own. They won't "retract" as the plant grows...but these fuggers are done "growing" any height and those yo-yo's are pretty weak.......so I may be back in there with the thread and zips anyway as time goes along and things pack on more weight (oh, pleeeeasee pack on da weight...LOL)

After the pH fugg up....I basically stopped counting "days". For reference purposes, these were put into flower about 6 weeks ago. My plan is to give em another week or so of nutes and then start a 2 week flush.

Things are comin around. As I was tying shit up last night I ended up wearing a goodly amount of stiiicky ickky. They are definitely starting to put on some good frostin' and are starting to dense up a bit. (any tips/tricks for harder nugs?)

I'm seriously impressed how ROCK SOLID this system runs. I'm having almost NO pH drift @ present.....and as I had HOPED....the temps are hangin below 70 without any problems...no chiller. (room temps 78-80F) This pic of my (old as shit) Trimeter was this AM after 10 hours of lights on....

Question: Is anyone familiar with this line of nutes?

http://www.nutri-plus.ca/company.html

I was gonna switch to H&G but this looked to be in the same ballpark on the NPK/calcium/etc.... so I snagged this bloom formula and figured I'd give it a go. Haven't mixed it up yet but there's hardly no dye/color in em... so I'm impressed right off the bat. LOL. (I always hate dropping wildly colored mixes in the res.... FWIW. )

I need to drop this new formula into the fert calculator JK offered in another thread to see how it stacks up. Damn shit is HEAVY for a litre of nutes though....

off we go. Onward, through the fog.....

s h

 

[BOSSMAN88188]

Very impressive bro,
I wish you a bountiful harvest bro.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

Hey Sky High, i recently scored some Nutri+ nutrients from a shop that just started carrying them near me. Im using there CMplus, and the bloom products...Blossom+,Final Drive, Bud+, and the Beast. I was also givin the Yield Master outdoor nutrients, to try against Heavy Harvest. So far im very impressed. Im gunna be switching from MOAB over to Blossom+ this grow, which is big ive used MOAB for over 2 years, its been a staple of my regiment. I also noticed no fillers with there powders, its all white. No Kool-aids. Im very much considering trying there base nutrients over my floranova here soon. Hope they work out for ya.

Love your thread, super informative, cant wait to see what you pull down. Good Luck.

 

[Shady]

Nice update sky high! Sounds like it's clear sailing and no more fog from this point forward... Any chance we can get a closer look at those dense colas? :wondering

 

[sky high]

Sure thing shady!

As I said...they are starting to firm/frost up. Close inspection shows the frazzled leaf edges i believe were caused by the acidic conditions. Not sure which mineral/deficiency cause it but you can see it well in the pics.

Not gonna be a record harvest but I've learned a shitload on this grow so it'll (hopefully) pay off down the road as I make adjustments and swat at the fog. LOL:smiley_joint:

 

[gettogro]

they are starting to slam the drinks down like hookers at happy hour! Gulp.

Good one


Awesome build
I have been out of the game for a while since Krusty buckets were all the rage
Ill be building my uc type system when I move into my new place in the mountains in august.

Thanks for the great info big help

 

[UCMENOW]

Fruit of the Lumens

Looking tasty

 

[UCMENOW]

.

 

[sky high]

My store doesn't have the complete Nutri-Plus line, DWB. They are trying to get folks to try it and say it is popular in Canada (?) but that it hasn't caught on here yet. I know how that goes....when I had my store H&G was new on the market and they were sending me cases of the stuff that I couldn't even GIVE away at the time. These days it seems to be fairly popular. My buddy in Cali called me last week and said he went to the hydro shop in SD and damn near everyone in the place had H&G products in hand at the register. Go figure.

You aren't...um...speechless are ya, UC? Too stoned to type, maybe? LOL.

Non-UC related update:

At the start of this UC grow I also had some plants in the room that werre in soil. These were moved out when the UC took over the entire space....and have been in bloom about 6 weeks or so in a crudely constructed panda plastic tent under a 1K...

First 2 pics are Purple urkle/White
last pic is KKSC/White.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

Yea, i guess i dont know if their gunna actually carry it or not, what i got were samples as well. If i personally could get H&G products easily, id use em.

 

[sky high]

Update:

Week 7. After the last update I drained the system and raised the ppms from 1100 to 1400 using the nutri-Plus bloom product and a 1/2 dose of "Bud-X". pH 5.8.

50 or so gallons of fresh water (from the res) and 5 days later, I'm sitting at 6.0.... 1300ppm.

My approach from here on out will be to take out 10 gallons of system water per night and add back plain/ph'd water only (no nutes).....slowly dropping the ppms over the next 10 days or so. At that point I'll drain the system and start to do a true flush.

I know the debate rages on here/there about using tap water....but here the tap water is currently 50F out of the tap.....so by taking 10 gallons out of the system and adding back in 50F water I can drop the temp from 70 (high water temp) to 64 or so. I've been doing this every night as the lights come on (7PM) and then at bedtime (11-12pm) I take the automatic ice cube tray out and dump the entire thing right in the res....again dropping the temp down into the mid 60's.( Yup...... GHETTO CHILLER!!) By that time the outside air temp has dropped considerably (into the 60's or lower) and the cool air coming in from outside regulates the temp for the rest of the night. (this Am the water temp was 66 when I checked at 7AM just before lights out)

Dunno if it's the timing or the new nutes....but over the last 5 days I've seen a MAJOR increase in density in the buds....from squeezable to damn near rock hard. Oh yeah! We might pull some decent weight yet. (and the trim take will be MASSIVE too)

I didn't let the first crop of this BB I did (in the 5 gal DWC system) go long enough so I'm in it this time until I see some amber. As stoney as this shit is in clear mode...um.... folks will be droppin like flies when the amber comes in on these babies.... LOL.

some purpin could also happen. They were just on the brink last go around.....

either way...I'm a happpy fuckin' camper. This shit is SO tasty it blows me away everytime I smoke it. Hell...just suckin on an unlit joint will fill yer mouth with BERRY goodness for about 5 minutes. (OK...5 seconds cus yer scramblin fo da lighter!) LOL.

enough ramblin'.....

SCREAM shots....

 

[Dirty White Boy]

Thats great to hear your buds are bulkin up! Your a very inventive dude. Keep on. Plants look stellar!

 

[dusty]

nicest set of plants you've done yet... I need some type of tanks in my indoor set up..