During Lights Out

[TonyScorpio]

Ok, I have a question.... I have my girls in flowering. I'm using a flood table. I currently have a pump circulating my resevoir 24/7, with air pumping 24/7 in there also.
Should I be running both of these during the lights off period? I was told that I should have them shutting of when the light goes out, too. Also, do I need to be running CO2 during lights out? At the present time I'm running my CO2 15 minutes on every hour. Not pumping CO2 during lights out.
It's my 1st time grow, so I won't be able to afford a CO2 controller for awhile. This is the reason that I'm running my CO2 on a timer schedule. I will say that I do have a regulator on the CO2.
If anyone needs to know I'm using the General Hydroponics Flora Duo nutes.
Does anyone have any advice or insight on this? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

[silverhaze]

Hey Tony,
No CO2 during lights out, it's wasting it. Keep it off like you have been. I would leave the air stones on all the time personally. Good luck.

 

[TonyScorpio]

Thx for the info. Would you do the same for the circulating pump also?

 

[silverhaze]

If it's just a pump recirculating the nutes within the res then I personally would leave that on too. I use both as well. I like to keep the water slowly moving all the time.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

The air will do that,some nutes do not like to be rocked with air too much though. JK

 

[MonsterRobot]

What medium are you using? You can flood constantly if you have the right medium like hydroton, but if you are using rockwool or coco you might not want to flood all the time...

 

[TonyScorpio]

I'm currently using 4X4x4 rockwool cubes in 8" baskets filled the rest of the way with hydroton.
I was having a problem with alot of foamy stuff forming and ph rising irradically. Since, putting up this posting, I have stopped using an air pump. So, far the foamy stuff has disappeared. My ph has somewhat stabilized, also. It still rises a bit daily, where as before I would have to adjust it a few times a day.
Already planning to switching my set up to drip irrigation on my next round using the 6X6X6 rock wool cubes. Gonna do away with the hydroton and net baskets the next cycle. I want to see if I have any improvements going that route. If not I'll go back to using 2X2X2 rock wool cubes and hydroton in the net baskets.
What's your thoughts on that?

 

[MonsterRobot]

The smaller the rockwool that you use (if putting them into hydroton like you said you are) the better... Rockwool doesn't dry out like hydroton and I have lost a few plants due to the rockwool staying too moist and causing stem rot right at the base of the plant... If you can, make sure that the rockwool is above the water line so it doesn't get wet and cause any problems...

 

[sky_blue]

What medium are you using? You can flood constantly if you have the right medium like hydroton, but if you are using rockwool or coco you might not want to flood all the time...

What do you mean by "flood constantly?" Like DWC but w/ebb&flow hydroton tables?

 

[MonsterRobot]

I meant you can use drippers to constantly feed the plants and it won't hurt them

 

[ken dog]

I flood my tables for 1/2 hour every 3 hours... day and night.

my plants are in pots with hydroton in the pots.

plants do not take in co2 at night... they do however, take in oxygen, both day and night...so adequate ventilation is always necessary.