Enter the Monolith: Under Current 10 meets Home Box

[Lost]

How did I not see this earlier?



*Pulls up a chair*

 

[Boylobster]

Roger that, Kaycha, we have a plan. Yeah, the UC does include a handy drainage port, but as I mentioned, a fair amount of agua remains below the PVC connects, and thus evades drainage. So, fill with a flushing volume to dilute what remains, and then pump it the hell out, refill with nutes.

Two questions: should I add some of H&G's Drip Clean to the flush(or ClearEx, or some other salt remover)? I have some, but I haven't used it yet. Also, using that much RO to flush 'em out just seems... extravagantly wasteful. Would you foresee problems if I used tap water for the flush, and then drained 'em really well before switching back to RO? My tap EC is pretty high, about .4. :thinking

Lost, yeah, how *did* you not see this earlier? You were on the thread that these guys came from - my DIY UC Starter Tubs, remember? You're practically their uncle. :D

 

[TyKaycha]

I would use tap, they aren't going to be in there for too long. Never used DripClean, have used ClearEx. Maybe but go light with it. Not really sure if you should or shouldn't.

 

[UCMENOW]

Just continue diluting down the solution as you drain it which will get your base line ppm's down low enough to be benign.....then make your solution and balance it out in a top res., once balanced add back into the system and resume regular programming. :)

 

[UCMENOW]

Forgot to ask what your tap water is like....if it's above 200 ppm's I'd consider flushing with 50% RO/ 50% tap.

 

[Boylobster]

Word. Thanks guys, I know this is basic stuff, but I've already ventured pretty far outside my comfort zone with a new system, a new line of nutes, and 100% RO, and I want to make sure I do it as well as I can the first time.

UCMENOW, you probably forgot 'cause you didn't have to ask; see above. Or were you not hanging on my every single word? ;) My tap EC is high, around .3 or .4, or 400ppm. That's probably a good call - I was hoping someone would say "Heeeeeey, f$$k it maaaaaan, use tap no matter what!", but that doesn't really make sense. 50/50 it is. Today the flush, tomorrow, the world! :rofl

 

[UCMENOW]

You my friend, are a true wizard of words....keep up the good work my brother in water.

 

[Boylobster]

Tee-hee! You're gonna' make me blush! :blush

 

[Loudblunts]

guess what ;)

 

[ziggy1]

Why do you use R/O water... I have been using tap water for years with ( I guess) no problems.. I also use Aqua flakes in a RDWC and dont seem to have crazy PH shift

 

[TrichromeFan]

Just relaying some info on flushing:

Originally Posted by doubleds
I dont clean buckets until harvest time. What is it you need to clean up bro?

When its time to change res (1ce a week for 1st 4 weeks) I completely drain the system and refill it with fresh ph'd water. I let that run in the system for 2 hours.
Drain the system and do the same again for 4 hours. Refill the sytem with fresh water again. Then i add the nutes.

dds

Thanks ala Easypleasie:anim_30:

 

[Boylobster]

Ahhh, what's good, blunts? :)

Ziggy, I'm running RO because the "tap" water in my area has a pretty high starting EC, around .4, or ~400ppm. It's got a lot of dissolved solids in it, and my pH has never been as stable as it's been since I started running straight RO. I used to mix 50/50 RO and tap water, but to me, the RO just seems hold a more consistent pH. Of course, the quality of tap water varies wildly from area to area and even tap to tap, so you're mileage may vary. :)

Thanks for that, TrichromeFan. Any advice from doubleds ought to be most welcome, huh? Do you know if he's running RO or tap, and which he's using to flush? It's very hard for me to justify the water consumption of flushing with RO, so the plan (in progress as we type) right now is to flush with tap and H&G's Drip Clean, drain, refill with enough RO to cover the PVC, drain, and refill with a fresh nute solution. I'm trying to strike a compromise between thorough flushing and extravagant water usage. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[TrichromeFan]

Doubleds says that he never has used RO at all!
Although I am not sure what his ppms are of his water to begin with, I would have to imagine that he has built many setups, including different water supplies with different dissolved solids levels.
My water comes out at 200. I use it straight up. :happy
I would think that flushing with tap for 2 flushes, and then maybe try 1/2 and 1/2 on the actual fill if you like.
I can't even imagine that doubleds would have the ability to let that much tap water stand for a day to be able to flush twice, then fill. I say that he probably flushed, straight out the tap, and uses water that stands for a day for the nute solution. Just my amateur guess.:evilgrin0013:

 

[Boylobster]

Huh! On a future run, I'll definitely have to give a 50/50 mix a try. The less waste, the better. However, *my* amateur guess is that running straight RO is part of what has allowed me to get away with 1 week in veg and 4 weeks in flower without flush or changing the nute solution. I just topped off with a balanced RO nutrient solution. That really is just speculation on my part, unfortunately. I'm still getting used to the idea that I've gotta' send 60 gallons down the drain every week just to keep things fresh. :wondering

Thanks for the input, Trichrome; I still appreciate all the help I can get.

 

[TrichromeFan]

I'm still getting used to the idea that I've gotta' send 60 gallons down the drain every week just to keep things fresh.

Thanks for the input, Trichrome; I still appreciate all the help I can get.

I know. The thought of dumping that much in nutes doen the drain on a weekly basis seems like madness to me as well. Although, ol' dds swears that it is the way for max results. Apparently with the water culture methods, the plant can deplete certain nutrients and minerals in fast order, due to it's high performance uptake. I was reading that for House & Garden nutes full line would cost around $700 for an 8 week strain with 100 gal in rez total. Sure is a crapload, but if it results in a couple of more ounces per harvest, it already has proved worth the cost. Not to sound like a broken record, but at this point, I would follow doubleds method as closely as possible. At least till you have a few runs with the system.
Again, just my amatuer 2cents. I too aspire to be 1/2 as talented as ol' dds some day. :friday:

 

[Boylobster]

Point well taken, man. When in Rome...

Do you recall if DDs recommended going with a full strength nute solution? 'Till now I've been lowballing it to play it safe, letting things run between 650-750ppms. I'll have an upgrade to my plumbing system soon that'll make running through that much RO (even at 50/50) a much more palatable prospect. Right now, my water is delivered to a 1000gal tank - no well or city water. When the RO system uses 500gal to make 100gal of RO, well, you do the math. :thinking Surprisingly, the waste water is only 50ppm higher than when it went in, so what I'll do is run the waste line back to the tank. I'll have to change filters more often, but I'll have an RO system that essential wastes no water. Ha.

Was DDs running H&G? I'm not too lazy to do my own research, but since you're here... ;)

 

[TrichromeFan]

DDS has run H&G, but I think that he currently uses Advanced. There was this whole bad politics thing that went down with the Canadian distributor.
That said, I don't know what he was running on strength on H&G, but just about everybody I hear from, it is full strength, full schedule with the H&G.
I am always gun shy on full strength, but I can't see how it would hurt at this point after a good flush. :rasta2:

 

[Boylobster]

:D, what an instigator! Mmmmm... I don't know about full strength, but I'll definitely have to bump up the intensity by a good bit. Actually, I had noticed some early signs of general N deficiency, and was wondering if perhaps I'd been too cautious with my feeding program. F$$k it, FULL STEAM AHEAD!!! ...I can always dilute it. ;)

 

[TrichromeFan]

We'll be lookin forward to the progress.

Maybe some pics of the girls before res flush and change, and then a week after the new nutes. :anim_44:

I have been taking pics every week, and every week is a big change. I love it.:icon_spin:

I just need to get to focusing on building my new mpb room! :bong2:

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

great thread glad i seen it. i do have one thing to add. that crazy stretching you seen from a plant that doesn't stretch much is because it was competing for light when you had the system set up at 1st.

when you say you have your water delivered what does that mean? you have no city or well so some guy brings it in a truck and fills a tank for you? If so it seems like they may start to wonder why you need so much water. I don't know you got a pool..lol? Buy 1 them 800 dollar ones fill that baby up and use that as well for your water. fill your own tank with a hose and call a differnt pool company to bring you more if you need it