Boylobster
- 267
- 18
Oh. My. God. What a horrid, black-hearted, mind-raping nightmare. But it's over. Again. Finally. Shit.
So here's the story: those who have been following along (who am I kidding? :itwasntme) will recall that I had to redesign the Under Current to break it out into a grid. Well, at almost exactly the same time, the impeller on my water pump cracked, and it was suddenly only able to push perhaps 25gpm. This was a blessing in disguise, as my Under Current Serpent design is seriously flawed. Because all of the water in the system is flowing through so many 90 degree elbows, the pump running at full power moves water faster than it can flow through the system. The result? Within a few minutes, the control bucket will overflow. Obviously, this situation could not continue.
Since I had to drain the system for this flushing anyway, it seemed this was my chance to break the system apart AGAIN and replace the Serpent design with all new, custom manifolds. Needless to say, things did not go as smoothly as I'd planned, for a number of boring reasons. Bottom line: they spent two nights in the dark, in their flushing solution, while I got my act together.
I would be just fine living the rest of my life without ever having to break that fucking thing down again while it's full of huge, flowering plants. :swear We're short on tears, but my plants are now quite literally drinking my sweat and blood. ANYway... here's a schematic of the new layout, a shameless ripoff of the Under Current Evolution. I give you... the UC Devolution!
The precious, cursed manifolds:
Per TrichromeFan's request, here are a few shots of them just after their two-day flush, right before the lights *finally* come back on.
I went ahead and pushed the nutes higher than I have yet, above 1000ppm. We'll see how they respond... and if the flushing and a properly flowing system corrects the pH issues.
A word for the DIYselfers out there... I'm all about building my own shit, but here's some free advice: don't build a brand-new, experimental system for use as your primary grow. Yeah, I got it done, but I'm not at all sure if the headache was worth the sense of rugged independence. :wondering There's a lot to be said for having a system like the Under Current drop on your doorstep, ready to rock. But nooooooo, I just had to fuck with it, didn't I??? :D :D :D Sorry gang, not trying to write a novel here - it's been a long day.
So here's the story: those who have been following along (who am I kidding? :itwasntme) will recall that I had to redesign the Under Current to break it out into a grid. Well, at almost exactly the same time, the impeller on my water pump cracked, and it was suddenly only able to push perhaps 25gpm. This was a blessing in disguise, as my Under Current Serpent design is seriously flawed. Because all of the water in the system is flowing through so many 90 degree elbows, the pump running at full power moves water faster than it can flow through the system. The result? Within a few minutes, the control bucket will overflow. Obviously, this situation could not continue.
Since I had to drain the system for this flushing anyway, it seemed this was my chance to break the system apart AGAIN and replace the Serpent design with all new, custom manifolds. Needless to say, things did not go as smoothly as I'd planned, for a number of boring reasons. Bottom line: they spent two nights in the dark, in their flushing solution, while I got my act together.
I would be just fine living the rest of my life without ever having to break that fucking thing down again while it's full of huge, flowering plants. :swear We're short on tears, but my plants are now quite literally drinking my sweat and blood. ANYway... here's a schematic of the new layout, a shameless ripoff of the Under Current Evolution. I give you... the UC Devolution!
The precious, cursed manifolds:
Per TrichromeFan's request, here are a few shots of them just after their two-day flush, right before the lights *finally* come back on.
I went ahead and pushed the nutes higher than I have yet, above 1000ppm. We'll see how they respond... and if the flushing and a properly flowing system corrects the pH issues.
A word for the DIYselfers out there... I'm all about building my own shit, but here's some free advice: don't build a brand-new, experimental system for use as your primary grow. Yeah, I got it done, but I'm not at all sure if the headache was worth the sense of rugged independence. :wondering There's a lot to be said for having a system like the Under Current drop on your doorstep, ready to rock. But nooooooo, I just had to fuck with it, didn't I??? :D :D :D Sorry gang, not trying to write a novel here - it's been a long day.