Experienced Soilless Grower, New To Uc .....troubleshooting Help/journal

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tiktak1297

21
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Hey
Long time lurker, first time poster. Spent days (still do) reading all of DS's threads and trying to learn as the UC has always been a dream project of mine. Ive run many many large grows using promix, however Ive had only 1 attempt at rdwc, which ended in pythium death. However the growth rates amazed me and I was hooked.
Recently came across some space, so I decided to take the plunge and build my dream room.
The specs:
8 x 1000w powersun ballasts
8 x adjust-a-wing reflectors
1 x ucdb32xl
1 x 5ton dedicated AC
1 x 1.5hp ecoplus chiller
1 x bottled co2
1 x aquafog ss 700 humidifier
1 x drizair 1200 dehumidifier (not in use)
1 x grozone htc climate controller
1 x 300gal aquifer doorway reservoir
1 x 250gal/day hydrologic RO

Nutes:
Cultured solutions full lineup
Epsom salts

Strain:
Cornbread from clone (although I suspect a few plants to be other strains)

I will be posting pics (and the story up to now, day 2 of flower) shortly. Looking for feed back and help troubleshooting. I visit my garden daily and hope to update at least every other day.
For now here's a couple pics of construction phase
 
Experienced soilless grower new to uc troubleshooting helpjournal
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Experienced soilless grower new to uc troubleshooting helpjournal 5
EventHorizan

EventHorizan

15,707
438
Hey
Long time lurker, first time poster. Spent days (still do) reading all of DS's threads and trying to learn as the UC has always been a dream project of mine. Ive run many many large grows using promix, however Ive had only 1 attempt at rdwc, which ended in pythium death. However the growth rates amazed me and I was hooked.
Recently came across some space, so I decided to take the plunge and build my dream room.
The specs:
8 x 1000w powersun ballasts
8 x adjust-a-wing reflectors
1 x ucdb32xl
1 x 5ton dedicated AC
1 x 1.5hp ecoplus chiller
1 x bottled co2
1 x aquafog ss 700 humidifier
1 x drizair 1200 dehumidifier (not in use)
1 x grozone htc climate controller
1 x 300gal aquifer doorway reservoir
1 x 250gal/day hydrologic RO

Nutes:
Cultured solutions full lineup
Epsom salts

Strain:
Cornbread from clone (although I suspect a few plants to be other strains)

I will be posting pics (and the story up to now, day 2 of flower) shortly. Looking for feed back and help troubleshooting. I visit my garden daily and hope to update at least every other day.
For now here's a couple pics of construction phase
looking good... Welcome to the farm!
Will be waiting for an update....
 
T

tiktak1297

21
3
My original plan had been to use maxibloom Lucas formula. So the night before i planted, added 3.5g/gal of maxi to some hot water and shook the shit out of it. After all 1050g had been add ed to the rest, i turned on mixing pump and let it mix for 24h. Adjusted ph to 5.8 and filled the system
So on August 2 i planted some clones (rockwool)
IMG 0075


Went to the spot the next day....disaster.
Recirc pump is burned out. Turns out not all of the maxi dissolved blocked the filter, burned out pump. Don't know if it was a bad batch, bad mixing or what (although i have friends using it that piped up after i explained what happened, that they too have been having issues with it dissolving)
All buckets had residue. Some (with more residue) had ec 2.2, while others had 0.6. Ph was all over the place.
Panic set in...no ro had been made. So. Pumped out the system, luckily i had a spare pump and samples of cs on hand, filled and drained tap multiple times to drop ppm, then mixed in cs samples.
Here are pics of August 6 with the damage caused
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T

tiktak1297

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IMG 0032
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So i struggled along until roots started touching the water. I followed the updated cs feeding chart, but when comparing to plant deficiency charts, i diagnosed a sulfur deficiency. Added low dose Epsom at 55g/250gallon system, and foliar fed Epsom at 1/2 tsp/gallon with bug b gone as wetting agent. Plants seemed to like it.
I should also mention that at this point i only had a dinky humidifier. My 5ton AC absolutely sucked the room dry. I ordered the aqua fog and was awaiting delivery. My daytime humidity was 30%. So i guess the plants not only like the Epsom, but the spray in general.
Pics are August 11
 
T

tiktak1297

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Also forgot to mention. The maxi buildup (sand like stuff in every bucket. Some white some brown) was getting worse. Next nute changeout i drained the system then shop vac'd out as much of the sand and remaining water as i could, and filled with ro and nutes. Now after that i had a strange issue with the diffuser rings that cc supplies. They work great, then after and hour in the water, they would put out 50-70% less air than they previously did. I would take the ring out, wash it, put it back in and it worked great again....for an hour. So i ended up ditching the air rings and going with air stones. Also this yellowish snot started developing on the part of the airline above the water line. Feared pythium, but no ph swings, no smells, no discolouration of the roots. Upped the Uc roots amount and carried on.
Pics are from August 13.
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IMG 0037
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T

tiktak1297

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At this point i had received my humidifier. Set to 60%. No trouble overcoming AC. Something was still not right. Purple stems like crazy, not really eating, thin stems. I had been following the cs target ph (although my plan had been to set to 5.5 and let it drift, my maxi scare made me decide to blindly follow), and their target ph for week 1 and 2 of veg were 6.2 and 6.1 respectively.
I diagnosed a k deficiency, and upon checking ph nutrient availability charts, i saw that the ph was making k unavailable. I lowered to 5.5, plants seemed to respond. Pics are dated.

August 15
IMG 0049
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August 19
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August 20

IMG 0053

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T

tiktak1297

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On Monday aug 20, i decided it would be time to flip soon. So I cleaned up some lower leaves and branches (very light cleanup. If you ever saw the way we do it in our promix locations, you would have a heart attack. I almost did the first time someone showed me that method) and topped the plants. Don't know if both are done in the uc grows, buts that what i know so that's what i did.
Pics are august 20, half room cleaned up, half not.
IMG 0062
IMG 0045
 
T

tiktak1297

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I read somewhere on these these forums about people throwing their rooms into 36hours darkness before starting bloom. Decided to give it a go. I would let the lights shut off on Wednesday August 23 at 7am, and have them turn back on on Thursday august 24 at 7pm.
Now here's where i (sort of) fucked up.
On Tuesday evening i went to my location.
My AC drains into a Rubbermaid tote that i manually pump out every day. Also i ran out of wall plugs in the room, so to control the aqua fog i have an extension running through the wall, outside the room, to a grozone controlled plug.
In order to pump out the Rubbermaid container, i unplug the aquafog from the extension and plug in the pump. However at the time on Tuesday night, the grozone didn't need the aquafog on. So i unplugged the extension from the controlled plug, into a regular plug. I pumped out the water, reconnected the aquafog, and left.............without plugging the extension back into the controlled plug.
So on Wednesday evening, armed with my green led headlamp, ready to pump out a little water, what do you think i found in a room that had been running 4gal/hour humidifier with barely any AC to dehumidify, because the lights had been off?
Fog. The room was foggy. 98% humidity, inch of water on the ground, water dripping from reflectors...and fog.
Nothing i could do...turned off humidifier, lowered temp a bit so hopefully ac would dehumidify, and prayed it would dry out before lights on.
It did.
And now why I'm saying i only "sort of" fucked up..
When the lights turned back on, the plants looked like this

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T

Tonydizz

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I'm following along, you should kill it with that system. Just keep it simple A/B/Calmag don't put any funk shit in there and you're good. Do you use a top of res?
 
T

tiktak1297

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I'm following along, you should kill it with that system. Just keep it simple A/B/Calmag don't put any funk shit in there and you're good. Do you use a top of res?
Thanks for following. Super busy yesterday and today with home stuff, so no time to post update pics. Yes, other than Epsom I'm not planning on adding anything but cultured solutions products. No I don't have a top up rez, but hopefully will pick one up sometime this week.
Can anyone chime in here? I'm following their nute schedule, and mixed according to week one bloom. But when I added the correct amounts, my ppm was 240, not the 325 that is their target. Any reason this could happen? And what to I add to increase my ppm? A+b? Early bloom? Calmag?
 
T

Tonydizz

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Which PPM scale are you using? The only thing I can think of is you are using a different scale to them 500/700

You should definitely be using calmag too with your R/O water.
 
T

tiktak1297

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Yes. Same scale (500)
I am using calmag, although their dosages are broad. 1.5-3ml per gallon. However week 1 flower they are very specific at 1.2ml. which I followed. Total came up seriously short
 
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tiktak1297

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Sorry for the delay in posting. Plants are entering second week of flower. They at e 50ppm overnight. Some pics are attached. I may have thrips. Let me know your thoughts
IMG 20170830 035710
IMG 20170831 021029
IMG 20170901 234335
IMG 20170831 021019
 
IMG 20170831 021029
T

tiktak1297

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Also. Why would my bottom leaves be doing this?
IMG 20170902 030622

Food was 450ppm, pH 5.6.
Today was down to 400 and 5.8ph.
Humidity 60
Temp 82 with 1400pm co2
 
T

tiktak1297

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Day 10 flower:
Ppm down to 350, pH 6.1 gonna wait till tomorrow and adjust. Plants look mostly happy. Reduced co2 to 1400 as it goes over 1500 with controller anyway.
Reduced humidity to 55
Here's some pics today
IMG 20170902 214106
IMG 20170902 214131
IMG 20170902 214035
IMG 20170902 214021
 
T

Tonydizz

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Those 1000w lights are way too close

You would produce better quality buds if you keep them further away
 

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