G's 6 plant MPB

[Giddeon]

Ok I wasn't going to start a new thread yet but here is a preview of what is to come snapped a quick pic of the room being cleaned, I'll have time for more later......

 

[Bobby Smith]

Subbed, can't wait to see some monsters.

 

[TrichromeFan]

Thar she blows! Room looks very functional for the MPB's. Ceiling grid lookin great. It looks like you are stacking dual bulbs on the inside spots where it hits 4 plants. Nice touch. Now I see where the P's come from the trees..... I take it that the garden hose is the air? Which stones and pump do you use? I will try to be patient from this teaser, till the ladies are in the house. Thanks man,

-TF:evilgrin0013:

 

[Giddeon]

Room Profile:
11' x 12' Sealed Room
8k watt HPS hortilux bulbs on Galaxy dimmable ballasts
2- 600 watt hps Galaxy ballast (the double stacked lights in the pic shows 400 MH lights that was from a past run they are 600's now)
5 ton AC
8 - High velocity blower fans
Green air products Co2 Controller (SPC-1) and NG Co2 burner (Original part number was LP-36 but I converted the burner to run off of natural gas)
48" Centers plant to plant


SYSTEM SPECS:

1800 GPH Main Feed pump
633 GPH Top feed pump ran on a cycle timer
1/3 HP JBJ Chiller
1100 GPH chiller pump
75 Gal main res with a 100 gal over flow that feeds the main res throughout the week via float valve (same nutrients in over flow as in main res)
9 inch Airstones
AP-100 Airpump


TF, Yes the green hose is what I have been using for a connection between the Air manifold and the air stones, basically the same setup as when I had 4 plants just a different hose is all. Here is a link that shows a pic of my airsones in my 4 plant set up Same basic concept except now my set up is cleaner and has 6 plants same power.

Thanks all for stopping in,
Giddeon

 

[Bobby Smith]

What are your thoughts on double-stacked 600s vs. single 1Ks?

Ever taken any measurements to compare the two?

Really an awesome setup bro - love that you don't skimp on the lighting in the least :)

 

[Giddeon]

What are your thoughts on double-stacked 600s vs. single 1Ks?

Ever taken any measurements to compare the two?

Really an awesome setup bro - love that you don't skimp on the lighting in the least :)

Its not a double stacked 600 watt HPS I am using, but a 1k watt stacked over a 600 hps so the total wattage is 1600 from that stack. Using the combo like that enables me to still get the penetration of the 1k HPS while getting the added benefits of being able to add a little something extra to the bottoms of the plants allows for those smaller bottom buds to get pumped as well and swell into golf ball sized buds rather than something that would probably be turned into hash later. So as far as comparing 2 - 600's stacked over a single 1k I cannot personally say, but I have always liked the penetration of the 1k's and my 1600 watt stack is obviously going to to better than a single 1k bulb. I would lean more towards using 1k bulbs where you can, and supplementing 600's where you need an extra bit of light.

Giddeon

 

[TrichromeFan]

OK,
here comes the questions: Why did you go HPS on that 600 instead of MH? I have faith that the more balanced spectrum yields larger and better quality based on some uber respectable people on here. How is the air output between the 6 air stones? I got those micro pore dual xl's and they take some good pressure. I ended up using an AP-100 on 3 and an AP-60 on the other 2. Now it's bubblin like a hot tub. How long have you been topping off with full strength nutes? I see the undercurrent guys using lower strength. I just have my top off with RO. Do your ppms go up, down, or stay the same? Mine drop gradually, then I change the tank at the end of the week.

-TF

 

[NorcalTom]

Looking good Giddeon, can't wait to see it when the girls get in there.
Keep up the good work.

NCT

 

[Papa]

70w/sq. ft. : i love it!
60,000 btu of air conditioning!

nice room!

 

[Giddeon]

Looking good Giddeon, can't wait to see it when the girls get in there.
Keep up the good work.

NCT

70w/sq. ft. : i love it!
60,000 btu of air conditioning!

nice room!

Thanks!!

 

[Giddeon]

OK,
here comes the questions: Why did you go HPS on that 600 instead of MH? I have faith that the more balanced spectrum yields larger and better quality based on some uber respectable people on here. How is the air output between the 6 air stones? I got those micro pore dual xl's and they take some good pressure. I ended up using an AP-100 on 3 and an AP-60 on the other 2. Now it's bubblin like a hot tub. How long have you been topping off with full strength nutes? I see the undercurrent guys using lower strength. I just have my top off with RO. Do your ppms go up, down, or stay the same? Mine drop gradually, then I change the tank at the end of the week.

-TF

Reasons for the 600HPS is because when I had a 400 MH (Hortilux Blue) stacked with the 1k HPS I never noticed any difference in the quality or weight from the buds that were getting the blue light and the ones that weren't. When stacking the 600's under the 1k's I noticed that the quality stayed the same and the weight went up.

My air stones are like ones used in ponds so they have large holes and take little pressure to run. I have to restrict air flow via ball valves in my air manifold in order to not have the tubs bubbling too hard and break roots.

I have been experimenting with what strength nutes to top off my res with and so far I have come to conclude that If I mix the 100 gal over flow res at the same strength as the main res, it doesn't dilute the nutrient mixture in the main res and lower ppms. If my ppms goes down I want it to be because my plants eat it not because I diluted it slowly with a weaker solution. Haven't had any problems with this so far.

My res has a quick drop the first night of roughly 500-600ppm, sometimes even has dropped as mush as 1000ppm in 24hrs, then gradually drops to around 300ppm by the time I'm adding my flushing water. My ph starts at 5.56 each week and fluctuates between 5.4 and 6.2. My chiller is set for 65 degrees.

 

[TrichromeFan]

That's some crazy uptake on the nutes there, man. You are definitely running the system the way it has the potential to be. Do you need to readjust ph in between your res changes much? Mine I set to about 5.5 then in 2-3 days it is at 6.1-6.2. Then I drop it again.

-TF

 

[Bobby Smith]

Yeah Giddeon, I just checked out your build thread - really awesome work bro; can't wait to see what this setup can do :)

 

[Giddeon]

That's some crazy uptake on the nutes there, man. You are definitely running the system the way it has the potential to be. Do you need to readjust ph in between your res changes much? Mine I set to about 5.5 then in 2-3 days it is at 6.1-6.2. Then I drop it again.

-TF

No adjustments needed with my ph. It takes 3 oz of ph down at the beginning of the week to get my ph to 5.56 on my hanna meter. Throughout the week as I check the ph I notice it fluctuates naturally between 5.4 and 6.2.

I flush with 6.0 ph water.

Here is a pic of my final reservoir setup. Main res, overflow and Chiller.

 

[Giddeon]

And we're off......

OK here ya go I snapped this pic a few days after I put the clones into the MPB's. I was about a week late on my transplant this time so we'll see how this goes.

 

[TrichromeFan]

Keepin my fingers crossed for you. I know you will do great things with these. You have the system running better than most others like myself who tried and
died.

-TF

 

[harley34]

do you have an estimate yield?

 

[MediMary]

Looking banging G money,
Nice large clones to boot :)

 

[Giddeon]

Keepin my fingers crossed for you. I know you will do great things with these. You have the system running better than most others like myself who tried and
died.

-TF

Thanks things should be ok just possibly an overgrown plant or two, only going to be in the system for 7 days before I flip.

do you have an estimate yield?

No

Looking banging G money,
Nice large clones to boot :)

Thanks, I took clones a week earlier than I should have then ended up taking 3 days longer to clean up than usual, so they are a bit larger than I like to put into the system. I usually like to put in a 12-15 inch clone and veg in the buckets until they are this size (20-24")


Does any one run a 5-10% bleach solution through their res in-between crops?

I put 5 gallons of bleach in my res then flush with this for 24 hrs, then flush the system out with water until I can take a clean drink from my 4" pipe draining back into the res. After I can take a drink the system is again ready for plants.


Got the cages up.

 

[TrichromeFan]

Does any one run a 5-10% bleach solution through their res in-between crops?

I put 5 gallons of bleach in my res then flush with this for 24 hrs, then flush the system out with water until I can take a clean drink from my 4" pipe draining back into the res. After I can take a drink the system is again ready for plants.

I flushed with bleach. That might look bad on the bleach with my track record.:D

That's pretty good that you can take a drink from the runoff. Do you meter it first I would assume?

Plant looks excellent man. I have all the faith in the world in your running the system.

-TF