New to Under Current using Cultured Solutions

[Delerium]

Evening everyone,

It would be awesome to get some input. This is my first post and already have learned a lot of great things from the Farmer Crowd over the years.

I'm currently running 2 uce xl-12,8gal. (prepping for 2 more systems, currently have Pro-mix, H&G Bio-1 in 3gal Super Roots brand Airpots in those allotted spaces now). Still have a few things that need to get buttoned up, insulation on chiller pipes and a few other odds and ends.
(My first UC attempt was in a 12 site as well, yeilding a dismal 15 oz under 4-1k's, not using CS or much knowledge about UC, fried the roots)
5.8-5.9 sticking pretty well while one system is drifting more to 6.3-6.4 and dosing a lot more ph, funny thing is they weren't looking so strong at first but I'm starting week 3 and they look to be doing better actually. Not as much flower formation as I am accustomed to with Pro-Mix and H&G Bio-1, lb per lamp.
63-67f water temp roots look good
This might be my problem, EC is at 1.4, according to CCH2O General Recommendations Graph it says an EC of 1.5 On their Feeding Schedule they recommend 1.0. Do I need to adjust my dosing schedule?

My issue is I have been running 600w near flawlessly, consistent yield an elbow per 600. That has not been happening so far since I have bumped up to 1k's. Any advice their would be greatly appreciated. That was with Promix.

Winter is here right now so the RH is down. Haven't needed a dehue or really need to run the splits for dehue purposes, have only been running one mini split for both rooms for RH control. I run two 6" Max-Can with 2 Inline 66 running from one room to the other as an air exchange to control RH and that sweet smell.(the rooms are side by side like a bowling alley on a flip pics are of only the room with the lights on at the moment).


The Ladies are sitting in a pretty nice environment,
10 degree day night differential typically.
45 lowest-70 RH max, it spikes when the lights kick off
550-650 ambient CO2, haven't installed the burner yet
VDP 1.45 with lights on .45 with them off. Haven't been monitoring that graph often.

The Equipment
2 Flower Rooms Side by Side with identical equipment on a flip:
8-1k hps Ushio lamps
8 Daystar Reflector Air cooled only 6" duct slammed to the ceiling (was using 8 600 gavitas in the past with great results but I had to go with 1k's Dolt!)
4 ton air handler (outdoor equipment is 5 ton chiller 55g res with Propeylene Glycol mix @ 50% running both 4 ton handlers and cool coils for respected rooms)
2.5 ton Mitsubishi MrSlim (was the original equipment sized for the 8 600w Gavitas)
2 cool coils for 2 epicenters with electronic controlled temp valves set at 65
1 HydroGen (Natural gas CO2 water-cooled Gen) Not currently installed, never ran CO2 before either, I need to pull Natural Gas Line that will be done in the next few weeks
Intelliclimate Environmental Controller
6 part Intellidoser nutrient doser (shortly I will be purchasing 2 more peristaltic pumps for 8 parts)

RO Water with carbon filter plumbed to float valves with dosers
Nutrients:
Cultured Solutions:
Bud A
Bud B
UC Roots
Bud Booster
Botanicare:
CalMag+
Advanced:
PH-

I want to purchase the 2 extra peristaltic pumps for using either Humboldt Magnum or an epsom salt solution ( when hitting week 3-4 the fan leaves literally brown up and die within a day or 2, attributed that to Mg Deficiency unless Im off it. The last pump to finish with H&G Top Shooter or Shooting Powder leaning towards the liquid over the soluble.

Veg Room
Bare Root Cloner
T5 Fixtures (I have pulled 240v for possibly using one 600w Gavita over each 3x3 tray)
2 3x3 trays for veg for 8" CC netpots
2x4 tray for Rapid Rooter cuttings for Pro-Mix and or Coco in case I botch this setup :)
Cool Coil in cloner and veg trays set at 65

I hope this wasn't too long winded.
First 2 pics are day 18 in UC, last pic is week 6 day one in the Airpots with H&G Bio-1, those fan leaves start to crisp up in like week 3-4. Dilluted nutes in those black 5g buckets @ a rate of 4:1

 

[Delerium]

btw each flower room is 12.5 x 20 x 8, forgot to add that, veg is 12 x 15 x8, you only get 30 minutes to edit a post, good to know.

 

[Shane20]

Welcome to the farm Delerium! Lots of info on the Farm for UC. I will give yours a stab after reading thru your post and pics. I would drain and then refill with just ro and roots for12-24 hrs. What is your cal mag rate? Plants look anemic and dehydrated to me. After your flush I would add 2ml per gallon cal mag and mix your nutes lower. Try .7-.8 and see if they eat that down. If they do then you can slowly raise your ec up as long as they eat it down. I just started week 2 of bloom and i am at 400ppm on a 500 scale. Remember less is more with the UC. Hopefully some more peeps will respond with their knowledge. Here is a pic at day 18 of mine. Try and keep your humidity at 60-80% during veg and first 4 weeks of flower. Plants love RH!

 

[Delerium]

Thanks a lot Shane for the gracious welcome, I have been reading old UC threads on here the past few days till my eyes were bloodshot, unless that was from the Chernobyl.
CalMag is at 3.5 ml a gal.
770PPM @640 scale. Equivalent to just over 600 ppm @ 500 scale
My EC meter says 1.3 so all probes seem to be in order
I was going to pump out some water this morning and replace with only RO to lower the EC.
Unless you think I should just refill the whole system start from scratch and slowly bring it up to .7-.8 like you said.
Also I do have a question for anyone that might be in the know.
How high should I run the water level in the modules? Using CCH2O net pots with the raised planting deck.

These pics are from the flip room that is on now. There are a couple of "dinks" in there. i call em cuz it is sooooo dinky (subpar root zone, i always get a couple now and then with rapid rooters and bare root cutting. They basically stay green not a healthy looking green, they looker miniaturized with a typically crappy root zone usually really purple stalks and dark green veins and little puckers in the leaves, think they aren't drinking, sometimes they come back over time or if i top or tim them) Just had an open space so I placed it in the system. Never my proudest moment.
The tall ones are some old Mothers placed into flower a cpl of days ago to drop some varieties and to be able to have some space in the veg room without having these ginormous things right in your face.
The plants in the veg table 4 med air stones and a submersible with a homebuilt manifold 1/2" cpvc creating a recirculating flow in the tray. They were in the cloner for longer than I liked due to some construction issues.
that last root zone is from one of the dinks

 

[Shane20]

Your welcome. I would still drain and just ro and uc roots for 12-24hrs. Kinda a reset and washing the roots in case they are locking anything out. Cal mag seems a little high but leaves seem to be yellow so im not sure whats going on there. I would set ph at 5.4 and let it ride up so that way nutrients are available at different ph (ph swing). As far as your water level question. In veg i like water just under net pots. When I flip to bloom I slowly lower it to about 3" to 4" below net pot. Try keeping the humidity up as long as you have good airflow.

 

[Delerium]

Your welcome. I would still drain and just ro and uc roots for 12-24hrs. Kinda a reset and washing the roots in case they are locking anything out. Cal mag seems a little high but leaves seem to be yellow so im not sure whats going on there. I would set ph at 5.4 and let it ride up so that way nutrients are available at different ph (ph swing). As far as your water level question. In veg i like water just under net pots. When I flip to bloom I slowly lower it to about 3" to 4" below net pot. Try keeping the humidity up as long as you have good airflow.

Your post was actually at the perfect time. I'm literally pulling the hose out for drain.
Do you want me to drain tomorrow as well or just add base?
The stalks are greening up nicely with the calcium. The leaves when like that i thought were from Magnesium def.
My veg is in a flat 3x3x6" tray so i don't get the danglers, they push out from the side first.
The veg method can be corrected in the near future if it becomes an issue.

I appreciate your response, pretty much self taught, trial and error, you know the deal.

 

[Shane20]

Just add base tomorrow no need to drain again. Self taught from the farm here also. Lol! Never fails though once you think you have it figured out your ladies will throw you a curve ball. Always keeping you on your toes. Never a dull moment...

 

[tweedy]

No one has said anything but I like your dosing center, that's slick.

 

[Delerium]

Just add base tomorrow no need to drain again. Self taught from the farm here also. Lol! Never fails though once you think you have it figured out your ladies will throw you a curve ball. Always keeping you on your toes. Never a dull moment...

Definitely, I'll drop in a pond heater in take the chill off the water. Plumbed straight to the float.
I was concerned going from 4 600- 4 1000W over a 5'x8' layout my plants would need more nutes as a whole.
But from the forum reading I've been doing UC is a diff animal.
Just trying to stay ahead of the curve.

 

[Delerium]

No one has said anything but I like your dosing center, that's slick.

Thanks Tweedy,
It took a bit to set up. They save a ton of time, one of the things I'm dialing in using CS. It is going to take a minute. I have to make schedule and input the rates this week. i.e. 50% base on doser 1 and 2, doser 3 is bud booster which i have just started this weekend so i haven't given that a % yet. 4 is UC roots, 5 Calmag, doser 6 100% that is for ph. The PH is diluted much more than 4:1. I am only dosing for 3 seconds. Checks the EC constantly doses if needed every 20 minutes currently (that can be adjusted). 1ml to max 3000ml a minute if needed. The 3000ml would be more for commercial industrial crops. It is a trick component that i think is going to make the UC system easier for me in the beginning.
Awesome part about it reads out on my PC each doser and the climate control. Maybe I can actually go on a weekend vacation finally without stressing if my plants have enough water or not.

 

[Shane20]

Yeah leaves do look like mag deficient thats why I was wondering what your rate was. Seems plenty though at your rate.

 

[Delerium]

Yeah leaves do look like mag deficient thats why I was wondering what your rate was. Seems plenty though at your rate.

danner 9.5 is pumping out my solution now, should take 10 minutes hopefully.
Magnesium has been an issue for me since bumping to 1k's it seems. I have used Magnum by Humboldt and it seems to do wonders. Most everywhere I read here everyone uses Epsom Salt. Either way is fine with me, epsom salt is readily available, less expensive. The deficiency shows hard in week 3, so I have been starting it in week one on the past few grows. Now I need to find that sweet spot on the UC. Since i was going to use it for so many weeks I was also going to get that extra peri pump dedicated to MG only in conjunction with the CalMag.

Sorry for the long windedness but tough to get it all out on the keyboard. :writing:

 

[Delerium]

Did that swap out,
0 EC, 5.7 ph, 62F
Im going to change out the other system this afternoon, like in 30 minutes maybe so there will be water when the lights go on 10 pm est.
2ml per gal of UC Roots. Ill start dosing nutes to .7 tomorrow? That will be 24 hrs. Took half the night to fill back up.

 

[Delerium]

uploaded a few pics since the flush.
Going to start dosing base and calmat again tonight.

 

[Delerium]

Nighttime Room

 

[Shane20]

Looking good! I would just manually set it at .7 and see if it goes down overnight then start adding more. Unless you already did that. That way you can see what there eating versus what you put in. Unless you can tell that with your doser.

 

[Delerium]

Looking good! I would just manually set it at .7 and see if it goes down overnight then start adding more. Unless you already did that. That way you can see what there eating versus what you put in. Unless you can tell that with your doser.

haven't dosed yet. I'm on CC's website right now to figure the dosing %'s. been 24 hrs for the day room.
currently at 0 e.c., 5.6ph, 64 F

 

[Amber]

uploaded a few pics since the flush.
Going to start dosing base and calmat again tonight.
View attachment 370785 View attachment 370786 View attachment 370787 View attachment 370788 View attachment 370789 View attachment 370790 View attachment 370791 View attachment 370792 View attachment 370793

Nice healthy looking ladies.

 

[Delerium]

Nice healthy looking ladies.

Thank You Amber, Just trying to not fry my roots again on this run and figure out some deficiencies. They do look a bit better the past cpl of days since I dropped EC.

 

[Delerium]

Looking good! I would just manually set it at .7 and see if it goes down overnight then start adding more. Unless you already did that. That way you can see what there eating versus what you put in. Unless you can tell that with your doser.

EC .5
PH 5.8
64F
Still dosing up to .7 I haven't forced it to .7. Let the doser hit it every 30 minutes till it gets there.
When it gets to the set point do you think i should turn off the water supply and disable the dosers and see where everything is going overnight?
i.e. how much it is water they are drinking and the normal EC/PH fluctuation?