Aqua Man
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Hi ppls,
I am from Canada and with legalization coming (still a few months out) I'm setting up for my first grow and have spent some doing research, much of it on forums such as this one and a few scientific studies i could dig up on some of the ideas i am thinking about employing . I'm hoping this long winded post will not discourage ppl from reading. I'm hoping to get some critique and advice from those of you who can point out deficiencies and missing factor as well as advice that you may feel will help me along the way.
A little about me. Although I am a complete noob at growing Cannabis I do have quite some experience in the aquatic world of growing plants. I have a decent understanding of Nutes and have been mixing my own dry ferts for some time now. In the interest of getting this post going I will dive right in. My aquarium in the profile pic is all live plants and although it may not look like much I can tell you keeping plants thriving while trying to keep sensitive fish alive can be quite the challenge and takes very stringent monitoring.
2x2 grow for the first couple and 3x3 after.
I will be using the scrog method.
Lighting: I have not purchased a light as of yet and as is in the aquatic world lighting will be the single biggest limiting factor in driving growth and flowering. For now i'm looking to get something that will get me by for a few grows before I upgrade as the initial cost of setting up is adding up. This will be the light I am intending on getting after I get a couple grows under my belt In meantime I'm thinking this light to get me by for $165 (I know the site says $195) My current Led's don't quite put out the wattage, proper spectrum or micro-mols needed for a decent grow.
Hydro DWC: Using hydrocorn as inert medium in 6" Hydro pot. I have Fluval Q2 that pushes up to 240/lph (80 Gal/hr) and a 4" round airstone using black airline to prevent light bleeding and possible algae promotion.
Nutes: This is where I could use some of you experts out there. While I have experience with nutes for aquatic plants, terrestrial plants differ in needs and with the absence of the need to worry about living organisms everything changes . So here is my plan for Veg as I have not yet finished my calculations for early or late flowering.
I will be using the following:
Macros:
Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate)
Potassium Monobasic Phosphate
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate)
Magnesium Sulfate (Heptahydrate)
Calcium Sulfate (Dihydrate)
PPM
N (NO3-) 170ppm
K 200ppm
P 32ppm
Mg 66.7ppm
Ca 133ppm
S 87.774ppm
Micro's:
Since my Micro's are premixed and I am going to assume in the proper ratio's I will add enough to bring my FE (Iron) up to 2ppm and assume this will cover the micro's. If the grow world is anything like the aquatic world I welcome opinions on the micro's but rather not start a war over them.
CSM+B:
Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%
N (NO3-) 170
K 200
P 32
Mg 66.7
Ca 133
S 87.774
PH controller/Co2:
Something I have not seen much of in the research I have done is the use of Co2 to regulate PH in DWC. I can assume the reason would be the equipment cost and amount of aeration required which leads to faster off gassing of Co2 could be seen as a wasted Co2. But what if the Co2 was not wasted? Since I already have the equipment to do this there is no added cost I was thinking of a way to take advantage of it by using a DIY sealed grow space lined with mylar where the off gassed Co2 would end up. I won't go into the details unless anyone has specific questions about it.
Water Changes: I am going to attempt to do as minimal water changes as possible through balancing of nutrients and water testing. Since I already have an API master test kit I will attempt to regulate and record rough nutrient uptake at weekly intervals and try to determine a balanced feeding schedule for future grows of the same strain. Although some parameters are outside of the ranges testable by the kit this is easily solved by doubling the water sample and adding the same amount of reagents then multiplying the result by 2.
Well I think I will stop there and see what kinda of feedback and issues you all may see with any of this and go from there.
P.S. I have think skin so please don't hold back
Thanks in advance
I am from Canada and with legalization coming (still a few months out) I'm setting up for my first grow and have spent some doing research, much of it on forums such as this one and a few scientific studies i could dig up on some of the ideas i am thinking about employing . I'm hoping this long winded post will not discourage ppl from reading. I'm hoping to get some critique and advice from those of you who can point out deficiencies and missing factor as well as advice that you may feel will help me along the way.
A little about me. Although I am a complete noob at growing Cannabis I do have quite some experience in the aquatic world of growing plants. I have a decent understanding of Nutes and have been mixing my own dry ferts for some time now. In the interest of getting this post going I will dive right in. My aquarium in the profile pic is all live plants and although it may not look like much I can tell you keeping plants thriving while trying to keep sensitive fish alive can be quite the challenge and takes very stringent monitoring.
2x2 grow for the first couple and 3x3 after.
I will be using the scrog method.
Lighting: I have not purchased a light as of yet and as is in the aquatic world lighting will be the single biggest limiting factor in driving growth and flowering. For now i'm looking to get something that will get me by for a few grows before I upgrade as the initial cost of setting up is adding up. This will be the light I am intending on getting after I get a couple grows under my belt In meantime I'm thinking this light to get me by for $165 (I know the site says $195) My current Led's don't quite put out the wattage, proper spectrum or micro-mols needed for a decent grow.
Hydro DWC: Using hydrocorn as inert medium in 6" Hydro pot. I have Fluval Q2 that pushes up to 240/lph (80 Gal/hr) and a 4" round airstone using black airline to prevent light bleeding and possible algae promotion.
Nutes: This is where I could use some of you experts out there. While I have experience with nutes for aquatic plants, terrestrial plants differ in needs and with the absence of the need to worry about living organisms everything changes . So here is my plan for Veg as I have not yet finished my calculations for early or late flowering.
I will be using the following:
Macros:
Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate (Tetrahydrate)
Potassium Monobasic Phosphate
Magnesium Nitrate (Hexahydrate)
Magnesium Sulfate (Heptahydrate)
Calcium Sulfate (Dihydrate)
PPM
N (NO3-) 170ppm
K 200ppm
P 32ppm
Mg 66.7ppm
Ca 133ppm
S 87.774ppm
Micro's:
Since my Micro's are premixed and I am going to assume in the proper ratio's I will add enough to bring my FE (Iron) up to 2ppm and assume this will cover the micro's. If the grow world is anything like the aquatic world I welcome opinions on the micro's but rather not start a war over them.
CSM+B:
Total magnesium - water soluble chelated magnesium 1.5%
Copper - chelated 0.1%
Iron - chelated 7.0%
Manganese - chelated 2.0%
Molybdenum 0.06%
Zinc - chelated 0.40%
Boron 0.04%
EDTA - minimum content 55%
N (NO3-) 170
K 200
P 32
Mg 66.7
Ca 133
S 87.774
PH controller/Co2:
Something I have not seen much of in the research I have done is the use of Co2 to regulate PH in DWC. I can assume the reason would be the equipment cost and amount of aeration required which leads to faster off gassing of Co2 could be seen as a wasted Co2. But what if the Co2 was not wasted? Since I already have the equipment to do this there is no added cost I was thinking of a way to take advantage of it by using a DIY sealed grow space lined with mylar where the off gassed Co2 would end up. I won't go into the details unless anyone has specific questions about it.
Water Changes: I am going to attempt to do as minimal water changes as possible through balancing of nutrients and water testing. Since I already have an API master test kit I will attempt to regulate and record rough nutrient uptake at weekly intervals and try to determine a balanced feeding schedule for future grows of the same strain. Although some parameters are outside of the ranges testable by the kit this is easily solved by doubling the water sample and adding the same amount of reagents then multiplying the result by 2.
Well I think I will stop there and see what kinda of feedback and issues you all may see with any of this and go from there.
P.S. I have think skin so please don't hold back
Thanks in advance