How am I do so far?

Hi everybody and it been a while since I have posted on here.!
I started this grow on 9-15 and it now 6 weeks and Looking pretty good so far, but I am kind a worried about maybe 2 of them and those would be the far back and the left plant that in the last 2 pix and still waiting on the sex of them and should find out in another week..

4x4x8 room
400 watt MH 18/6
ph 5.6
tds 278 kinda low
exhaust fan out the window
intake comes from floor vent
food is Botanicare the 4 in a pack yea the small bottles.
air stone in all buckets
water pump in every bucket come on every 4 hours in a 24 hr timer for 15 min which water runs on top.

So this is my 2 time growing with hydro and the first and only one I did about 9 months ago came out looking real nice, but it turn to be a male and was disappointed. Haven't had a chance to do this growing in 9 months due to daughter getting divorce and her x had brought me in the middle of there crap after I told them to leave me out of it. Fckers..

This seems to be better and faster way of growing MMJ and cleaner and I don't have to worry to much about the Ph like soil, all I have to do is add water as my PH water is 5.5 always and give a readjustment to Ph. when I add veggie food.

I started out with 4 bucket that was connected but 1 of my bucket "reservoir" gotten a crack at the bottom and it was a night mare to figure out where the water was coming from, so I switch back to single buckets and to find the problem.

I am hoping to get clones and have my regional 4 bucket set up back in there and fill the room up like it suppose to be..

Sorry grammar sux..

Looking good Flyin....my only worry would be that you are under lit for that size space. 16 square feet in veg needs 48,000 lumens for the min. A 400 MH is good for 34-36,000 I believe. Is your space partitioned off at all? What are your lighting plans for flower?

Mojo for your grow and hopefully you will get a few girls this time.

I just use an air stone in my buckets, I do not understand the pump in every bucket? I thought they used just one pump in the controller bucket to circulate the nutes?

Might nice job pilgrem keep it up

BWD

Hamster Lewis said:

Looking good Flyin....my only worry would be that you are under lit for that size space. 16 square feet in veg needs 48,000 lumens for the min. A 400 MH is good for 34-36,000 I believe. Is your space partitioned off at all? What are your lighting plans for flower?

Click to expand...

Yea lighting a little small for the room but the plants r under good size hood, but for now it good.
I am planing on using my 1000 watt HPS for flowering.

pcduck said:

Mojo for your grow and hopefully you will get a few girls this time.

I just use an air stone in my buckets, I do not understand the pump in every bucket? I thought they used just one pump in the controller bucket to circulate the nutes?

Click to expand...

I push air into air stones in all 3 buckets with a single pump with 4 injectors which keeps every thing mix.

I have a submersible water pump in every bucket to make sure the roots don't dry out at the top going down if my water level get down to half a bucket and before I refill to normal level, it just a safety thing since I don't look at the water level much. I don't have a tube on the side of buckets for water level as I had to switch from my 4 bucket set-up to single buckets Fast.

I am hoping to put back in my 4 bucket set up in a week or so for the clones..

BackWoodsDrifter said:

Might nice job pilgrem keep it up

BWD

Click to expand...

Thanks as this is a better way of growing with less yield then soil which sux, but it ok..

I have a submersible water pump in every bucket to make sure the roots don't dry out at the top going down if my water level get down to half a bucket and before I refill to normal level, it just a safety thing since I don't look at the water level much.

Click to expand...

I have never had this problem and I am not to keen on checking water levels either. I think it is just a waste of electric and worry to add a pump to every bucket besides the heat each pump adds to each bucket. Your roots will not dry out if your air stones are doing their job, even after the roots engulf the air stone, as long as there is water in your bucket the humidity inside the bucket will not allow the roots to dry out. But hey if you like it go for it, can't hurt and they sure are green

I also would be concerned about the heat from the pump. I have never been able to put a submersible in a 5 gal bucket and not have the temps go too high. Once the plant has roots through the net cup and into the nute solution, you do not need to feed from the top. You can tell if you need to add water without removing the top by lifting the bucket a slight amount and feeling how heavy it is, much as soil growers do, except with hydro it is a lot easier to tell. You only have 4 buckets and a fairly large space for the plants you have, so checking and adding water shouldn't be a chore.

About the only thing I worry about is the roots going into the pump and clogging it up.
I will soon learn some do and don't s as I grow..

As far as heat goes from pump, the water temp is cool and Ill check that later when the lights come back on and I Don't think it get hot to worry about it..

It no chore to check water but as they r getting bigger the water level goes down in a week faster then expected..

If I understand correctly-you've combined DWC with top drip re-circulating.
Pick one. Plants do use water faster than nutes-so prolly you could get away with checking your water level every three days. Nutes-put some in there-TDS 278? My water comes out of the tap between 150-180.

Check the res temps with a thermometer--don't just stick a finger or hand into it. Water that is 80 degrees feels downright cool to us humans, but not to the plants.

Pulled them as they turned male and going to restart..
I think it because my lights kept going off and on a lot while light were on.
Power always flicker and my unit shuts down and 15 min later it comes back on.
no light leak at all not from what I can see.