Return of the Jedi...

[pipeman]

I gotta say I don't like the coolite buckets. That stuff seems brittle and a little kick or bump by accident and it could easily crack. plus those drainage penetrations are prone to leaking I reckon. As you said, the foam has a bit of give. Would the roots even break it apart?

[Luke Skywalker]

Now, before planting, and this is important before setting the clones into the system as well, you have to flush the media. There is a lot of dust in most types of perlite, and even in the better brands it will have some. So make sure you flush, and flush, and flush. Till it's totally clear.

 

Then, once I planted into the box, I've flushed again as a first feed, and to settle the media, with a 1/5 stregth vegetative nutrient and a few drops of "Concentrated super plants", a type of b1 tonic. Superthrive would also do. This isn't necessary, but it does alleviate some of the shock which is experienced by plants coming into a new growing environment. These clones have already been hardened to the hid tho, so I suppose this was more habit than any real need. Still, can't hurt.

[Luke Skywalker]

pipeman Posted on Nov 2 2003, 11:06 AM

  I gotta say I don't like the coolite buckets. That stuff seems brittle and a little kick or bump by accident and it could easily crack. plus those drainage penetrations are prone to leaking I reckon. As you said, the foam has a bit of give. Would the roots even break it apart? 

 

Well, I don't go around kicking my containers, but I suppose a good kick would break just about anything. They don't make em like this for nuthin, they're quite strong, more than enough for these purposes. I've been growing in these,hydroponic and soil, with weed and vegetables of all types for a few years now. They've been used by hydroponics and soil growers as cheap, effective containers for quite a while now, and are even used commercially in some instances. They don't get broken by roots, and they aren't any more prone to leaks than any other container, provided the joins take into account the realities of the system. The only problem I ever had was when once, termites ate through a vegetable box with tomatoe plants in it. This was because the crate it was sitting on outside was infested, and they had access to a large amount of flat, dark area to assault it. Still, I think they're great, and they've proved themselves time and again.

 

Also they're cheap, and I'm poor.

 

If anything, the give to the foam is an advantage in making it leakproof, it allows me to adjust the size of the hole perfectly without error. And I've found plastics more prone to snapping and breaking when making drain lines than foam boxes.

 

I do understand your concern pipe, but I know what I'm doing.

 

I don't have any more pics for the mo, some of the ones I took last night of the system were shit, so I'll be retaking them later on today, and posting em up tonight. Any comments, queries or suggestions welcome.

[pipeman]

cool, they sound good then. Might pick a few up myself

[Luke Skywalker]

heh heh... cool... If you need any tips or advice on construction, just ask.

 

Today was the first real warm day of spring here in Perth, and I was moderately worried that in it's new position the g-room wouldn't be able to cope with such temps with just the small fan. It seems that was incorrect, well, at least for the time being. The temps never got above 29. The second intake and better positioning seems to be paying off... Still, if the temps get much above 30 I'll be definitely needing a larger fan... which is only $20 away from being in the room....

 

I'll go out and take some pics of the room now, be back soon.

[Luke Skywalker]

Okay, here's some shots of the system in the growroom and in use. The grow is being counted as starting from november 1, so this is now day two. This will be sort of a tour of the room, showing the relevant pieces. If anyone wants a shot of a particular part or needs a description of how something works, all you need to do is ask, and I'll do what I can to help you out.

 

Right, well, lets start with the drains. Now, normal practice would usually be to attach 19mm drain lines with joints to take the drainwater from the pot back to the reservoir. As I haven't got the appropriate pieces at the moment, I've had to improvise. So, I've used a spare nft channel that I had lying around, and this runs along the front of the box just under the drains, and it's also raised slightly on the left side to assist water flow. Water comes from the drains, into this channel and then returns to the reservior. I have a cover for it, but I may have to improvise a new one if this is to be a more permanent fixture than a week or so, as it will attract dust and crud otherwise. I'll probably have that fixed by the end of the week.

 

Heres the shot.

[Luke Skywalker]

I slightly enlarged the original intake from the previous grow, and the intakes are baffled by duct and stocking prevents insects and other crud from gaining entry to the grow. This is the original intake, but as the growroom is now in a place more exposed to the elements and weather, it has been enlarged to about 150mm square.

[Luke Skywalker]

This is the second intake I've installed, it's a little smaller, about 120mm square, as I've got the exhaust on that side of the roof, and I'm trying to get as even an airflow to the undercanopy as possible.

 

Once again, 150mm duct for the baffle and stocking as an insect screen. I need to get a lighter denier... this stuff is great, but blocks too much airflow... Anyone know a good brand of pantyhose of very low denierwhich is relatively cheap? I'm looking in the lady members direction... ('course, I'm sure WC will know all about it... :: just kidding...)

 

Anyway, here's the second intake. I've been considering making the intake air more directed, coming from a specific place to the grow via ducting, rather than simply set low on the wardrobe and drawing ambient air... I'll have to think about that one... a few different factors there, as well as the constraints of the room I have it in itself... I'll get back on that one. It may be that I won't need it with the better fan.

[Luke Skywalker]

Here's a pic of the right side of the grow, the esky and drain channel are sitting on a pvc tube table with a wood top which is covered in panda film... The esky itself is also on top of the lid it came with, to raise it just enough for the drains to fit. I may lower it in the future if the drain channel is replaced with normal 19mm lines.

 

The reserviour is the same one as the last time, and as yet it's not connected to a feeder reservoir. I've made up the solution to 1/5 strength veg nutrients, unfortunately my truncheon has decided that it would die before I could use it for this grow... good thing I have the thing under warranty.

 

The pump is a small one, just 700lph, and you can see the power line coming out of the hole on the top right of the lid, as well as the 6mm feed line which conducts nutrient to the plants. Temps in the res are good, around 23-24... that will change as the summer progresses, one way to keep the reservoir cool if it's too warm, (27+ is just too warm for good growth really, and 21-22 is the ideal I've found) is to freeze a soft drink bottle, 600ml or 1.25l depending on the size of your reservoir, and use that as a sort of iceblock in the res. As the water is contained within the bottle, it doesn't adjust the nutrient levels, and it's a simple matter to change the bottle over with a second kept in the freezer each day, this will help to keep temps down to the ideal range.

 

Oh, and the res is 45l sturdy crate from bunnings, about 15 dollars all up with the lid, and it was drilled by a friend of mine with a perfect 20mm drill bit to my own specs for nothing. Nothing like mates, eh? You could also use a lighter or scissors to make holes for your tubing and so on, but this is something you should practice on before attempting, nothing worse than spending money on a large plastic reservoir and ruining it because you left the lighter on the hole for a few seconds too long. Still, if you know what you're doing you can make excellent watertight fittings for your res with a lighter, but like I said, it may take some practice. Suppose all those years of making water and air tight plastic bottle bongs came in handy after all...

 

Anyway, here's the pic.

[Luke Skywalker]

This is the wind... Not an oscillating fan, so not ideal, but it will have to do for the moment. I'll invest in something better soon, but as I'm sure I've said entirely too often, I'm a poor bastard, so I have to get things slowly and on the cheap. Still, it's fine for the moment.

 

I also have some spare old 10cm computer fans I have lying around... these may be employed later as a way to push air through the canopy a bit better.