newbie questions

[fishee]

Hi(gh)...I recently gathered up the nerve to convert a 240 gallon fish tank into a hydroponics system, and I've got a few questions.

 

My system is a 240 gallon fish tank with a surface-skimming overflow and 20 gallon sump. The water recirculates at approx. 800 gallons per hour. My seedlings are in styrofoam cups filled halfway with "filter floss", topped-off with straight vermiculite. The cups have holes cut in the bottom (which is submerged) and the cups float on another piece of flat styrofoam (with holes to accomodate the cups and allow their bases to be submerged).

 

I'm currently using just one side of the tank, a 4-foot x 2-foot section, and am using 3 quartz halogen floodlights over the plants, 300 watts each, suspended about 12 inches above the cups. Temp at the top of the cups remains pretty stable at 90f. There is also a small fan providing a light breeze across the plants.

 

So far, everything seems to be going fine (it's only been a week) and my babies are about 3-inches tall with nice leaf coloration.

 

My questions are:

 

How soon can I safely determine sex?

Are there any side-by-side pics of males amd females?

How do I determine when to force them to bud? (I'm currently on a 24-hr lightcycle)

Considering the water volume of the tank, what would you suggest for fertilizer? (Actually, I was pondering keeping some fish in it and letting them do it naturally)

 

I guess that's about it for now. Peace

 

-fishee

http://www.twofishmedia.com

http://www.bluefishradio.com

[ClosetCultivator]

hey i dont know much about indoor growing myself but i dont think you should be using halogen floodlight as there not a good lighting for the plants, you should probably go for MH or HPS lighting (correct me if im wrong)

thanx hope that helps and sorry i couldnt answer your questions as i will leave it to one of the more experienced growers

[Brainstorm]

Hi fishee, sounds like you’ve got a good conversion to what sounds like a bubbler or DWC system. Did you get the idea from some plans or anything?

 

But on with your questions,

 

You won’t be able to determine sex until after you begin to flower your babies, this is when you will begin to see either the male or female flowers, and you won’t be able to flower until your babies are mature. If your using clones then you can flower as soon as your babies are about 12 to 18 inches tall as the clones are already mature. If you are growing from seeds you have to wait they mature which is when the leaf nodes alternate.

 

If you keep some fish in your system you’ll probably have to read up on organic gardening, if this is your first grow I would suggest not to go that route. You might also want to empty some of the water from the tank, 240 gallons sounds like a lot – most systems like yours that I’ve heard/read about use only about 20 to 40 litres.

 

You’ll need to get some hydroponic nutes either online or from a hydro store to use as fertilizer.

 

I’m with ClosetCulitivater in regards to your lights, halogen globes don’t emit the correct colours for growing plants. As suggested you’ll need to get either MH or HPS globes, these probably won’t be able to be used in your current light fittings as they need ballasts to run.

[Brainstorm]

Female pistillate/Male staminate

[Tom]

Yeah fishee, halogen lights are very inefficient as grow lights, not enough of the right spectrums in their output.

 

Types of HID used for growing:

 

Metal Halide - mostly for veg stage.

 

High Pressure Sodium – mostly for flowering stage.

 

Horticultural - combination HPS/MH, veg and flower stages (Son-T-Agro, Son-T-Plus, Lucalox, Lucagrow, etc.).

 

How do I determine when to force them to bud? (I'm currently on a 24-hr lightcycle)

 

Start flowering them when are a little over one third of the available grow height.

 

Considering the water volume of the tank, what would you suggest for fertilizer? (Actually, I was pondering keeping some fish in it and letting them do it naturally)

 

Hydroponics nutrients.

 

[boe~pimp]

would your weed not taste a bit .....fishy with fish swimming around in it ? hehe

[Brainstorm]

female and male preflowers

[fishee]

Thanks for the replies, and especially the pics. I suppose I should supply some pics of the setup for you...as soon as I'm not embarrassed by the mess I've made while setting everything up!

 

I'm familiar with light spectrum and inensity in an aquatic environment and can understand it's importance in this application... however I'm on a bit of a tight budget and wondering if I continue using the halogen lights (for now) what the side-effects to the plants would be? Would it prevent me from producing anything worth smoking? Or would it simply provide a lower yield at lesser quality?

 

Thanks again for the help... oh, and what's wrong with fishee-weed?

 

-fishee

[Tom]

A 430w Son-T-Agro retails for around $220, approximately the cost of an ounce, it will produce more ounces than a 2000w halogen setup. If you can't manage a hid then have a look at compact fluoro's, they would still give you a better yield.

 

[Brainstorm]

I'd forgotten about compact fluro's Tom, thanks for the reminder!!

 

That might be the way to go fishee if you're a bit strapped for cash - that way once you're a bit more financial you can lash our for a couple of hid's and use the compacts fluro's for germinating, cloning and your mothers