RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 Hi there, I just started a grow and decided to share it with the forum. After lots of experimenting with coco I decided to give rockwool a try. I am using recirculating drip irrigation on rockwool slabs. Light cycle is 12/12 from the beginning. I am using 2 x 400W MH for first 2 weeks or until bud sites become visible hoping to keep stretch to a minimum. For full flower I have 2 x 600W HPS. I might add a third though if temperature is under control. Area is 2.4m x 1.2m = 2.88m² Nutrients used are by bio-technology. I will give Grow nutes until bud sites are visible and then switch to Bloom nutes. Day 1 was 14.9.19 so we are a good week in. So far I have mixed 2 nutrient solutions. 1. 1.3 EC; 5.6 pH (fed every 3rd day to promote root growth) 2. 1.6 EC; 5.6 pH starting today once per day Usually I keep my EC under 1.3 but I want to try rising it a little bit. Tap water base EC is around 0.4 mS I would love feedback as I am here to learn. Here are the pictures from day 1. I will upload current ones later. RTS 10 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Papalag 5,393 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 Awesome setup they all look very happy and healthy paps 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gardenartus 13,805 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 I love this, reminds me of a computer board for some reason lol. Very cool 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 @RooftopStoner Your room looks super clean i like its all white How often will you water the plants on rockwool slabs? I would like to try this method out in future i used to grow in mapito (rockwool coco mix) flood and drain but now coco on drain to waste system. What are your min max temps? Normally in this space i use 2000w the 3rd light would definitely reward you yield wise especially since you growing sog il be watching this one for sure. snydgrow 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 Thanks for the kind words I really enjoy opening the tent and looking at the babies. I love how clean rockwool is. @Snydgrow Watering is 1-3x per day. The first week I watered only on day 1, day 4 and day 7 to promote root growth. From now on I am watering 1x per day, in 10 days or so I will increase to 2x per day and in full flower 3x per day. I will taper it off in the end too. Last week I might not water at all after I flush the medium with pH'd tap water. My temperature is around 20°C at night and around 28°C during the day. The in- and exhaust fans never go above 60% so I really think a third lamp would be fine. Also its getting colder outside so that helps too. I tried coco slabs drain to waste too but I had my difficulties with it. Especially getting the pH and EC inside the medium to the sweet spot. With the recirculating system I have now its wonderfully easy so far. Here are some pictures of today. Day 9 RTS 9 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 @RooftopStoner Yes thats the only downfall about coco dtw use so much water your room makes me want to go back to sog growing i did that the first load of years of growing with great success i would use 400w lights with as much as 800w per sq meter with crazy plant numbers now family i grow trees and less numbers it works well but I hate the veg time. This looks like a gram per watt grow from the get go i think with the extra light 1800grams be easily achieved if all goes well and if your only at 60% why not What size pump do you use and how long are feeds do you feed until run off each feed? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hamme Hydro 4,837 Report post Posted September 22, 2019 Awesome! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 23, 2019 I apreciate the kind words :) Lets hope for 1 gpw. Im all about the learning experience and the fun though. 17 hours ago, Snydgrow said: What size pump do you use and how long are feeds do you feed until run off each feed? Pump is a Gardena 4000/2 automatic. Up to 2 bar pressure. I use pressure valves in my drip system so I chose a strong pump to guarantee that the valves open. So far I have been feeding for 1hr in order to dial in pH and EC of medium. Once stable I aim for 15 minutes per feed. That way ph and EC of medium and res are same and easier to prevent buildups in the slabs. I also have a pH pump which corrects pH of res water as drain flows from the slabs back to the res. That way I have an ever-self-correcting cycle of pH'd watering :) Also I will top off the res every couple of days to prevent EC from rising too much. Cant wait for later when the lights turn on and I can peek inside the tent RTS 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ifish 1,478 Report post Posted September 23, 2019 Great planning : ) 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justcozz 6,681 Report post Posted September 23, 2019 Very nice set up, plants are looking great.... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 23, 2019 I added the 3rd light. I didnt have a 3rd MH so I used a 400W HPS instead. Temperature wise I'm at 29°C now. I might raise the lights a bit but I will see how it goes today. 8 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ifish 1,478 Report post Posted September 23, 2019 Going to be epic rooftop : ) 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 24, 2019 @RooftopStoner Good job adding the extra light im sure the girls will reward you for it Would love to see some pics of your pump setup if you get a chance please i also use pressure valves but mine are attached just before each dripper yours looks a little different tho you really have got me thinking of doing a sog grow again so pleasing on the eye seeing a canopy of buds your off to a great start clones all super healthy as you know thats the key to sog im with @ifish on that this will be an epic grow thanks for sharing Snydgrow 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 24, 2019 @Snydgrow I use the pump i mentioned earlier. I attached a yellow hose to it leading to a filter. from the filter I continue with black PE pipe. It connects to a T-piece. From the T-piece I have a loop around the edges of my tent. I use a loop instead of a system with an endpiece to ensure an even pressure throughout the whole system. I made a little sketch as an overview. I didnt draw out all the drippers but it should be obvious. Here is reservoir with pump and yellow hose... Yellow hose leading to filter. Inside reservoir is air stone, pH probe and dripper for pH- solution. I also have a biofilter pump inside the reservoir. Not sure how effective it is though.. Along the long sides of the tent I installed the pressure valves. 35 per side. For corners I used these corner pieces to make a closed loop. In order to prevent the PE pipe from bending I attached it to wooden sticks. I coated the sticks with somer kind of water repellent just in case. I dont want them do rot. Hope this helps. RTS 7 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justcozz 6,681 Report post Posted September 24, 2019 Very nice. What are you using for the PH pump? How does it correct the PH. Is it an electronic system that tests and adjusts? I don’t Check or adjust PH, but sounds interesting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 25, 2019 19 hours ago, Justcozz said: Very nice. What are you using for the PH pump? How does it correct the PH. Is it an electronic system that tests and adjusts? I don’t Check or adjust PH, but sounds interesting. @Justcozz Exactly. If pH is above or below a threshhold value, the pump is switched on. The threshhold value is adjustable and so is the mode (switching above value or below value). The model I use is MC720 by Milwaukee Instruments. It's one of the cheaper ones. At least compared to bluelab. It was quite tricky to set up but a blessing once dialed in. On what medium do you grow? 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ifish 1,478 Report post Posted September 25, 2019 I just looked it up , very nice indeed : ) 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dieseldog381 2,622 Report post Posted September 25, 2019 Nice clean setup! Happy harvesting. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 26, 2019 @RooftopStoner Thank you for detailed reply you have a room to be proud everything is very neat and in its place I also use them pressure valves on my drippers thats good to know if i was to ever do a sog grow again it would be the way you do it. Hope this is a good one for you keep us all updated with pics cant get enough Snydgrow 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 26, 2019 Thanks for the kind words. Things are looking good mostly. I start to worry about whether the plants are going to cover the whole area. We're almost at the 2 week mark now and there is still a lot of space between the plants. I can see the first bud sites developing since 3 days so I wonder how much the plants are still going to grow. I had very low humidity the first week ( 30%) so I'm afraid roots didnt develop as they should have. I'm thinking to build a transparent shield for next round like esko did in his mapito grow tutorial. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 26, 2019 Froom the last picture of plants look like about a foot in hieght? All our praying towards the light and you have a good few sets of nodes on the plants i think they will be fine but yes good idea for next round getting high humidity for cuttings at the start works wonders 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justcozz 6,681 Report post Posted September 27, 2019 On 9/25/2019 at 8:54 AM, RooftopStoner said: @Justcozz Exactly. If pH is above or below a threshhold value, the pump is switched on. The threshhold value is adjustable and so is the mode (switching above value or below value). The model I use is MC720 by Milwaukee Instruments. It's one of the cheaper ones. At least compared to bluelab. It was quite tricky to set up but a blessing once dialed in. On what medium do you grow? I’ll have to check it out... I have been running my own super soil mix (re-used since my first grow) in my regular pots, and 60/40 coco/perlite in the octopots. I haven’t tested for PH in a long time...only when something isn’t looking right and it’s usually low. But I have extremely good well water with a PH 7. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted September 27, 2019 Short update. Day 14. I just replaced the 400w MH / 400w HPS with 3 x 600w HPS. I took couple of pictures with lights out and flash and some under HPS lighting. You can see how there are still lots of gaps between the plants. Hope it will fill up. Plants are doing really good except for a little bit of heat stress. The lights were a tad too low but I raised them. 7 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snydgrow 357 Report post Posted September 29, 2019 @RooftopStoner Looking good brother i think another week they should fill out more then time for flower production What is your nutrient mix and ec/ph in & out. Snydgrow 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RooftopStoner 377 Report post Posted October 1, 2019 @Snydgrow They actually filled out a little more but there are still some empty spaces. Buds are progressing rapidly. I had still 20 some Liters of Grow nutrient mix in my reservoir and topped up with 70L flower nutrient mix. EC is 1.8 and pH in is 5.8. pH out is slightly higher but since my setup is recirculating pH out is around 5.8 too after a couple of minutes. I have changed my watering times to 20 min at lights on and another 15 minutes after 6 hours. I am going to post some new pictures on the weekend. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
