Happy growing! I’m going to be starting my 4th grow, still had challenges with #3. Got a lot of good feedback here the changes are based on. An outline of what i am using and changes is below. I will update every week or so, hopefully no serious challenges this time.
Plants this run:
Bruce Banner, Girl Scout Cookies, Beaver Cookies, King Cone, Gelato Runts, and Breakfast n’ Bud.
System:
110 max gallon DIY RDWC
13 Gallon buckets with 8" net pots
3" drainage + 2" bypass drain
1/2 HP Chiller
Fluval FX6 900 gallon aquarium canister filter
Pump bag prefilter over 3" main drain line in res
Compost bag used as res pump(s) prefilter
6 - 500 watt Spider Farmer LEDs
2000 GPH Recirculation Pump
900 GPH Chiller Pump
Blue Labs Guardian PH/TDS meter
2700 GPH aquarium air pump
55 gallon resivor
Nutrients:
Advanced Nutrients Connisour Grandmaster plus Terpinator, Dr. Tims Waste Away Bacteria for cyanobacteria control, , Barley Straw Extract for algae control, Muck Away bacteria and enzymes to keep everything clean, and Hydroguard. I will only be changing the resivor once from veg to flower and will phase in and out the food changes by replacing the res water daily with top up solution, and my target PH is 5.8 - 6.1
Challenges with grow #3 and Changes
Early on calcium toxicity:
This is any easy fix and was already corrected. Performed tests adding 1ml at a time testing ppms until the correct amount was determined at 250-300 ppm at 4ml per gallon.
Overwatering:
Root Cause - not enough air space between water level and bottom of net pot caused less air roots and more water roots that while were healthy eventually clogged the 3" drain enough accumulatively to increase water level over the res water level.
Solution - installed additional 2" drain pipe bypass so now all buckets effectivly have two 3" drains except the back two that have 1. Additionally i will be dropping water level as they grow to be 1/3 of the total volume per bucket.
Plants Falling Over:
Root Cause - 6 foot tall indoor plants full of heavy bud lol
Solution - I will be building a SCROG with 40" x 40" nets per plant with two levels. Sense they are so big im going for 20, then 42 inches.