Thats my thought too like, How haha. No other high quality company seems to be anywhere near that price and still use the high performance components.
The kingbrites we’re definitely my second choice, yeah it was that month shipping and half the cost being in shipping plus not wanting another app on my phone haha. GB was super simple, and no fluff on their website like all the Amazon lights with umpteen pages of exaggerated par readings and comparisons to others etc,.
So… Another couple questions from me to add to the pile.
I searched the sites relevant posts and got some useful info but still can’t figure this out.
I watered today and checked the pH + ppms, water in pH 6.5 ppm 300(my normal tap), water out ppm 1400(obv haven’t used all the nutes from FFOF soil and the One light feeding I did weeks ago), but pH was very acidic, 5.2… this seems a bit low especially considering the pH of the solution I fed with once is right about 6.0
Any ideas what could cause this???
Question 2: relating to ppms,
After some reading here I decided to water the other plants with a little baking soda in the water to raise PH(from what I read it’s not horrible but not something to do continuously)
It only helped slightly, runoff was still acidic at 5.4,
Ppms we’re sky-high at 2500
Is it Okay that the ppm is that high since it’s from particles of baking soda and not too much nutrients?
What is ppm’s role Other than in how much nutrient is in the water?
Everyone i’ve known to use things like baking soda and vinegar to adjust ph seems to run into issues with stability over time. It’s probably still manageable for most, but seems to cause more problems than just using a hydroponic ph adjuster. I’d be willing to bet if you watered to more runoff would start seeing it come up some. Make sure you water slow too, give entire pot opportunity to soak up water. Otherwise water tends to run down sides of pots.
As far as ppm goes, nutrient concentration is your primary concern.
I definitely have been watering to very little runoff because my pots are very slow to dry, like so far it’s almost like I could go a full week without watering and they wouldn’t be dry yet. Not sure why,. I put a layer of gravel in the bottom to prevent soil from clogging up and put additional perlite in the soil, figured the 80° of my growroom would be enough.
Plus the stupid cheap trays I got aren’t very deep.
I’ll find a deeper tray and try a more thorough watering and see if the number is better. Really wanna nip this problem before it effects them cuz I’m sure 5.2 is Not okay.
Thanks 
And for the future, what else can I do with my soil for better drainage?? I’d really like to be able to water more than every 5-7 days ha
And I guess I’ll order some ph up/down. Didn’t to begin with cuz I didn’t forsee having pH issues. Ignorance on my part
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Usually 20-25% large chunk perlite is plenty good. Could be something unrelated to soil causing long times to dry out. A vpd issue will do it, plant health too. I have been buying roots organics original when i need soil, i feel like its pretty good right out of the bag.
Well crap.
For the most part all Look healthy so far,.
I looked up vpd cuz that’s a new term to me but sounds fairly simple; plants roots using the water depends on their leaves transpiring etc depending on humidity and temp,.
Higher vpd higher transpiration more use from the roots,
But I used a calculator thingy to calculate mine and my vpd is at the very least 1.4 when for veg it says the ideal is 0.8-1.0, my humidity is likely on the lower side some hours of the night cuz I bought a stupid humidifier that needs refilling twice a day.
I don’t think my perlite was large chunk it seemed like little pebbles to me, could that be the cause?
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You dont really need to worry about vpd during dark hours. Stomata for the most part thought to be closed in the dark, and not moving moisture through plant like when lights are on.
I don’t think i would say you have a problem just because you used small perlite. When you look at soil, would you say it’s compacted and top wants to repel water?
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Good to know, I’ll just make sure it’s filled and running in the morning, making sure it’s always on all day Incase that’s contributing.
Hmmm… Definitely not. The soil is pretty loose like when I water it wants to dig a hole in the soil so I have to scrape some back in to make it level, I’d say it’s at Least moderately loose.
And the bottom should Definitely be loose as well with rocks and more perlite.
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Y’all were definitely right about raising humidity. Maybe it actually was a vpd issue and they weren’t drinking cuz they weren’t breathing well,
Now that I only have humidifier on in the day it won’t run out turned it up higher, so raised my humidity to 70-75% and the new growth is looking better, maybe they’ll drink more now
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Green beams eh… I’ll have to look at em
But yes kingbrites
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I’m excited as hell. The 480w I ordered is arriving Wednesday so I haven’t tried them yet, but at least a few people here swear by them and after looking at their stuff(only 2 options so far, kinda small business) it looks like they’re quality oriented. They list what their materials are, their website has ZERO fluff, none of those piles of pictures claiming unreal PPF or charts comparing their light to another cheap brand lol.
When it gets here Wednesday I’ll set it up and get some real feedback, but so far it sounds beautiful just plain from American company, high quality materials, MW driver/Samsung diodes, less than a dollar a watt.
They’re my new go-to for lights that come fast and at a good price. Better quality than Amazon crap but not as pricey as HLG. faster than KingBrites, but no spectrum customization is the trade off.
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Counting the days down until Wednesday! Ugh I’m so impatient😂
On another note… Im still having PH issues that confuse me 
I got deeper trays and watered heavier today, enough to fill a 10" tray like 4" high,
And even though last time and this time I watered with 7.0ph water, runoff still measured about 5.0-5.2
Plants still look pretty healthy, new growth is maybe lighter green than previous new growth so I’m Wanting to feed… But scared to😭
Remind me what medium you’re using?
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FFOF, I know it’s kind of a “hot” soil but PH of 5 still seems kinda out of norm… I wouldn’t think it’s just the nutes in the soil because they’ve grown beautifully in it so far?
I’m thoroughly confused.
Not if you’re 4-6 weeks in. If you go check out my journal and a lot of others’ - you’ll see a lot of similar situations. Fox Farms soils seem to contain something(s) that slowly acidify the soil. And by slowly, I mean it’s gradual for the first several weeks and then bam, overnight it’s in the toilet.
@ReelOfishalTrees had this issue in FF Happy Frog. I had it with OF. I’ve seen it with either one, or a blend of both. Peat moss may be the culprit but that’s me operating strictly on memory and that isn’t all that great.
Either way, I recommend doing a “mini flush” of sorts. Next time it’s feed day, run several gallons of plain water through her - I’d use tap if your tap is generally pretty safe (I.e. you’d drink out of it without filtering it first) for the first several gallons. I suggest this because the chlorine or chloramine won’t matter - you’re gonna rinse it out with feed water afterward anyhow, it’s cheaper than bottles of distilled, and most importantly tap water tends to be either right around 7 ph, sometimes a bit higher. Mine runs between 7 and 7.8 depending on the day.
Once you’ve watered enough to get a gallon or two of runoff using the plain tap water, then it’s time to move to feed water. Use full strength nutrients pH’d to 6.5, plus a cocktail of all the microbe products you may have handy to restore the microbial life to your root zone. I’d probably water her with a bit less than you normally do since you don’t really need or care about the runoff plus her soil will be saturated with plain water so it will be much quicker to get runoff. Aka if you normally water with a full gallon, I’d just water with 3/4 gallon for the post-flush water.
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Damn I wish I had read more into this soil before using it again. Last grow was years ago and I had no issues so I just assumed all was still the same ha.
I haven’t had a feed day in like 3 weeks because it doesn’t seem to dry out and the PH doesn’t seem to go up😅
My tap is decent I think, around 300ppm and they’ve been happy with it so far, it’s 6.5-6.8ph.
I can definitely flush them like that, but I have zero microbial products and know nothing of that science.
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Wow @happypappy thats a great buy. Every time I look on mkt place, it’s junk or exercise equipment…lol don’t want to start that habit. 
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Are your plants, by chance sitting in runoff ?
Not at all, I’m pretty careful about that, what I do when I water is water thoroughly to runoff, then hold the pot up and tilt it all directions to get more water out before setting it down in an empty tray. Its a hassle lol but it’s what I’m doing until the pot-feet I ordered come.
And I only did one light feeding weeks ago and have done plain water numerous times since so I’ve got No clue how my runoff pH can be so low…
So far plants aren’t unhappy, just a few leaves with serration turned up a lil likely from it being kinda on the hot side.
I’m ordering a couple inline fans to vent my room,
Considering adding prilled dolomite lime to water with? Think that might be a good idea?