critical mass - 3rd go - new moms - shallow water culture

[Nicessity]

Alright mates, my go with soil came at a bad time, and I killed all the clones on my previous log haha. I blame too many final exams! KISS right? Should just stick with what I know, which is hydroponics anyways!!! I wanted to try something new, regardless, so I researched SWC (shallow water culture) basically dwc with a shallow tub for the plants and a big reservoir to circulate nutrients. I picked up a 41 liter 6" deep tote and have 3" netpots with only 10 clones this time. I have about 15 gallons constantly in the reservoir and about 5 residual in the tray. I have a 150 gph pump circulating the nutrients and water to the top and a drain tube potitioned about 4" tall in the top tray which dumps it back into the reservoir when the level is reached, thus circulating the water all the time. I also have an airstone in the big reservoir and an airstone in the top tray to maximize the oxygen levels. I am running with gh flora nova grow and bloom. In these pictures I have rooted and have given the plants a week to recover and about half a week to veg and hit the lights to 12/12 already since they were getting to 6". Three ways later, today, they are reaching 7-9". Growing rapidly. I have them under a 600w ups with a 550cfm centrifugal fan sucking the air out into a filter. The air withthe 600w stays 75 degrees f during day and 68 at night. Humidity is at 40%. Have two fans in the room circulating air and a pan of water to add some moisture.

Swc will be my style from now on. I just detach the pump from the top res and put it in the sink to drain... no more back breaking for me! And then just use another pump to fill back up. I'm using 2tsp per gallon of flora nova grow. This stuff is amazing. No more mixing 3 part. Just mix in this liquid poop looking stuff. The plants are loving it as I switched to this two.days ago from Hollands secret 3 part. Ph is already balanced in the flora nova. Ill never change again! This is awesome.

Anyways, this is a sea of green grow. I saw a guy flower his plants at 5-6" and got an ounce per plant under a 400w, so I figured I would try. My next go with this setup will include an additional trey and bigger reservoir so 20 plants instead of 10. I was just too stressed with school to worry about 20 lol.

Take a look at the pics. Critiques are welcome!!! I won't ditch you mates for so long again! Just been busy and pissed that the.first try with.soil was a wreck lol.

Peace love and fuzzy slippers!

GDay Nicey ,good luck with the grow mate , I'll be watching closely.

[FireBrand]

Great looking start, I really dig deep water culture set ups, I never heard of shallow water culture, but don't see why not, as long as there's room for the massive roots that develop. There's been some discussions on other boards with regards towards Flora-Nova* products, of the most interest for me involves using the Flora-Nova* in association with the Lucas method.
What is Lucas Formula, and how do I use it?

It's my understanding that different strains require different amounts of nutes at different rates, I'm hopeful that you will detail the feeding regiment with MNS Critical Mass, the more info the better, thanks and good luck!

Subscribed......

[Nicessity]

Thanks for the support, mates!

I did the flora nova 2 tsp per gallon of regular tap water, 20 gallons. i just switched to the bloom today and used 2 tsp per gallon, as well.

the plants love this stuff and its pre-pH'd. it's so awesome!!!

no nutrient burn, either! just following the label. very expensive, though, but worth it!

they're growing about an inch every night, and theyre starting to show flowers!

keep in touch guys!

[FireBrand]

Originally Posted by Nicessity

They're growing about an inch every night, and they're starting to show flowers!

Very nice indeed, thanks for the update and the photos, looking good!

[Nicessity]

Originally Posted by FireBrand

Very nice indeed, thanks for the update and the photos, looking good!

Thanks, mate! If you. Do hydroponics yourself, I would highly recommend using flora nova. Its expensive as.he'll but it seems like it's impossible to burn them with it, and they're.growing leaves 6-8 inches in span, but they're only in 3" pots in a 6" deep container. May be the.600w or the fact.that.it doesn't get over 75 degrees with the cool tube, however. This grow is by.far.my favorite grow. I will be uploading a diagram ofnthe.system for.those.who.would like to copy this system. It is definitely the easiest maintainable system I've used. No heavy liftingñ well really no lifting at all, and no refilling the reservoir when it gets low because of the constant 5 gal in the.top.reservoir and the 17 gal in the large bottom reservoir.

Thanks for ur interest.


Thanks for the likes, guys. Merci, Zerm!

[Billy Boy]

Hi nice,
All looks great. I'm building something similar myself at the minute...
Just one thing,, in this pic, there a gap between the bottom of the net pots and the water, is that just because your lifting the lid?
peace
BL

[Cactus]

I would love to see a diagram

[cannatari]

Tight setup, Nicessity.

I'm stoked to see other people building their own stuff. Keep it up!

Your rig reminds me allot of my hydro. IDK if you know much about my style but I got rid of air-stones about a year ago after I learned how to use an over-sized water pump for aeration.



I also got rid of the clay pebbles. Now I just set the rooted clones in the net cups and pack the edges with the little diced up rockwool so it can be thrown away all together and not have to go all the hassle of separating, washing and chasing those clay marbles around the house just to reuse a small amount of medium. I like the expanded clay as a medium but it's not needed in a small net cup. A $20 bag of the diced rockwool will do 10 gallons of container volume which means you're paying yourself about a nickel to process those clay pebbles for re-use.

Other than that, our hydros are pretty much exactly the same. Mine has served me well as should yours. With the size of reservoir you've got, you'll be maintenance free for weeks at a time. These systems are great for that.

Looking forward to seeing how this run goes for you.

Peace.

[Bubbla]

Originally Posted by cannatari

Tight setup, Nicessity.

I'm stoked to see other people building their own stuff. Keep it up!

Your rig reminds me allot of my hydro. IDK if you know much about my style but I got rid of air-stones about a year ago after I learned how to use an over-sized water pump for aeration.





Peace.

Hey Cannatari.

Do you use the plastic bottle as a chamber to aerate the water as it's pumped through by the high power pump ? I ask because i wondered why you didn't just have the piping going into the top Lid. I can see how water would be aerated if forced into that bottle but can't work out if that's what it's for. Lol

Peace

B