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

Nicessity

New member
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!




Cm_3.jpg



Cm_3a.jpg



Cm_3b.jpg



Cm_3c.jpg



Cm_3d.jpg



Cm_3e.jpg
 
GDay Nicey ,good luck with the grow mate , I'll be watching closely.
 
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......
 
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!











 
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!
 
Hi nice,
All looks great. I'm building something similar myself at the minute...
Just one thing,
Cm_3b.jpg
, 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
 
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.

21787d1298933619-mango-haze-selection-small-spaces-rdwcbnpage.jpg


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.
 
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.

21787d1298933619-mango-haze-selection-small-spaces-rdwcbnpage.jpg




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
 
Hi Nice - welcome back! Very nice set-up! Good luck with the grow - i'm sure this is gonna be a good one.
Pulling up a chair gonna be watching this :D
 
Hi nice,
All looks great. I'm building something similar myself at the minute...
Just one thing,
Cm_3b.jpg
, 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

thanks for the kind words!

the gap is just the lifting of the lid, like you said!
 
Hi Nice - welcome back! Very nice set-up! Good luck with the grow - i'm sure this is gonna be a good one.
Pulling up a chair gonna be watching this :D

haha, thanks, mate!

I thought they might have been done stretching, but they grew another inch or two from yesterday! highest point is approximately 12"!!!
 
I would love to see a diagram :)

I sat here for an hour or so and tinkered around and got you a pretty basic layout of my system. I actually had two of the top trays in the room, but finals were beginning and I couldn't stress over the number of plants so I stored it, haha.

This is almost an almost perfect rendition, just for you, mate!

 
Great thread, very nice designs, thank you all for the write ups, now I'm going to go snoop around in the hydro sub forum, gotta start planning my set up.:D
 
I guess the jokes on me, this forum doesn't seem to have a hydro section?

Might I suggest that both a hydro and TLO sections be added as subs, short of that I guess we continue herein.

As to the above designs, I would like to find a way to get away from ex-clay pellets and rockwool as plant support medium. I'm wondering if a neoprene plug/biscuit could be used from start to finish?

Here's what I'm thinking....

Start with a bubble cloner using neoprene plugs/biscuits.




After roots develop move the cuts to a hydro unit that incorporates 3" to 4" netpots, to avoid using rockwool or ex-clay pellets I would custom cut the necessary 3" or 4" neoprene biscuits from a neoprene mat.

I'm thinking I could use the following for plug/biscuit making material.
Home Sport and Play Mat
homesport.gif

This material is 7/8" thick, it should be more than sturdy enough to support a plant up to 24" tall, if need be trellis or SCROG could be added later to aid stability.

No more rockwool or clay pellets. You folks think this could work? Has anyone ever tried this?
 
It generates a whirlpool or "vortex".

It's kind of a fact vs fiction technology.



It all started in this thread: http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/grow-room/5263-imploder.html

Peace.

Now you mention the Vortex effect, I seem to remember seeing something about water in a vortex, altering it somehow but can't recall much about it. That video refreshed my memory slightly so thanks.

Have you seen noticeable benefits to using a vortex ?

Peace

B
 
Now you mention the Vortex effect, I seem to remember seeing something about water in a vortex, altering it somehow but can't recall much about it. That video refreshed my memory slightly so thanks.

Have you seen noticeable benefits to using a vortex ?

Peace

B

Hiya, Bubbla.

I've had some pretty killer results with the vortex but I haven't done a side-by-side or anything to isolate the results so I can conclude that it has any added benefits.

If it's true that water can be processed to break apart molecular clusters then it's no doubt going to have a big effect on transportation of nutrients and grow better plants.

Maybe I'll do a side-by-side in the future but like I said, all I set out to prove was that water could be aerated without bubbles. The vortex doesn't produce any bubbles so there must be a force not visible to the human eye at play (magic).

Peace.
 
I guess the jokes on me, this forum doesn't seem to have a hydro section?

Might I suggest that both a hydro and TLO sections be added as subs, short of that I guess we continue herein.

As to the above designs, I would like to find a way to get away from ex-clay pellets and rockwool as plant support medium. I'm wondering if a neoprene plug/biscuit could be used from start to finish?

Here's what I'm thinking....

Start with a bubble cloner using neoprene plugs/biscuits.




After roots develop move the cuts to a hydro unit that incorporates 3" to 4" netpots, to avoid using rockwool or ex-clay pellets I would custom cut the necessary 3" or 4" neoprene biscuits from a neoprene mat.

I'm thinking I could use the following for plug/biscuit making material.
Home Sport and Play Mat
homesport.gif

This material is 7/8" thick, it should be more than sturdy enough to support a plant up to 24" tall, if need be trellis or SCROG could be added later to aid stability.

No more rockwool or clay pellets. You folks think this could work? Has anyone ever tried this?

I like what you mad that out of, mate. I've seen several grows online in whichever thy use the inserts and completely forgo the pots and pellets, but my only issue would be the possibility of root damage when you transplant the naked roots into the pots with rockwool. Also, I would be worried if you left the collars on too long that it may restrict the growth of the main stem, and if you choose not to transplant into a pot and just keep them in collars, I would be worried that they have no support and may not be stable. I've never done it, but my motto, which I'm sure you all have applied, is KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and its proven right time and time, again. I'm actually in the process of building a new setup that is upgraded based on findings from this grow, like things that could be made simpler and more efficient to maintain and operate. Thank God we don't have to buy all our water pumps from the retailers, and ebay is readibly available! Can I get a "bloody he'll yes" on that?? Haha


I appreciate the attention this thread is getting, btw! Thanks for all the likes, also, mates! Where are your suggestions for my grow, grønn??!!
 
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