LED Grow Light Forum

This is my first grow journal all help is appreciated as I embark on this new grow.
Grow Set Up
DWC Grow
400 watt LED Vipar 9band
25 gal botanicare reservoir
170 cfm 4" fan
speed bully fan controller
17" carbon filter
100 gal air pump
2 4ft flexible airstone tubes
2x4x5 foot tent
2 5" and 6 4" net cups
hydroton
blue lab ph and ppm meter, using 500 conversion
Heavy 16 nutrients full line besides foliar

Plants
BC Big Bud
8 well rooted clones in 2" rockwool cubes

All plants planted on 2/28/14

Thank you in advance for anybody who helps out with this grow or just enjoys watching how it goes. Open to comments and suggestions, I know my methods are not yet perfected, but I am learning everyday.

Day one 2/28/14
all 8 clones are transplanted into net cups, placed in halfway and surrounded by hydroton. Clones range from 2-4 in tall. I balanced 20 gallons to 5.9 ph and left out for 24hrs. Light is 31" above top of res and is on 20 hr on 4 hr off light schedule. Temp is about 75 - 77 degrees daily and 65 - 70 at night and the humidity is between 55 - 56 %. Water temp 70-72 degrees. Water level is about a centimeter under the net cups. Heavy 16 nutrients are mixed. I was aiming for 420 ppm, but didn't calculate the water is already 220ppm so the nutriet solution is now 535ppm. I know this is too strong so I am balancing water to lower it now. Even Before transplanting a few leaf tips were curling down, some were a little more of a lime green and some had lighter or darkened veins on fan leaves (check photos). First grow and first grow journal so all help is welcome. Im lowering ppms now before leafs curl even more and nute burn kicks in.

Questions
Were should water level be under net cups in a DWC?
Good ppm for newly rooted clones? (500 conversion)
18/6, 20/4 or full 24hr a day light schedule for veg
Whats a good height for a 400watt led over new clones?

Day 3 after transplant. leafs have continued to droop and curl down into a claw. some burning on edges has appeared and some small holes have also burned through fan leaves. ph is 5.9 and stays between 5.7 and 6.2 there are 8 BC Big Bud clones that are well rooted into rockwool and transplanted into hydroton in net cups DWC style 2 days ago. water level is one centimeter below net cups. ppm was at 450 but i know that is too high so I lowered it to 360. Should I go lower for fresh clones? pretty sure this is nutrient burn because i mixed my first solution too high, but could also be from lights too strong or too close, overwatering can also cause drooping but I dont believe that is the case here. even with drooping about 4 have grown about a half inch in the last 48 hours. Any help is much appreciated and thank you in advance for any contributions. Please take a look at my pics and examine my babies.

hey BC,

so I started with DWC a few yrs ago and i'm no expert but i can give you some advice.

first off, i hate using rockwool in hydroton. it's too easy to either over saturate or under saturate the rockwool. if i get my clones in rockwool, i gently pry them out of it and place the clone directly in hydroton

water level should be above the bottom of the netpot at the beginning. i go for maybe a half inch give or take. you don't want the roots to be dry. when they start to poke out of the netpot then you can start to lower the water level.

what is your net PPM? you probably want to be around 200 to 300 starting off to avoid tip burn. using reverse osmosis/distilled water is not a bad idea either. that way you know that your ppm will be 0 before you add anything.

water temps are too high too. you want max 68, 65 is perfect. if you want to save yourself a bunch of hassle, buy a chiller ASAP.

i keep my led about 18 inches from tops at the beginning. as they get bigger, you can get closer to 12 inches assuming the light will cover all the plants at that height and not burn them too.

and keep your lights on 24/0. either 24/0 in veg or 12/12 in flower. simple.

keep the questions coming. and the pix.

good luck! RKY

Thanks RKY I will look into getting a chiller, raise my water level, and my ppm is 340 so I will try to lower it to 250ish. Thanks for the input. I will be posting updates and more questions soon.

hey BC,

if you are pretty sure you want to stick with DWC (and I would. it's about the best method out there), a chiller is very important. you can get by with putting frozen water bottles in your res but that gets old quick. without one, you're sure to have root problems.

Yeah root rot will not be easy to manage and could wipe out most of the crop, so if your water levels are getting warm you're gonna want to at least use the frozen water bottle method. The clones are looking good though. Big Bud is supposed to be a pretty vigorous strain so i'm interested to see how it will do in the DWC setup under an LED. As far as the vegging light schedule goes, I feel that it's better to do 20/4 rather than 24/0. The main reason I say this is because root development, which is debated between growers. When the lights are off the plant is more efficient at transporting and assembling raw materials within itself from the root system. However it can do it with the lights on too, just not quite as efficiently. So basically it comes down to preference. Personally, I don't find it worth the extra cost in electricity and heat to run 24/0 but then again i'm not currently using LEDs haha. And it might just be the hippy side of me talking, but I think plants like a little dark period cause they enjoy the rest that mother nature gives them. Just like humans and animals, every living thing needs a break to rest some time.

Thanks for the help calyx and rky I will freeze up a bottle for now and search for a small water chiller. What's a good price range for a chiller that can chill 20gal ? I don't want to spend too much or cheep out either.

I have a 1/10hp chiller. I think it was close to $300. Big enough for 20 gal.

20/4 is not wrong but it's not optimum either. 24/0 is best for veg. Plants produce/photosynthesize at 100% with 24/0 vs. 83% for 20/4 and 75% for 18/6. And plants stretch during the dark phase so 24/0 will give better node spacing and better overall growth.

To each his own...........

rkymtnman wrote:I have a 1/10hp chiller. I think it was close to $300. Big enough for 20 gal.

20/4 is not wrong but it's not optimum either. 24/0 is best for veg. Plants produce/photosynthesize at 100% with 24/0 vs. 83% for 20/4 and 75% for 18/6. And plants stretch during the dark phase so 24/0 will give better node spacing and better overall growth.

To each his own...........

I will look into a chiller like that and thanks for the info on light schedules. They seemed to like the dark to get the tap roots out and recover from a little nute burn, but they look better after I replaced 3/4 of water and now half of them have roots out so probably go to 24/0. Also the strain bank had the clones on 18/6 so I went to 20/4 now transition to 24/0.