Hello Mr. Wizard, plants look beautiful, you have not lost your touch.
Watching your hydrogrow. Great Graphic intro
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Pulling up a chair joint rolled popcorn in hand
Peace
Paps
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Howdy, @MrWizard ,welcome to Overgrow!
I used a Hydrofarm hydroponic system back in ‘82 through ‘84. The garish orange colored cage for the ballast of my first MH light sounded like a noisy electric razor… what a loud buzz it made!
That was my one and only use of hydroponics, since then I went back to the soilless that I used through the ‘70s, and have used only soilless mixes since ‘84
But that is one of the great things about this fantastic hobby, there are many different ways to grow fine ganja, all of which work very well!
I have been growing since 1970 with the only break enforced on me by having been hit by a car in 2015…. It took about 1 ½ years for me to recover, and then I jumped right back into it.
If you enjoy the process, it is almost a certainty that you will produce some very fine flowers.
I love the new LEDs
Good luck and have fun!
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Thanks @OGSince03 and @corey ,
Can you point me to literature on these “beneficials” please?
Winter time here so temps are usually low. I have managed to keep the Nutes temp around 68-72, with heater if it drops below 68. I have been able to regulate the reservoir temp by removing the lid on warm days. I can see where I will need a chiller to do this in the summer.
I pretty much lost VPD control during week 2 as I had to go out of town and direct my wife on tweaks remotely. VPD stayed around 1.2 to 1.4 that week. Root cause was a rise in ambient temp, which in turn made the LEDs radiate more heat. Adjusted LED height from ~12" to 18".
Week 3 I kept the VPD around 0.85 and week 4 I let it bump up to a VPD of 0.95
I have struggled with humidity both high and low depending on ambient dewpoint. Needed larger (de)humidification than I thought I was going to need. Not sure I can pull this off in summer months. unless I add AC…Probably wont go to the expense, will just try outdoors during the regular growing season.
Another thing I have struggled with is Nute ppms. So much conflicting info. I went by the Dyna-Gro instructions for recirculating systems. I am convinced that I have the nutes too high. I lowed them a couple days ago to around 800ppm, down from 1100ppm. It would seem that a manufacturese recommendations would be pretty close, but I read everywhere that less is more, just not sure “how much less”…
Also read conflicting info on what ph the nutes should be, specifically for hydro. I was initially keeping my ph around 5.8-6., but then I read somewhere here that hydro has a different range, and that you want ~5.20. So lowered my ph to 5.4. Plants seem happier between the lower ppm and ph.
A lot of the original fan leaves stared getting brown spots and yellowing going late into week 4. Not sure if normal or not. Also not sure about whether to trim them or not. I read conflicting stuff on that.
I did “pinch” off yellowing leaves.figuring they couldnt be contributing much anymore.
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Good luck with your grow
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Edit: Here is a link for good information I just found. Dwc brown roots
Hydro guard and voodoo juice are just two available options for beneficials. While some plants like low 5 range for ph. It’s usually best to allow for a slight swing between 5.8 - 6.3. Some nutrients are not available at different levels, so a swing of around 1.0 is not a bad idea. 5.5-6.5
You’re ppm will depend on how many additives you will be using. I always liked to keep my Macros for the first two weeks at about 200. Less is more only because it’s easier to fix a deficiency than a toxicity. More so with hydro as pants respond almost immediately.
You’re tap water could be around 1-300 or more, depending on how close to the water plant you are. Some people prefer tap as it keeps things cleaner without much headache.
RO water is preferred mostly because of chlorine and chloramine are present in tap.
RO will require adding back cal+mag as it is stripped during the RO process.
You’re ph could be a culprit for the yellowing leaves, as nutrients become unavailable with ph level changes.
Another thing could be high ppm levels locking out other nutrients needed. Backing off will likely show improvements.
As far as plucking leaves go, I try to refrain from it. They are solar panels and should only be taken off for added value to lower canopy. However, if they are on their way out than removing them will hurt nothing. It will move the plant issues further up the plant if it has any though! I hope this helps! You’re vpd will likely not be a big issue until it comes time to flower. Powdery Mildew will take hold on plants with vpd issues, if the genetics allow for it. I think you’re range is ok for now. 
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Glad to watch this one. So many good tips and tricks are available right here at OG.
Good luck .
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I haven’t indoor grown for quite a while either, and I looked at Amazon and was astounded at how easy it is to get a full killer setup! It used to be you had to source stuff here and there and carefully and quietly haha.
These days Amazon will have it all on your doorstep in a few days!
Anyway, good luck!
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Nice setup, I started in dwc, stand-alone buckets. Curious to see if there’s a benefit to recirculating with a single plant, I imagine it makes water temp management a lot easier.
I’d skip the bennies and run sterile if your system isn’t chilled .25ml bleach/gallon you’ll have clean white roots and healthy plants even if res temps get a little high(emphasis on a little)
If you want to save on nutes dry is the way to go. Jacks, masterblend, mega crop all great options and you can get a bunch of grows out one bag.
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Main reason for the reservoir is that it will allow me to scale up to 2 to 3 plants after this trial grow.
Water temp seems easier with a reservoir. There is about 3 gallons of liquid in the bucket, another 6 gallons in the reservoir.
Larger volume of water means changes happen more slowly.
Reservoir is outside the hot tent, with ambient in the garage between 30 to 60f which helps cool the reservoir.
My roots are creamy white with hints of brown. I will upload a picture soon.
What is the ideal nute temp?
What is the danger zone that promotes root rot?
Thanks for the input…
M
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Welcome and Thanks for Sharing Your grow with Us.
Anyone who wants to display their grow and share with us is awsome, Got my chair pulled up…
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Ideal res temp for both nutrient uptake and avoiding root rot/algae is 66-72f (19-22c)
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Many thanks, I am in a good range then. Might add .25ml of bleach tonight.
They smell like forest loam, earthy, the good kind of earthy you smell in a healthy aquarium.
Here are a couple pics, Is this the start of root rot?
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H202 will sterilize as well, even adds dissolved o2 with it! I was never a fan of the bleach but it does work.
You can wash those in fresh water with some H2O2 and agitate the roots and it will help to clean them up. Be aware if you do go with using beneficials adding H2O2 or even bleach will lower populations. The color could be, but it could also be you’re nutrient solution, kind of hard to tell at the moment. Try to stay ahead of it! They look nice and white still, keep it up!
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Welcome back fellow Virginian… I strongly urge you to check out Octopots your next grow. I came back after 20 years and i am supper impressed with them. If you grew hydro before you will like the no hassle the octopots provide.
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I miss my very good female grower who was here and had mind blowing skunk #1 x Romulan fom Virginia… Says Virginia is for lovers lol
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That is a ton of light for such a small space…maybe too much!
Your grow is going well so far…definitely try to keep the water and root temperature as low as you can to avoid root rot(Pythium). Pythium Blight is the worst of the three and almost impossible to get rid of!
Can make a easy DIY evaporative cooler by simply sealing up your res the best you can and get a small fan(4” centrifugal or similar)that blows air into the res…this will cause evaporation and in effect cool the res water temps by up to 10 degrees! 
Also be a great idea to start using a organic digestive…something like this will help consume organic matter and keep your res and grow container algae free…using beneficial bacteria and enzymes to prevent the bad from growing.
Brian(Alaskagrown)
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First pistils showed up 2 days ago.
Added 1ml of 4.5% bleach to the 8 gallons in my system last night as a Prophylactic…
Until I learn more about beneficials, and exactly which strain of bacteria I want to promote, I am going to go the sterilization route. I have maintained large aquariums for over 30 years. In that hobby we used aerobic bacteria for nitrification. I imagine that beneficials are a similar biological process.
Notice the yellow tips of new leaves are yellow, possibly burned. Any Idea what this might be? They appeared prior to the bleach treatment BTW.
One theory is that 3 days ago I dropped the nute ppm from 1200ppm to 800ppm.
Could this be fert burn from before I dropped the nute strength, and I am just now seeing the damage?
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