Jacks 321 Hydro discussion, questions, tips, etc

I’ve heard of hempy buckets for years but never gave it much thought but I’ll have to deep dive into it. Less is more in my world being I’m away from home 65% of each month

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Hempy buckets are not something you take off out of town for days, you hand water them every day or two. But, I guess you cold setup a auto watering system but that takes away from the simplicity.

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I work for a railroad so I’m gone 30-40hrs at a time. So this would be doable

The typical hempy says drill a hole two inches from bottom, you might want to consider three to give you some wiggle room. Be careful to not go to far up otherwise you risk root rot. From personal experience lava rock mixed with coco coir makes a great medium.

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I travel a lot also the 6 gal octopots are a life life saver

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I’ve been considering these more and more lately. Is the general concensus that peat moss is better than coco in the octopots? That’s my main hesitation is switching away from coco.

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If your use to coco just use coco

I personally just use pro mix bx

It should work fine

@Trimeresurus

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I haven’t used coco in the octo so can’t really say

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I’ll work out a town but I’m home every weekend and the octopots work perfectly in my situation. I’ll fill them Sunday night and everything just fine till I get home Friday. And honestly idk of a cheaper system to run then jacks and octopots for the results you get it a no brainer

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@Papalag , I follow your journal. It’s one of the main reasons I’m convinced to try them. Thanks for your input @Mr.greenbee . I see you guys killing it with the octopots.

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It’s worth a try

I want to try mapito in the Octopots next grow

Very happy you want to try them
They make a big difference

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I’ve run Earth boxes and it sounds the same as a hemp bucket. It has a sub irrigation res. with an over flow port 2" up. The manufacturer suggests using peat as the medium due to the wicking ability. This said once you start laying in the peat about 2" up you lay down a layer of fine powdered dolomite lime. Depending on how many plants you pour 1 lb of a 444 of similar organic or synthetic fertilizer which the plant will feed off about the coming months. They work amazing so I would think the Hempy bucket would perform similar

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Chloromine is difficult to “remove”/neutralize. Can’t do it with aeration.

Regarding air pumps, there are piston and diaphragm driven air pumps. Piston create more heat output (warm/hot air into your water) and some could possibly put out slightly “dirty air” (I’m just guess here, because of how piston/cylinders work).
I’ve used the big hydrofarm (piston) model, and also some diaphragm models (Alita) and I like the diaphragm much more.

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I’ve read online using asorbic acid (Vit C) will bond with the Chloromine which I have used in the past but after aeration 24 plus hrs my ph was higher than before. I use only diaphragm pumps presently but will consider all options as I better my grow room and stream line them.

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I’m curious what people are using for humic/fulvic acid. I’m almost out of Diamond Nectar and would love a reasonably priced replacement.

I recently found this on ebay and wonder if it would be a viable option, and if so, at what dosage?

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wow, those aren’t cheap! Do they actually run cool?

My airpump is the hottest thing my room behind the obvious (ballast,lights,dehumidifier), at around 5F over ambient! You could probably guess its a cheap $20 unit… but it’s on med-low 24/7… always pushing my water temps up…

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I use(d) ascorbic acid (it’s not the same as vitamin c, but yea). But then found out we actually don’t have chloramine in this area. Sodium or Potassium Metabisulfite works also.

I rarely use what I have (extremely rarely), I use powder, from kelp4less. Depending what system, I’d make sure it’s fully water soluble and all that.

From memory (long ago since I used any air pump at all), yea…maybe… cooler than a piston pump.
Mind where you place the pump. It’s intake air will come from there. I think the Alita I have has a connector for the intake, so one could connect a hose and run it to a specific area.
I don’t like air stones, and airpumps. I just found them (stones in particular) annoying keep clean.
I’ve run a dwc-like system with no air supplementation before, just a waterfall at the end. It’s called bio-buckets (icmag).

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Kelp4less makes a good product called extreme blend has humic fulvic acid and aminos

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Ya they do harbor the nasties but at least they aren’t the anaerobic type, also banking on HOCl to keep everything clean. A pump/waterfall is a better option though, I’ll keep that in mind.

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I was looking for an additional additive to assist with terp and oils production, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll have a read on it