There’s a great story about ugly ducklings 
that i have a feeling will be apropos in not too many weeks 
🪴
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Did a second res change this morning as a preventative measure. The roots are all still white, no gunk.
I did notice the longer roots kind of clump together. Sprayed with nutrient water w 2 capfuls of 3% h2o2. Again as a precaution.
Main res only about 1 gal left so I kept it. Just filled 3 days ago.
I did notice the controller had what looked like white slick on top. Not springtails, they were also in there. More like.an oil slick. Anyone else noticed something similar?
Cleaned controller, all mini res w 3% h2o2.
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Ok. Auto tent progress.
In case you were debating on clay balls for Micro Octo or not, we have a side by side comparison. Same media, same seeds. The runts in the front were planted same time as two in back right. Hydroton Clay balls in the netpot w about 20% media packed on top does not wick enough water. I even raised the controller level but you see the results.
Big thanks to @OnePassionateGrower and @joheimgrohen for the Sour fro-yo autos. I apologize for not doing better w the beans. As you can see 2 not doing bad, 2 I almost killed. 2 never sprouted. And 2 died due to lack of water.
Also a big thanks to @Pleiochasium for the Stardawg Cory clone. Same story. Clay balls bad for Micro Octo.
I believe she is on the mend now. Back left corner. New growth looking healthy.
Last huge thanks to @EpiKatz for the Humboldt Sour Diesel auto seeds. Hope I can not overwater these. Last water was 4oz on top and the cotyledons turned brown the next day. Still hoping for the best.
My last effort to kill everyone was maintaining 80%rh. Since slowly corrected thanks to advice from @ifish and @GrouchyOldMan.
Feeding Jacks 202020. RO water to 5.8PH.
Cal mag. 79F and 70%Rh. 24hr
Forgot to mention…running the super small Sub micro octos here since @Jetdro bought all the good ones
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That’s some rig you’ve set up. Hope it works for you. I’m outdoors in the ground because it’s cheaper and being somewhat lazy, I don’t have to fiddle with the ladies much once they get started. Good luck!
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Quick tour
4x4 Vivosun tent
Viparspectra KS5000 light 500W
25 Gal AutoFeed Res to Controller
Controller brings up to 10 Sub Micro Octopups to same level via float valve
As each res drinks, each is refilled to same level in turn
RO water 0ppm. PH after nutes to 5.8
Jacks 202020 for veg +cal/mag. ~375ppm all in. Jacks later too.
2 fans hanging on upper roof pole pointing 70’ toward wall, bounce wind off tent
79F 70%Rh. maintained via inkbird
Bottom vents open, occasional exhaust to room (2x per day @1min)
Soooo, other than that exactly like outdoors
What I forgot to say was…if they look anything like yours, I’ll be hitting it out of the park!
Thanks for the visit!
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Ok, being the nerd I am, bought a nifty IR temp gun. Now I see a temp difference between top leaves 74-81f
I purchased the gun to verify leaf temp for vpd.
Funny thing…the leaves that are doing best are on the lower temps.
Temps are precision correct. Not sure of accuracy.
Either way. Any recs for maintaining a giod VPD with that much leaf temp variation? It is not location specific.
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Ha! Good one John. Well if you must nerd it, you’re the one to do it. But uhm…PH 5.8? Isn’t that on the acidic side? I thought pot likes it around 6.5, 7?
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Running hydro nutrients 5.8 is the low end. Usually end up around PH6.1 after sitting in the res for a few.
Agree w your take for soil PH nutes.
I have a chart. Let me look.
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Right about now he’s thinking…This is the guy that can’t water plants
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This is an ultimate you might head for, especially if you can’t water your plants. 
Keep at it. You can make it.
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So leaf test begins at 11:30pm.
PPFD decreased from 385 at leaf tip to ~200.
Will monitor this for 12 hrs and determine if >PPFD is an issue for poorer growing plants.
Seeds are FDM OG Breeder mix so unknown origin
Don’t feel like messing with height of light and unfortunately one drawback of VS light is you have graduated light settings. EX 25-50-75-100
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I just bought a new ViparSpectra light and I notice they’ve changed their approach to light adjustment for different growth stages.
For the VPS 1500XS Pro, they suggest keeping the light just 11" above the canopy at all stages, then adjusting the dimmer 25-50-75-100% as the plant matures. I’ve been following that with my current grow and so far the plants are lovin it.
-Grouchy
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I was unsure when I purchased so just did PPFD measurements from top of pot to light. The KS5000 provides these directions below.
Sure enough 28.9" provides 385 PPFD at 50%.
Wonder why the different take between the two models. Maybe the VS provides better heat sink capabilities or just smaller light so less heat generated. My tent is consistently 80-81F with ambient outside tent varying from 68-74F.
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Good luck with the og kush mix. That’s the one I would have gotten,if any…sadly I’m a control freak and need to know what I’m growing.
But I’m sure you’ll find some good stuff in them as I was always happy with FDM seeds.
Do you still have the sfv og going?
Thanks for the visit and the kind words. I have not opened the SVF yet. Still trying my best to make something of these FDM OG mix
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I can’t wait to see how they develop.
Happy gardening 
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,Ok, after getting RH down to 68% Temp is 78-82F. Using RO water that reads 11ppm.
Jacks 20-20-20 at 1 tsp per gal = 400ppm.
Add GH Calmagic at 3.8 ml to gal brings things up to 720 ppm.
24/0 light at 385 PPFD.
One big fan running Two small fans bouncing off side of tent downward.
My problem - Leaves are brown and turning crispy.
First observation - PH is rising quickly. Last time started at 5.8 now at 6.5 to 7.0 just short of 2 days later. PPM is dropping as is water level. Not as drastically as PH.
My first thought was the hydroton but I’m experiencing the same effect on those I oped out of clay balls.
Next thought was the compost I mixed in some. Again no significant difference with or without compost.
WTF is going on?
I did a full dump of all the reservoirs 4 days ago with clean refill after cleaning each res.
I have root tonic that will arrive tomorrow.
Also have added Garden friendly fungicide at 2ml gal (after 20:1 dilution) on refill 4 days ago/
Roots that were questionable at all were cut off. Not much root loss (less than 10%)
Photo tent
These are FDM OG breeder mix. All went into 3Gal pots on Jan 1. Yes they are small, I’ve been trying to kill them for a bit
Auto tent
Last pic is Stardawg Corey cut clone. All others are auto Sour Fro-yo.
Went into 3 Gal pots on 13 Jan
Any suggestions appreciated!
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No suggestions man, but i feel your pain on 20-20-20, ph 
and deep fried leaves brother. Going through the very same story. Mayhap the scrub and flush was just what the MD ordered… (i just did the same last weekend, mine seem a bit happier last couple days).
No shade on jacks or anything. This stuff has done me good before 
some funky juju goin on is all, we’ll figure it out 
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I refilled the main res w new PH’d nutes and raised the contol box height about 3/4" hopefully that will even out ph of existing. Tomorrow will tell…
This is crazy!
I even debated starting everything over since I purchased pro-mix vs the cheap lowe’s sphagnum moss but I don’t think that’s the cure either. If anything, untreated peat is lower in PH. My one worry was the cheap peat is seemingly hydrophobic but I don’t think this is the issue either. FYI… Pro-mix adds a wetting solution to solve this.
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People round these parts like that promix 
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