The Hawaiian Lion (right) and Tricho Jordan (left) are the two plants that dominate the face-on tent photos, and for good reason. Each of those plants is twice the mass of either Chimera. The HL is superior in bud sites, resin, and terp intensity, but the Tricho and the good Chimera #3 are both not too far off in resin production and aroma profiles. The weird runt is frosting up too, so we're looking at getting something unique and quality from each.
That is, if I don't muck this up.
I fed last night, and as part of that process, I mix my nutrients in a four gallon batch at a double(ish) strength. I then add that to my reservoir, which is shut off at that time. This allows me to work in the res, to both get the ppms right and the ph within range. I just use plain water to level off the ppms and then I adjust for ph.
What I didn't do last night is TURN back on the flow of water from the reservoir. However, you wouldn't have guessed it from how the plants woke up today (see first image). I normally check the bases of each plant daily, and in doing so today, I noticed that one felt slight dry. All tanks were empty, but all plant bases were somewhere between wet to moist. This is how I spot check, and it's worked in the past. This isn't the first time these tanks have had a catastrophic issue leading to an unexpected no flow sitch.
There's a filter that sits between the reservoir tank and the primary feed line. That has unexpectedly clogged on me in the past, but with no deleterious effect to the grow. That was caught within a day as well by testing the plant bases. I don't blame autopot for either event.
Obviously, last night I was a baked potato and just forgot a step. The clog is because I use yucca in my mix, which is an organic material that over time in the reservoir leads to build up. I'm afraid to introduce hydrogen peroxide into the set-up, so I'm just maintaining my reservoir by cleaning it fully every other week for now. I don't want to kill off the bacteria in the environment. I'm also using some fungus, too, so I'd rather promote coexistence of a microbiome than serialize it, especially considering the plants seem to be on pace.