Pound Town Auto (DWC, cabinet, first grow)

ScoobyDoobert Moved from Aerogarden (germination) to RDWC setup on 1/25/24. Started with FF pH down (citric acid). Large pH fluctuations over the course of a few hours. Res has 6 airstones powered by 2 separate pumps (AC Infinity dual output air pumps). One pump runs 6in. airstones (2), while the other pump runs 4 smaller airstones that came with the pumps (t-splitter on each output. Water pump (AC Infinity) has line split off of output to a DIY adjustable top-feed drip system, the other line goes to the other side of the res (opposite the pump) to keep water and nutes movin'. Pump is set to turn on every 2 hours for 20 minutes. Began with pump "flow rate" selector wide open.

ScoobyDoobert Swapped my pH down from Fox Farms (Citric Acid) to General Hydroponics (Phosphoric Acid) and had much more stable pH results. Had what I believe was drift on my multiparameter (Apera PC60), but my nute strength and other variables (addition of Southern AG GFF) may have just been throwing numbers off. The info above is after recalibration though. Regardless, I think my nutes were far too high (7ml A + 7ml B per gallon). My oscillating fan was an AC Infinity gen 1, so the oscillation didn't funciton properly and it remained static at the lowest setting.

ScoobyDoobert Switched to 20 hour light cycle on 2/8/24. Swapped res and mild cleaning on 2/10/24. Still adding GFF, but even at .5ml, it may have been too much given the concentration of the bacteria. Nutes still way too high and nitrogen toxicity started to show (pH 6.03, 1873us, 1.37 ppt, .96 sal, 65.5 F right after swap). After 64fl oz. water in the res was removed and a smallish pour of distilled water was added, the levels were still much too high. I didn't get back to try and fix the issue again for 2 days, but removed more water that day and diluted more and more over the next few days. By end of day 2/14/24, the res read at: pH 6.03, 1118us, 797ppm, .56 sal. 2/14/24, lights were slightly raised (were ~15"), and turned to level 5 reading at ~400ppfd and ~28dli.

ScoobyDoobert Nothing much changed this week, but started showing signs of pre-flower. Light slightly raised on 2/18/24 to maintain ~18" and was turned up to setting 6 or ~420ppfd/~30dli. Res on 2/15/24 started at: pH 6.1, 1106us, 778 ppm, .55 sal. By 2/21/24, it was reading: ~6.0 pH ( pH down added daily), 839us, 599 ppm, .42 sal. Inline fan was on setting 2-4 but humidity was becoming an apparent issue. Gen 2 AC Infinity fan came so I was able to use oscillation by the end of the week as well.

ScoobyDoobert I think last week of veg, but don't really know what I'm talking about. Seemed to get past veg/pre-flower closer to the end of the week. 2/23/24, res was swapped and wiped down. It read at: pH 5.95, 942us, 669 ppm, .47sal directly after. Nutes were 1/8 manufacturer recommended dose Grow, and 1/4 recommended Bloom. 2/25/24, res read: pH 5.8, 832us, 590 ppm, .42sal, 68 F. 2/27/24, one gallon of nute water added. Gallon had 2ml Grow A, 2ml Grow B, 4ml Bloom A, and 4ml Bloom B. An hour later with the pump on, the res read: pH 5.93, 758us, 539 ppm, .38sal, and 68.5 F. 2/28/24, 16 hours after the last reading, the res read at: pH 6.13, 690us, 492 ppm, .34sal, and 68.2 F. Light raised to ~20" on 2/24/24. It was set to 9 and read at 450ppfd or ~32.5dli. On 2/27/24, a small dehumidifier was added (Pro Breeze 16oz.) as well as a small heater (Lasko MyHeat 200W) and both connected to an Inkbird temperature and humidity controller. The heater is set to off regardless as temps seemed to be rising right before I got it. The dehumidifier is likely underpowered, but given the space I have to work with, I couldn't find many options. Humidity remains a big problem, usually staying in the lowish 60s. Inline fan running at 6.