Nimbo’s FB hydroponic grow -HSS

NIMS_frexy Hello gromies, I am chronicling my second grow ever and wanted to take y’all on this journey. I am a long time lurker first time poster so please bear with me…In my first grow I did 3 coco plants on self watering bases and 4 hydroponic plants.. unfortunately the plants in hydro didn’t make it but I’m not discouraged yet. I decided to go all in on hydro and i wanted to provide an annoyingly detailed journal for my own growth and any other newbies. I am extremely pedantic as it is so i will try to be that way in this journal.. I apologize in advance. And please provide any and all feedback it’s all welcome. I did attempt to germinate 9 seeds but I only have 8 buckets - I think if I train the plants right I could always throw one of those girls into some coco-coir on an auto watering pot unless they just grow to be massive I guess we will see if we make it that far. 📅 May 31 (Day 0) — Seed Germination & PreparationActivity: Placed 9 seeds into paper towels inside sandwich bags under a plate. Set on a heating mat regulated to 77°F. Method Adjustment: Upgraded process from Run #1 by adjusting the germination water to 6.09 pH and adding a few drops of hydrogen peroxide for sterility.Environment & Maintenance Task: Began deep cleaning and insulating the grow buckets. Note: My in-house ambient temperature fluctuates between 62°F–72°F in summer, but the basement grow tents can climb above 80°F especially with all the lights on . Action: Insulated and wrapped the Vivosun 5-gallon buckets to deflect radiant heat and protect reservoir temperatures. Left the Spider Farmer buckets as-is for comparison. 📅 June 1 (Day 0.5) — Equipment Modifications:Germination Status: Checked seeds; no visible taproots emerged yet.System Modification: Constructed custom bucket lids utilizing 3.5-inch net pots for the Vivosun 5-gallon buckets.Reasoning: Swapped out the standard factory 6-inch net pots to make light-blocking management easier and prevent over-filling or burying the young seedlings. 📅 June 2 (Day 2) — Sprout Transition & Root Evaluation Germination Status: 100% success rate (9 out of 9 seeds germinated).Root Morphology Audit:4 seeds: Excellent, straight taproots.3 seeds: Slightly curved but pointing downward.2 seeds: Clear "J-curve" configuration.1 seed: Advanced curvature (nearly a complete loop).Action Taken: Carefully transferred all 9 sprouted seeds out of the paper towels and tucked them into Organiplugs (VPS). Placed the plugs back onto the seedling heat mat in a humidity dome. Next Steps: Moving the seedlings downstairs into the basement grow tent tomorrow to establish baseline environmental monitoring (temp/VPD). 📅 June 3 - (Day 3) Tent migration I’ve moved the seedlings and their mat into my vacant tent. After culminating as much research as i could i read that they should be between .6-.1 kpa which at 73 degrees is 64rh-78rh with the dome off. I’ve seen a lot of grows where the domes are kept on till they cut their true leaves but I’ve read so much different stuff at this point so I’m just gonna go with them being without thier domes 📅 June 6 - (Day 6) Transplant to DWC All my technical typing is leaving the room for this one because I’m not gonna lie day was hectic lol, i might be being over dramatic but i wouldn’t be suprised if they all perished - so i was checking the organic plugs today and noticed they all had roots busting out the bottom and sides even though those second set of true leaves didn’t pop. Looking at other journals i saw some people put their plants in early so long as the roots are there and googling was telling me the roots were at risk if i didn’t probably handle the moisture and it would be better to put them in there final pots now- so began the most stressful Saturday of my life. To begin this chaotic day - for some reason, i couldn’t find the lids to my buckets then math on my nutrients were WAY off so i had to dilute them pretty heavily - my tap water is like 125-160 ppm- kinda depends on the day… i have a 50 gallon tank the water in my basement that i was using a resovoir to mix all my nutes for all 8 buckets each 5 gallon bucket uses about 3.5 gallons roughly and each 7 gallon bucket uses 5 so i should have more than enough water for filling an top offs however lol…i mixed for week double the nutes so that water was at 750 ppm..but diluting the water i got it down to 325-360 and then reduced the ph to 5.9-6.0 - first plant i moved over from the seedling tray- i placed a neoprene collar on it to help block light but that collar when i pushed it down bent very weirdly and then expanded a bit and ripped the plant from its roots..that made it all too risky so i ditched the collars and just used the pebbles and pebbled up the best i could in all the net pots. I def didn’t consider this crowder tent would be either i measure the square footage in my head of each bucket and knew there would be space but didnt factor in the fact my 6’1 300 lb self would be in there too setting everything up and how hot it would be in there trying to do this during the day even with the grow light off it was very painful. Then i couldn’t find the lids to the spider farm buckets because my wife rinsed them clean and had them upstairs…and then lastly the pump for the spider farm was missing its silicon tube connector so i had to take one from an old aquarium pump to supplement the missing equipment..but at this point all the plants were already in net pots.. for like an hour before i could move them and figure all these missing pieces and assembling things together. A part of me thinks that hour could be detrimental the other side of me is thinking maybe they will be fine. They still were on a good environment for that hour just not the way i wanted them to be 📅 June 6 - (Day 6) Transplant to DWC It was quite the day so buckle in. Overview & Environmental Stats The Catalyst: Noticed roots busting out the bottom and sides of the organic starter plugs. Despite the second set of true leaves not being fully open yet, decided to transplant early to protect the root systems from moisture management issues in the seedling tray. Water Source: Tap water base (fluctuates between 125–160 PPM). Target Solution (Post-Dilution): 325–360 PPM | pH 5.9–6.0. Reservoir Volume: 50-gallon mixing tank in the basement. System Requirements: ~3.5 gallons per 5-gallon bucket (x4) and ~5 gallons per 7-gallon bucket (x4). Total volume needed: ~34 gallons. The Chaos Log (What Went Wrong & Adjustments Made) Nutrient Math Error: Initially mixed double the required nutrients for the stage, resulting in a hot 750 PPM solution. Successfully diluted the reservoir back down to a safe 325–360 PPM range and stabilized pH. The Collar Incident: Attempted to use neoprene collars to block light on the first plant. The collar bent awkwardly upon insertion and expanded, tearing the seedling away from its root system. Fix: Immediately abandoned the collars. Loaded the remaining net pots entirely with clay pebbles, packing them tightly to support the stems and block light. Missing Equipment & Ergonomics: Spider Farmer lids had been moved upstairs for cleaning, causing a frantic search. Spider Farmer air pump was missing its silicone tubing connector. Scavenged a replacement connector from an old aquarium pump to get the air flowing. The 4x4 tent was incredibly cramped and hot while trying to maneuver eight large buckets and a 6'1", 300 lb frame inside it during the day. The Delay: Due to the missing pieces and assembly troubleshooting, the seedlings sat in their net pots outside of the water/humidity dome for about an hour before the system was fully turned on.