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First time growing in DWC. I ran a test grow with spare seed. The grow is fine with just few minor issues that seems to be fixed. Still dialing up the system.
Custom wooden grow box 90h 50w 35d cm. (~2ft2, 3ft height)
Led light is quantum board with lm281b+ rated at 120w. As per the recommendation of max~ 60W per ft2 I will use reduced power.
Germination
day 0 - seeds at wet paper towel
day 2 - American Pie germinated
day 3 - AK Mir germinated
day 4 - Nefertiti germinate, all good, moving to rockwool cubes
Led power 20W quantum board
day4 american pie seems to be dead, potted a new seed
day6 moving rockwool cubes to DWC
day7 very good grow after putting into DWC with ~10% nutes
day10 the plant is still on the 1st node. I started to thing there is something not correct. Thanks to the great advice from @ORGANOMAN I noticed that the plant is drowning. The rockwool cubes are submerged 2-3cm deep into the bubbling water. This makes the tiny roots suffocating. Also the rockwool cubes can hold a lot of water. Also when I was looking the pictures form the previous days the leaves were pointing downwards.
I lowered the water few mm below the meshpots. Shook the rockwool cubes to release unnecessary water.
day11 plant leaves seems to start pointing a little bit upwards, hope soon the plant will be recovered.
Major update: I finally completed version 1. It's semi-automatic with carbon filer, ventilation, led timer and temp control. Sure will needs some updates.
Currently:
Water volume ~17l (~4.5G)
Air pump: HAILEA ACO-7703 10l/m
Carbon filer: Can Original 75m3. - f100
in-line fan, 107m3/h, 14W
intake dust filter
Digital timer
LED: KQO "quantum board ", very good v/p ratio. I am waiting a 2nd to be delivered. At 40~50 the panel literally doesn't need cooling. Max power for the box dimension 0.16m2 (~2 ft2) should be around ~90W. 45w per panel but double the area.
Driver 400W DC-DC boost
Old laptop power supply 20V, 90W
80W PTC heater, temp controlled
12V centrifugal fan
upgrades: higher power heater due to increased ventilation (basement ~12C(53F))
day12: with the additional ventilation air temp can't reach 22 and stays at ~17C. Water temp is even lower at 12C.
Tomorrow I will an aquarium heater. Hopefully it will help enough with the air temperature.
day13: added 100W aquarium heater set to 18C (65F)
I germinated 2 new seeds (Nefertiti and AK Mir (and 4 test seeds)) as current seems to be stunned. added 1ml/l Advanced Nutrition root simulator 35ml/cube.
Removed aluminum foil for better air exchange. I removed the rockwool cubes, squeezed the excess water and placed them back. There is 1 root per cube that is visible. American Pie 2nd seed seems to be sprouting.
day14: new rockwool cubes seems fine, only bottom is wet.
2nd american pie seed germinated
Today is day 10 after seeds showed from rockwools. pH i 5.9, ppm is 200. Seems very slow growing or maybe I am too anxious.
Water level is ~2-3sm above the netpot bottom
Does it seems fine?
Thanks ORGANOMAN for the great advice.
I firstly removed the cover. It's in a colder place, so temps are ~20-22C (68-72F)
Seems that water is suffocating the roots as they are the rockwool cubes are submerged 2-3cm. I lowered the water just below the meshpots and waited for some water to drip from the rockwool cubes.
I will wait for 1-2 day for an update.
day15: yesterday I stopped the airpump as the hydroton was very wet. Seems that until the roots show up out of the netpot airpump is not needed. Now all the 3 plant are showing progress
day16: growing fine :)
day17: 5 seeds germinate (without unknown ones, marked with "T"). I will wait few days and will select best 3
day19: Meanwhile I put new seeds of the same strains. All germinated and I decided to give the new seeds chance. The "stuned" first batch seeds will go outdoor once they mature for 2-3 more weeks
pizza250
