the med cave

inthetrees

Active Member
Hey all...

Time for a bit of an intro i guess. It's been a long time since I ran a journal... Jesus.

Since finding paradise here I feel like this is a place to set up shop. I got into growing about 13 years ago where I learned from the threads on the old forums. I'm in Canada, so back then there was the MMAR but no buying licenses cheap like there is now. We were criminals not patients. As the years went on things took a turn for the worse with the forums and somewhere along the way they became less about learning and more about trolling. Needless to say I became a hermit for quite a few years.

I started off in a 4x4 tent, and somewhere along the line years later I got sucked into flying across the country to build and run a small x24 light facility. Never again. I've included a few pics of stuff from over the years below... I've made every mistake in the book, tried many styles of growing, dealt with pests of all sorts, been robbed, crop failures, crop successes, the list goes on. Funny how your priorities change over the years though right? My focus now is growing quality meds for myself to ease the pain from a recent motorcycle accident, and to help my mom who has had multiple hip surgeries. Through it all I still consider myself a student. I'm here to learn, and share my experiences. Comments, questions, and concerns are always welcome. Now for the journal...

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sfrigon1

Seed Aficionado
Hey all...

Time for a bit of an intro i guess. It's been a long time since I ran a journal... Jesus.

Since finding paradise here I feel like this is a place to set up shop. I got into growing about 13 years ago where I learned from the threads on the old forums. I'm in Canada, so back then there was the MMAR but no buying licenses cheap like there is now. We were criminals not patients. As the years went on things took a turn for the worse with the forums and somewhere along the way they became less about learning and more about trolling. Needless to say I became a hermit for quite a few years.

I started off in a 4x4 tent, and somewhere along the line years later I got sucked into flying across the country to build and run a small x24 light facility. Never again. I've included a few pics of stuff from over the years below... I've made every mistake in the book, tried many styles of growing, dealt with pests of all sorts, been robbed, crop failures, crop successes, the list goes on. Funny how your priorities change over the years though right? My focus now is growing quality meds for myself to ease the pain from a recent motorcycle accident, and to help my mom who has had multiple hip surgeries. Through it all I still consider myself a student. I'm here to learn, and share my experiences. Comments, questions, and concerns are always welcome. Now for the journal...

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Dude this place is the best . U are gonna love it here . Glad to have ya
 

inthetrees

Active Member
The Setup -

Due to power limitations I'm running x2 4x8 grow tents on a flip flop. Each tent...

x2 630w CMH Dual Bulb Fixtures with Phillips bulbs
6" 440cfm Inline Fan/filter combo
Passive intake setup / No co2 / No AC
x10 Site RDWC setup - Slightly altered Heisenbubbles setup
x12 Port 1750 GPH 110L/min Air Pump
Danner Mag Drive 950 GPH Water Pump

Genetics -

Ethos Orange Velvet Underground RBX
Ethos Glues RBX3
Ethos Early Lemon Berry

Just got out of the hospital a week ago after my bike accident. Only have use of one arm so needless to say shit has been going slow on the build lol. I managed to get one of the systems built and function tested last night. No leaks which was awesome.

Second system is built, just needs to be assembled. Hopefully have that done in the next day or two. Didn't pop beans yet as I wanted to make sure the systems were running good and everything gets another cleaning prior to droppin beans.

I have rubbermaids for days full of fittings and bullshit I need to sort. Still need to hook up the ventilation once the second system is running.

-itt

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High kev

Yankee seeds
Breeder
Hey all...

Time for a bit of an intro i guess. It's been a long time since I ran a journal... Jesus.

Since finding paradise here I feel like this is a place to set up shop. I got into growing about 13 years ago where I learned from the threads on the old forums. I'm in Canada, so back then there was the MMAR but no buying licenses cheap like there is now. We were criminals not patients. As the years went on things took a turn for the worse with the forums and somewhere along the way they became less about learning and more about trolling. Needless to say I became a hermit for quite a few years.

I started off in a 4x4 tent, and somewhere along the line years later I got sucked into flying across the country to build and run a small x24 light facility. Never again. I've included a few pics of stuff from over the years below... I've made every mistake in the book, tried many styles of growing, dealt with pests of all sorts, been robbed, crop failures, crop successes, the list goes on. Funny how your priorities change over the years though right? My focus now is growing quality meds for myself to ease the pain from a recent motorcycle accident, and to help my mom who has had multiple hip surgeries. Through it all I still consider myself a student. I'm here to learn, and share my experiences. Comments, questions, and concerns are always welcome. Now for the journal...

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inthetrees

Active Member
Dropped x28 beans Tuesday night at 6 PM, using shot glass method. Had a fml moment and dropped one of the vials on the ground which then smashed. Spent a half hour looking for the x2 missing Glue beans but no luck. As of noon today I had 100% germ rate on the x28. Soaked cubes in bucket /w 1/4 nutes (150 PPM) and tap (125 PPM) pH @ 5.9. Couple hours later no change in bucket pH. Put beans into cubes and into dome /w heat mat.

System 1 - Spent the last 2 days running water + high concentration of h202 through system. No leaks. Soaked all the old air stones in same solution replaced air lines with new ones, and cut them all the same length this time. Half done insulating the buckets. What a pain in the ass to do with only one working hand.

System 2 - Finished PVC cementing front and back manifolds. Assembled and tightened bulkheads. Missing a 1" to 3/4" adapter for the return line so unable to function test the system for leaks. Ordered another Daner 950 Mag drive pump for this system, should arrive on Wednesday. Rigged up the charcoal filter as well.

6" Flanged wall adapters showed up today so I'll be picking up a sheet of 1/2" plywood tomorrow so I can get the window covered and exhaust venting connected. Ambient temps in the basement are super low and are static even during daytime so I'm eager to see what temps in the tents will be once everything is fired up.

-itt
 

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inthetrees

Active Member
Got the ventilation tied in and fired up one of the tents to see how the temps would be. Hot af was the answer. I'm far north but we've had a heat wave lately here that's had daytime highs of 28-35C so I expected things to be hot. Ambient temp of the basement has been 72F lately. Unfortunately running this passive setup the negative pressure in the basement draws the hot air from the main floor down the stairs, so within 5 hours the basement was at 77F. Tent started at 70F and ended up at 92F. The way I jimmy rigged the ventilation to function test the first tent was far from optimal... Given the differential between inside/outside temp of the tent I knew I had to take some turns and curves out of the ducting and look for some cooling options.

Installed an 8000 BTU window banger and revamp the room so that the ac would be more efficient. Ended up having a pile of more room and cleaner venting runs. Finished wrapping the buckets and connecting pipes on the first tent. Just need to finish wrapping the end manifolds. Still need to seal around the AC and window framing, and then insulate the plywood around the AC unit.

Ordered up a 100 GPD 6-Stage RO/DI osmosis system, as well as a 12GPM UV Filtration unit as per Heisenbubbles advice in his thread.

Once I get everything setup and dialed in I'll see what the temps are sitting at.... Going to throw a 3rd 630w in one of the tents and see what the temps will do... If air and water temps are manageable then I'll order up another x2 630's...

-itt

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inthetrees

Active Member
Good Morning all... Kinda fell behind on the updates as things got a little hectic here the past week.

UV and RO system is setup now and I also installed x2 55 gallon drums. Using one for RO storage and the second for mixing nutrients for system flushes. Float valves showed up so I'll be heading out today to get the 1/4" Pex bulkheads/adapters for the 35 gal totes that will be my top-off reservoirs. After the issues I've had the past week, I now understand how imperative it is to be able to know exactly how much the plants are drinking. I'm going to remove the PVC manifolds that I have coming off the discharge end of pumps, and using Heisenbubbles setup with the hose and adapter into the epi. His design is better and more user friendly.

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As for the plants, I had some major issues the last week as a few of you saw in Medigrows post I unintentionally hijacked (sorry dude). Many mistakes were made, but it was a great learning experience. I should have given more time before moving the cubes into the system. Regardless of the lights being as high up as possible, I believe the intensity was too much and the plants weren't established enough to take it. That in conjunction with ppm and pH issues, everything snowballed fast. Thank god for the community members here who took the time to lend a hand yesterday. I can't thank you guys enough. I ended up increasing the ppms from 250 to 550-600, and dropping the pH from 6-6.1 to 5.6.

Left pic below was yesterday afternoon, and the one on the right was taken this morning @ lights on... I can't believe how fast shit can turn around in these systems.

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I also introduced UC Roots @ 6mL/gallon the second it was delivered yesterday. That shit isn't easy to find up here, nor is it cheap. Luckily my local shop is going to bring in a 5 gallon buckets for me as needed at a wicked price. 12 hours after introducing it into the systems I'm seeing white bubbles/foam collecting on the insides of the buckets. I'm assuming that's normal? Or is that a bad sign to see? I also noticed that my air stones are pounding allot more bubbles now after adding it, regardless of pre-soaking them in heavy h2o2 before running.

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Other than that, the velvet underground are doing even better now. The pH has risen in both systems by .2 in the last 12 hours, so I'll drop back to 5.6 once it drifts to 6.3. PPM's stayed the same @ 550 in the velvet system overnight, but the Lemonberry's which were the hurting ones saw a 35ppm drop. Water levels were TSTM, but that will be fixed once I get the top-up reservoirs installed today.

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Just want to say that between reading through new and old threads all last night, and between all the help I received yesterday, this place truly is paradise. Amazing to see so many individuals coming together to share their experience and taking the time to help out one another...

-itt
 

inthetrees

Active Member
Things are going pretty decent in the cave... Velvet's have fully recovered and taken right off. Lemon Berry's are dragging their asses still, but they'll catch up in no time.

The Meijiu A8-650's finally showed up today! Hard to believe how much cooler these things run compared to the CMH's... Adjusting the height on them was a pain considering all the hurdles in the room and my size. I can't wait to see what these will do compared to the CMH's. Worst case ontario they are the same performance as the CMH's I'll still order x2 for the other tent based off how much better my environment is now.

1/4" Bulkheads arrived as well so I'll be able to get the top-off reservoirs tied in and filled tomorrow. Cords to clean up and lights to start moving down daily, but I finally feel like the work is coming to and end... So good to see green in the tents now :)

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Old ST1R

Grow Yer Own Stone
Hey Man! Welcome from another Canuck, eh!

A few of us from the great white north here in Paradise.

I’m in the Calgary area. Whereabouts are you?
 

inthetrees

Active Member
Hey Man! Welcome from another Canuck, eh!

A few of us from the great white north here in Paradise.

I’m in the Calgary area. Whereabouts are you?
Hey dude! I'm up in Grande Prairie, originally from the Okanagan. Good to know there's more of us here :) Yeah we had that week or two of summer weather and now shes full tilt fall weather. Man its doing wonders for my temps now though lol
 

Old ST1R

Grow Yer Own Stone
Hey dude! I'm up in Grande Prairie, originally from the Okanagan. Good to know there's more of us here :) Yeah we had that week or two of summer weather and now shes full tilt fall weather. Man its doing wonders for my temps now though lol
Still having a heat wave here. I’m so excited to start my next grow. I’ll be poppin beans in about a week!
 
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