habanero leaves curling

[chinamon]

i have two golden habanero plants in DWC buckets under a 400watt hps but the leaves are curling a bit. is it the heat from the light?

[GpsFrontier]

Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. Though I am wondering what the air temp at the plants is. I have a feeling if you think it might be an issue, it probably is to high (even if it is not the problem). I would vent the heat out to eliminate it as an issue anyway. Pepper plants like warm climates but I wouldn't want the temp to get much above 80 degrees. I also would make sure the nutrient solution's temp was between 68 and 72 degrees consistently. Then check the pH level daily and change the nutrient solution once a week at least until they were looking healthy. These things I would just do anyway, I don't know if it will solve the problem but it should eliminate them as a problem.

[chinamon]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. Though I am wondering what the air temp at the plants is. I have a feeling if you think it might be an issue, it probably is to high (even if it is not the problem). I would vent the heat out to eliminate it as an issue anyway. Pepper plants like warm climates but I wouldn't want the temp to get much above 80 degrees. I also would make sure the nutrient solution's temp was between 68 and 72 degrees consistently. Then check the pH level daily and change the nutrient solution once a week at least until they were looking healthy. These things I would just do anyway, I don't know if it will solve the problem but it should eliminate them as a problem.

i just moved the light a little higher from the plants so it is about 3.5ft above the buckets now (they are still tiny plants). the light was around 2.5ft above the plants before but i do not know the temperature it was then. i put a thermometer (took it from my freezer) and put it on the bucket and it says around 27C (80F). unfortunately i do not have a thermometer to test the water yet cuz i do not want to get this one dirty since it goes around food. also, i am using a vortex 4" fan. i am thinking about getting an aircooled reflector but i dont know anyone using one inside a tent and if it is worth the money.

[chinamon]

i just changed the nutrient water and it did feel like the water was a little on the warm side. i will have to buy an aquarium thermometer soon so i can check it for sure. what if the water is too warm? how can i cool it? it would be kind of hard to do in a 2x4ft grow tent.

[GpsFrontier]

i put a thermometer (took it from my freezer) and put it on the bucket and it says around 27C (80F)

If it's the type like we have in our freezer that changes color with the temp, I don't think it is very accurate. There is too much room for interpretation with the different colors, also they are usually calibrated for cold temps. The high temp is usualy at the edge of its limits making it less accurate. I would get a regular room thermometer to be more accurate. I don't know what your budget is like but you could also get a "ACURITE" weather station like I have with a remote sensor. It tells you the air temp, humidity and even bromidic air temp. It even has a memory button that will tell you the high and lows for the whole day. I got it at Wal-mart for 30 or 40 bucks. I have the remote sensor outside but you could keep it near the plants. It also has a flat panel LED moniter that ether mounts to a wall or you can set it on a table or desk like a picture frame.

i am using a vortex 4" fan. i am thinking about getting an aircooled reflector but i dont know anyone using one inside a tent and if it is worth the money.

I don't know what kind of money that is myself, But I would never buy a fan from a hydroponic store or website. There is just too many choices of fans at Home Depot and Lowe's to choose from. If you need a custom fit, that's easy to figure out also. If you need to run the ventilation outside or somewhere the heating and AC ducting works great, and you can custom fit it to just about anything. Send me a private message If you want some help with that, just give me some details of your setup (pictures would help also) and what kind budget you are working with and I will try to give you some ideas.

i just changed the nutrient water and it did feel like the water was a little on the warm side. i will have to buy an aquarium thermometer soon so i can check it for sure. what if the water is too warm? how can i cool it? it would be kind of hard to do in a 2x4ft grow tent.

If the water is warm to the touch it is defiantly too warm. Body temp is between 96-98 degrees so it should defiantly feel cool to the touch. I have dealt with this problem myself because I live in the desert where it reaches 128 degrees in the summer and all my plants were outside. To fix this you should first figure out what is causing the water temp to rise, its absorbing heat from somewhere. There are a few ways to cool it down that I know of including ice (that can dilute the solution) that are inexpensive. If you can keep it from warming up in the first place that would be the best defense. It would help to let me know details like how many gallons of nutrient solution, the air temp of where the reservoir is stored is, if it's inside or outside, what type of container it is in. I also don't know how your set up, if everything needs to remain in the grow tent or can you move the reservoir outside of it.

[chinamon]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

If it's the type like we have in our freezer that changes color with the temp, I don't think it is very accurate. There is too much room for interpretation with the different colors, also they are usually calibrated for cold temps. The high temp is usualy at the edge of its limits making it less accurate. I would get a regular room thermometer to be more accurate. I don't know what your budget is like but you could also get a "ACURITE" weather station like I have with a remote sensor. It tells you the air temp, humidity and even bromidic air temp. It even has a memory button that will tell you the high and lows for the whole day. I got it at Wal-mart for 30 or 40 bucks. I have the remote sensor outside but you could keep it near the plants. It also has a flat panel LED moniter that ether mounts to a wall or you can set it on a table or desk like a picture frame.

i used a mercury thermometer.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

I don't know what kind of money that is myself, But I would never buy a fan from a hydroponic store or website. There is just too many choices of fans at Home Depot and Lowe's to choose from. If you need a custom fit, that's easy to figure out also. If you need to run the ventilation outside or somewhere the heating and AC ducting works great, and you can custom fit it to just about anything. Send me a private message If you want some help with that, just give me some details of your setup (pictures would help also) and what kind budget you are working with and I will try to give you some ideas.

it was $170CAD plus shipping. already bought and in use so i wont be getting rid of it. it is 172cfm and i havent seen anything that powerful in this size at any home improvement store.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

If the water is warm to the touch it is defiantly too warm. Body temp is between 96-98 degrees so it should defiantly feel cool to the touch. I have dealt with this problem myself because I live in the desert where it reaches 128 degrees in the summer and all my plants were outside. To fix this you should first figure out what is causing the water temp to rise, its absorbing heat from somewhere. There are a few ways to cool it down that I know of including ice (that can dilute the solution) that are inexpensive. If you can keep it from warming up in the first place that would be the best defense. It would help to let me know details like how many gallons of nutrient solution, the air temp of where the reservoir is stored is, if it's inside or outside, what type of container it is in. I also don't know how your set up, if everything needs to remain in the grow tent or can you move the reservoir outside of it.

that is my setup.
i think the water is getting warm because the buckets are black. i thought about spray painting them white but that would cause a disaster because i would have to wait for the paint to dry and i have nowhere to put the plants in the meantime. also, if i paint the lids i am afraid of the paint chipping and getting in to the water. i think the best way would be to use a white bucket and use some sort of black plastic liner inside... or maybe even just cover the bucket with a white plastic bag instead of painting it.
i would need to keep the whole setup within the tent as there is no room in my house for this (my parents would kill me) and i cannot move it outside (they will kill me again). the air temp of where the reservoir is stored is 27C, the same temp as where i measured the temp at plant/bucket level.

the only difference with my setup and the pic is i have moved the ballast outside the tent.

[GpsFrontier]

a mercury thermometer should be OK. 80 degrees should be OK for the air temp.

it was $170CAD plus shipping. already bought and in use so i wont be getting rid of it. it is 172cfm and i havent seen anything that powerful in this size at any home improvement store.

That would be way to expensive for me to consider. The portable box fan in my room that I use at night would be more CFM than that I am sure, and it only cost $20. Of coarse you would need to adapt it for the situation but that's no problem for me. There are plenty other options also like a simple bathroom vent fan I quickly found online. This one puts out 70 CFM and is only $19.95. Home depot and Lowe's have dozens of them to choose from. Not to mention all the portable blower and box fans to choose from. If you used this exact bathroom vent fan and used 3 of them, it would only cost $60 and give you 210 CFM total. These bathroom vent fans come in all sizes, shapes and CFM's and work perfect for cabinet growing structures. But don't worry you already have a fan.

i think the water is getting warm because the buckets are black

If the ambient air temp is 80 degrees in that confined space I am guessing that the water temp will be about the same, maybe higher depending on how much the buckets absorb from the light. I wouldn't disturb the plants to paint them but if you could cover them with something. I would use silver bubble wrap insulation.

i would need to keep the whole setup within the tent as there is no room in my house for this (my parents would kill me) and i cannot move it outside (they will kill me again). the air temp of where the reservoir is stored is 27C, the same temp as where i measured the temp at plant/bucket level.

Its kind of hard to tell how you are running the delivery and recovery of the nutrients from the picture. I am not sure if each bucket is its own reservoir or you have a single one for all the plants that doesn't seem to appear in the picture. You seem to have a lot of limitations and I don't know how many gallons of solution you need to cool down. Funny thing about that is you would think the less to cool down the better but that is not exactly the case. Yes it will cool down faster but on the other side it will warm up faster also. By the looks of the buckets I am guessing you have about 5-15 gallons of nutrients.

Because the nutrients need to remain inside the tent and from the picture I don't think you can use geothermal energy because you said it is not inside but it's not outside ether, so I assume there is some sort of floor. Assuming you have a single reservoir feeding all 4 plants I would try to generate your own geothermal energy. I would use a inexpensive Styrofoam ice chest (thicker is better). Get a copper coil splice it into the line you run from the pump to the plants. Set the copper coil into the Styrofoam chest, then fill the chest with Ice water. That way when the pump turns on, it pumps the nutrients through the coils submerges in the ice water cooling it down before it reaches the plants. You will probably need to change the ice water daily but if the nutrients are not excessively hot, that would probably do the trick. You could also use a plastic or vinyl tube for the coil but metal will transfer the heat better.

[chinamon]

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

Its kind of hard to tell how you are running the delivery and recovery of the nutrients from the picture. I am not sure if each bucket is its own reservoir or you have a single one for all the plants that doesn't seem to appear in the picture. You seem to have a lot of limitations and I don't know how many gallons of solution you need to cool down. Funny thing about that is you would think the less to cool down the better but that is not exactly the case. Yes it will cool down faster but on the other side it will warm up faster also. By the looks of the buckets I am guessing you have about 5-15 gallons of nutrients.

Because the nutrients need to remain inside the tent and from the picture I don't think you can use geothermal energy because you said it is not inside but it's not outside ether, so I assume there is some sort of floor. Assuming you have a single reservoir feeding all 4 plants I would try to generate your own geothermal energy. I would use a inexpensive Styrofoam ice chest (thicker is better). Get a copper coil splice it into the line you run from the pump to the plants. Set the copper coil into the Styrofoam chest, then fill the chest with Ice water. That way when the pump turns on, it pumps the nutrients through the coils submerges in the ice water cooling it down before it reaches the plants. You will probably need to change the ice water daily but if the nutrients are not excessively hot, that would probably do the trick. You could also use a plastic or vinyl tube for the coil but metal will transfer the heat better.

each bucket is its own nutrient. it is a DWC (deep water culture) system and each bucket has its own air stone. they are 3gal buckets but i only have about 2-2.5gal in there right now. when the roots grow more i will decrease it.

[chinamon]

i just stuck my finger in the nutes in each bucket and they are cool to the touch. i think i just need to vent the warm air from the fan somewhere but i havent decided where yet. there is a small window near by but if i used that then the fan would be sucking out all the heat during our frigid winter (and air conditioning during the summer).

[GpsFrontier]

Originally Posted by chinamon

i just stuck my finger in the nutes in each bucket and they are cool to the touch. i think i just need to vent the warm air from the fan somewhere but i havent decided where yet. there is a small window near by but if i used that then the fan would be sucking out all the heat during our frigid winter (and air conditioning during the summer).

We a are still getting 107 degree days where I live. If your winters are that cool reversing the fan so it sucks in the outside air will work far better than trying to suck out the hot air from the tent. You may need to regulate it so it doesn't get too cold. Like using a Y connector, and a butterfly valve on the side that runs to the window. The other end of the Y connector would run outside the tent but inside the window. Unless the tent is air tight this will cool down the room somewhat.

During the summer, if the room the tent is located in has a central heating and ac vent and your parents don't mind, you may be able to utilize that source for the cool air. The lights give off heat and there is nothing that you can do to change that unless you get different lights, so that heat needs to go somewhere. If you can use the AC for cool air during the summer then you can vent the exhaust out the window, though I think that the lights would genorate much more heat than you can get rid of. You may need to still use a system like I described in the other post as well as insulate each bucket and the reservoir to achieve the right water temp.

Again, I know that you want to keep everything inside the tent. But if you could talk your parents into letting you keep the plants outside, you could use the free sunlight for light, and just keep the nutrient holding tank inside the window. Then just run the feed and return lines through the window. You would need to keep the plants above the window level so gravity will bring the nutrients back inside the window, otherwise you would need another pump for that. You will still need to do something to cool the nutrients down but you wont be heating up the room the tent is in and wasting all that AC, as well as saving all that electricity the lights and fans would be using. (NOTE: you will need to insulate the buckets the plants are in to help keep the root zone cool. If the nutrient solution is cool the root zone will be cool.)