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#1
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My Tomatoes And Peppers Are Growing!
Not sure if this is the right section, but I'm pretty excited about it! I got the system working, everything seems stable so far. The water is due for a change sometime next week.
I included a picture of the valve I was talking about in the other thread that I use to control the water level. |
#2
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Awesome! Good job, just watch the nutes temp. Much above 80, 82 you will get root rot and kill everything...
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#3
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I will keep a watch on it though because we are gonna have a few days this summer above 90F. I will have balanced cold water ready for it if that happens. |
#4
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Update 05/19/2013:
Roots are an inch or two longer in the tomatoes, they are pretty healthy. No change in peppers. 55 Gallon Reservoir Readings Today: 442ppm (Dropped from 463 yesterday) PH Level of 6.4 (Slowly changing from rain) |
#5
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How does the valve control water level?
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#6
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By controlling the rate at which the water exits the pipe, although it's more effort than it's worth. Sometimes I spend hours outside trying to get the level right. So it works, only if you're willing to put in the effort. I'm going to get it changed soon, it's really annoying because last night I was outside until 2AM making sure it didn't overflow.
Any slight change is either too much or too little. And by a slight change I'm talking barely any change in the position. |
#7
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I'm assuming your using the same system you posted pictures of before, and the design is still the same. I made some drawings to show you how I would setup an overflow system in your system. It's quite simple, just get an end cap for the tubing (about $2). Then get two one inch PVC connectors. One a male connector like this PVC connector and one female connector like this one. Cut a hole in the center of the end cap just big enough to stick the threaded side of the male connector through it. You may need to use a spacer when you tighten it down to get it to snug down. The threads on PVC connectors are tapered, and don't go all the way on. They just get tighter until their too tight to screw on anymore. Once you have them tightly in place you should glue it in place as well. I like using pluming goop. Most hardware stores carry it, but the cheapest place I have found it is at Wal-Mart. Our Wal-Mart sells it in the pluming department for $3.94. Now cut a opening in the top of the "T" connector in your system so you can access the overflow tube that will be inside. Then glue the end cap in place. Don't glue the overflow tube that's inside the "T" connector so you can change it at will. If you want the water level in the system to be higher, just make the overflow tube longer. If you want to lower the water level, just cut the overflow tube shorter. As long as the overflow tube is at least twice as wide as the water line feeding the water into the system, you wont have water backing up in the system and you wont need to constantly be watching to make sure it doesn't overflow on you. |
#8
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Just an update of where I'm at so far. The peppers are not doing too good, I'm going to put them in the ground. So here are the tomatoes. Some of the leaves are starting to turn brown on them, so I did some searching and tried changing nutrients this morning. I also bumped the PPM up to 1300, is that too high? Seems a lot of people run in that range after a couple weeks.
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#10
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16.9oz of each this time for 50 gallons. Edit: The readings show 1,210PPM today. Last edited by FalseFlash; 05-30-2013 at 06:17 AM. |
#11
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The only thing I can take from the reply is you are using 16.9 oz of each gro, micro, and bloom, and I don't even know how your measuring it (I don't have anything accurate enough to measure fluid ounces down to 1 tenth of an ounce). You do know that the GH calculator has an option/setting for milliliters (ml) as well as fluid ounces. I can only assume from your reply that you choose not to use the additional additives, or you are using the same amount of all the additives as well. Assuming your measuring fluid ounces correctly, one fluid ounce equals 30 ml. So 30 ml x16.9= 507 ml. That's enough to make 51 gallons of full strength nutrient solution of the GH flora series. For small plants the size in your picture, I wouldn't be using more than a 1/2 strength nutrient. Even full size plants I would probably only be using 3/4 strength nutrients (375 ml for 50 gallons of water). Likely even just a 1/3 strength for plants that small. And I wouldn't be using any additives at all. For a 50 gallon reservoir, and plants that small I would be using between 166 ml (1/3 strength), 5.5 fluid oz. And no more than 250 ml (1/2 strength) 8.33 fluid ounces. Even less if it's hot. Bottom line 1/3 strength is fine for plants that small. If they grow well, I'd probably bump it up to 1/2 strength in a few weeks. P.S. I don't use PPM, TDS, or EC meters because they just cant tell me the only thing I want to know (what the level of "each" mineral salt is). I might get a EC meter in the future for general comparisons, but it's not something I would rely on. Also I think you were running the system as an NFT system. Because I know your having trouble getting the water level to be content, that may be a big problem with your system as well. A NFT system uses a "thin" layer of water running at the bottom of the trough. If the water level is much higher than that, you run the risk suffocating the roots. They need air/oxygen just as much as water. |
#12
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Sorry about that. I believe it would be about 2tsp per-gallon, but I measure it in a measuring cup in oz. The .9 would be 5tsp. I have not added anything extra yet, if I do I will be using less. The plain water is 218ppm (hard water). There is a lot of iron in our water, enough where we are changing our water filter weekly because it's so bad.
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Last edited by FalseFlash; 05-30-2013 at 02:55 PM. |
#13
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#14
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Ya, I plan on getting a better RO filter soon. Our current RO does not do very well. It only drops it to around 212. I planned on getting a 7-stage RO because I'm spending a lot on drinking water too, I'm not able to drink our tap water as it makes me sick when I do.
I'm switching to the hard water version of FloraMicro. Also dropped tomatoes down to 950ppm Last edited by FalseFlash; 05-31-2013 at 04:20 PM. |
#15
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Another update, they are really putting out growth now since I balanced the nutrients.
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#16
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Ya, they look like they have good form and color.
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