Another week, another lesson...  We've been learning a lot more about water in recent weeks.  We've just purchased a new water filter for the plants.  Here's why:

Many of the supplements that we frequently use contain beneficial organisms that are helpful to the plants.  Until now, we've always used normal, unfiltered, city water for our hydroponics.  Our results have been pretty good, but we think that there's room for improvement.  Why filter?  Our city water contains chlorine.  It also contains chloramine.  There are a few differences between the two...

Standard "chlorine" isn't really the clean chemical chorline, it's actually HOCl (chloric acid).  It's used all over the place for water treatment.  This will kill biologicals in your water, that's why it's there.  However, there's an upside:  It's got a relatively short "half life" in your water.  It evaporates out in about 48 hours.

Chloramine are a different breed,  It's a more stable compound, and it won't evaporate out of your water at all.  It's formula is NH₂Cl, and it's quite tricky to remove from your water.

Hence our new purchase.

We've bought a Hydro-Logic Small Boy filter.  It's capable of running in-line with our fill line for the tanks, it's pretty small, and the price was reasonable.  We did a lot of reading, and it was the best deal for a chloramine-capable filter.

Sadly we haven't used it yet.  We've got a water change next week, so it will see some action.  Note:  It's got attachments to run hose-thread.  That's a plus. 

This week's eggplant photo:

And the overview photo:

Plant	Type	Status
#01	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#02	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#03	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#04	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#05	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#06	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#07	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#08	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#09	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	We've cut back the eggplant to give it more light, as it was really under the canopy.  It's obviously not as developed as the others, but it's healthy.
#10	Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Heirloom Tomato	Removed on 11/18/2007.  It wasn't doing very well.
#11	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Previously killed through personal stupidity.
#12	Bambino Baby Eggplant	Lots of flowers and fruit. The largest fruits have a diameter of 1.5", and are growing fast.
#13	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#14	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#15	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#16	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Tasty.  Eaten on 09/29/2007.
#17	Lime Basil	Gone to seed.  Removed
#18	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Killed off as of 11/13/2007.  It wasn't doing well, and we ended its run.

We've made lots of advancements this week.  Some are technical, some are procedural, and some are just plain practical...

I briefly mentioned our new EC/PPM meter last week.  We'd just gotten it, so I didn't have much to say at the time.  Now that we've had some time with it, I can comment in a more intelligent manner.  On the advice of someone much wiser than ourselves, we bought a BlueLab Truncheon.  Although we haven't had it for a long time yet, we really do love it.  It's very ergonomic, self-calibrating, and very easy to use.  No complaints whatsoever.  It's really a winner.  Not to mention, it's pheonominal for stirring a nutrient solution.

Additionally, we're still quite happy with our relatively new pH meter (an Oakton pHTestr Basic).  It's still great.  It's really nice to have a pH tester that actually works right.

Also, we've kindly been provided a CO2 Boost sample, from the folks at CO2Boost.com.  It's a small carbon dioxide generator for the plants.  I'll freely admit that we don't have a lot of experience regarding CO2 supplementation, but we're considering the implications of adding it permanently.  We're looking into CO2 measurement, so we can have some idea about the condition of our environment.  Initial reactions to the CO2Boost:  It's easy to set up, quiet, simple, and doesn't take up a lot of space.  We've got it venting over top of the aeroponic unit.  Thus far, we like it quite a bit.

It's getting cold around here lately, and I was getting tired of using the hose to fill the hydroponic tanks.  We've got a a new solution for our water-filling needs.  It's working quite well for us, and it may be of use to you as well...

We have a detachable shower head that can be used with the hose.  The hose connects to the shower head via plastic pipe thread (1/2").  This is important, as it gives us a lot of options.  Here's a photo of what we did:

We found that Home Depot sells Melnor Quick Connectors (for garden hoses).  They are a lot like pneumatic quick-connectors, but built for water.  We adapted the hose to mate with the quick connectors, so our shower head is now easily removable.  Why is this important?  We can remove the shower head, and quickly connect our fill-hose for the tanks.  It's very convenient to fill the tanks this way, and it didn't require us to do any strange modifications to our existing plumbing.  Since we're like most home gardeners, we don't have a dedicated source of water in our growing room; this offers a great alternative.

Ok, time to talk about the plants:

We've ripped out both of the tomato plants, as they just weren't doing well.  Additionally, we've finished off the lettuces.  Lastly, the basil is gone as well.  It was fully mature, and it didn't have anywhere to go but down.

The eggplant is doing very well.  We've got lots of fruit growing now.  There's about the size of golf balls at the moment, and they are growing quickly.   We ran a Clearex cycle during the last water change, so the nutrient uptake should be greatly improved.

Take a look at this eggplant (photo is larger than life, it's actually about 1.25" diameter):

Here's the overview photo.  We've done a bunch of trimming this week:

Plant	Type	Status
#01	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#02	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#03	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#04	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#05	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#06	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#07	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#08	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small fruit and flowers are appearing regularly.  Some leaf "crinkling" is visible, but I feel it's a holdover from earlier troubles.
#09	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	We've cut back the eggplant to give it more light, as it was really under the canopy.  It's obviously not as developed as the others, but it's healthy.
#10	Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Heirloom Tomato	Removed on 11/18/2007.  It wasn't doing very well.
#11	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Previously killed through personal stupidity.
#12	Bambino Baby Eggplant	Lots of flowers and fruit. The largest fruits have a diameter of 1.25", and are growing fast.
#13	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#14	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#15	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Removed
#16	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Tasty.  Eaten on 09/29/2007.
#17	Lime Basil	Gone to seed.  Removed
#18	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Killed off as of 11/13/2007.  It wasn't doing well, and we ended its run.

This week has been a busy one, as far as hydroponics are concerned.  We just got back from vacation in Orlando, FL.  On the last day of our trip, we managed to catch the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo.  The expo was spectacular.  We got a chance to speak with lots of the manufacturers, and we learned a lot in a short amount of time.

For the record, I would like to restate: We're just writing from our own experiences.  We're not botanists.  Do not take our experiences as fact, as we're always learning ourselves.

We received lots of samples of new products.  Overviews and reviews will be appearing in the the future.  We're obtained samples of many new types of nutrients and supplements.  In fact, we'll be putting together an additional ebb & flow, just so we can do comparative testing.  Here's a preliminary list of some of the new samples we've obtained:

• Grotek: Bloom (4-9-8), Grow (8-4-11), MM2000 (Stress Reliever), VitaMax Plus (1-1-2)
• Technaflora: Recipe for Success Kit (BC Grow, BC Bloom, BC Boost, Rootech Cloning Gel, Sugar Daddy, Root 66, Thrive Alive, MagiCal, and Awesome Blossoms)
• Growth Technology:Orchid Focus (specific nutrition mix for orchids), Root Riot (foam planting medium / rockwool competitor)
• Liquid Earth: Grow, Bloom, Vigor, Essential Elements, Flourish, and Organic Activator
• Van Der Zwaan: Aqua Flakes A, Aqua Flakes B, Multi-Enzyme, Drip Clean, Magic Green, Bud XL, and Top Booster
• STG (Sure to Grow): Numerous Mats & Planting Mediums
• DNF: Everything but the kitchen sink... Green (3-2-0), Gold (1-2-1), GRO (Seedling & Cutting Formula), Enhance (4-1-1), Clear, Bloom (3-0-3), Organic GRO (8-2-3), Black (Phosphate & Nirtrate), CarboLogic (Sweetener), Veg Fortifier, and Bloom Fortifier
• New Age Gardening: FytoCell (planting medium)
• Grodan: AgroWool (rockwool fibers, looks like loose insulation), Cococan Crutons (chunks), Cococan Growing Mix)

Also, we got a chance to preview a lot of new products.  Personally, I'm quite interested in the Indoor Sun line of LED-based lighting.  They didn't have any units that I could obtain at the convention, or I would have purchased one.  I can not yet offer any opinion on whether or not they're any good.  However, I do hold out some hope.  LED lighting has traditionally had many shortcomings; but if they work, I'd be ecstatic.  Here's what I know thus far... They use AC power directly, without the use of a power brick (transformer), so they must have some type of voltage stepping internally.  They offer a very narrow spectrum of light, either in the vegetative or bloom spectrum (they sell two different versions).  Since the spectrum is so limited, the plants look a bit odd to the human eye (we're used to seeing things under fuller-spectrum light).

They've got my contact info, and I plan on purchasing one just as an experiment.  I'll post my results when I'm able to obtain one.  If they work, they could cut power usage dramatically.  I'd love to cut down on the electrical draw (and resultant heat).

Additionally, after returning from our trip, we had a chance to talk to a local hydro-shop owner.  He's given me quite a bit of advice.  We're in the middle of implementing it now, so I'll need to post the results at a later time.  Here are the changes that are in the works at the moment:

• We've ripped out the smaller tomato (#18).  It just wasn't doing well, and we'll shortly replace it with a strawberry.
• We've severely cut back the larger tomato (#10), in an attempt to get it to consolidate.
• We're changing the pH mixture in our main aeroponic system.  We were trying to keep the pH between 6.5 and 7.0.  It turns out that those numbers weren't the right environment for our plants. Our new target is 5.5 - 6.0.  We're lowering the pH slowly, as to avoid a shock to the plants.
• We'll soon be ripping out the lime basil (#17).  It's gone to seed, and it's reaching the end of it's life cycle.
• Additionally, we'll soon be eating / killing off the remaining lettuce (in the ebb & flow).  We let some of the lettuce go to seed, as an experiment.  You'd be surprised what lettuce looks like when it gets fully mature.  It grows vertically, almost like the shoots of a small tree.  Eat it before it gets that old, as the taste becomes bitter.  Live and learn.
• We're also trying out a new idea regarding the aeroponic TurboGarden.  For a while now, I've needed to continually add pH increaser to the water.  We've been told that this may be caused by the presence of an acid producing bacteria.  We've added some 35% hydrogen peroxide to the water.  In theory, this should kill the bacteria, and we shouldn't need to fidget with the pH as often.

We've also made some changes to our gear:

• We'd been having problems with our 400W HPS light causing burning and curling on our plants.  We think we've isolated the cause, and we're in the transitional period.  We think that the reflector hood that we had was far too small for the powerful 400W bulb.  Our current thinking is that the small hood was focusing the heat directly downward, causing the burn.  The new hood is much larger (almost double the area), and it contains the heat much more than the smaller one.  The new one is just a larger model HydroFarm RD series.  We didn't make any changes to the bulb or ballast, just moved them over.  We're going to start lowering the hood a bit each evening, in an attempt to get more lumens to the plants.  We've been told that our strawberries have taken an excessively long time to flower, possibly due to light limits.
• Good News: We've finally found a pH meter that works!  I'm proud to announce that we've found a real winner.  It's the Oakton pHTestr Basic.  It's accurate, easy to use, and actually works.  If you're read the previous posts, you already know about our multiple failures with pH meters from Milwaukee.  Don't buy a Milwaukee, buy an Oakton.
• More Good News:  We've finally obtained a TDS meter as well.  TDS meters are used to measure the amount of Total Dissolved Solids in your water, as a measure of nutrient availability and consumption.  Up until this point, we've run entirely without one; but I think this can help to raise our game to a more scientific level.

We've lowered the main tank to about pH 6.4; and we'll keep dropping a bit longer.

Take a look at the new (much larger) lighting hood.  It's doing a much better job with the heat distribution.

Here's the weekly overview photo:

Plant	Type	Status
#01	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small flowers have appeared.  Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.
#02	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.  Otherwise healthy and growing.
#03	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small flowers have appeared.  Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.
#04	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.  Otherwise healthy and growing.
#05	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small flowers have appeared.  Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.
#06	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.  Otherwise healthy and growing.
#07	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small flowers have appeared.  Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.
#08	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	Small flowers have appeared.  Some "crinkling" on the leaves, possibly due to pH troubles.
#09	Alexandria Alpine Strawberries	We've cut back the eggplant to give it more light, as it was really under the canopy.
#10	Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Heirloom Tomato	We've cut it back pretty severly, in an effort to get it more consolidated and strong.
#11	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Previously killed through personal stupidity.
#12	Bambino Baby Eggplant	Monsterously large.  We've cut back numerous leaves to give some of the other plants a chance.  It's got several small eggplants growing now, probably at least ten.  It's the healthiest and strongest thing in the aero.
#13	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Regrowing.
#14	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Regrowing.
#15	Monet's Garden Lettuce	It's gone to seed, and it starting to resemble a small sapling, going almost totally vertical.  We're going to rip it out soon.
#16	Monet's Garden Lettuce	Tasty.  Eaten on 09/29/2007.
#17	Lime Basil	Gone to seed.  It's fully mature, and will soon be removed from the aero.
#18	Delicious Heirloom Tomato	Killed off as of 11/13/2007.  It wasn't doing well, and we ended its run.

We're on vacation this week, so I'm afraid that I have no new hydroponics information to report...

Our frield Danielle is attending to the plants this week, so they have company while we're away.

For any of you who happen to be visiting the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo, we'll be there on Saturday the 10th.  If you'd like to meet up, send me an email through the site.

Hydroponics Tuesday will resume normally next week. See you then.

-Ben