# Can I turn off my lights and air pump for a few hours?



## Anchral (Apr 29, 2008)

I'm having family over and most are not "cool". I wanted to know if I can turn off, basically all power _(to the plants, not the whole house...lol)_ for about 4 hours during the middle of the day? I have plants that are 3 weeks into flowering. I'm using the Deep Water Culture (5 gal. bucket with an air pump). Any info would be greatly appreciated.


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## Fadeux (Apr 29, 2008)

The air pumps should be pretty silent, and I dont know much about DWC but that seems to be the lifeblood of the plant. As far as lights go, I don't know what you are using, but if its too bright, you could always grab a compact florescent just to hold em over for that 4 hours. 

I dont know for sure about 4 hours for one time, but I know that messing with the light cycle too much really stresses plants.


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## MeNtAlPaTiEnT (Apr 29, 2008)

I'm sure you'd be safe. A couple of days and you'd run into some problems. As mentioned above, flouresants wouldn't be too bad. A little light on a timer is all you really need if you don't want your babies in absolute darkness when it's supposed to be light.


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## trillions of atoms (Apr 29, 2008)

get a timer if you dont have one. if its hydro dont turn off the air... if its not in the normal light cycle then dont turn off the lights unless you want to end the "daytime light " early and turn the ligts back on when its normal for them to come on. its better to give them more dark than light and not to irregulate the light patterns ultimately. stay on the same light cycle, cut the lights off right before they come over, leave them off until the next "mornig" when the lights usually come on. dont change their schedule, this will cause stress. stress on unstable genetics  can lead to hermi's...

goodluck.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Apr 30, 2008)

You should be okay.  I live in an area where we have frequent power outages.  I do not turn the generator on unless the outage is expected to be longer than about 3 or 4 hours.  If possible, keep your air pump(s) running and put a cfl in there so the light is not disrupted.  You can sometimes disguise noises with other noises.


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## Anchral (Apr 30, 2008)

The garden (box) I'm growing in is in the garage. The air pump is pretty loud. When the garage door is open and my garden is closed, I can hear it in the alley. Its a 35 watt pump capable of providing for 6 plants at once. I have it screwed into a 2" thick chunk of wood which rests on 2" thick piece of styrofoam but its still too loud. Disguising the sound with another sound is a good idea. As for the lights, well, I have flourescents 2-40 watt bulbs 3 ft long the box is roughly 3.5ft wide 3ft deep and 4ft high. When the doors are closed light still shines thru (I know this is bad but it was last fall when I built it and it was getting cold in there, so I was in a hurry...lol). People will ask Whats with the light coming from your work bench?  After this crop is done in about 3 weeks or so, I'm going to re-do the door so its more light-tight and do something about that pump.


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 1, 2008)

Number one and foremost--the box needs to be light tight for flowering.  Even a small amount of light getting in during the dark period confuses the plants.  Absolute darkness is a must.  Your plants can turn hermie or they will continue to vegetate and grow only airy wispy buds.  And you really, really need more and better lighting to expect to get anything out of these plants.  You have less than 8W per sq ft.  You should have 50W per sq ft for flowering.

I have a large high quality air pump that I quit using because of the noise.  I did find that the noise was somewhat alieviated when I suspended the air pump--I had it hanging from the ceiling on a rope.  

I now use smaller dual outlet aquarium type pumps--Million Air 300s--one for each bucket.  They are really quiet, work well, if one pump fails, I do not lose a whole crop (I have never had one fail, however), and they are inexpensive.  Also, with the dual outlet, I have 2 airstones in each bucket.  If 1 clogs, the nutes are still aerated by the other one.  You might consider these.


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## CasualGrower (May 1, 2008)

I am using the Sunleaves (few letters here)560 model airpump, the largest one My local hydrostore carries.... using it to power 12 buckets.  It was really loud and vibrated thought my house pretty bad till I moved my grow in the basement.... now I have the pump sitting on the concrete floor and it is unnoticeable...


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