Looking good
@SamSneed, the leaves look nice and active by week 3, they are standing nicely horizontal. I like the way that you have simply presented the photos with "WEEK#", I was thinking of taking photos weekly unless there are any problems or issues. Why don't you start a thread, do a "grow diary" Tell us what strain you are growing, what nutrients you are using and what strength you have diluted them to, the pH of the solution, temperature of the solution, temperature and humidity of the grow area (lights on/lights of) what problems you are having.
I have a spreadsheet that I created I will upload it. By completing a daily record it helps to get you in good practice to getting in to a routine to do your chores.
When you say that you topped it do you mean that you removed the main vertical stem that everything grows from?
re: the tubing.
So I am guessing that the pump connects to a manifold that you connect the tubing to for it to deliver the nutrient solution to a plant/s.
- Attach all the tubes and have all the tubes delivering nutrient solution to the plants, so some plants may have 2 or 3 tubes delivering to the pot that they are in, this will also keep the pressure equal as long as all the tubes are the same height,
- as long as the tubes are the same diameter the same volume of water will pass through each tube, the difference in length is negligible ,
- water (like air) will travel the path of least resistance,
- I would suggest getting a timer for the pump, digital 7 day event ones are good because you can control it to the minute. If you leave the pump on continuously your roots will become "lazy" (there is a thing called lazy roots, google it. By dialling in the correct feeding schedule you will keep the roots growing, there is a direct relationship between the size of the root zone (rhizosphere) and the size of the quantity of fruit/flowers you plant produces. I have a little saying regarding this business/hobby. Grow good roots and good trichomes will follow, everything else in buy-product.
Digital & Day Event Timer
When trying to work out the feeding schedule (Using NFT) I would time how long it took for the entire table to get saturated (remembering to use a spreader mat, I like to have a at least 4 layers to also give the roots something to grow into), allow for about a 15% run-off and that is the length of time you need to programme your timer to come on for. Now you need to work out how frequently to run your timer. The idea is for the area to "Dry out" encouraging the roots to push out in search of water but you need to feed it before the plant starts to dry out and die. I'll have a look at the "bible" a bit later and see if I can recommend/suggest any relevant pages.