I got the Grobo in 2018 and after 1 grow, I haven’t turned it on or attempted again since pretty much now. In particularly, I was terribly disappointed in the Grobo for a myriad of reasons. Pump failure, user controls, environment feedback, poor yielding, WiFi connections, light leaks, and roots messing up the water sensor. I took it upon myself to dive into growing in soil, and coco indoors… and what a journey it has been. I have moved to another place and a big tent is not in the picture at he moment. So it’s time to fire up the Grobo. Dont get me wrong, Grobo has the potential be great. First thing first is dont consider this box a set it and forget it. If u are planning on just refilling and draining the grobo, your going to encounter a litany of issues. Be one with your plant because for the most of us, this is our medicine. Lets go!!!
Setup - Genetic selection
- Forget the recipe that the Grobo has provided. Choose a generic recipe and go at it. I believe most of us are growing from seed and currently cannabis seeds are not like tomatoes. What you see on the package is not what u get most of the time. The genetic variation between seeds has gotten better but is no where near where our fruits and vegetables are at. The reason why i suggest to use a generic recipe is u must learn to read your plant. When breeders give u a flowering date-that is their flowering times in their environment. Unless they are growing in a Grobo too, which i highly doubt, their environment wont match yours. So if they recommend 70 days of flowering, your harvest window could be 60 to 80 days. U decide when to flip your plants into flowering and when to HARVEST!
Setup-Choosing between Auto-Regular, Auto-Feminized, Regular, Feminzed
2. I suggest u take some time and read up on the difference and drawbacks of each type seed. When i started learning about the difference types of seeds - it blew my mind. Certain questions that came to mine-
A. Are regulars better than feminized,
B. What are Autos
C. Are these GMO or something lol
Summary of what types of cannabis seeds are available on the market as of today.
-Regular seeds has the chance of being male or female when they start sexing. So if u decide to grow a regular seed, u have a 50/50 chance of it being male or female. We dont smoke males and if your regular seed is a male, then u will end up culling the plant and will have to start over again from the beginning. Unless u are planning on collecting pollen , then that is another story.
-Feminized seeds has improved significantly in the past decade. A lot breeders are selecting plants to breed with that do not show herm traits ( show male and female parts) . These seeds are normally 99% females if u get seeds from a reputable breeder
-Auto Fem/Auto Regular - These plants have genotypes or genes that initiate flowering whenever they feel like it. They can start flowering in 20 to 40 days. U have a short window to manipulate the plant to your liking because when they start flowering there is no turning back. I would not suggest to grow Autos on your first run but after subsequent grows, autos and specifically auto-fem should be considered.
So what would i choose for a first time grower? I would strong suggest u pick a female seed so u dont get disappointed when a Male cannabis plant shows up.
Setup-Buying Seeds
Unfortunately with the legality , buying cannabis seeds could be nerve wrecking and daunting for the first time grower. Spend some time researching cannabis seeds. Not all seeds are created equal!!! If u buy seeds/genetics that sucks ( pardon my language), more likely than not your yield or quality of your bud will suffer no matter how good your environment and growing practices are. If u have bought seeds from Seedsman, Royal Queen Seeds, Barneys, and True north seed banks. They may advertise seeds like Sour diesel, OG kush, Headband, Green Crack, Blue dream, GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!! LOL. These are all Clones and do not exist in SEED form. When they label a seed Girl Scout cookies, the seeds are either progenies from GSC or have some genes similar to GSC. Dont tell a veteran grower u grew GSC from seed, they will laugh at u. lol. Here are some questions to ask the breeder
A. What environment do the seeds thrive in? Were the seeds tested indoors or outdoors
B. What flowering times do they recommend
C. What medium did the breeder use to make the seeds
D. What is percentage of Hermaphotdites in their testing process
E. The amount of stretch during the flowering phase
F. Is seed line consistent or has tremendous variations
Some breeders i whole heartily recommend. CSI humbolt, Dynasty Genetics, Mephisto genetics, ArchiveSeedbank, brother grimm seeds, Night owl seeds, ( Those are just a few)
Setup - Modify your Grobo to control the environment
I m no longer using the nutrients that Grobo provides… I know , i know this defeats the purpose of automation, but as of right now no machine or “recipes” can be used to give your plants optimal nutrition. Please do some research in EC and PPM. All plants are different and has individual nutritional needs. If you take a moment to skim through the forum, you will notice yellowing leaves, stunted growth, poor yields, drooping leaves, and a litany of other stuff. The second reason is my gawd, the cost of buying your nutrients. The grobo machine is already super expensive and adding 60-80 dollars with shipping for five bottles of nutrients is ridiculous. I will be dosing my grobo with J.R Peters Jacks Nutrient.
-I have also removed the Grobo PH and EC meter as well. Since Grobo does not provide us the current PH and EC of our Grobo ( dont get me started on this one) and since i am dosing the it myself, i bought a Guardian Blue Lab Ph/EC meter to monitor the nutrient solution
Setup -Inside the tank
I was able to weave the EC and PH pens through the back of the Grobo without difficulty. I also added my own air pump since the original one died within the first 2 months! It has been 2 years and a permanent fix has still not been established!! I am still bitter about this but never less- lets move forward!. If the blue lab Guardian is too expensive for u, i would suggest a decent PH/EC pen to test your nutrient solution. Trust me, periodically checking your PH/EC yourself will save u a lot of time and hassle diagnosing plant issues in the future. While u are checking your EC and PH , make sure the pump is on and u see bubbles coming out. I forgot to mention one thing, u need to know the temperature of your growing environment and your liquid solution container . Here our my current environmental conditions as of right now:
Growing environment (Where the plant is growing)
Temperature: 83 F and Humidity 42% (Humidity is a little low for seedlings)
Water Environment: PH. 6.1, EC 1.1, Temp: 77 F - (I am buying chillers to decrease the water temp)
If u have read this far, u are serious about growing cannabis lol. Sorry if i have been long-winded lol. I got more stuff coming and will update this grow the best i can… Here is my seedling on day 6th from seed. She is doing well. I fast forwarded the seedling stage to the first week of Vegetation. I chose a random recipe called sunset sherbert x kushmint #11 ( if u actually have these seeds, these are pretty fire to grow)
Genetics : Breeder: CraneCityCannabis
Variety: Gas As Fuck ( yes that is the name )
Mom: FAF (F1) Fire as Fuck
Dad : FAF (F1)
FAF: (Gelato x Jet Fuel Gelato )x Fake as Fuck
I apologize for the bad words, but this is literally the name of the seeds!! lol
Awesome
Great feedback I am sorry to hear you had so many issues. But yes I understand we spend all this money just to keep spending more. I do know it cost to grow medicine I just didn’t think grobo nutes and to keep grobo running correctly would be that pricey. 
Really enjoyed reading this @Jamminbear and 
seed selection. Happy you’re back in the Grobo, very much look forward to watching you grow with your own nutrient selection and pH control. I will most likely do the same after a couple grows as I intend on graduating to a tent once I get a few Grobo grows under my belt and would like the experience prior to making the switch.
Questions:
Did you really get Crane City to answer the questions you mentioned above by contacting them directly? Or were you able to find the answers through online research?
Aside from base nutrients will you be applying any additives or beneficials? I.e. Mammoth P, Hydroguard, PowerSi, etc…
As far as training, what practices will you be utilizing in the Grobo?
@SWSVIC awe thanks for the kind words bud! I start by scouring their Ig first in the comment section if they haven’t provided the information on the package. For instance at the moment , Dynasty genetic’s website provides the most detailed description for growing their seeds! He describes tastes, variations, and phenotypes to expect, and the recommended flowering time. He breed fire and tells u exactly what to look for. For Crane city cannabis I just peppered them with questions on their Ig. Not only did they explain, they went above and beyond answering questions so I had to get their gear . If a breeder responds with “” , I assume he or she is just a pollen chucker and just pass! FYI the rabbit hole of the seed game is deep and expensive lol.
You beat me to what additives I was going to use. A bunch of people on here are using Recharge , which makes me really scratch my head. It’s great for soil but for hydro with the molasses they use in Recharge, it will gunk up in the Grobo hydro system. U end up getting brown roots 
In past two years, I narrowed down my additives that would do good in soil or hydro.
I used Power Si/Bloom like u mentioned. Great product as the silica strengthens the cell walls and helps with deterring powdery mildew… if that’s too expensive for some people- I recommend Potassium Silcate sold at Buildasoil and making your stock solution of silica. I like power si/bloom as it doesn’t effect PH that much. (I forgot to mention - no where on Grobo Website that states the guarantee analysis of their nutrient line - which also upsets me” I have been wondering if Silica is part of their nutrient mix. Not many nutrient companies add silica but it would be nice to know.
Bacterial / Enzymes : I used Tribus for their high concentrations of bacillus strains - great product if u have never used it before. The roots look amazing every time I transplant! It also helps with nutrient uptake and miners solubility. I also add a little bit of SLF 100 and Hydroguard to keep the Rez clean between water changes which is a must. Not sure what options are in Canada if u are up there.
Training - definitely topping and super cropping. I think main- lining with 6 heavy tops would be ideal for Grobo since space is such an issue. My first Grobo when I first started learning about growing , my plants were inches from the lights. 
.
Btw disclaimer: Hopefulky I don’t come off like someone who is a “master grower” lol. I have made more mistake and grew So many more “mids” than I can remember. We just gotta keep on learning and passing on the info as best as we can.
Happy Sunday everyone.
Day 7 - Environment
Ph 6.2
EC-1.1
Rez temp- 76 F ( too high)
Plant Environment-
82 F
42 % humidity
You aren’t kidding about the genetics rabbit hole… I’m on my first grow and already have thousands invested in genetics… bought a mini-fridge to house them . I’m a sucker for “drop” type item releases 
.
Day 10- I fast forwarded it to early Veg on day 5. Seedlings looks pretty good.
Environment
-Temp 80
- RH 45
Rez
-Water Temp-74
-PH 6.0
-EC 1.1
-Tap water initial EC:0.4
Nutrients :
Jacks “Clone” 15-5-17” 3g/gallon
PowerSi .5ml/G
Tribus 1ml/g
Ph down-5ml
SLF 100-2.5ml/g
HydroGuard-2.5ml
Yes I does!
-
((#WelcomeBack)):
-
((#ItIsAlive)):
(Congratulations): (
)
-
((#IWillWatchYouGrow)):
(
)
--
- - -
-
(holiday wreath wire, wrapped in a bigger hose, tided with soft green wire, with a hose connector and magnets):
--
Day 13
Changed water and cleaned the Rez. I’m discontinuing the Tribus for now. Didn’t like how the Rez smelled.
Stats
EC-1.4 Jacks nutrients 3-2-1
PH 5.9
Rez Temp- 71
Supplements
-PowerSi 5ml
-SLF 100
-Hydroguard
-UC Roots
She looking healthy overall- let’s see if this stressed her or not.
I’m curious about that lineup - how much of each are you using and is the UC roots on a 21-day schedule or something?
Excited to see this go down! Also, I’ve heard SLF is not ideal for DWC, obviously you know different. What dosage are you using with the SLF and UC?