# Easy Hydro setup needed.



## Ogof (Jan 27, 2006)

Hello Stoney Bud and everyone.

I was going to grow in soil mixture, however Mutt convinced me to try Hydro and Stoney Bud volunteered to help. I would appreciate help from anyone else as well.
I have a space of 2' D X 5' W X 7' H. My lights will be 400W HPS. Germination
under fluoro's in a different space.

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Ogof


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## Mutt (Jan 27, 2006)

Hey while your waiting on responses from the pros, here is the growing edge hydro link, lots of useful info to get you acquainted with Hydro before th information starts pouring in.

http://www.growingedge.com/basics/start.html


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## Ogof (Jan 27, 2006)

Thanks Mutt:

That page I have not seen.  Thanks for the link. I will check it out when I get home this evening.

Thanks much.


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## Mutt (Jan 27, 2006)

I can garuntee that two things you'll want to invest in when starting Hydro.

One is a PPM meter. Truncheon by Blue Labs has great reviews. Here is a link.

http://homeharvest.com/hydroponicectestmeters.htm You want to shop around on the price. I know it is somewhere for 100 bucks. This will help when having to trouble shoot.

The other is a PH meter. This is more important than the PPM meter, you can get by without the PPM meter at first, but you will end up wanting one after you get into Hydro.

Bluelabs also makes a PH meter to at the same link as above. Shop around and get some other posts on a good PH meter. (Even if you end up doing soil get one).

The People like stoney bud are the Hydro guys. So I won't give any recommendations on the set-up I just pass on info on this as I come across it.


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## Ogof (Jan 27, 2006)

I was going to buy a PH meter (litmus paper is a PITA to use). I just did not know which one yet. 
What would be measured in PPM? 
That would definitely be something to acquire later on.

Thanks again.

Cheers


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## Stoney Bud (Jan 27, 2006)

Ogof said:
			
		

> Hello Stoney Bud and everyone.
> 
> I was going to grow in soil mixture, however Mutt convinced me to try Hydro and Stoney Bud volunteered to help. I would appreciate help from anyone else as well.
> I have a space of 2' D X 5' W X 7' H. My lights will be 400W HPS. Germination
> ...


Ok Ogof, you're going to need a reservoir for your nutrient solution. Will it need to be in the grow space or can it be in the next room? The reason I'm asking is that the grow chambers have to be placed so that the bottom of the grow chambers are level with the top of the reservoir. This allows for the back draining into the reservoir when the pump turns off. We can make it work in the same room, it'll be a tad crowded in an area that small. Two feet deep is kinda narrow.

You'll need to think of a way to exhaust the heat from your light out of the grow area. Using a 400 watt in there will stack the heat some. Is the ballast to your light going to be outside the grow space? That's a good idea if you can do that. It'll reduce the heat a lot.

I'll wait on your answers and we'll work from there.


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## Ogof (Jan 30, 2006)

Howdy Stoney Bud:

The closet is about 10 feet wide, the door opening is 8 feet. I can use more space in this closet or I can go thru the wall to my office closet for the nutrient container and/or ballast. I would like to keep it in the same room as it is a rental unit. I will be mounting a fan for exhaust in the closet going into the attic.  The closet is only 2 feet deep. I can use it with the doors open. I was figuring 2 feet and to close the doors during flowering. I would have to do a lot of light proofing in that room otherwise. However,  I can consider keeping the doors open. Closing them would be stealthier
incase I need mantainance to fix something in the apartment.

Regards


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## Stoney Bud (Jan 30, 2006)

Ogof said:
			
		

> The closet is about 10 feet wide, the door opening is 8 feet.


In your last post you said: I have a space of 2' D X 5' W X 7' H.

I'm not sure what we're dealing with here. Is this an enclosed closet that is only 2 feet deep but 10 feet wide? How in the world would you get into it? You have to be able to work on the system and the plants along the entire length of the system. If you can, draw an diagram of it and take a picture of the diagram and post it. Then we'll be on the same page. The rest is down hill.


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## Mutt (Jan 30, 2006)

Ogof said:
			
		

> What would be measured in PPM?


 
Measures the nutrient content in Parts Per Million. If your nutrients are little out of wack, this will give you readings on the actual minerals and nutrients per the amount of water. I think Gen. Hydro gives you the recommended PPM measurements helps keep it in check. A lot of Hydro growers live without this meter though. It is the PH meter that is most important

Hey threw together a sketch for ya Ogof. You can mark it up with right number of your closet if it helps. If not chuck it. 

View attachment closet.pdf


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## Ogof (Jan 30, 2006)

Sorry for the confusion Stoney Bud.
I will try to attach a drawing file I did in AutoCad.
In case it does not work I will explain the best I can.

The interior of the closet is 10 feet. The doors are 4 feet times 2 equals 8 feet. So I have an 8 foot opening to the closet. If the doors are closed it is 2 feet deep. The is a 1 foot section to the left and right of the doors.


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## Ogof (Jan 30, 2006)

Mutt:

That is basically it.
My attachment made it.

What cad program is that from?

I am an architechural designer by profession.

Cheers


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## Mutt (Jan 30, 2006)

check your PM for answered Questions.


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## Stoney Bud (Jan 31, 2006)

Ogof said:
			
		

> Sorry for the confusion Stoney Bud. I will try to attach a drawing file I did in AutoCad. In case it does not work I will explain the best I can. The interior of the closet is 10 feet. The doors are 4 feet times 2 equals 8 feet. So I have an 8 foot opening to the closet. If the doors are closed it is 2 feet deep. The is a 1 foot section to the left and right of the doors.


Hey man, that was excellent! I can see it clearly now. You've got a perfect place to do the deed.

Step one: Build a solid wall in the middle of the space. It has to be light tight. You need to be able to open one door without any light what-so-ever getting into the other space. Do whatever you need to do to accomplish this. Test it when it's nice and dark in the room. Absolutly no light leaks when the door is closed on either side. You will be alternating the veg and flowering sides so this is important.

Step Two: Paint the entire area on the inside with Flat Pure White. I use "Behr" number 1050, Ultra Pure White. It works great. Make sure you put several light coats on. You want a pure white, evenly painted surface. No need to paint the floor unless it's a real dark color. It won't hurt anything if you do paint it. Paint the inside of the doors as well.

Ok, now for the equipment.

You'll need two stong, good quality plastic containers that are about 18 inches long by 12 inches or more deep. The manufacturers make em all about the same width for those dimensions.

One will be in one side of the area and the other will be in the other side. Yes, I know more would fit in the space, but you'll be using LST to fill every nook and cranny in the grow space so your hydro grow chambers are only needed to feed the plants, not to fill the space they're in. One per/side will be plenty.

I would suggest puting the resevoir into another room where it is easily accesible no matter what the crops are doing. This can save your ass later if you have to work on your nutrient or pump. More on the resevoir later.

Go to Walmart and in the garden center, you'll find decoritive landscaping rock. Flori-Stone, white river gravel, 1/4 - 1/2 inch is what I bought there. It's full of sand, dirt and god knows what else, so you'll have to give it a bath and make damn sure you use only the large pieces that won't foul your pump. More on that later.

Hand fill one of the containers to two inches below the top with the cleaned rock. You want to use your hands to prevent any possibility of damage to the container. If you get a pinhole leak later, it can seriously **** up your life. Move the rock around so that it is seated well. You don't want it to move later and break roots. Pack it in. The roots will be growing between the rocks.

Now, fill the container with water right to the top. Make sure you measure the water you add very carefully. This is radically important.

The reason you're filling it to the top is to allow for some overkill on the resevoir. It'll make sense later.

Ok, now write down how much water it took.

Multiply that amount by four.

This is the amount of water your resevoir needs to be able to hold. It's enough to fill both of your grow chambers twice. Also keep in mind that when the plants are full grown and fully flowering, they will be using around a gallon of water for each container/per day. You don't want to have to add to the resevoir every day. I try to plan mine so that at full usage, I top it off once each week.

Now something most Hydro people forget.

You'll need to know how much water your supply and drain lines will hold. This needs to be calculated into the resevoir volume. First, we need to know how long these lines will be.

Let's figure out the exact placement of your resevoir in relation to your growing chambers. It makes no difference where it is, except for the fact that the bottom of the growing chambers need to be slightly higher than the top of the max-fill line in the resevoir. Measure this exactly. It's very, very important later. The grow chambers need to be as low as possible in the grow space to give you all the height you can get for your plants and lights.

Try to buy the lowest, biggest resevoir you can find. It needs to have a lid on it that you can drill holes into. That's why another room is a good place to put it. Damn things take up a lot of room.

Once you've found your grow chambers and your resevoir, let me know and we'll go from there. Keep in mind that your resevoir will be full of water. It'll need to be strong enough for this and the place you're going to put it needs to also be strong enough to hold it with no problems.

The resevoir can be disguised with a table cloth and junk on it and around it when the repair guy comes over.


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## Ogof (Jan 31, 2006)

Thank you much Stoney Bud. Let me get these supplies together and set it up as stated.
I will get back to you when I have reached this stage.
I have already painted the walls, ceiling and inside doors pure flat white. So that is one step out of the way. I will be covering the carpeted floor with white plastic if I can find white plastic. I think I will locate the resevoir in my office closet on the opposite side of this space. It is no problem going thru the wall.

Cheers,
Ogof


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## Stoney Bud (Jan 31, 2006)

Ogof said:
			
		

> Thank you much Stoney Bud. Let me get these supplies together and set it up as stated.
> I will get back to you when I have reached this stage.
> I have already painted the walls, ceiling and inside doors pure flat white. So that is one step out of the way. I will be covering the carpeted floor with white plastic if I can find white plastic. I think I will locate the resevoir in my office closet on the opposite side of this space. It is no problem going thru the wall.


Good to hear it man. Remember, the resevoir top has to be level with the bottom of the grow chambers. That limits the height of your plants because of the distance that the plants must stay from the light as well. LST will make use of the entire grow space in each side.


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