If You Had Four Grand...

[its419ugottamin]

Hey blades. Been working on a complete setup for a hydroponic grow and decided to start a thread to see not only what I may have left out but to also see what ideas are floating out there.

Here is what I have to work with:
Either build a standalone shed or build an addon to the current 10x10 shed (inside the house is no option due to no space). The shed is wooden and sits about 20' away from the house with the electric service an additional 10' away.
Everything will have to be purchased (lights, ventilation, odor control, nutes, ph/tds meters, etc.).
Stores included are Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and local hydro store (45 drive) not planning to buy online for this setup. Sorry :cop: no paper trail for you :laugh:.

Thus far, I plan on setting this up with diy cloner for root development, ebb&flow, til girls are about 8"-10", and transplanted in a rdwc to finish vegging. These will be under T5 lights. Then moved into another rdwc setup under HPS (unsure on air cooled overhead or a vert light) to flower. Planning to take a cutting prior to flower to be placed into the cloner.

I will be starting the build in two weeks and a journal will begin. Past experience has been in soil and this will be my first in hydro and wanted to get experience. Any questions will be answered asap.

By the way, the house is on a dead end road (only house here) surrounded by woods. About 200 yards on one side is a road with a VFD another 100 yards away, other side has about 100 yards with hunting grounds hunted by one guy past that. and behind is 500+ yards of woods which another occasional hunts. Both parties hunts away from the house of course but does get as close as 100 yards to get to where they hunt on an old log road.

 

[PuffinNugs]

i think not buying online is a mistake, youll save $100s ordering online compared to hydroshops.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Hello :welcome: Look thru a few threads and you can find alot of ways to build alot better grow system than those that are name brands and alot cheaper.

You need to kill the off site live links too there not allowed.

 

[its419ugottamin]

Hello :welcome: Look thru a few threads and you can find alot of ways to build alot better grow system than those that are name brands and alot cheaper.

You need to kill the off site live links too there not allowed.

I been looking thru threads and was just curious what others may have planned diff. Links have been killed sorry just wanted to give examples of something similar.

Will be finalizing plans this week and will post something this weekend.

 

[Grower13]

Welcome..... I see you live in the south...... if your going to grow from May to September you need to think about cooling it.

 

[OGKushman]

Puffin makes a very good point, and so does grower13. In my experience in hot SoCal, you need 1 watt of cooling per watt of HPS lighting in mid summer. So 1000 watt light needs a ~1000 watt a/c

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Everything will have to be purchased (lights, ventilation, odor control, nutes, ph/tds meters, etc.).
Stores included are Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and local hydro store (45 drive) not planning to buy online for this setup. Sorry :cop: no paper trail for you :laugh:.

IMO, you are in far greater risk walking into a hydro store where local Leos can watch and record all who go in and out than it is to buy supplies online. I'm not sure why you believe that the risk is greater buying online--it is not. In addition, as mentioned, you will most likely find better deals online and spend less money for the same setup.

I would say the first step should be getting power to your shed.

 

[nugatronica]

Yeah I bought most of my equipment online and found it to have better deals then the stores in the local area just my 2 cents

 

[its419ugottamin]

OK will check out online for better deals not much on Craigslist in this area. should be SC not socal. will check profile thx.

as far as power is concerned, I have electrical, construction and plumbing experience.

still in planning stage, trying different methods in various stages of growth (cloner bucket to ebb & flow til 8 to 10" to rdwc under T5 for veg to seperate rdwc for flower under least 1000w HPS) all diy of course. love to see an operation go from ground up with diy.

will be burning bowls searching threads vaping research ripping bong shopping/comparing prices puffing on j's. btw not in exact order lol.

 

[Roddy]

OK will check out online for better deals not much on Craigslist in this area. should be SC not socal. will check profile thx.

as far as power is concerned, I have electrical, construction and plumbing experience.

still in planning stage, trying different methods in various stages of growth (cloner bucket to ebb & flow til 8 to 10" to rdwc under T5 for veg to seperate rdwc for flower under least 1000w HPS) all diy of course. love to see an operation go from ground up with diy.

will be burning bowls searching threads vaping research ripping bong shopping/comparing prices puffing on j's. btw not in exact order lol.

Onlinegrow stores, reputable stores on the internet. I suppose you can buy used from places like Craigslist and ebay as well, but I think these guys were suggesting an online store.

Here's an example, there's a lot more with varying deals: hXXp://www.virtualsunhydroponics.com/Agricultural/nav/grow-lights/kits.asp

Change the XX's to tt's and you'll get the site!

 

[nvthis]

Generally speaking, leo doesn't need a search warrent to search outbuildings. That means sheds...

If you build one, attach it to your house

 

[Kushluvr]

i think not buying online is a mistake, youll save $100s ordering online compared to hydroshops.

..if the shop is cool, theyll match or beat anything u see online!

from my experience!

 

[orangesunshine]

Generally speaking, leo doesn't need a search warrent to search outbuildings. That means sheds...

If you build one, attach it to your house

probably gonna need a sub-panel to handle the power for your new space---you might think of adding up all the amps for your lights, fans, pumps, and double it before selecting your new panel

 

[Rosebud]

i disagree with this statement..if the shop is cool, theyll match or beat anything u see online!

from my experience!

i agree, but I understands both sides to the argument. I like to give my business to local folks before anyone else. They too will match the internet price. Besides, the real reason, is if my ballast blew up or something besides a light bulb, I could get replacement while they fixed my broken whatever. Another reason, is I really like the kids running it and hope they do well.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I recommend that you start by getting insulation and very solidly insulate the building. Then I would subdivide the interior space into 2-3 flowering rooms, 1 veg and clone room, and one work room. I can't stress enough the importance of maintaining a climate controlled environment in which you can go and work comfortably, and keep the temps and humidity where the plants are happy. I highly suggest getting a nice air conditioner and put it in the work room and devise a way to draw it into the flower rooms as needed.

At the same time go to access discounts.com, HTGsupply.com or Ebay and get some T5HO fixtures for the veg room, and some nice HIDs for the flower rooms. I would figure the veg room to be 1/4th the size of one of the flower rooms. then you can use the veg room to constantly keep the flower rooms going. For the lighting, remember that you need 3000 lumens per sqft in veg and 5000 lumens per sqft in flower.

Having 2 flower rooms(if you have the space for it) is somewhat of an insurance policy in the event you have some kind of failure or disease.

As far as a hydro system goes, I have settled on a top feed variation of a DWC type of setup. If you look at my GJ you will see the way I have my plants in containers that have holes drilled in them for good drainage, and they sit in holes cut in the lids of 10gal rubbermade totes. I started with individual units self feeding by having the pump within the tote so that the water and nutes are brought to the top of the containers, but then found it difficult to keep the nute solution in individual totes from getting dirty and out of ballance too quick, so I decided to go to a single 40liter resevoir and have the smaller totes maintain a shallow rez within them to keep the roots from drying between watering cycles. If you have any questions about it I will be happy to elaborate

 

[Roddy]

I recommend that you start by getting insulation and very solidly insulate the building.

I don't think one could over-stress this point, heating/cooling the building will be a big part of the future costs of growing.

 

[NorCalHal]

i agree, but I understands both sides to the argument. I like to give my business to local folks before anyone else. They too will match the internet price. Besides, the real reason, is if my ballast blew up or something besides a light bulb, I could get replacement while they fixed my broken whatever. Another reason, is I really like the kids running it and hope they do well.

Here Here! Shop Local...or at least in a town near you. I no of noone that has been popped by shopping at a local store, but I really havn't tried to find out if folks do, so correct me if I'm wrong.
If the store is cool, then yes, replacement bulbs/ballest/fans are very easy to exchange.

Awesome Rosebud!

 

[its419ugottamin]

Hey guys. Thx for the responses. I have decided to get a 10x10 building. This will still keep me at the 4k to spend on odor control, venting, lights, etc.

Have been under weather and no where close to finalizing plans. Want to be clear headed and think things thru. What kinds of setup would you do with a 10x10 room and 4k to have a recurring harvest all year?

BTW electrical will be upgraded with new service for just material cost and permit.

 

[Roddy]

Split the room to make a veg area and at least one bud area, two might be better (I'm having fair success with a single bud room and rotating in/out plants as they progress). Keep in mind the size of room will dictate the amount of light needed for each area (I believe veg requires at least 3000 lumens /', bud is 5000 lumens/'...someone please correct if wrong, I'm just back from a sb party)! Also keep in mind the amount of ventilation needed as well as heating/cooling which will factor heavily into the cost of a grow!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would also recommend sectioning off a space for vegging. Your vegging space can be about 1/2 the size of the flowering room. So maybe something like a 60-70 sq ft flowering space, a 30 sq ft vegging and cloning space. A 70 sq ft flowering space is going to require a minimum of 350,000 lumens. And if you have the money, get your lumens over that, more light is better.