New to learning hydro

[Munkers]

Ok so ive done a couple soil grows now and not to shabby, but i wanna switch to hydro. I've looked it up and got a lot of mixed **** from it and was wondering if someone could direct me to a nice guide that covers everything. I've never done it before and I still dont understand it... If it matters, I dont know which way to go with it, wether to do one resivore or buckets and I think if you do buckets like 5 gallons you cant finish it in them?? Im not sure one bit x.x I do know I want to learn hydro and do a scrog with it but Im pretty sure i need alot more information... Anything please and thanks guys.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

Look up DWC

Welcome to the passion

:48:

 

[zem]

you need to choose a system out of many systems, then you could research that system and see how its done. I myself prefer flood and drain systems, but it depends on the grower's need and preference. each system has a different approach but basically, hydroponics is the same concept. it is growing plants without soil making sure that water has all the nutrients the plant needs without the need of soil bacteria to break it up. from there on, the delivery type of the nutrients is what differs really

 

[pcduck]

I think if you do buckets like 5 gallons you cant finish it in them??

A 5 gallon bucket works great from start to finish for DWC.

 

[Munkers]

Thanks for clearing that up PC, I figured it was fine at first then I watched a growers vid for dwc and it game me mixed info because the guy started them in 5 gallon buckets and said he couldn't finish in them because when he fills them its only about 3 gallons worth of feed and that the plant would suck up between 1-3 gallons a day? basically he said you would have to stand over them and top the res every single day for them to survive.....

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm going to start by saying not to believe everything you see and hear on You Tube. For example, I have never seen a single plant drink up 3 gal of nute solution a day and I have been running 5 gal DWC buckets for 10 or so years.

Tell us about your soil grows, how many plants, your spaces (or spaces if you have separate vegging and flowering), your lights, your ventilation, etc, etc. How many plants do you run? Do you run different strains? Tell us all you can. This will give us a feel for what you are working with.

Like Zem said, you are going to have to decide what type of hydro you want to run. I run a perpetual harvest so do individual DWC buckets and totes rather than a system where you have a central res. Any kind of flood and drain system requires that all the plants be about the same age and size and have the same nutrient requirements which just won't work for me. I also find that the addition of a water pump to the res raises the temps where the nute solution is too warm.

So, my advise is to google different hydro systems. I would concentrate on checking out flood and drain (also called ebb and flow) and DWC. There is also aeroponics, but I have found that difficult and frustrating because of the frequency with which the spray nozzles clog up

 

[Munkers]

Lol first I would like to say that its hard to believe much of anybody when they all have their own opinions which it seems 90% of the growers base has their own opinion/perspective on the same topics. Also if it is harder to keep the rez cold why not freeze water in a bottle and add to it as necessary? Wouldnt it be harder to keep a single bucket at a certain water temp. when you have multiple buckets? I was looking into bubbleponics and it seems its the same as dwc with the added that the roots are actually getting water drained down them from the cups at the top of the roots to drip back into the bucket.

As far as my grows so far, my first one which I unfortuantly did not finish posting when I have a grow journal started on here (silly me) lol, Thanks to your advice THG and the others of this awesome site she came out BEAUTIFULLY more than I expected and everyone enjoyed and praised my plant which I surprisingly came out with close to a QP on. Following my success with her my father being excited went out and hooked me up with a grower who he bought 10 clones off and I got an excellent dirt recipe from. I planet 2 more at the time and hooked up with a buddy of mine who was just starting out and I ended up giving him 6 to help with and together with about 6 different strains (2 of each) we did very well. So we went ahead and bought 12 autoflowers..... worst decision EVER. We failed pretty bad, autos suck imo now lmao. Anyhows after laying off for about 3 months I found 3 random bagseeds that I stashed and popped them in some dirt and 1 beautiful strong female popped up. I know shes female because I just put her back into veg from putting her in flowering to sex her . Anyhow thats my lifes grow story and where im at. Im in a 3.5x3.5 mylar tent with a 600 watt dimmable ballast light with a basic reflector hood. I have 3 clip on fans and a desk size fan. Its getting cold here and the setup is in my garage so I use the light and a small heater to regulate the temps to about 75-80. My current baby is in a 3 gallon pot with roots organic soil atm.

Well there you have it so far. As far as the hydro goes, I was thinking home made 7-10 gallon tote with 4-6 sites and set it up with a scrog to maximize. I dont wanna do this til I have ALL the proper knowledge for dwc as well as the funds for ALL materials ahead of time such as ppm meters and nutrients and so forth.

 

[sunakard2000]

if your planning on running a single grow with all the same strains... the tote could work but then again root tangling is a huge problem as it can and will harm the plants, no doubt about it, honestly if your growing a few different strains or as THG does a perpetual grow the 5gal buckets are your best bet. iv run a few 5gal DWCs from start to finish and they are great. i started with a 6inch net pot so no need to transplant or anything just simply move the bucket into the flower are and change the nutes from veg to flower as you normaly would. pretty easy. the tote is a decent idea if one you have the right sized space for it, basically right around the size of the tote and not much bigger then maybe an inch or 2 space around the tote, gotta keep it tight, and the tote idea will only be beneficial for vegging, well at least untill the roots start to explode out of the net pot and are a few inches long, then you would need to take them out and pop them into a 5gal bucket and continue your veg till they are the size you want, then flower, if you dont remove them from the tote at the right time the roots will tangle and cause problems. iv seen a few people use a tote for starting their DWC plants but after about the 3rd week they MUST relocate each plant into its own 5gal bucket.
having each plant in a seperate 5gal bucket helps a ton as it allows you to grow not only different strains but have plants at different stages of flowering in the same area, it also helps keep the amount of nutes you use with-in reason. and as you said you would like to do a Scrog... this also allows you to make individual scrog screens for each bucket, THG has a DIY scrog thread on the forums and its perfect for individual 5gal buckets rather then a large screen for many buckets, makes it far far easier to change out the nute solution if you dont have multiple buckets under a single large screen, individual screens allows you to take them out of the flower space easier and change nute solution easier, as well as allowing you the ability to rotate the plants if necessary.

all in all i would go with the 5gal buckets, maybe get some 2 or 3 gal buckets for vegging the plants(the 2 or 3 gal buckets will be the same size as the 5gal buckets only half the height, which is what i did after the first DWC grow. using the smaller buckets for veg is nice cuz you dont need as much water/nutes to fill the 2 or 3 gal buckets to the correct level, just a thought.

defently do some more research and if possible i really recommend steering away from the tote idea unless you ONLY use it for the first few weeks of veg then transplant so to speak into 5gal buckets (lift net pot out of tote and over into 5gal)

hope this all helps. DWC is a great way to go but when it comes down to it, KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! the more complex you make it the more problems youll run into. no need for a water pump in the buckets, only air stones, enough airflow to make the top of the water look like a pot of boiling water, lots of bubbles breaking on the surface.

 

[WeedHopper]

Love DWC. I have never used anything but 5 gallon buckets. And yes you can use frozen water bottles,,I used them in Florida due to the hot *** weather. One bottle per 5 is all i needed per day. I also like being able to keep my Plants seperated,,so 5 gal buckets are perfect.

 

[trillions of atoms]

Faq

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Well there you have it so far. As far as the hydro goes, I was thinking home made 7-10 gallon tote with 4-6 sites and set it up with a scrog to maximize. I dont wanna do this til I have ALL the proper knowledge for dwc as well as the funds for ALL materials ahead of time such as ppm meters and nutrients and so forth.

If the amount of water a plant uses is a concern this is going to be a way worse set up. A 5 gal bucket will hold approx 3 to 3-1/2 gal of solution and have 1 plant in it. A 10 gal tote is going to hold approx 5 gal of water. If you plan on 4-6 plants, that works out to around a gallon per plant or 3 times less water than if you use individual 5 gal buckets. In other words, that is too many plants for a tote that size. I used a 10 gal tote for a 2 plant scrog that worked well, but I wouldn't put more than 2 plants in a 10 gal tote for flowering. I often do like Sunakard--start in smaller buckets/totes or put multiple plants in a tote and go to a larger one as the plants get larger. You do need to take care that the roots do not tangle. This is not possible if you are doing a scrog, but other methods you can usually do this.

And of course you can put frozen bottles of water in your res, but that really is a PITA, especially if you plan on scrogging. If you are scrogging, you may find it hard to lift the top of the tote at all to put anything in it. I find that by bubbling cool air through the solution that it keeps it cool enough except in the very worst heat of summer.

I agree, there is a lot of opinion with this hobby (as with most things). However there are some things that are not opinion. I am just cautioning you, being a new grower and young, to not be swayed by unsubstantiated things. Anyone can put anything they want on You Tuber....it doesn't have to be factual. And if something sounds not quite believable, question it.

 

[WeedHopper]

THG,,what do you mean by Bubbling Cool Air?

 

[ozzydiodude]

Setting you air pump in as cold a area as possible. most the time out side your grow area and run the air line into the room thru the fresh air intake

 

[WeedHopper]

I once was thinking about having my airline run into and coiled up in a Ice Chest and running to my Bucket. Hummmmmm,,,COOL Idea. Get it,,COOL idea.
Maybe ILL try that next time.
I know this next time I am lifting my growroom floor up about 6'' off the floor, and pulling my cold air under the Grate Floor that the buckets set on,, into the room. So the cold air will be pulled from under the buckets up and over them.

 

[Munkers]

Ok soakin all this info in....... Basically I dont want to allow less than 3 gallons of nute sulution per plant and as well as ample space for no root complications so the more there is the bigger I have to go and more complicated it gets ok, sweet. As far as keeping the water at temp, no biggie no matter it can be solved.... But what is the ideal temp for the water to be at? Something else I seen two diff opinions on but from what I've gathered its between 65-72? Idk lol, that's why im here....

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I find the low 70s to be a good temp for hydro solution. If you get into bubble cloning, the water will need to be a bit warmer--more like the high 70s.

Remember that we all had to start somewhere. Reading and asking questions is how you learn. And the more you know and are able to utilize that knowledge, the better your grow will be.

I have a small scrog grow in my sig you may want to check out. We have several people here who have done great scrogs on a larger scale.

Dr Fever had a great scrog done on a lot larger scale. http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62842

 

[Munkers]

I was just reading through both yours and dr scrog and his seems a little large scale for my preference lol. I really like your setup, 2 plants in a 10 gallon res and I might go with 1 or 2 of them. I guess my next question tho would be about to nute solutions. I keep hearing I added such and such gallons on nute solution to my res, like in your case 6 to a 10 gallon bucket... Where does the water part come in? Do you add like 5 gallons of water and add nutes from there or does it mean you actually put in 6 gallons of water and then add nutes to that? Everything i've looked up or heard so far there is like an invisble line on the bucket these people go by and skip the actual explanation of this step and its probably the only thing I have no real understanding of..... All I hear is I fill my bucket "this much", and not I put so and so amount of water and add to it... maybe its a stoner thing and they assume it will be figured out lol.

 

[WeedHopper]

I always used 5 gallon buckets in my DWC grows, I would keep extra 5 gal buckets to mix water and nutes in,,then moved my plants over to the newly mixed fresh water and nutes in that 5. I also cooked(Bubbled) my fresh mix for 24 hrs and adjusted PH before I changed buckets. Did this every 7 days,,between then just added PHed water,,and sometimes frozen water bottles to keep solution temps down in the low 70s. High solution temps will cause problems in a DWC.

 

[sunakard2000]

the water is the nute solution... you add your nutrients to the water, just like you would for a soil grow.
6 gal water + nutes. you will need a PPM meter and youll need to add nutes to the water untill your at the ppm you need for that stage of growth.
its not that they expect you to figure it out, they assume you already know how to mix up a solution of nutrients with water. its one of the basic things all growers have to know. mixing a nute solution is the same whether its a soil grow or hydro grow hence why they dont give you specific amounts.

 

[Munkers]

Omg sunakard, you just simplified the hell out of that.... thanks for the explination that makes it a trilllion times simpler to understand. Many thanks. Only thing is, I dont use a ppm meter when I mix together iguana juice n water its kinda simple and had no issues yet lol.