Best hydro-system for a 4k growroom

[Iffy]

Larger Res

Larger Res

He said he wants to leave for a few days at a time.

E&F... you can always plumb a larger res to reflect fewer changes over a longer period.
Ultimate would be DWC with float valves... but it's on the second floor and I don't recommend chillers.

Stay Safe!

I'm totally with you there Hydro-Soil.
You need a res that allows 5-6 L of nutes per plant. More will give you a bigger buffer, less is dangerous.
Regards

 

[Hydroman00]

Hydroman00 I will look in to it more closely. I think this is the type of system I´m going to work with. Will be answering your PM. How many of these would fit in a 10*10 feet room under 4*1000w Hps??

Best would be to run One 16 bucket system. Then to set up two 1000w above each 8 buckets. This should be able to get you a really nice pull every time, and depending on strain should average over 5lb. If you want to have different strains then I would suggest having two 8 bucket systems so you can feed different amounts of food. I'll be happy to help where I can.

 

[Hydroman00]

@lathund it does top feed on a schedule. It also has a 1200gph pump for recirculating. This pump also has a Venturi built in to allow for oxygen into the system. The 8 buckets including the control only has 25 gallons of water.

 

[catalyte]

Ebb N Flow

 

[cody2white]

Why not use coco and setup a drip system?

 

[medicalmj]

I'd consider
A. (4) 4x4 E&F tables with small 1-2 gal pots of coco and an amendment like hydroton, perlite, growstones, etc. at about 50/50. Super simple, very productive and even if system fails you can go a couple days w/o the plants drying up. I 1k per table.
B. same as A except 4"x4" RW cubes instead of coco. Line the bottom of each table (with A too) with a coco mat so roots that grow out stay healthy.

Ask your grow shop to collect all parts necessary for the system so you don't have forget something. This is basically just a table, riser, res, pump, some tubing, and an airstone.

 

[Hydroman00]

Yes would like to be able to leave for a few days sometimes and not come back to see the plants dead But usually I will be there at least once every two days,, and now in the beginning I will watch over my plants every day.

This is also a benefit to the system. I can leave my system to up to 4 to 5 days with the timers set. If any of the timers or pumps die there is still enough water and moisture in the system that they can survive for a few days.

 

[Doobie Ninja]

Hempy buckets are able to be left for 2-3 days at a time, produce good results and are the least time intensive method I have found if that's your main thing. For perspective I was working 40 hours a week, taking 15 credit hours of night school and running a hempy grow for almost 2 years at the same time.

 

[Green_science]

Stones are annoying, go NFT, at the end, roll spreader mat up, throw away, replace, like 30 minutes work, compared to 30 hours of work, also NFT can be left how ever long you want

 

[shermanitor007]

That system looks pretty good. Is it just a normal top feed dripsystem? Looks suitable for big tree grows.

I'm not looking for a big tree grow where I have to veg for a long time. I would prefer to get in many
plants in my space. I've read here on the forum that the key to a big yielding growth is "high plant numbers"
among other things, one of them being a "high yielding strain"... any tips??

I´m thinking about a setup where I veg in a separate area an then where there ready move them in to the flower tent to save time, am I way off thinking this way or??

 

[hush]

Having two separate spaces is paramount, in my opinion. That is, unless you plan on just doing one gigantic grow per year or something like that. Otherwise, yes, you really need two separate spaces in order to be efficient, and have plants ready to go under the main lights.

In regards to your original question, I recommend flood and drain, based on the one important fact that you said you need to be able to leave the garden unattended for days at a time. Flood and drain is perfect for this, provided your reservoir is properly sized to your grow. If too small, the water parameters will potentially fluctuate too much, but properly sized, you could actually leave things unattended for up to weeks at a time. Auto top offs are a good idea too.

Flood and drain tables provide lots of flexibility, in terms of media choice, container size, and so on. You can load up 4 inch cubes sea of green style for one grow, then the very next you can do 7 gallon containers filled with hydroton and grow trees.

Flood and drain has got to be the best system for people who want the least amount of work.

 

[medicalmj]

I'm not looking for a big tree grow where I have to veg for a long time. I would prefer to get in many
plants in my space. I've read here on the forum that the key to a big yielding growth is "high plant numbers"
among other things, one of them being a "high yielding strain"... any tips??

I´m thinking about a setup where I veg in a separate area an then where there ready move them in to the flower tent to save time, am I way off thinking this way or??

RW cubes in flood tables. Super easy, clean and huge yields if you grow more like you say. I would have a table or 2 in veg and pack em tight. Same flood table in flwr but put a cocotek mat down for extra root growth. Made by GH cost $55 and can be resused. Get the 1 inch thick mat, which fits perfectly. You'll get 2 lbs (or more w right strain when dialed) per table 4x4 w/ a 1 k light.

I would go back to this method if plant counts were not an issue.

 

[medicalmj]

...You can load up 4 inch cubes sea of green style for one grow, then the very next you can do 7 gallon containers filled with hydroton and grow trees.

Flood and drain has got to be the best system for people who want the least amount of work...

Yes! On the hydroton tree grows I found adding a little coco helps keep roots moist between floods. However, if I had a nice cycle timer I would flood as soon as it drained, which means several per hour and I would not need to use the coco.

 

[shermanitor007]

Looks like it´s going to be some type of flood and drain system at the time. What do you mean with "Auto top offs"??

 

[medicalmj]

Looks like it´s going to be some type of flood and drain system at the time. What do you mean with "Auto top offs"??

having a float valve in the res so that when it drops below a certain level water/nute solution will fill until float is up. Like a toliet float. Mine is gravity so that I need to have another container higher than. They also have pressurized...

 

[shermanitor007]

RW cubes in flood tables. Super easy, clean and huge yields if you grow more like you say. I would have a table or 2 in veg and pack em tight. Same flood table in flwr but put a cocotek mat down for extra root growth. Made by GH cost $55 and can be resused. Get the 1 inch thick mat, which fits perfectly. You'll get 2 lbs (or more w right strain when dialed) per table 4x4 w/ a 1 k light.

I would go back to this method if plant counts were not an issue.

Sounds real nice.. it is between the bucket system or as you say, I still have time to think about it until I have to place my order so will see...

 

[shermanitor007]

having a float valve in the res so that when it drops below a certain level water/nute solution will fill until float is up. Like a toliet float. Mine is gravity so that I need to have another container higher than. They also have pressurized...

Thanks man

 

[hempyftw]

Man.

Man.

So now that your more sold on ebb and flow.

I will reiterate what I said to you before.

BUILD YOUR OWN!

I would strongly suggest against paying for over priced turn key systems. I also suggest against buying as much of the system from a grow store as possible. They are more then willing to charge the fuck out of you for some cheap plastic crap.

You go into the grow shop, an leave with a 4x4 ebb an flow table with a 30-50 gal rez and everything ready to go. Having paid probably more then $3-500.

I walk in to lowes and leave with an identical setup, that will perform very similarly, if not the same. I probably paid around $70 for the whole thing. In fact I made 6 3'x2" flood tables running off of one pump for around $150-200.

But, feel free to waste serious money on someone drilling you a hole for your bulkheads, and attaching a pump. You can pay them a couple hundred for the minutes of labor they put in if ya want.

 

[noyd666]

nothing like the satisfaction of building your own gear and watching it all work for ya for less rip off bucks. but some can't so, some dont have the tools to drill a bloody hole or anythingat all. i guess way back we had to learn to do ourselfs or it did not get done, rant over

 

[medicalmj]

nothing like the satisfaction of building your own gear and watching it all work for ya for less rip off bucks. but some can't so, some dont have the tools to drill a bloody hole or anythingat all. i guess way back we had to learn to do ourselfs or it did not get done, rant over

Yeah, something about DIY. On the flood table Home D has a nice 2 1/2 x3 tub for $15. For custom sizes, pond liners are perfect.