Looking for easy hydro system...Small res...

I will be a first time hydro grower in the next 30 days. I have about 10 grows under my belt with dirt but am looking to switch to Hydro for the bigger yeilds and faster veg times....

I am keen on DWC or bucket (i.e. Hydrofarm) style systems.

I am even considering building my own, which seems to be fairly simple and cost effective.

I am looking for a system that doesn't have a huge 30-40 gallon nutrient res.

I will only be growing 8-10 plants under 1000W, so I don't want a big mess, tons of upkeep or to have to use 3 gallons of nutes for the grow.

Can someone recommend a system that will allow me to grow 8-10 big plants (not huge trees, but bigger than SOG style, 4-5 feet at maturity), that features a small res and easy maintenance....


Thanks so much from the first time hydro grower

bio buckets are the latest craze right now. there are several threads that will get you educated on that (tons of info). DWC is easy as well, but no central res (you could make a recirculating DWC). bio buckets are the way to go

Maybe you could get a 3x3 ebb and flow unit. I think ebb and flow beats DWC for simplicity. You can even manage to go a full run on one reservoir if you're clever. You'll be changing nutes every week or two with DWC. There are also issues with droppin ph, root rot, reservoir temps etc.

In ebb and flow you can add nutes directly to your reservoir,you don't run pumps or any appliances 24/7(safer and extends the life of the appliance).

DWC does work though, and we've seen it all over doing great. I just think it's more work for the same end result. It's really easy to put an airstone in a bucket and bubble away, but it's also easy to get a reservoir,flood table,pump and drain valve. It's a little more involved, but not much and in my experience much less of a pain.

The other issue is small reservoirs need much more maitenance as well. As the water level drops on a small tank, the nutrient concentration goes up as well. When you have a ten gallon res and use two gallons of water you are increasing the concentration a lot more(2x) than if you use two gallons from a twenty gallon res, capice. In a small res, you will have bigger swings of PH and EC. In other words you really have to watch a smaller tank especially for PH.

Hope this helps.

Estuey

Thanks for the advice...

I understand and agree with the issue of nute strength and PH as the water drops....

My issue is that right now I run the entire AN organic line in my dirt garden and for the smallest bottle of everything, it's like $250....

I think those bottles would do 1 entire grow....which makes it spendy.

I am considering going to another line like Earth Juice or something to try and save some money....

I don't really understand Ebb & Flow systems...well I do a little, but not too much.....

DWC seems so simple, but by the time I set-up a re-circulating Nute tank, I am looking at 10-12 gallons a week....That's alot of nutes..... Oh well, I'll figure it out I guess....

You don't need the entire line of nutes. The way I see it. You have nutrients,air,light. If the environment is dialed in you really don't need many additives. Read posts by Lucas. He says you only need the Bloom and Micro of most three part ferts, and no additives,except Calmag for RO water. He recommends just using GH floranova Bloom at 5ml/gallon veg and 8ml/gallon at bloom. You can also get away with just using PBP bloom.

All the additives work at correcting problems mainly due to environmental stress. If your temps,light,ph and air are dialed in no amount of extra additves or boosters will increase your yeild.IMO they will decrease the health of the plants and their yeild.

Think of it this way. Sometimes the extra stuff helps, alot of the time it screws things up. Not adding something will not harm anything, as long as the main Macro and micro nutes are there.

Estuey,

Thanks for the reply and I agree...However, I have been an AN guy for a while now....oh well, guess it's time to switch.

The biggest thing I left out is that I am trying to do this while staying 100% organic. I am more of a taste/Smell over yield guy. Since this is a hobby thing, I want quality over quantity.

I had thought about doing Aero, but alot of people maintain that organic nutes will clog the misters....

I believe it is Earth Juice that has a 3 part with Grow, Bloom, and Micro's...oh and they have a catalsyt (4th type of nutes) with vitamins, hormones, etc....

They claim to be 100% organic....It's $120 (30/each) for 1 gallon of each of the 4 kinds.....I figure that will do me over 10-20 grows....better than $250/ per grow and I get to stay Organic...


I did start another thread about some hydro stuff...maybe you can answer my question.

I grow from seed, which mean if I start 10 seeds, 5 will be female and 5 will be male. This makes doing hydro a little more difficult. If I want 10 females, I'll need to start about 20 seeds, but what is the best way or system to start seeds and then transfer to a bigger system.

I have considered a huge bubble cloner to get the plants from seed to about 1-2 feet high...but will a bubble style cloner work for this? Or should I take a big 30 gallon container and make 20 sites in it and run a small DWC set-up until I can sex the plants and remove males before moving females to the big system for flowering...
Well actually, a huge bubble cloner is a big DWC...Nevermind....

Will this work?


COnfused???? Sorry if you are...

Thanks for the ongoing help!

I am a dwc chap - because it is the simplest basic system - no plumbing - no leaks. The problem most folks have is they do not design for the thermal issues the lights cause. To solve that, use a large cooler, or make your tubs or buckets coolers by insulating them. I'm redesigning my tubblers, making thick styrofoam lids to replace the plastic originals. You can make lids with seedlings in mind - like a unit that gives you 12 holes for seedlings but that you can use in a 3,4,5 or 6 hole once the chaps are removed. Just plug the holes that I ain't using. And rockwool sucks ass, in my not humble opinion.
H

First grow out a pack of seeds and clone all the females. Keep track of which clones came from which moms. While growing the original females, you'll probably notice one or two being superior. You can now select a mother or two from your clones and clone them. You can get hundreds of clones from one mother.

a nice easy transition for you would be a 3x3 or 4x4 f&d tray,...you can grow 8 large plants in a circle pattern with your light hanging vertical in the center,...or you can grow 25-36 small plants sog style.....you dont even have to use a res,...
I switched from doing dwc for 5 years and wish I would of done it sooner,....I grow all my plants in 2 gallon square pots using coco and botanicare,....I have a 100 gallon res I havent even used yet,....I bought a rubbermaid trash can I mix my nutes in then pump out to a watering wand every 3rd day,....no wasted nutes,..no meters,..no ph drifting....
trust me ebb n flow is the easiest and most flexible system there is,....you can drip feed,water by hand,flood,use any size pot,move your plants around,no air stones,no chiller,no clogged sprayers,no root rot,etc.