[Rabbitt-420]

Ive been really interested in doing hydro grows but im just not informed enough on it yet.
I read people's logs and everything i can find but i cant figure out the differences of the tables.
Whats up with ppm also ?
I mean ive read logs but nobody has really gone into detail about it really.
I guess ill just have to read more and search harder to find things out.
Any pointers you all know that would be helpful are greatly needed.

Typically whem I'm talking about tables it's a 2x2 or 3x3 or 4x4. This is the dimensions of the plastic tub/table that we flood and drain in order to feed the plants. So a 2x2 is a square table 24" x 24" x 7" deep, a 3x3 is 36" x 36" and so on.
I run a small 17" x 32" table in veg and a 24"x24" table flower. The small one has like a 10 gallon reservior that it sits on and the bigger one has a 20 gallon reservior. I have a 250w mh above the small one and a 600w hps above the big one. I am about to bump up to a 3 x 3 table in flower with a 1000w hps above.
The ppm refers to the consentration of nutrients in the water. I typically use ppm to measure the nute level over the directions on the bottles and every strain is a little different. they sell meter that measure the ppm in your res. water that make it easy to monitor as well as ph.

Tex

ppm is just the parts per million of contaminants (sp?) in the water , like fertilizer.

hydro is very easy.

all you really need is netpots (i use 3")

water.... duh

container (rubbermaids work great)

a 3" hole saw , some use a 2 7/8? not sure, i use 3" tho.

airpump x2 , or 1 pretty nice pump.

air line, airstones

nutes

medium (hydroton / lava rock / grow rocks)

and WEED!

start soaking your hydroton/lavarock

basically, you drill holes in the lid of the rubbermaid for the netpots, you can choose how many plants you want to grow. also drill 1/4" holes in the lid to insert airline for airstone bubblin.
fix airstones to stay on the bottom of the rubbermaid tub. and thread the airline through the lid to the air pump, you will want to run the airpump(s) 24 hrs.

mix up 5 gallons of water / nutes at a time, and toss it into the rubbermaid, get a cheapo PH test kit for 8$ or whatever they cost, check the ph, and adjust as needed, make sure you put your nutes in first! and do not mix PH up and PH down.

mix your nutes into the water one at a time, do not mix them together before you put into water, this can cause nute lockout.

fill your netpots up with clones and medium, or seedlings, i can not recommend trying to germ seeds in a bubbler, as i have never tried it, tho i suppose it could work.

remember, all you need to do is put water in a bucket, add bubbles, and monitor your waters PPM and PH pretty regularly, you can go a couple days without checking the lvls early in veg, might wanna check daily in flower tho im sure you can get away with less. long as you do this, and keep the nutes to the reccomended lvl's you will have healthy plants.

if you fuck up your rez water , just change it. you can leave the plants hangin out of water for an hour or 2 with no bad side effects so don't worry about it, go slow and do things right!

hope that helps, im sure you can find a lot more specific info than this on the different types of hydro, but imo DWC is the easiest way to do it, and it's what i know and understand the most. Also i'm sure you can find more detailed info on nutes etc... but you wanted basic!

really it's only as hard as you make it water + bubbles + nutes + plant is all you need!

[Rabbitt-420]

Ok so how much would it cost me to build a cheap ole 1 plant bubbler system.
I guess i would use a 5 gallon bucket for it.
And i guess i have to have hydro nutes instead of my soil ferts ?
I would have to find the netpots and lava rocks or whatever they have.
I have a dual airpump from when i grew mushrooms.
I will have clones soon i hope.
I think im gonna have to wait on hydro until i can get a few more lights or at least another bigger hps.

just to build the bucket, for 1 plant... would prolly cost about 20$

bucket 5$ including lid i would hope, should be close to 5 anyway.

netpot 1$ (get a 5" or bigger if you're only doing 1 plant, can prolly find a lid with a netpot prefitted to it even at a hydro shop, they are cheap too, prolly between 1$-5$ may wanna look into that if you don't have a hole saw kit, hole saws are kinda spendy)

lavarock 2$ for 20 lbs , or hydroton not sure on price, i got a few free bags with a hydro kit i bought and dont use heh.

then whatever nutes you wanna use. that's gonna be the spendy part, i use Advanced Nutrients SensiGrow A+B, and SensiBloom A+B .... each set costs 24$

DO NOT USE YOUR SOIL NUTES!

also i HIGHLY reccomend not using ANY solid nutes or additives, use liquid stuff, the powder shit will leave nastys in your rez.

and you already have the air pump... you have an airstone for it? need one of those if you don't.

also what size light you have? shouldnt need much for 1 plant, i wouldnt think anything over 150w would really be needed, i guess tho it depends on how you wanna grow it, up or out.

good luck rabbit! if you got anymore questions ask away!

THC

ps you will NEED PH down, probably not ph up, but if you buy the test kit from General hydro, it comes with ph test kit and a small bottle of ph up and ph down, that would be what i would reccomend to start out with unless you have the extra bucks to spend on a digi meter, and a big bottle of ph down.

[Blackstack]

I must disagree a bit.

If you build a 5 gallon bubbler, use only RO water + the Lucas formula with rez changes when topoff RO = initial volume, your pH will stay close enough to the target range to grow a healthy plant.

Lucas formula + RO gets foolproof results, in my experience. From there, it is up to you to decide how far you want up to climb the diminishing return curve to maximize your setup.

[Hooked-On-Grown]

If your doing hydro for the first time, go Ebb & Flow and get a res at least 20 gallons. It is hard to maintain proper pH levels in small amounts of water. Experienced growers can handle that, but for beginners it can deter them from hydro.

remember, all you need to do is put water in a bucket, add bubbles, and monitor your waters PPM and PH pretty regularly, you can go a couple days without checking the lvls early in veg, might wanna check daily in flower tho im sure you can get away with less. long as you do this, and keep the nutes to the reccomended lvl's you will have healthy plants.

THCesar......I am not busting you out here, just using for the above example. The inexperienced grower has to check bubblers at least once, preferably twice a day for pH and ppm levels. THCesar and others with experience with hydro can judge levels and spot signs which comes with experience.

I personally think Ebb & Flow is better for the beginner hydro.
Here is a good link to OG's FAQ oon E&F's
Ebb & Flow's info
Even if your only growing a couple of plants, I do not recommend only growing one plant, grow a couple at least, you using the energy and money for it.
I also do not recommend going cheap on the pH/PPM meter.
This is the most important tool of hydro in my opinion. Your pH needs to drift between 5.5 and 6.1 That way all nutrients can be taken up by the plants. If you are going to maintain proper levels you need the proper tools.
That's my 2 cents!!
Ask any questions you need, we are all here to help!!!

[toofat]

I also want to know about hydro. What does dwc mean? Ebb & flow? Do you get bigger yields using hydro? How many plants can you get in a 4x6x8h cabinet?

[Hooked-On-Grown]

Here is a link to an FAQ on Ebb & Flows and DWC(Deep Water Culture, Bubblers) This should answer alot of questions!!

E & F and DWC INFO

Hope this helps!!

[homegrownsweets]

dwc is deep water culture and is just a different hydro method than a ebb and flow. I agree i think using tables is easier for a begginer as i didnt like messing with the ph in krusty buckets. I found bigger yeilds with my hydro setup but i love the taste of my soil plants i am seting my hydro setup back up and using PBP. I used zeta nutes with good results but if its not 100% organic its not for me.