Newbie hydroponics grow, need help getting started/selecting equipment!

Hi all!

I'm excited to say I think I'm finally going to foray into the realm of growing, and I would like any advice I could come by. A friend of mine actually gave me a free 250W HPS light (as well as a timer) and ballast which is, I figure, a significant portion of the entry cost reduced.

First, I have a few questions. I'm new to the entire growing scene but I have read a few general things on the theory behind soil vs. hydroponics and I've read quite a few grow log threads. There are still some things I'd like to get answered, if anyone would be so kind as to help me:

1. Do I need a water pump AND an air pump/air stones, or do I just need an air pump/airstones? I read a few of the stickied threads and many of them mention a water pump, many only mention airstones. What gives?

2. Is it better to go with multiple 5 gallon buckets, or would it be best to try to use a big 15 gallon container, or something similar? 5 gallon buckets seemed nice due to their relative ease of use -- small, not too heavy, each plant in its own controlled system, and I could have three separate shots to make sure I get the nutrients and such properly done.

As I said, I have a 250W HPS, so this isn't going to be some massive grow or anything. I was thinking, would three plants be feasible using this, or would that be pushing it?

As far as enclosure, here's what I had in mind poorly done in paint:



^^ basicly hat I had in mind. The thing would be in a closet and the black support structure would be PVC piping. I've built a few things with PVC pipes and the joints and they seem to hold up well. I was hoping to cover it with a felt tarp and have some kind of reflector on the insides of it, emergency blankets maybe? The thing above the box is the wooden shelf about 6' above the ground.

Three 5gallon buckets below, hopefully. I added a bimetal thermostat because I'm kind of paranoid if things get too hot that I'd rather have things shut down than there be any issues while I'm away for some reason, but I was hoping to make it so the schedule would coincide with the lights being on when I'm at home.

Also, there's another shelf 1 foot higher than the other shelf (so 7' up) that I figure I can move up to if things go really well and if I want to continue going upward, but I'm not sure if I'll even get to that point

Is the size feasible? Is my scale all wrong? Is the light big enough? After reading a few threads, here is what I figure I still need and approximate prices I might be able to find on the stuff used:

Hydroton balls $10
Net pot $5
3 * 5 gallon bucket + lids $15
PVC tubing + fittings $15
3x airstone $20
air pump $5
Thermometer, $10
PH Tester, $10
Bimetal thermostat, $10
Carbon filter, $60

Or about $160 of stuff still needed. As for nutrients, I'm not 100% sure still on that, is there a more detailed guide that might be able to suggest specifics in that regard?

One other thing, will a ~100CFM fan on the carbon scrubber attached to the top be enough to cool the chamber down, or will I run into heat issues? It'd be inside a closet in a cool room, the only external air intake into the closet is by a 1" or so gap between the door frame and the wood flooring.

As for strains, I really have no clue. I was thinking about possibly looking around for some clones or seeds, but I'm trying to keep expenses down at this point, so I don't know.

Sorry his is so long, I hope it's well though out and I hope someone can help me along

EDIT: Maybe this should go int he design forum? I was hoping to turn this into a grow thread once I got things kicked off, so I don't know, sorry if I placed this int he wrong area.

Welcome to IC SoEx! First thing to remember when growing NEVER EVER TELL ANYONE ABOUT YOUR GROW!!!!!!!

1. You'll definatly need an air pump and air stones for hydro. If growing in buckets you can change out your buckets(rez) by hand. If you go with a tubbler you'll need a pump to dump-change your rez tank eventually. If you grow from seed and use a tubbler you can have more than 3 stations for plants, when you cut down your males your sure to have enough females for a good harvest.

If you use General Hydroponics nutrients and the Lucas formula(do a search) all you have to do is add back water and nutes and only flush out your system before harvesting.

My closet is just a bit larger than your design, check it out and ask away http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=74834

2. I grow in a DWC(deep water culture) 30 gal Rubbermaid tub, for the reasons above. You won't be filling and carrying jugs of water every day and if you want to go away for the weekend you won't have to worry about plants useing up their water supply when they are larger.

To keep vibration noises down you'll want to hang your air pump from a rubber tie-down strap...bungie strap. Make sure you get a double outlet air pump and 2 bubble wands or 2 large air stones, and use gorilla glue to secure them to the bottom of the tank.

To keep initial costs down you can try bag weed seed for your first grow, higher quality of corse. There are also inexpensive seeds available at some of the seed banks...at the top of the home page there are advertisements for some of the seed banks...order now and start to build!

the fan size should be fine, watch out for any cracks-light leaks in the flower stage, make an inlet with a box and filter to keep light leaks out. Cut an opening on the bottom of the box and use a furnace filter to keep the crud-dust-hair out of your grow room. Put small spacers on the bottom of the box to keep it just off the floor, cooler air is down low.

You can also cut costs by building your own carbon scrubber( do a search) for about $20.

I also keep costs down by makeing my own pots from 4" round plant pots and I use peat-pellets and lava rocks.

Your grow area should work just fine and your design can always be added on to in size,area.

WHEW...lots of questions, hope this helps. I'll check back from time to time and help all I can. Keep green and stay safe, Don

P.S. you'll want to check out a RO unit Reverse Osmosis system to get the best water, check around at E-bay or Overstocked for the best prices. I paid $85 for a $290 system.

Make sure that first line from Don sinks in, DON'T TELL ANYONE!

Don't go cheap on the air pump, growing DWC, everything depends on getting enough air into the water (Disolved oxygen , D/O).

I don't think you have the size right for 3 5 gallon buckets. an idea that I was using was office trash can, the black ones. They are rectangular so the are more space efficient. For the lid, I got a piece of plexi glass and cut it to fit the cab and drilled the holes in it, cover it with black duct tape.
Good Luck with whatever you decide

Thank you for the replies! Don't worry, I don't like gloating, so I'm keeping things to myself

I checked things out and went to a junk store and picked up a 120VAC fan with a "funnel" kidn of thing attached, it puts out some decent air as well as being very quiet. Also picked up a furnace air filter, hopefully going to get some activated carbon, some mesh, and some duc
ting, then I'll be able to do the carbon scrubber for a bit less than IC an find it online pre-built.

Here's what I was looking at for dimensions, I took the bottom diameter of one of those standard 5gal buckets:



So my original dimensions were kind of a guess but not horribly off.

So, with DWC, I don't have to worry about a water pump but I can get a nice air pump (I'm sure I can find something good but used for not too much) for it, right?

How much water will these things soak up at maturation? I really need to find an article that explains the daily use/care of a hydroponic system for a 5 gallon bucket. I'm confused as to how much one has to refill each bucket each day, what you have to check for, and nutrients I'm starting to get a tiny bit better understanding for. Sorry for all the questions, I've read up a bit I just get confused by some of the terminology I think.

Is it only feasible to get an RO system, i.e. I can't just buy 20 gallons or something at a site that has water, or does that get costly as well? I ask because I don't want to raise any eyebrows racking up a massive water bill filling at home, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for all the help so far, hopefully things will start to materialize and cement themselves in the next few weeks.

If you go DWC tubbler and use the Lucas formula you will need a water pump but only at the end of your grow, I use a 100 power head available at any aquariam store and a length of tube to reach your drain-sink-tub etc. to dump your rez tank.

At the 15-20 day flowering stage I usually add back 1 gal a day, sometimes 2 gals a day. If you use a 15-20 gal tubbler you can go a couple days without adding. Down the road you can add an external rez tank and use a float valve to auto fill your tub with pre mixed nutes and water. The Lucas formula is very to use and you will only need micro and bloom, ya don't even need grow. There is enough nitrogen in the micro to sustain your grow. In Veg you add grow-migro-bloom 0-5-10 ml per gal of addback and 0-8-16ml per gal for flowering. Very simple to measure and use! As your rez is used up you just addback when you need to.
Buckets are fine is you can get clones but if you grow from seed you only will have 3 chances at a female.

You can buy watter at about a dollar a gallon and hump hump hump water...bring it in at night etc. but if you are in an urban area it might seem strange you bringing in all that water. You'll probably go thru 50-80 gals a grow so your RO system will pay for itself with your first grow and you only have to change filters every 2 years if you only use the water for your grows. Your water bill shouldn't be that much more than filling up your tub 2 or 3 times. The system can easly be hooked up under your sink, and there is a reserve tank to hold it!

Have you checked out the link to my grow yet alot of decent info there! Peace

Hmm, I actually already have a base from a different, unrelated project that is mad eof PVC and nearly those dimensions. I'm already taking up a little piece of a closet with this, so I *do* have room for another 5 gallon bucket, I'm just wondering if I should add it or not? How many plants with a 250W HPS sustain? Should I just go for a tub at that point that is appropriately sized to fill this?

I have been googling and I keep finding VERY conflicting numbers on how much air needs to be going to each bucket. What would be a good minimum amount of air for a pump for my setup, or is there a link I can read to figure that out?

Is there any difference between reverse osmosis systems or will any RO system be okay since I'm hopefully not going to be using a ton of water?

Also, sorry again for all of these questions, but: at what point do I need a water pump for flowering and what purpose does it serve?

Edit: thanks for all the help everyone

Hi SoEx, If you have 4 buckets it will let you grow 4 plants from seed, you might end up with 1-3 females. If you use a tub DWC you can have 10 stations for 10 seeds and end up with 4-6 females...a better chance at getting more female plants and useing all seeds in a 10 pack, the most common number in a pack of seeds. Use a tub you'll like it!!!

A 250 whatt HPS should be fine for the space of your design or a 2'x3'x6' area, or basically 2 square meters.

I usually use 2 double outlet air pumps from Wall Mart for $10 each and 2-4 bubble wands at $5 each evenly spaced on the bottom of the tank...glued or siliconed in place. This gives me plenty of air difuseion in the water. I've been doing it this way for years.

Any 5 filter RO system should do you fine, it should have a 4 gallon tank this will give you 1 1/2 gallons of usable RO water every 2-3 hours. Usually when I've filled 4 gal jugs I wait a couple hours and shut off the water inlet to the RO unit so it dosen't run on. When the tank is full it will buypass the sustem and runoff down the drain without filtering... turning the water inlet will save you wasted water.

You will only need a water pump to empty the rez-tub to clean between grows or to "flush" the rez tank the last 3-5 days of flowering before flowering, add about 5 gals of plain RO water...this will allow the starches-sugers to flush-drain from the plants and your buds will be less harsh and free from nutes..chemicals. You don't really need a pump you can use a syphon to remove the "water" and or just a jug. The pump just makes this process easier...drop in the pump,put the hose in the drain, and plug it in. Way easier to empty your rez tank.

If you decide to use a Tubbler get one that fitts the base size of your area and is a foot to 18" tall and holds 15-30 gallons. The larger your rez tank the more stable your PH will stay...say between 5.6 to 6.4...I like 5.8 to 6.0

The Lucas Formula in flower will keep your PH a steady 5.8-5.9 You will need 2 quarts of Bloom and 1 quart of Micro General Hydroponics nutes as you will be useing 1 part Micro to 2 parts Bloom. You might also look into a Super bloom additive to use dureing flowering to help them bud sights really swell and fatten up!!!

Don't worry about asking too many questions!!! How else are you gonna learn? We're just one big happy family here so ask away!!!!!

Hit that link to my grow thread I posted in my first reply so you cansee what I'm doing in almost the same area your thinking about building!!!

Remember to have fun while building and growing!!!!!!!!

Okay, cool. I did check out your thread, thanks, very nice

I'm hoping I can get clones, that's still iffy and I'll find out sometime within the next few weeks. I'm starting to settle on final products and figuring out where to get them from, but I have a big question: Is it safe to buy stuff from a local hydroshop? I think I had remembered reading some discussion about the issue, but I never remember reading a conclusion. In these quantities is it "Safe," or can it make someone a target? I'm not trying to be uber-paranoid, but I obviously don't want anyone even wondering whether or not I have a grow.

I was thinking of just using hydroton balls like in that sticky thread, or do I also need vermiculite/other media in there?

I'm still not sure if I will be able to find an odd-shaped tub that'll fit the space, so I'm going to shop around some hardware/second hand places and see what I can come up with. If I go bucket I will hopefully get a few adequate pumps and place one cheapo 8" airstone in the bottom of each bucket, if that's sufficient.

I was also considering using sturdy plastic colanders instead of a net pot since I may be able to find one that looks the same, but that may be a bad idea, I don't know.

For shielding I'm hopefully going to use some dark felt with a mylar emergency blanket on the inside to reflect everything, cheap and effective, so it'd seem.

I can't wait to get started

Buying from a local hydro shop should be ok. Pay cash, no credit cards or checks as they will leave a paper trail. You can always have a small vegetable grow like tomatoes and green peppers set up in a visible main room with floros for lighting, take photos to show the Hydro dealer once in a while .

I use 4" plastic flower pots with the 4 bottom resting bases cut out, I germ and then transplant into peat-pellets...each cost 10cents each( chech out my thread to see how to make em,if you need more info I'll post a how to here!). Just get a bag of lava rocks for medium they will hold the pots in place and support the plants, a 50lb bag is only about $3.95. I have been finding ways to keep my grows low cost and hardware shops-Lowes friendly.

You can probably find most of what you need at Wall Mart or a similar store, they have many shapes and sizes of storage containers-tubs. I'd buy the tub first and then build your room to fit!!! Most times you won't ever pay more than $7-8 for one!!

Felt etc for walls should be ok, you might want to look at a black plastic tarp etc for walls, mylar is ok for reflection. Flat white house paint is actually the most reflective of light. but you can't paint flexible walls

Sounds like your plans are starting to take shape!!!! I'll keep checking back to answer any questions and watch your build and grow!!!

Just a thought, you may want to drill a hole in the top of your hood and run your carbon scrubber pickup out of it, that way you'll be removeing excess heat from your lamp and the smell out of your cabinet all at once

Keep On Keeping On!!! The Don

Woot!

The reason I picked this particular area was because it was a reaosnable corner of a closet and seemed like it'd be appropriate. I also already had a PVC base from a completely unrelated project in these dimensions, so doing this cut down the cost of PVC a bit.

I took your advice and headed to wal mart, boy oh boy. I found a 22 gallon tub that fits perfectly for $4! Those buckets would've been $5 each + lids

I bought the tubing to make the box itself, I am going to use the higher shelf (~7' off the ground) to hang the light so I can get an extra foot or so of growing space. I'm going to connect all the PVC up and such and measure things out.

I also got all I need for the carbon filter except for the activated carbon itself. Going to check that out from some aquarium stores as well as the airstones and such. Things are afoot and I'll update with pics.

WEEEdogies!!! Your on your way. Good deal on your tub and saveing some bucks too!!! You might want to add a few horizontal side rails(on both sides and the back) with the PVC useing T connecters...say at 3' and 4'. You can use tea cup hooks and run about 5 in each one so you'll have some tie-down spots to use to tie side branches and plants over to the side walls...this will allow more light thru the top canopy of the plants without haveing to strip-cut feeder leaves from the plants. Also if your plants get to close to the light at the top of your cabinet you can tie them around the edges so they don't get heat and light burn!!!

JMHO...Keep on Trucking!

SoEx said:

Hi all!


1. Do I need a water pump AND an air pump/air stones, or do I just need an air pump/airstones? I read a few of the stickied threads and many of them mention a water pump, many only mention airstones. What gives?

2. Is it better to go with multiple 5 gallon buckets, or would it be best to try to use a big 15 gallon container, or something similar? 5 gallon buckets seemed nice due to their relative ease of use -- small, not too heavy, each plant in its own controlled system, and I could have three separate shots to make sure I get the nutrients and such properly done.

As I said, I have a 250W HPS, so this isn't going to be some massive grow or anything. I was thinking, would three plants be feasible using this, or would that be pushing it?

Click to expand...

Just my thoughts.

I think it would be best just to go with an air pump. I really dont like the idea of a power head in the water, its hard enough to keep temps down low enough for max dissolved oxygen. my pump in my res gets hot enough to raise the water temp a few degrees if it runs constantly. Keep in mind that powerheads have the ablity to mix up the nutrient solution.

I'd rather go with one res, mainly for nutrient management. I'm sure that you could have individual buckets as long as they were linked with a common res.

250W is a good light I used to run a 400HPS. And I'm suprised with what I can produce with this light.

Good luck.

Don Cotyle said:

WEEEdogies!!! Your on your way. Good deal on your tub and saveing some bucks too!!! You might want to add a few horizontal side rails(on both sides and the back) with the PVC useing T connecters...say at 3' and 4'. You can use tea cup hooks and run about 5 in each one so you'll have some tie-down spots to use to tie side branches and plants over to the side walls...this will allow more light thru the top canopy of the plants without haveing to strip-cut feeder leaves from the plants. Also if your plants get to close to the light at the top of your cabinet you can tie them around the edges so they don't get heat and light burn!!!

JMHO...Keep on Trucking!

Click to expand...

Okay, I'll look into that. Thanks for the suggestions, again.

GrowerGoneWild said:

Just my thoughts.

I think it would be best just to go with an air pump. I really dont like the idea of a power head in the water, its hard enough to keep temps down low enough for max dissolved oxygen. my pump in my res gets hot enough to raise the water temp a few degrees if it runs constantly. Keep in mind that powerheads have the ablity to mix up the nutrient solution.

I'd rather go with one res, mainly for nutrient management. I'm sure that you could have individual buckets as long as they were linked with a common res.

250W is a good light I used to run a 400HPS. And I'm suprised with what I can produce with this light.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I settled on quite a few things and started building, going to go with just an air pump. I have a water pump handy for draining when I need to, though.

Some progress!:

I got started and finished on the carbon filter today:

















Don't have a completely finished shot. I only was able to effectively pack in about 9 ounces and it had a decent layer of carbon, I had to use a lot of duct tape and be careful, but it seems like it works... I'll put up a final picture of it sometime later when I take it.

I soldered up the fan to some leads and connected it to the mains, all seems pretty good. I just don't know if I used enough carbon or if this will be good enough for what I'm looking at :/


And finally, I finished the PVC structure (more or less):




Note: man-eating lion removed for security purposes.

Yes, I know it's missing a pillar, I forgot to pick up another section at the hardware store

My next thing "To do" is just hang the lights from the shelving in the closet, buy the mylar and felt, cover it up, and get ready to get going. Other than that I just need to get a few things for the actual growing itself to get started, I think.

Anyone got any suggestions/comments, I'd LOVE to receive any advice that may help me steer clear of any mistakes

Thanks!

Carbon filters work fine, but I still think its best to filter the air and push it outside of the house if possible. I actually run 2 carbon scrubbers, and it still smells a bit.. however, this is one of my more stinky grows. The sucky thing about carbon scrubbers are two things.

-It sucks to reload them.
-Slowly the smell will get stronger, you have to change carbon often. I change out every 2 weeks. So far in this grow I've used a couple pounds of activiated charcol.

I wont even worry about using a carbon filter until flowering.

Looks like mylar comes in two flavors, 1mil and 2mil. I opted for the 1 mil and suprisingly its very sturdy. Not exactly easy to tear, but if you can i'm sure the 2 mil is even stronger.

GrowerGoneWild said:

Carbon filters work fine, but I still think its best to filter the air and push it outside of the house if possible. I actually run 2 carbon scrubbers, and it still smells a bit.. however, this is one of my more stinky grows. The sucky thing about carbon scrubbers are two things.

-It sucks to reload them.
-Slowly the smell will get stronger, you have to change carbon often. I change out every 2 weeks. So far in this grow I've used a couple pounds of activiated charcol.

I wont even worry about using a carbon filter until flowering.

Looks like mylar comes in two flavors, 1mil and 2mil. I opted for the 1 mil and suprisingly its very sturdy. Not exactly easy to tear, but if you can i'm sure the 2 mil is even stronger.

Click to expand...

There's no way to get the air from my closet to the window, it's just way too far. I have an ozone generator (ionic air purifier) for my apartment, so I think that'll be okay on the outside + the scrubber inside, hopefully.

I bought an "Emergency blanket" from wal mart. IT claims 90% reflectivity of energy. It's not mylar, though, it's polyester. Also, I can see through it somewhat, so I don't know :/

Got a tiny bit more progress:

Final image of the hideous carbon filter:



Plant's view inside the enclosure looking up. HPS will hang from those hooks, hopefully:



Overall shot of the closet with one side covered in an emergency blanket:



I added some weight as well as a long plastic stick to the blanket so I could lift it up/put it down easily. There is a 2" gap so air comes in from the bottom:


And finally, my reflector:


So, a few things. Don said that white paint would be the best in terms of reflectivity. The walls of my closet are white (as shown in the picture). Think it would be beneficial to just seal up two sides of the PVC structure with the emergency blanket/felt then leave the other two sides open to the wall? I can seal things up for airflow and smell otherwise, but it fits snugly along the wall and it'd be a tiny bit less work P).

The second thing is I ditched the original HPS's enclosure. The damn big white box weighed a ton and took up a huge amount of space. I am making the ballast remote, I saved the batwing reflector from it and added sides. I just need to figure out what I'm going to do, a (diy) cooltube or just an aircooled reflector with glass on the bottom. I'm not sure what the difference is in terms of performance.

I also heard that the tap around here (in my specific area) is 110ppm and not bad for growing, but that RO would possibly grant better performance. Would the difference amount to something significant, or would RO just be a little bit better if the tap is already of "decent" quality.

Thanks!

Edit: pics of the ~22 gal tub:



I think I settled on 6" net pots (will fit in each of those drawn squares, hopefully). The tub itself is translucent, and when I hold the lid up to a strong light it does shine through to some extent. Do I need to duct-tape it all to make sure no light gets to the roots?

Well, haven't you been a busy beaver. In the immortal words of Lou Grant, "Ya got spunk, kid. I hate spunk." seriously, though, very impressive.

Watch out for the lion. Those that self project green security screens are the most dangerous.

But are ya haveing fun yet!!!

Paint your tub black then white, get those $1 cans of spray paint. Light leaks into your tubbler will cause algea growth hat will use up nutes and cause root damage!

Vent your light hood with your carbon scrubber dureing flower and keep that scrubber in a big plastic bag till you use it, carbon left to the air will lose it's effectiveness over time.

Go ahead and close in the remaining wall, put the mylar on the outside o alow for a little more room.

Your water sounds ok at 110ppm but you might want to let it sit out open for 24hours to allow the flouride-clourine to dissapate before useing.

To hand your lights get fine chain, the links will give lots of hang points to choose from. Measure 13" above your tubbler to the hooks...that will be how much chain you'll need X2, and use eye hooks off the top of your hood also.

Before you know it the real fun will start, you may even get thoughts of grandure as you will be the God of your grow room

Looking good Bro!!!

FreezerBoy said:

Well, haven't you been a busy beaver. In the immortal words of Lou Grant, "Ya got spunk, kid. I hate spunk." seriously, though, very impressive.

Watch out for the lion. Those that self project green security screens are the most dangerous.

Click to expand...

Haha, thanks. Yeah, he's ferocious/clumsy and I have the scratches to prove it

Don Cotyle said:

But are ya haveing fun yet!!!

Paint your tub black then white, get those $1 cans of spray paint. Light leaks into your tubbler will cause algea growth hat will use up nutes and cause root damage!

Vent your light hood with your carbon scrubber dureing flower and keep that scrubber in a big plastic bag till you use it, carbon left to the air will lose it's effectiveness over time.

Go ahead and close in the remaining wall, put the mylar on the outside o alow for a little more room.

Your water sounds ok at 110ppm but you might want to let it sit out open for 24hours to allow the flouride-clourine to dissapate before useing.

To hand your lights get fine chain, the links will give lots of hang points to choose from. Measure 13" above your tubbler to the hooks...that will be how much chain you'll need X2, and use eye hooks off the top of your hood also.

Before you know it the real fun will start, you may even get thoughts of grandure as you will be the God of your grow room

Looking good Bro!!!

Click to expand...

Yet another great/helpful post, thank you!

I have the chain already, I had hung the light int he bigass white housing and realized that when I wanted to move the light up/down it made a ton of noise because I was moving around a huge 60 lb box encased in metal, so whenever it'd swing and bump something it made a big CLANG. Anyway, that's one of the reasons I am making the ballast remote, but I'll be hanging the cooled reflectors from the same chains too, hopefully.

Anyway, I'm heading out to the hardware store right now and will hopefully do a ton of work getting my setup almost ready for plants tonight.

Thanks again for all the help!

SoEX said:

1. Do I need a water pump AND an air pump/air stones, or do I just need an air pump/airstones? I read a few of the stickied threads and many of them mention a water pump, many only mention airstones. What gives?
2
3

Click to expand...

OK well hey man Ya im still a beginner for sure at DWC. My first grow was great though had a 2oz harvest and i think the over all time it took was about 6 months... TBO I think that was a little long.. but it was my first one.

But ya im doing it all in a little 2' x 3.5' x 5' cab. With CFLs 6 of then 26watters.
Highest i could find in store. Work great though no doubt.

I have only 6in buckets for my plants. No water pump just air pump..

Also dont waste your money on stupid air stones.. they suck ass because after a while the root kind of seal the rocks and your bubbles really start to lessen, which in turn strains your air pumps.

I just connected the air pumps straight up with the tubbing and put piece of tape over the end that goes in the water. Put a few holes in the tape with a needle and your golden. I put the tape on the ends because otherwise the bubbles really make alot of noise lol. crazy vibrating cab

And your 250w should be perfect tbo. Im working with only 156watts and I got 2 oz from my first grow

But for buckets and what not.. your just going to have to test it out. I dont recommend using ONE large one for all the plants though.. Iv tried that in the beginning and ended up take it out and cutting all the root apart and putting them all in separate buckets.

Also those Hydroton rocks.. also waste of money, when doing DWC you dont need a median at all, atleast i dont have anything.. I just got a piece of pond rubber lining. cut a little 6in circle. And kind of cut out a net with it. That is all myplants are sitting in, tbo my current ones the roots are huge and probably holding up the plant also lol.

Im still in the experimenting stage myself, i have 2 plants in 1 6" bucket haha ya pretty small i know.. I think the bucket holds like half a gal or something lol. O well it seems to be working just fine.

Also another thing, really make sure your water holding area(bucket) is LIGHT TIGHT! My first grow my grow the root were green as shit covered in algae lol. Not good because then your not only feeding your plants that expensive nutes you bought but your now feeding that algae

So really man just try different shit out... I think the key things to worry about are,
1-Check your water lvls few times a week if not daily
2-Check cab temps..(this is prob i have lights on around 85 for me)
3-Make sure air hose stays bubbling good and full, i remember once my stones
got plugged up and i took them off and did the tape thing, my plants freaking
grow like 2 inchs that night lol just from way more air for them

Military said:

Also dont waste your money on stupid air stones.. they suck ass because after a while the root kind of seal the rocks and your bubbles really start to lessen, which in turn strains your air pumps.

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Yup, couldn't agree more, I had quite a collection of clogged up airstones after many DWC grows. It finally dawned on me to just run open air lines. And what do you know.. no more choked off air stones.