new to hydro, wanna start? what form is easiest? dwc, ebb n flow, etc?

[mowood3479]

So, Ive run 4 uneventful soil (promix) runs.. cant seem to get my gpw over .5 even with looonng veg and huge plants. When i first started growing indoors I was using a homemade dwc with a bonzai plant.. it went well but it seemed like alot more work than soil so i gave it up. I wanna do a test run of some form of hydro. I already have the dwc buckets set up, but not opposed to buying an ebb n flow table or any other setup.. budget around 500$ for the test run..

I read alot, and I think I end up confusing myself. im reasonably handy but I dont have a ton of time for a complete diy project n its hard because i have no/little experience with plumbing, so looking at pics of some hydro set ups (heath,wow!) it just seems so out of my league..
will someone help a soil guy get his feet wet? point me in the right direction?
should i just run a few of those diy dwc buckets i have made? 5 gallon bucket, light proofed with air pump n airstone.. or is dwc a "harder" form of hydro? oh.. also where i live, I do lose power at least once a month for a half day or so.. i think ive read that in some set ups that could be deadly..
I have 3 of those dwc buckets, a ph pen, ppm pen, an sensei a n b. ph up n down,

 

[FreezerBoy]

DWC can be as easy or hard as you care to make it.

Key is EC up, pH down is too rich. EC down pH up is too lean. EC flat, pH flat looks good on paper but should be avoided as no one pH number allows absorption of all nutes. You want pH to swing from 5.6-6.0 (some say 5.2 on the low end).

The smaller the res, the faster the disaster. Your 5 gal tub holds about 3 gal of nutes and will require maintenance at least once a week if not more. My 18 gal tub holds 12 gal of nutes, I do maintenance every other week. I can go for 3 weeks if I have to but, plants are not amused when I do. Start seedlings/rooted clones at 1/4 the rate suggested on the bottle, increase to 1/2 as they grow. Chart EC and pH daily to see what if any adjustments are required. With practice, you can force EC and pH to move in the direction you want on a timetable of your choosing (within the confines of a 3 gal water supply)

Here's my first "official" DWC (first died from power failure, second turned male) I knew absolutely nothing about DWC but what I learned here on the fly and lookie what I got stuck with. While I water cure, a jar cure would've netted close to 1/2 lb.



I've survived multiple outages in the half day range. I'd think a 5 gal tub could do so as well. Not sure about a day or more. Maybe a UPS as an emergency back up?

 

[Hamburglar]

I have literally just gone hydro a few weeks back. Transplanted my C99 mums from soil party cups to a shared 5l (2l nute capacity) DWC tub. All 6 are kept as bonzai mums, but they really like to explode in growth between trimming/clone taking (bi weekly).

I spent a good £150/$280 on making 5 20l(5gal) DWC buckets (including ph/ec pen, Ph down etc). Got 4 rooted clones going in the tent in he buckets, and I already feel as though hydro id the way to go.

I get a lot more control over what I'm feeding the girls when compared to soil. One of my C99 phenos was a "funny leaf" pheno in soil (splotchy leaves) but in hydro all has been fixed. Turns out, it's Ph sensitive . Would never have known/fixed this had I not have gone hydro.

Not having soil to spill is a huge bonus in my eyes. No more sweeping dirt, just a mop up with a spare towel. Everything feels more sterile too.

Honestly, I wish I went hydro a long time back, and I'm not even flowering yet, it's that much of a difference already.

 

[GP73LPC]

here's another vote for DWC...

 

[Sneeuw]

Hydro

Hydro

NFT systems are also a good option when going hydro, either building one yourself with drainage pipes eg or buying a complete system like the AeroFlo´s, starting clones at Ec 1.5 is not a problem with NFT in my experience...

In my gallery you can see a very tiny NFT system that sadly was discarded hence the glue used was causing ph problems, used for 4 mothers, but still easy to build and run, also make sure to buy seperate Ec and Ph meters.

Have a good weekend...

 

[SpaceKiller]

GH water farms are my fave, can be made easily. i do prefer the design of the inner bucket on the water farm though, creates a really lush multi layered root system.

 

[resinryder]

E&F with an over sized res. Example-2x4 table with a 40 gallon res, 3x3 with a 40 or a 70 gallon res, 4x4 with a 70 gallon, or a 4x8 with a 110 gallon res. The extra volume in the res gives you as much as 5 to 7 days where you can leave it and let it auto grow if you have to leave for some reason. 1 pump, 1 air stone, Simple really.
Of course this is my opinion and you know what they say about opinions!!!

 

[mpd]

My system was designed by me to fit my needs which are:

1. It has to be leak proof.

2. It has to provide lots of aeration.

3. It has to be quiet.

4. It has to work with a 400 watt vertical kool-tube system.

5. It has to be low maintenance.

========================================
In practice I found the krusty bucket approach to be impractical because every time you moved a bucket the seal at the top would break or leak. doing a fill with a top drain just didn't make sense to me.

So I reversed it.

I used hydrostatic draining through the bottom of the buckets and filled from the top with the fill line squirting directly into the bottom of the net pot. I then added a jumbo aquarium air pump to make the individual buckets bubble constantly. I found the aeration was a key causal factor in producing big plants so you might bear that in mind. I found that bottom drain buckets never leaked, you didn't have to worry about what would happen when you stepped on a line and the lines were all on the floor where I could route them around the sides of the room so that there was maximum floor area for running the lighting and air cleaning system. I put the air cleaning up on a shelf at the top of the room and ran it as the intake for controlling smell that placed the light in the loop so that I removed stink and kept the room cool at the same time. The result was that my room ran a temperature of only a couple of degrees (Fahrenheit) above ambient. My pump was only 125 gal/hour, but it provided enough circulation that I have never (knock on wood) had a problem with algae. Then again, my system has gate valves so you can isolate each bucket and that is a BIG help when it comes time to take the buckets and clean them and sterilize them.

My system cost me about $150 to construct. To that I added an electronic ballast (keeps cool!), a kool-tube, a 325 cfm. centrifugal fan, duct runs and room construction costs. My grow room is a clean room. Every crack and corner is sealed with silicone sealant, there are two (2) coats of KILZ on the walls, ceiling and floor and then the final coat is a elastomeric roof paint that is the whitest white you can find. Even the buckets are coated with it.

That's a system that has ease of care built into it, quiet operation and low cost.

Something to think about.

 

[supermanlives]

go with dwc. if you loose power have a backup pump. they make battery operated pumps for fishing.

 

[Warped1]

Howdy mo, below is a link to the Hempy Bucket thread, you might be interested in looking at it. Just giving you another idea to consider. It's as simple as it gets. Good luck

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=98419

 

[Kitsym]

ebb and flow with 4" rockwool cubes!

 

[rick shaw]

New to hydro and you want the EASIEST way. Hand water,drain to waste.
No pumps,hoses or timers.It's total hands on,so you can learn quickly.
Easiest and least expensive.

 

[the 45 king]

Hempy method is good for beginners.

 

[BadRabbit]

ebb and flow with 4" rockwool cubes!

I was gonna say something along those lines ... you can use the small little cubes in pots too, but with all due respect to the great set ups we've seen in this thread, a basic ebb/flow table is the easiest from an engineering/low skill set up perspective and delivers great results too.

They're easy to build, but you can find pre-built systems that are affordable ... poke around on craigslist.

Not sayin' it's better, but given the guy's point of view of not being a junior hydro engineer, a basic ebb/flow is a simple and foolproof as it gets.

best,
rabbit

 

[budshoteyes]

Don't worry about power as far as air pumps are concerned! I've let buckets with plants in them sit for weeks without any aeration! You can shake or stir air into your buckets if your really worried...I never have!

And almost any light will do when power goes out...it doesn't have to be very bright at all. The main concern without power for a few hours or days is temperature!

Go DWC or RDWC and don't worry to much about power unless heat is an issue!

 

[Scrappy-doo]

DWC is a cakewalk, but requires daily maintenance... if things are off a little it can lead to big problems quick.

As far as getting better yields goes, going hydro is great. I personally do hand watered coco. Yields are very close to hydro but much less maintenance.

I would also recommend doing a vert scrog. It is very easy to set up and your yields will double whatever medium you use.

Good luck.

 

[FreezerBoy]

DWC is a cakewalk, but requires daily maintenance...

You can set up DWC to need daily maintenance. I set mine up for maintenance twice a month. DWC is as easy or difficult as you care to make it.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

ebb and flood tables are easy. That is what I would start with. Just make sure to do it right the first time and get a good table and reservoir. Botanicare is top notch...and for the price...cannot be beat...unless you are talking about building your own tables...than it can be less expensive..but will require much more work.

 

[mowood3479]

ok.. thank you for all the replies... I do appreciate it. I currently have one 5g dwc bucket set up and (waiting for clones to root)... Also gonna do a hempy bucket as another test. scrogerman suggested doing a vert set up... which is a whole other can of worms. I wanna try it, but the switch also seems daunting. mayb i just need to quit my job and devote more time to this.. lol.

 

[Scrogerman]

ok.. thank you for all the replies... I do appreciate it. I currently have one 5g dwc bucket set up and (waiting for clones to root)... Also gonna do a hempy bucket as another test. scrogerman suggested doing a vert set up... which is a whole other can of worms. I wanna try it, but the switch also seems daunting. mayb i just need to quit my job and devote more time to this.. lol.

think i know you lol, NFT, DWC take ya pick, but im off to rip the arse outta coco next!
G'luck!