Opinions please on which hydro system to go for?

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switch

Well-Known Member
Gents, ive been growing in soil for about 6 years now, i started off in flo-gro hydrotubs but found them a bit of a pain as i was new so switched to soil, however i want to now dabble in hydro to see if i can up my yeilds. Ive got a secret jardin dark room which is 1.2mx2.4m. I currently do 8 x 11 litre soil pots using the entire plant magic range (which i rate highly). All under 2x600 supernova vented shades
Would i be better off sticking 8 waterfarms in as a direct replacement or is this overkill? Im thinking its too much but then what number would be correct in my space? Maybe 1 farm each half of the tent? Or maybe 3 in total spread across?? Or even a different system alltogether? Advice welcome :-)
 
S

switch

Well-Known Member
GrowGorilla said:
Go with Hempy buckets! 50/50 Perlite/Coco mix. You won't regret it. Hempys kick ass
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Only trouble with this method is it will require tons of hand watering wont it??

I work 10 hours a day so am not around to keep watering the coco which ive been told will dry out very quickly compared to soil.
 
Johnei

Johnei

Well-Known Member
Waterfarms can grow some serious monsters when all dialed in. So much so, so quickly when done right, I would lower plant count in there than your usual soil style. exact number, I couldn't say. Set it up recirculating to main tank with the tanks outside the hot grow room for more stability of solution.

--edit-- and don't use ANY organic bottled concoctions in there! Straight mineral salts only.
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
RWDC!

Fastest hydro method and it takes less nutes.....
Critical thing is to keep the res below 70F!

You can make your own system or buy one.....They ain't cheep but, they kick ass....for bigger plants.

Now then, you do a form of SOG eh?

The other one - The one I did, was ebb trays and rockwool. Fill and drain.... This kills yields in SOG!

This can be easy as it gets for hydro. Tray on a stand. Res under tray (covered - with tubbing holes). Simple pump on a timer. drain tube "limiter" that rise's to almost the height of the Rockwool.
Run 5 floods a day. 1 at lights on, one right before lights off and spread the rest out evenly......none at night.
pH daily to 5.7 and let it rise till the next day, repeat.

This is best for SOG in area's with high # limits.....
 
Johnei

Johnei

Well-Known Member
agreed with Dr. Who. flood and drain setup also works very very good, and will be TONS cheaper to setup than the waterfarms. It is also kind of easier to maintain, only having the one tank and not worrying for example, about any crud etc. build in the waterfarm buckets, and lines, and also the bucket water temps etc. Flood and drain with cubes is solid setup for high production and low maintenance.
 
Johnei

Johnei

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i do auto feed hempy buckets. i've left mine alone for up to 14 days without problems.
i use growstones instead of coco/perlite/vermiculte
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I am interested in this auto feed part. Do you have water pump with lines pumping through tube at the top to the bottom, and water pours out the bottom hole on flood table? or something like this? or directly on pot top surface into the rocks? Can you give some details. And what do you mean growstones, you mean hydroton right? Thanks a lot man.
 
S

switch

Well-Known Member
cheers guys, really appreciate the advice. At the moment im torn between the flood & drain method and the Blumats, both look very good. Blumats slightly edging it atm as its a little bit less fucking about....

Where would be the best place to buy these systems from online in your opinions?
 
Johnei

Johnei

Well-Known Member
I've never personally used blumats so can't help you there. Ebb and flow setup, I just either build from wood a flood table or buy plastic flood tables the size needed, need water pump and hoses and fittings to attach to table, a resevoir of some kind sized appropriately that is lower than the flood table so it drains back to tank easy, and an air pump and stones/lines to aerate the resevoir. Truthfully, I am total shit at giving precise specs like 1/2inch or 3/4 inch lines, fittings, water pump size etc. sorry man, I just usually wing it and tweak as I build. I have way too much fittings and garbage around to build custom things. When it comes to water pump, even a over powered one will work, because you can run a T line off the pump in the tank, where one end of T goes up to table, and other end of T will just shoot water inside the tank recirculate in there, and can attack ball valve on that T to regulate flow. tiny water pump will take forever to flood table. Sorry I can't be of more help. It's really very simple. Just the way I wrote it sounds not so simple.lol Perhaps others can help you to find complete system everything included. sorta useless post no help.
 
S

switch

Well-Known Member
Lol, johnei yeah its cool mate i get ya, tbh il just buy a system i dont care about spending a little on one if its theres for life it pays for itself very quickly. Im looking at coco in an OCTOGROW, these things are self watering, basically they use capillary matting to wick the nutes to the plants when they want em, looks pretty damn good. Does anyone have any experience with these? I cant seem to find the Blumats as im in the UK.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
switch said:
cheers guys, really appreciate the advice. At the moment im torn between the flood & drain method and the Blumats, both look very good. Blumats slightly edging it atm as its a little bit less fucking about....

Where would be the best place to buy these systems from online in your opinions?
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You can get a 5 stake kit on Amazon for $45 and a 12 stake kit for $75. I just got the five since I only have a 4 x 4 tent.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IQXFBWA?psc=1
The great thing about these is that it's all gravity. No need for pumps and timers or a flood table.
 
S

switch

Well-Known Member
Also can you coco guys advise me on which coir to get for my 11 litre pots and what nute range to go for. Ive never done coco before.
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
switch said:
cheers guys, really appreciate the advice. At the moment im torn between the flood & drain method and the Blumats, both look very good. Blumats slightly edging it atm as its a little bit less fucking about....

Where would be the best place to buy these systems from online in your opinions?
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You need to know that Coco brings in a whole new set of problems and things it needs.
It holds/has K in it. So it needs more Ca as it's limited by the K. I've seen it want more Mg, but feel that was the growers problem..

Builds up salts and needs to be leeched from time to time..

That is all more cost and time......

Flood and drain. Simpler and less problems...
 
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