First hydro grow

C

Crsrges

Member
Hey I'm new to growing, but been burning down for many years. I finally have a space to grow in which is great because I'm tired of waiting on dealers to come by and make me spend all my money. Sooo I have decided to make my own hydro kit. I've already made everything with out much research except at a local hydro store.

My setup is this, I have a 4.5 by 2.5 ft room. It is all painted in new white paint. I think the table is a dwc setup. It is a large tuperwear container with 3 5in. holes in the lid. It has a 135gph submersible pump in it that runs to PVC with 3 hoses running to drippers in the pots. One question I have is if the pots I have will work or if I need net pots. I have the plastic clay look a likes, I wasn't awhere that the roots needed to grow into the water, or does it? They are big pots and I'm using expanded clay for a medium. Do I need smaller pots with less media so the roots can grow into the container?

Also I want to run a hps light because it is a larger room, but I don't want to fork out the money for a 400w. Will a 100w hps with 3 or 4 cfls be enough to flower?
 
Barron

Barron

Well-Known Member
Well looks like your off to a good start! Your gonna need to get some net pots cause you want your roots to submerse themselves in the water. If I were you I would also put a couple airstones in the bottom of your bin to help oxygenate your water. As far as lighting goes someone else is going to have to help you out on that. Hope everything works out for you and good luck!
 
H2Blown

H2Blown

Member
Crsrges said:
Hey I'm new to growing, but been burning down for many years. I finally have a space to grow in which is great because I'm tired of waiting on dealers to come by and make me spend all my money. Sooo I have decided to make my own hydro kit. I've already made everything with out much research except at a local hydro store.

My setup is this, I have a 4.5 by 2.5 ft room. It is all painted in new white paint. I think the table is a dwc setup. It is a large tuperwear container with 3 5in. holes in the lid. It has a 135gph submersible pump in it that runs to PVC with 3 hoses running to drippers in the pots. One question I have is if the pots I have will work or if I need net pots. I have the plastic clay look a likes, I wasn't awhere that the roots needed to grow into the water, or does it? They are big pots and I'm using expanded clay for a medium. Do I need smaller pots with less media so the roots can grow into the container?

Also I want to run a hps light because it is a larger room, but I don't want to fork out the money for a 400w. Will a 100w hps with 3 or 4 cfls be enough to flower?
Click to expand...

Yes the roots grow in water. IMO, get the 100w and the cfls for now and see how the veg goes. You prob. want to get more cfls later on so save up for now, there cheap, as long as you have the lamps to use them with
 
C

Crsrges

Member
H2Blown said:
Yes the roots grow in water. IMO, get the 100w and the cfls for now and see how the veg goes. You prob. want to get more cfls later on so save up for now, there cheap, as long as you have the lamps to use them with
Click to expand...
Well I wasn't sure about that, it's more of a drip system, the guy at my hydro store said that I should just run my pump at 15 min on 30 min off. I feel like if I let them grow down to the water that it would cause some trot rot because it's flooding them so often, and I don't know if the roots would even reach the water with all that expanded clay, they are pretty big pots.

And another question would be my bites, what does somebody suggest, or for venting that room and if I would need to worry about smell with three plants. Nearest house is a half an acre on two sides, nothing behind the house. I can vent under the house but I'm looking for a cheap way like 100 cfm computer fans?
Thanks
Chris
 
kno

kno

Active Member
That water cycle is fine.
The roots will reach the water eventually.
If you drain the water there will be no root rot, Make sure there is no light in the res. Adding bubble stones like Barron said might be a good idea if there is more than a few inches of standing water at the bottom.
You can make a carbon filter to get rid of the smell (search the forums). 100CFM for 3 plants is OK.
 
C

Crsrges

Member
kno said:
That water cycle is fine.
The roots will reach the water eventually.
If you drain the water there will be no root rot, Make sure there is no light in the res. Adding bubble stones like Barron said might be a good idea if there is more than a few inches of standing water at the bottom.
You can make a carbon filter to get rid of the smell (search the forums). 100CFM for 3 plants is OK.
Click to expand...
so should I get net pots so it will be able to root into the res? Or just let it root through the few holes in the bottom of the pots. I'll get a picture of my whole setup so everyone can see what I'm working with. And will a 70 watt hps and 4 cfls be enough to flower the three plants?? And if so will that be my best bet(besides the 400w hps)? And will that 70 watt even be worth getting or spend the 70 on more cfls?
 
kno

kno

Active Member
The roots just need space to grow, if you have pots drill the shit out of them and make them into net pots, no need to spend extra money for the same thing.
Wattage wise, at least where I live, HPS is actually cheaper than CFL (per watt). What is your lighting budget?
 
C

Crsrges

Member
Well I have right now, 2 2' t12 tubes, and 3 23 actual watt cfls. And I was gonna add that 70 watt hps but ifits not worth it then I got like maybe 100 more on lights
 
C

Crsrges

Member
Well I found a 400w hps with an internal ballest for 110 bux. Think I will get that. Do you think I will need any kind of air scrubber for three plants? I have about a half acre of land on each side of the house. I don't know if it will stick that bad. Have the air vented under the house.
 
C

Crsrges

Member
and I read that you don't need I drip system with the dwc. How would you get the roots to start growing in the first place?
 
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