I have been looking around at bubbleponics systems. I like the automated idea of no watering/pampering, and no more dirt! Most important the hydro grow system seems to be much faster and efficient. Everytime I see someone post a pic of something growing this way it's twice as big in half the time! I think it might be a fool proof type system for a newbie. I imagine the only other investment would be a good lighting hood. Let me know your experience with this type of system. Anything I should look out for, or purchase? I was looking into the simple hundred dollar system minus the lighting.
Bubbleponics who's got one!?!?
- Thread starter reeferob
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smokin1
Well-Known Member
I wouldnt say its fool proof. Theres more to it then just dumping your solution in and walking away. Your ppm has to be checked & maintained, the res. has to be below a certain temp. If it were that easy everyone would grow that way. I dont know anything about your set up, so the question is how is your room set up? Do you have proper ventilation can you maintain the proper air temp, what type of lights are you going to use? If you cant get your room squared away, it wont matter what method you use to grow the results wont be there in the end
Iago
Member
Just done my first grow and I went bubbleponic, I definitely like it. But yeah, it's not fool proof. If you get a good system then it can be very, very low maintenance. My setup had a few flaws, which I'm planning to correct. But still I just basically checked it once a day for like 5 mins, adding nutes and water when needed... Checking the various levels is important... My baby got kinda sick.
Things I wanna correct and things you might wanna consider... Height restrictions (going SCROG this time), a good res. (getting a bigger one with NO light pollution - algae is annoying and you're roots really love to just wrap around the airstones so bigger/more ones will be fairly effective).
Good luck!
Things I wanna correct and things you might wanna consider... Height restrictions (going SCROG this time), a good res. (getting a bigger one with NO light pollution - algae is annoying and you're roots really love to just wrap around the airstones so bigger/more ones will be fairly effective).
Good luck!
Dragline
Well-Known Member
I purchased the stealth hydro bubbleponics system when I did my first grow. Been in the storage closet ever since. That isn't because its bad or anything. Ive just found ways of growing I like better. But for a newbie to growing it isn't bad. Just keep an eye on your PH, nutes and water. Also just because there are six pots doesn't mean you should do six plants. I wouldn't do more than 2. Over crowding can be a huge issue. I found that out my first grow too. Just cover the other 4 holes with duct tape or something. Get a good light over them or at least add a couple of CFL's to the two 65 watt lamps that come with the system.
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
Bubbleponics is just another name for a variation on deep water culture. Much hype and hoopla, but nothing at all new. In fact, the submersible water pump and feeder tubes are not at all necessary and are a solution in search of a problem. If you really want to grow using bubbles what you want is a simple dwc with lots of airstones and a robust air pump. You can build it easy for a fraction of the cost of the crap from SH. I bought the SH system and the only part I still use is the two clamp reflectors. If you have money to spare buy it and see for yourself.
Yeah Bubbleponics is Deep Water Culture with extra airstones. It works well, I run bubble unit in a 5 gallon container and get about 4 ounces of bud every 60-70 days. You have to be very vigilant about PH and PPM, make sure to check all aspects of the system every day. Things can go very badly very quickly with Hydro.
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
That's what something called bubbleponics "should" be for sure. But unfortunately, stealth hydro has trademarked the term for a design that doesn't rely on bubbles at all but on a submersible pump and feeder tubes. Haveing a forum called DWC/Bubbleponics is like having one called Nutrients/Advanced.
I started with an ebb&flow for my first grow and converted it to a bubbleponic system. Its absolutely rediculous how easy this thing is to run. I mean come on you guys act like you don't check your babies everyday I check mine numerous times a day and have absolutely no ph meter,light meter, ppm meter and yet I still produce. Now don't get my wrong these things will increase your accuracy and yield but it is not at all necessary. Use trial and error on bag seeds, run through a whole cycle of veg/flowering figure out the flaws to your system or systems and plan accordingly the fix it. I built my own ebb&flow and I built my own Bubbleponic system all with the help of lowes and walmart. Go to my first grow album and see how i transformed my system from a piece of shit to a pretty decent set up now.
Thanks for all of your adivce. The lighting systems that come with the bubbleponics seem ok. But I dont have the extra cash now. Besides I have allot of CFL and regular flourecents. I think that will suffice for a while. I am looking for something very simple to grow hydroponically. You guys have opened my eyes. I want something I can maintain easily and really want to grow 2-4 plants max. Perhaps the six pot bubbleponics system I looked at may be a bit much. They also advertize smaller DWC systems. These may be more suited for me. What are the differences? I have no problem checking up on ph etc. I just like the idea of all the feeding being pretty much automatic. These systems also seem to get resuluts allot faster. So what problems would I encounter growing 6 pots with all that root mass? I have seen a few pics of that. My biggest problem is the male/ female thing. I would like to do the six pot system as half or more could be male. Then I'll have less to bring to harvest. However if I get a system that handles only a couple plants my odds get even worse. What if I grow two nice big males in a 2 pot system! I have to trash them and start over. Thats kinda why I lean to the 6 pot. However how could you even remove males from that root mass?, just chop the tops away to nothing and leave the root system? Any advice on setting up a bubbleponics grow are appreciated. Any tips, things to avoid, and extras to get are cool too.
I
Illegal Smile
Guest
What you hope to harvest from a first grow is learning. I would start with a 5 gal bucket dwc. There are many threads describing a simple bubble bucket. All you really need is the bucket, a netpot, a hole cut in the lid, a good airstone and an adequate air pump. You can then expand that into multiple buckets or a larger tote for 4-6 plants. Or you can get even more sophisticated and connect buckets to a central res and make a recirculating dwc. But start by focusing on the basics and growing one good plant.
Funny you read my mind! I am also considering the DWC big 5 gallon single plant bucket. It would suck to spend a lot of time and effort to get a big male plant though! However I am more confident 1 larger stronger plant will have time to fully establish itself and flower. I dont fully get how say 6 smaller plants in 4" baskets can sustain thier full life cycle constrained in those small pots? Do you have to transfer them at some point? Is that even possible or does a hydro plant pretty much stay in the original pot until harvest? I am also considering the DWC 4 pot setup only to increase the chances of a couple female plants. What is the difference between the bubbleponics and the DWC besides a smaller airstone and less plant pots? Thanks.