Help: New too Hydro

Hello fellow RIU'ers I have been helping provide advise for growers for years but now I reach out to you, as I am going on a new adventure. I just picked up a waterfarm today and I will be venturing into the world of Hydro.

1.It came with hydronton so I have rinsed it in the bag many times and the water that drains out is now clear, is that all there is to it?

2.I am going to be monitoring my PH but I heard hydroton can affect my PH very negatively is this true?

3.I started germing last night so my girl should be poped by tomorrow morning. Can I set up my waterfarm tonight just to make sure everything is working, and let it run all night?

hydroton is great for hydro and it doesnt effect your ph.its good to wash it to get any dust off of it and make sure it wont clogg your pumps.the ph should stay between 5.5-6.0 for hydro but this is strain dependent since some strains like higher or lower ph but for rule of thumb 5.5-6.0 is good.if your using seedlings you should only use ph'd tap water for the first week or so.then start adding some nutes a little at a time.if you can your best bet is to get a tds/ec pen to know what your feeding your plants.

litljohn said:

hydroton is great for hydro and it doesnt effect your ph.its good to wash it to get any dust off of it and make sure it wont clogg your pumps.the ph should stay between 5.5-6.0 for hydro but this is strain dependent since some strains like higher or lower ph but for rule of thumb 5.5-6.0 is good.if your using seedlings you should only use ph'd tap water for the first week or so.then start adding some nutes a little at a time.if you can your best bet is to get a tds/ec pen to know what your feeding your plants.

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Thanks, I can get one that I see on ebay for like 30 bucks its a Hanna instruments one, but I cant afford the expensive meters. I was going to try and just feed her very lightly, but I can invest in the cheaper pens.

If you are going to reuse your hydroton make sure you wash/rinse it very, very, very, very well.

Buick455gs said:

If you are going to reuse your hydroton make sure you wash/rinse it very, very, very, very well.

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Im going to switch to these grow rocks my buddy uses. I just didn't want to waist these and figured I would use them at least once.

Bump for more answers.

Update even though no one will even take a minute from there day to help a fellow RIU'er who has helped so many others.

I put the hydroten in my waterfarm after I felt I had cleaned it more than enough, and about after 5 min the water the was a mess, so I poured it out and washed it for another 5 minutes.

I will do another test run, too bad the bag didn't say how long I would have to wash, and why the hell dont these tings come pre washed?

I put mine in a 5 gallon bucket with some holes drilled in it, push a garden hose to the bottom and let the water run for about 20-30 minutes. You will always get some sediment from hydroton. It's clay and dust is always being rubbed off.

Buick455gs said:

I put mine in a 5 gallon bucket with some holes drilled in it, push a garden hose to the bottom and let the water run for about 20-30 minutes. You will always get some sediment from hydroton. It's clay and dust is always being rubbed off.

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Thats what I found out I washed and mixed many times some always came out, so I just washed it in the water farm bucket and didn't shake it, its runing clean now.

I was planing on using a rapidrooter to put my germed seed in then ill put that buried in some hydroten. Sound like a good idea? I am so new to hydro and it amazes me that all I do is put the germed seed in and it will stay wet.

i was thinking about getting a hydrofarm for a mother plant.right now my mother is in dirt then my cutting go into a ebb n flo setup i built.youll have to post how well they work,ive read only good things about them.and yeah that hydroton takes alot of washing before getting rid of the dust,the easiest way was said above with the 5 gallon bucket with holes

do you have any pics of the set up

sounds like you were in good hands.. and sounds like you cleaned them rocks good..
another thing that i like to do is after they are thoroughly clean, i soak with a 5.0ph water

I did about 5 years of reading befor I went hydro, and my first attempt was still a failure.

Buick455gs said:

I did about 5 years of reading befor I went hydro, and my first attempt was still a failure.

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I didn't read that.

litljohn said:

do you have any pics of the set up

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I want to start a journal, but...

1. I dont have a license
2. I dont know how to post pictures, I guess I have to use a image hosting site or something like that. But I remember reading years ago that their were certain things you have to do to your pictures so you dont get in trouble. I know not to show my face or talk about where I live but if you guys could help me out I will definitly start a journal.
3.Please help me, because my phone has a really bad ass camera on it I want to post pictures because I will most likley need the help. I got the Epic 4G from sprint fuckin shoots HD pictures.

So far I am amazed by the water farm, it is just so simple, and quite. It is easy to drain and flush and just a genious but simple setup. At only 65 bucks for the complete setup its a awesome unit and price. I am going to keep this grow simple, just FloraNova as my nutrient and FloraKleen during flushes.

TTT so I can start a grow Journal.