Hydroponics? Enlighten Me

Ok, So I know what Hydroponics IS, but I dont know exactly how to do it and would like to.

What I do know is that you have a reservoir that holds the water and using pumps and hoses (and I have heard the term "air stone" thrown around a lot but dont know wat that is) you pump the water into either a tray, bucket, whatever is holding your plants. Then after so many minutes the water drains through another hose back into the reservoir somehow.

Can anyone fill in the gaps? I would LOVE to know how to grow hydro.

And on a side note, can some one explain the differences between Ebb&Flow and DWC?

+Rep to the people who answer this.

google is your friend. seriously. 5 seconds of google searching will give you all these answers and more.

dude, you seriously dont know how much I have tried to google "hydroponics" or "homade hydroponics" and "what is hydroponics" etc etc etc

I was just hoping someone would give me some simple explantions. Like: WTF is an Air Stone and wat is it for?; How do you get the water from the res to the plants and back to the res?


I will try google once more, but if anyone wants to throw some hydro knowledge my way it would make me a happy camper

Look under the 'Hydroponics' section of the forum.. There is everything you would want to know about it..

An air stone is a stone that is attatched to usually green tube then an air pump.

It puts oxygen into the water, roots LOVE oxygen.

Ebb & Flo is a tray with 2 holes in it. both holes have a tube in it, one low, one high.
The hole with the low tube is the one that drains back, the high one pumps water into the tray.

DWC from what I understand is a bucket with about 5" of water in it with an air stone bubbling the water.
The bucket has a hole in the top with a net bucket in it that holds the clay balls or whatever and the plant.

You will need to top feed the plant with DWC till roots reach the water.

A cool hydroponic setup is Ebb & Grow.
Bucket in bucket. Top bucket holds clay balls, bottom bucket has drain tap & tubing back to the res.
Raise the buckets above the res and gravity will pull the water back. A pump will be needed to top feed the plant, on a cycle 4-6 times a day


The boys are right, google is your friend. But im wacked and am new to this also so I thought id share what I know.
Once you grasp the concept, it will be alot easier.

do dwc for your first time its so simple all u need is a bucket/res airstone and an airpump. your looking at like $20 for a cheap airpump and airstone.

The first time I started to grow ANYTHING before was using an ebb/flow system to grow dank earlier this year. It's *THAT* easy. I made a small utube on how mine works, not the best and needs updating maybe but you'll get the picture.

http://medbuds.org/2010/06/ebb-and-flow-hydroponics-3/

When I started my first grow ( flood and drain ) I Googled " How to build a flood and drain system " and looked at every video I could find till I could build one that I wanted to use. It takes time looking at everything , but it soon all made sense.