Most noob friendly Hydro technique?

Ok so here's the deal. I have only ever used soil..never spent even a minute researching hydro. However, I think I want to start experimenting with hydro. The point of this thread is to ask you guys this: what technique should I start reading up on?

It seems like there are tons and tons of different types of buckets, tubs, mediums, etc. From the very very little research I have done in the past 30 minutes...I have read that the Lucas system is not only super noob friendly...but extremely cheap - is this safe to assume?

The main things to consider is above all, cost - the nutes and tools need to be cheap. I already have a Fish Tank air pump and a rubbermade tub with a top. I believe I am closest to creating a DWC thing?

Thanks for bearing with my noobness fellas.

PS if anyone was recently in the same situation as me not too long ago and still has a bunch of bookmarks stored somewhere - feel free to post me your links!

Ebb & Grow + Lucas + calmag + hygrozyme + Drip Clean + Bud Candy = Noobie Success....

well after you learn the basics... get the PPM & pH meters.... have proper enviroment and temps.... Use Distilled or RO water, Have proper lighting, don't get bugs or PM... don't pinch a tube or blow a controller relay.... the moon is in alignment with Cannabis, the Weed star...

Col. kif said:

Ebb & Grow + Lucas + calmag + hygrozyme + Drip Clean + Bud Candy = Noobie Success....

well after you learn the basics... get the PPM & pH meters.... have proper enviroment and temps.... Use Distilled or RO water, Have proper lighting, don't get bugs or PM... don't pinch a tube or blow a controller relay.... the moon is in alignment with Cannabis, the Weed star...

Click to expand...

See, this is always what turned me off of hydro! I know you were being somewhat sarcastic but still! It just seems like so much work and a large investment?

Isnt the lucas formula just 2 bottles of nutes mixed with water through the entire cycle? All one would need to do is just build some sort of bucket or tub?

You made a good point about getting the right temps and stuff inside the tent first. This is pretty crucial I would imagine right? Is there a small window of desired temps the water needs to be at or the plants will get totally f*cked?

Check out Dyna-Gro nutes. One bottle for veg, one for flower, and they'll give you a more complete nutrient line than all the nutes listed above. I second the ebb and flow suggestion and if you look at the last page of my Purple Urkle grow journal, I have picture of my $50 ebb and flow system.

Your biggest tool is learning all you can before you start. If you wanna save the cash learn how to MacGuyver your own equipment.

I was actually trying to be a lil more ironic than sarcastic but each of those statements is true. Every type of growing has its benefits and pitfalls.
Will a $50 Ebb & Flow work as good as a commercially bought system.... you bet it will... IF .... you are reasonably competent with hand tools.

You can for sure turn that tub into a Aeroponic or BubblePonic quick & cheap but I still recommend the Ebb & Flow type systems for your first venture into Hydro.

Doesn't ebb and flow need to be set up on a high table though? I will be using a 3x3x7 grow tent. Do you think this is manageable?

I really think I am leaning towards a DWC - they dont seem too complicated are they? Also the fact ill not have to water is appealing.

A 3x3 footprint is good for a DWC - 1 plant in a 5gal bucket, if you've grown inside then you have the right lights and temperature controls. What you want to make sure to get is a water pump (I would say about 250+ gph, prolly about $12-20 at your friendly neighborhood hydro store). The key to DWC is water aeration, so get an air pump and an air stone (around 15-20 dollars at walmart total - pump, stone, tubing)

Your list should look like:

5gal Bucket + Plant pot Lid - $10
Water pump + Irrigation Hub - $30
Air Pump + Stone + Tubing - $20

Also media ie. rockwool, hydroton, ect. -- Both these types of media are great for an ebb & flow system, but for a recirculatingDWC system they have a chance to cause nutrient lockout (prevented by flushing, not fully prevented however)
If you end up wanting to use your rubbermaid (I'm assuming its a 18 gal type - for multiple plants use a bigger water pump 400-600gph about $30) make sure to not veg the plants for more than a few weeks, especially if youre putting more than 2 in that space. Tools to put holes in the top of the rubbermaid are expensive where I live, up to $40 per drill bit, but you eventually save on buying more than 1 - 5 gal bucket for more than 1 plant.

What you definitely want to look into getting is a pH testing kit, and a more effecient way of measuring out nutrients (trust me about 2-3 weeks into your grow, measuring out nutes w/ tea/tablespoons is gonna get old fast, I suggest a syringe looking plunger thing).

Eventually you'll want to invest in a pH/ppm Electronic Testing Pen, about $200-250 (They are the shit.). But that'll be later when you have the money.

Things to look for in a DWC system:

Make sure your water isn't too hot or too cold, about 60-65f is good, if it's anything besides that make sure you have extra air pumping into the water (Don't be afraid of getting a double pump and 2 air stones, the more air the better).
Make sure the pH of the water is between 5.5 and 6.5 (You're gonna want to get a pH test kit from a hydro store, the pool tester kits don't measure pH with much accuracy)
Make sure the plants have water (This is especially important when they get bigger, 1 plant in a 5 gallon bucket w/ 1 month of veg is prolly gonna drink 1-2gals of water a day, meaning only 2 days till the well is dry).

Also make sure you have enough room to flower when decide to flower, (in a 7 foot tent, the plants start at the top of the bucket which is about 14-18in, let them grow to a max of about 2.5-3ft - from the ground - and then start flowering -- this growth will take about a month, maybe less)

Your feeding schedule should look like:

1st wk - 50% Veg solution
2nd wk - 75% Veg
3rd wk - 100% Veg
4th wk - 100% (4 days into wk 4 - drain and fill with clean NO nutrient water, make sure the next 3 days are all clean water too -- Called flushing)
5th wk - 50% Flower
6th wk - 75% Flower
7th wk - 100% Flower Solution
continue w/ 100% till the end
3 days before the end you'll want to drain and fill the res w/ fresh clean water, and a sweetener (you can find info about these all over RIU) - some people vote against flushing, but I think it helps w/ the flavor.
If you're not vegging for a month, step up the feeding schedule by a week or 2, (but don't ever start off young plants at 100% its a sure way to kill them)

Care of hydro plants is similar to soil plants, growth is quick in hydro vs soil, about 2-3 times as fast (3x3 room w/ soil plants, veg would be about 2-3 months. With 5gal dwc about 1-1.5) so they react quicker, if you should mess up the nutes and hurt your ladies(they will show), flush for a day then start again w/ less nutes)

Don't use the Lucas formula (trust me, it's just a fad.) because if something goes wrong with your nutrient mix you're going to have to change it (and then it doesn't become the lucas formula anymore). Look for good nutrients that are made for a recirculating system (nutrients is mostly personal preference, some swear that different ones give you different yields - There is really no way to test this)

You can prolly piece a DWC system together for the cost of an 1/8th, shop around for good deals and stuff.

-- Most of this information is just hydroponic growing stuff, I'm assuming that you've grown indoors under lights before and know the proper way to control your grow room --

-Vel

Iv just finished a thirty litre DWC had two SLH came out great with the AN G\M\B range.
One word of advice for DWC rez temps rez temps rez temps. Mine started creeeping up into the 25c-30c range constantly. The result was the start of root rot even with h202.
Bud tasted Great but i think that the yeild was a little low. I took 5 oz out of a 1.2 x1.2 with a 600w hps with bout a month or so veg.
I think if root rot hadnt of set in it would of been a couple of oz more. Any way im ether having no veg time in dwc next(cuts down on root rot damage) or im going ebb and flow as HOMEBREWER said. looks more temp managable and easyer to use once you got your lights on feed timings.

Seriously check out homebrewers ebb and flow he no's his shit yo, gonna be taking tips next time round, might even try and find some of that dyna-gro stuff if its available in the uk


Peace and happy adventures

guys, thanks so much for this info. you all have convinced me to go with the ebb and flow. now i'm on the hunt for a good picture tutorial (i am an extremely visual learner).

i have decided i am going to start all my seeds in soil first though, and use them as moms. from what i've read it seems like soil is the best for mothers. do you all agree?

right now i am using those smart pots with the soil. do these work well with an ebb and flow?

thats all i can think of question wise right now...but..does anyone have a good ebb and flow DIY tutorial handy? where is this homebrewers post mentioned above?

E&F is good, but DWC is by far the cheapest and simplest !

Supplies:
1 5gal bucket (-$3)
1 air pump ($10)
1 or 2 air stones ($6)
GH Micro and Bloom ($25)
2 - 32oz Bottles of Gatorade ($4) - for freezing water to drop into bucket to keep temps cool

Look at my (1st DWC 12/12 from seed) thread.

Igloo coolers were $24ea
Insulated styrofoam ($24)
Aluminum Foil Tape ($13 for 2 rolls)
Tubing ($8 for 2 pks)
4 port Air Pump ($27ea) PetCo sells a 4 port air pump that comes with 4 - 78" tubings and 4 air stones AND 4 check valves.
4 - 14 inch air stones (-$20)

I put ONE 1/2gal frozen bottle of water in the coolers at LIGHTS ON and my temps stay 64F - 66F.
At lights off, I put the bottles back in the freezer and my temps still stay BELOW 70F

RESEARCH......RESEARCH !
Growing can be expensive no matter how you look at it.
All depends on how simple or complex you want things.
Some ppl GOTTA have the new tech toys just to grow a SIMPLE WEED. It is JUST a weed ! lol

DWC DWC DWC! Dude do a dwc bucket! Use a ceramic air stone not the shitty fishtank ones because they make finer bubbles. Make sure the setup is COMPLETELY light proof. Make sure your water temps stay below 70 to be safe. I would just use the GH 3 part and gradually you will come up with your own recipe just like lucas himself....DWC

If i were to do a DWC i wouldnt do the bucket style because I want to do a SOG. But...when people user rubbermaids isn't there a problem with roots getting tangled with each other? Isn't that a problem?

How are you going to do SOG in a single 3x3 tent? Do you mean SCROG? I still think bucket dwc is your best bet in that tent. I would do a single plant and bush it out. And yes your roots will tangle in a bin but thats fine as long as you don't try to take them out. I think if you go with a bin you will eventually switch to buckets anyway because its easier to control your plants, that's what I did. I dunno it's your choice, the phrase "measure twice, cut once" applies to this situation, just do your research first. Good luck!

side note - If you are in fact planning on doing SOG a bucket system would still be easier because you can just move the lid with the plant in it to the next bucket.

Now i am starting to lean towards a hempy bucket lol. So many options with hydro.

Hempy bucket seems retardedly easy and that is very appealing to me.

And yes, i meant to say SOG but I think i'll just stick to what ive always done and SCROG. I think it will be best in a 3x3 as you pointed out.

Hempy buckets get messy from what I hear, a single dwc bucket would be easier IMO

I've done an ebb and flow table, and this grow I'm doing ebb and flow buckets. It's extremely simple to set up either way. There also happens to be great step by step instructions on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOTnI34vCc

that's the first one. There's like 11 parts to it, but I can explain it much simpler here:

Get a small table that your rubbermaid can fit under.
Get a flood table or buckets.
Get an aquarium pump at home depot or a hydro store.
Get tubing that fits onto that pump.
Get nozzles and flanges that screw into them.
Get waterproof silicone.
Get hydroton.
Get nutrients. I've used the Sensi Grow A/B / Bloom A/B and also CNS17. Both work fine. Just start way easy on them and then measure the PPM of the reservoir after they eat to see how much they're eating. Then you can adjust it to that and you're good to go.

The simple concept of the ebb and flow is that your pump pumps your nutrients through a tube and up into your buckets or table. You want some way of preventing that flow from overflowing. So on a table you silicone another nozzle on the bottom (besides the one that connects to the tubing that connects to your pump in the reservoir) and then silicone or glue a piece of tubing into that hole. So the tubing is popping straight out into the air. Then cut the tube where you want the water level to stop at. So when it gets pumped to that level, it automatically flows into the tube and won't overflow. Then, of course, there would be tubing on the bottom of that nozzle that runs back into the reservoir. You can connect it to a nozzle on the side of the reservoir or whatever. As long as gravity can work its magic.

For buckets, I use 3.5 gallon buckets that fit into 5 gallon buckets. Then I poke a bunch of holes near the tops of the 3.5 gallon buckets but still inside of the 5 gallon buckets. So when the water level rises to that level, they overflow into the 5 gallons. Then I have a nozzle siliconed to the bottom of the 5 gallon that points straight over my reservoir below (buckets are on top of a table with panda film below so no light escapes.) Then my pump inside my reservoir connects through its tubing up to a T splitter, and then through a hole around mid point in the 5 gallon buckets, and then into nozzles that are siliconed in the bottom of the 3.5 gallon buckets.

Probably more explaining than needed to be done, but as you can see, the concept is simple. I'd also recommend using some h2o2 and flushing once a week.

To add:
Temperatures around 80 are good.
Flood the hydroton every 4 hours for 5 minutes when the light is on. As long as it's reaching the overflow point during that 5 minutes, you're good.
Keep the HPS light about 20 inches away from the plants. As long as it's not too hot on the tops of them, you can go down a few inches.
Definitely have a PPM meter and a pH meter. I like hydroton around 5.2 - 5.5 pH, but up to 6.0 is fine.
A cO2 tank is good if you can get it.

There is 3 parts to a dwc bucket. 5gal Bucket, 5gal net cup lid, air pump. About $25 total.

just keep your airpumps out of your grow room or grow tent. that is the only way the water ever got hot for me in standalone dwc. Also screw stand alone dwc. it rocks nice trees but what a PAIN in the ass to fill say 8 diferent buckets. That is my current grow. So I am now building what is best described as my own version of that 50 dollar ebb and grow only mine is a recirc dwc with more drains. Also I will help you out and say PH is really the only thing that matters. Lol. true. Also ebb and flow with a table might be a nice not so expensive clean way to start. Few parts. One reservoir.

I just did this with my pumps I connected hoses to the intakes and led them into my ac vent. They stay ALOT cooler. Also you don't even need a reservoir with a single dwc bucket, which is all he could fit in a 3x3 grow tent doing a SCROG. Seriously ebb and flow is a pain in the ass.

ive got a rubbermaid with some 10-12" bubblerock strips mounted to bottom, got 2 of them, same size, for about 10 bux from w.mart to help keep the lights out. shit works great and for a first try or just trying to c if u like, would highly advise the cheap and quick bubble method.