Nice, not bad at all for something that you thought was shot to shit.
Are you talking about a container like for multiple plants, or for a mother? For Mothers obviously 5 gallon buckets are the way to go. As far as for multiple plants, like 4 or 5, 18 gallon is the tank of choice. THey don't seem to sell them near me so I was stuck with 2 21 gallons and a 16 gallon. (I messed up a lot and kept remaking them =P) As far as the air pump goes, I initially used the 60 gallon tank pumps from walmart that everyone recommends. For an 18 gallon tub you should grab two of these and you will be set. Also, from my experience, air stones, the little guys, aren't worth your time in a big tank. Unless you are splitting them and having them all pushing a lot of air under almost each plant, I don't think they work too well. I am very partial to the circle stones to be honest. I have 2 6" circles one running from each pump in my tank currently and it is plenty.
Now, for my mother, I wanted to go balls deep , so I bought the Whisper 100-150 gallon air pump. I have that guy going into a single 6" air circle and it fucking cranks. I love it, it is also extremely quiet.
And as far as "bubbleponics" goes, I would honestly say to do it man. I have now started from seed with and without it and the difference is incredible. I'll post some comparison pics over time. It really does boost the speed of growth and seems to promote immaculate health to young seedlings into young plants.
here are some comparisons:
With NO WATER LINES it took 4 days to get a sprout above ground from germ
With bubbleponics, this was Day 4
Day 10, no bubbleponics:
Day 10 w/ bubbleponics
And for shits and giggles lets go up as far as I have pictures
Day 16 no bubbleponics:
Day 16 with bubbleponics
I mean, it's a crazy difference for not too much additional investment. I was not a believer either until I did it. it shocked the hell out of me to be honest man.
NOWWW
I have a question!!!
My mother is looking amazing and doing some serious gulping of the liquid.
I have records from 3 days now and the ppms have gone from 535, 587, 508 respectively with 508 being right now, and the water has dropped from 7.5" to 5.5". I just added a gallon of fresh H2O and phd it out, but I am still kinda confused on seeing the trends to notice when I should feed etc.
Can anyone help me out a bit more with that?