Picking out Supplies for first Aeroponic Grow!

Hey guys!

This is my first post on a mj forum so go easy on me. I've got a few questions and was hoping you guys could give some input.

I'm starting out with my first aeroponic grow- I've done soil before but I'm looking to actually get serious about quality. Following is my idea for my grow setup, please let me know what you think.

Grow Trough= custom setup with an atomizing nozzle for each plant (I built the res out of fiberglass) and a high pressure (100psi) pump I got through some connections in china (not sketch I swear)

Light system = a 7 band 180w LED grow system. http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-7-Band-180w-LED-Grow-Light This seems a little expensive but I'm new to lights. Does a 7 band light really make that much difference vs a 3 band? Also LED is a must, I want to keep electricity costs and AC isn't an option so i cant have a light that puts out heat. What do you guys think about this?

Nutrient controller= I am going to try and automate the process as much as possible and I think this controller looks really cool. I just stumbled across it the other day on the interwebs. It's from a start-up company that seems to know what they are doing, what do you guys think? It controls pH and nutrient levels automatically. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sustainable-microfarms-hydroponics-genesis-controller


What else am I not considering? I don't have the $$ to do C02 control so that's off the table. So I really just need some direction with the lights and nutrient controller.

Thanks for your help and happy blazing

Your doing hp aero with leds and a lot of gadgets and shit...hahaha, thats too much technical shit. You said you've done soil, so that's cool, you have more experience,than me, I've never,completed a fill grow by myself...i am also new, running aero, not high pressure though, standard...hlwever, my main point I wanted to say was just get good with controlling your water quality manually..ec, ph, ppms, that shit and your good...get ylir self a nice multi reading pen and your money!.. having an automated system yes will help alot I guess, but its really not that hard to do..did you monitor that stuff in soil at all?...its hard for like 2 days...well more tham that, but you get it...i won't,fuck with you, I'm a Chicago native, but you Cali boys love to over do shit!..hahaha, who you trying,to impress?...get the basic simple,shit on your system down first, then go all high tech on em...!...have fun with the lights!..i was gonna get some leds also, I live in Europe my,utilities are high as hell out here but I went with 2 600w air cooled for my flower tent instead, stronger track record..lol..

roadtripper said:

Your doing hp aero with leds and a lot of gadgets and shit...hahaha, thats too much technical shit. You said you've done soil, so that's cool, you have more experience,than me, I've never,completed a fill grow by myself...i am also new, running aero, not high pressure though, standard...hlwever, my main point I wanted to say was just get good with controlling your water quality manually..ec, ph, ppms, that shit and your good...get ylir self a nice multi reading pen and your money!.. having an automated system yes will help alot I guess, but its really not that hard to do..did you monitor that stuff in soil at all?...its hard for like 2 days...well more tham that, but you get it...i won't,fuck with you, I'm a Chicago native, but you Cali boys love to over do shit!..hahaha, who you trying,to impress?...get the basic simple,shit on your system down first, then go all high tech on em...!...have fun with the lights!..i was gonna get some leds also, I live in Europe my,utilities are high as hell out here but I went with 2 600w air cooled for my flower tent instead, stronger track record..lol..

Click to expand...

that controller does look pretty bad ass though!

road Tripper,

I'm an engineer and its my hobby to make things way more complicated than they need to be. I never really did much nutrient monitoring in soil and I've read without the buffer of the soil nutrient swings can really kill your plants pretty fast. I basically just grew the strains in soil with some miracle grow! needless to say they weren't awesome but worked great for rolling a J or two.

I guess I'm trying to impress myself, I want this grow setup to look super slick and make some top notch bud, I don't have the time to smoke to often so growing a few plants is really the interest for me. I think I am going to buy these lights and the controller and make a grow log when I get the controller in february.

How do you have your aero set up? I'm curious to hear about people's experience with low pressure aero. It's certainly alot cheaper!

If your not willing to buy a controller,I doubt you will have the time(assuming you have a full time job)to monitor the ppm,ph,temp
You not going to get any better quality from hydro than you did with soil if you don't have a lot of free time,or a lot of money to startup

if you want better quality,like you said in the previous post stick with soil and learn to build that soil with organic amendments

edit-
also you did not mention what you use for lighting,what size your room is,or your average temps,is there airflow in the room,and is there fresh air being added/hot air exhausted out of your room?

these make a huge difference in quality,you might just need to learn to set your room up better and nothing else.

Ahhh...that makes more since, so this is more just for the thrill of shit with a little chunk of cash to throw around...makes sense...lol...

this is my,first self ran grow,other than helping friends and first with aero...i pretty much dove straight into aero..I run and maintain small and larger aquatic fish/plant tanks so I have an idea of how all the water chemistry stuff works, which led me to hydro, which then led me to aero. I'm running all gh gear...rainforest 36 pot for clones, short time mothers, I run a small 27 pot cutting board aero cloner, and my main unit is a Dutch pot aero 1m2 capable of holding basically 12-60 plants from clone to harvest. Both of the larger units can from clone to harvest in fact, just depends what you want...

I wanted to take up civil some years back, but life got into the way!!...not sure I woulda got to travel the world and see the shit I've seen if I would've!..smoking fresh outdoor mountain grown out in southeastern Asia not to far from afghan actually led me to realize growing is what I need to start doing...i live a few hours from Amsterdam now, but will likely only go back purely for fun when I can have better controlled buds right here!..

anyways, jez...you'll be very happy...km not too sure the differences with low vs high other than being more economical and costing a lot more, lol...growth explodes daily...i have a friend who runs only soil and laughs at the shit I tell him you can do in hydro/aero, then he sees it and is just wow'd..i will do a side by side eventually and today I'm actually transplanting to my larger unit so I can get this harvest finished up, I started with some seeds I didn't really care for...cloning in aero is amazing as well..its so simple once you get started..

like night said though, all that additional shit will come heavy into play on your final outcome...the plants wilk adapt, but proper temp control is a must...your running led's so that will help a shjtload...im running two 600w aircooled in a 120*120 tent...holy hell was that a pain getting my temperature to where I needed it...

the expensive toys are nice, but if your room isn't proper you will be pissed later, but you'll get that squared away...by all means, run a bunch of gear, but keep the KISS model in your head...

hve fun man, I may check in on you, feel free if you ever have any questions, I'm learning aero as well, but this site has a great deal of growers who know what their doing on here...

@Night Owl. Yep you nailed it, I've got a full-time job so I don't have the time to check myself, and I've got the money to buy a controller. Thats why I posted here in the first place, to see if people had any suggestions for a better nutrient controller or if they thought the genesis controller would do the job.

In the past my grows were outdoor, living in southern california during the summer provides a pretty great climate. However the bud was never great and that's why Im moving indoors. Ill be using LED's (another area I'm not sure about) and the room I'm using is a closet connected to my bedroom, Ive drilled an exhaust fan into the ceiling that will exhaust air into the attic and constantly pull in fresh cool (74 degree) air from my bedroom.

@ roadtripper Thanks for the advice, maybe one day ill get out there to smoke some of that fresh southeastern asian bud. Ill keep everyone posted on my progress... I'm weary about posting photos online until MJ gets fully legalized in CA