Well, it was my first time.. I used FF ocean forest soil, I added a tiny ammount of big bloom and grow big during veg.. vegged for about 1 month, plants were about 1 ft high.. I then flowered the 4 I had for 80-83 days.... maybe yours wont take as long since you are doing hydro? For flowering I used Fox Farm nutes (Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom) as directed with the additional supplements Open Seasame, Beastie Bloomz and Cha Ching... Also used Cal/Mag Plus and Liquid Karma and watered between nutes with molassass.... They came out phenominal. 2 were very similar juat drenched in crystal resin, one was more red looking with fruity punch flavor, and one was this dank purple one. All were top shelf and I was very happy. They grew very healthy and were very vigorous from day 1. They didnt stretch too much in flowering either. They were all about 2-2 1/2 feet tall.. I expierimented with FIM technique for first time on redder one and she grew like 8 beautiful colas. All yielded between 2- 3 zips each! Which I was super-psyched about. Alsohad three widow clones. all together I yielded close to a pound my first grow with a 400 watt HPS and a 31.5 inch x 31.5 inch x 63 inch homebox. My first grow is still what I consider my most successfulgrow. Since then I have had to move my tent into a stealthier location which doesnt get the same ventilation. Also, my first time I had a speaker in the tent that played Jerry Garcia all day. Dont know if the music helped but it was my best grow out of the 5 Ive done.... let me know if you need anymoreinfo