Needing Tips and Ideas on a Hydroponic System!! Please..

[Jayke]

Hey everyone, I'm doing some research on the most valued way to set up a hydroponic system.

I have an area of 5ft Length x 4ft Width x 8ft Depth.

I have found many hydroponic system designs online, on various sites, and I was needing a pro-opinion on what would work best for my work area?

I found systems that flooded the WHOLE tray, then drained back into the reservoir.
I found systems that pumped water into drip nozzles, that in turn were set in the mother and each clone's pot, then the run-off drained back into the reservoir. I, personally, like the drip nozzle concept because it simply makes a little more sense to me than flooding an entire tray. (How would you set your plants up if the ENTIRE tray were to flood and drain?)

Please help?? I'd like to get a successful hydroponic system up and running soon... Thank you.

 

[Smokey the Bear 420]

how much are you looking to spend would be the first crucial question to ask

 

[Jayke]

Well figuring it would take a bit to save up for, lets just say I don't have a price limit? Then that way, the best system would be presented and I could save for it.

 

[disposition84]

You can save a lot of money if you're capable of a DIY project.
Most systems can be duplicated rather easily with parts from
home depot. You also have the benefit of working things around
your workspace instead of the other way around.

How many plants would you want to do?
What kind of light can you afford?
What about ventilation equipment?
Do you already have PPM/PH probes?

If I were in your position I would create some kind of recirculating
DWC setup. There are many variations of these things all over the
forum. The parts can almost all be had at home depot and besides
a couple of pumps and buckets there's not a whole lot to them.

 

[Jayke]

You can save a lot of money if you're capable of a DIY project.
Most systems can be duplicated rather easily with parts from
home depot. You also have the benefit of working things around
your workspace instead of the other way around.

How many plants would you want to do?
What kind of light can you afford?
What about ventilation equipment?
Do you already have PPM/PH probes?

If I were in your position I would create some kind of recirculating
DWC setup. There are many variations of these things all over the
forum. The parts can almost all be had at home depot and besides
a couple of pumps and buckets there's not a whole lot to them.

How many plants would you want to do? I wanna start small till I get comfortable, maybe 5? Idk, i'm a new grower.
What kind of light can you afford? Any light necessary, I have no problem investing in good equipment.
What about ventilation equipment? No idea, ideas?
Do you already have PPM/PH probes? ...what?

 

[Smokey the Bear 420]

How many plants would you want to do? I wanna start small till I get comfortable, maybe 5? Idk, i'm a new grower.
What kind of light can you afford? Any light necessary, I have no problem investing in good equipment.
What about ventilation equipment? No idea, ideas?
Do you already have PPM/PH probes? ...what?

check out www.strainguide.org along with the forums here so you can decide what type of system you'd like to run, whether it be a drip irrigation or and ebb and flow ect... The combinations of the the site i just gave you and this one you will have little to no difficulty choosing your setup. Actual construction of your unit may be another story depending on what you choose and how much room you have available. Also choose if you would like two different nutrient tanks or if you like to work with just one. If you were to use the 2 chamber i using a CFL or a MH for veg personally, because of the color spectrum they give off. For flower you could look at either a 400 or 600 W HPS light, again depending on your available environment. Again for vents it all depends on how you set everything up. My advice would be to watch Jorge Cervantes Grow DVD's 1 and 2. Both have massive amounts of well explained methods for growing and setting up the grow room. Im almost positive when the term PPM/PH probes are being used, It's just a fancy word for PH and PPM measuring tools. There are a few types of measuring tools i currently have a battery powered PPM and PH meter which help greatly with connivence. Oh and just kinda personal opinion when figuring out how to reflect light most efficiently please don't use Aluminum Foil. Put in the extra research to find a material that is more reflective of light, Along with poor reflection of light Aluminum Foil is also a very powerful conductor in heat, causing the temp to be at an incorrect level (Possibly, Circumstance will always come into play) lastly the foil is hard to keep clean. Sorry kind of a random tangent but any information is good information i suppose. Cheers mate

 

[Jayke]

check out www.strainguide.org along with the forums here so you can decide what type of system you'd like to run, whether it be a drip irrigation or and ebb and flow ect... The combinations of the the site i just gave you and this one you will have little to no difficulty choosing your setup. Actual construction of your unit may be another story depending on what you choose and how much room you have available. Also choose if you would like two different nutrient tanks or if you like to work with just one. If you were to use the 2 chamber i using a CFL or a MH for veg personally, because of the color spectrum they give off. For flower you could look at either a 400 or 600 W HPS light, again depending on your available environment. Again for vents it all depends on how you set everything up. My advice would be to watch Jorge Cervantes Grow DVD's 1 and 2. Both have massive amounts of well explained methods for growing and setting up the grow room. Im almost positive when the term PPM/PH probes are being used, It's just a fancy word for PH and PPM measuring tools. There are a few types of measuring tools i currently have a battery powered PPM and PH meter which help greatly with connivence. Oh and just kinda personal opinion when figuring out how to reflect light most efficiently please don't use Aluminum Foil. Put in the extra research to find a material that is more reflective of light, Along with poor reflection of light Aluminum Foil is also a very powerful conductor in heat, causing the temp to be at an incorrect level (Possibly, Circumstance will always come into play) lastly the foil is hard to keep clean. Sorry kind of a random tangent but any information is good information i suppose. Cheers mate

That was probably the most useful info I got so far. Thanks, I actually took some notes from this post lol

 

[dadio161]

An Olive Branch , lol .
Check out my sig. on my closet set up . It is smaller than you are planning but it shows how flood and drain works doing six plants . You can always expand and make it larger to suit your needs .

 

[Jayke]

An Olive Branch , lol .
Check out my sig. on my closet set up . It is smaller than you are planning but it shows how flood and drain works doing six plants . You can always expand and make it larger to suit your needs .

Yeah i checked that out, it looks legit and manageable.
To start of my growing career I was looking into investing in a couple of Grow Boxes.

 

[dadio161]

if you have the room , you can stagger your grow op so that you harvest every few weeks or every month . Just keep things moving so there is less downtime waiting for harvest .

 

[Jayke]

mhmm the "field of green" method as I recall, having all stages of growing 1 week apart so when one group is harvested, you add another clone group. So every month a new harvest is ready to trim and cure.

 

[tat2ue]

Hey everyone, I'm doing some research on the most valued way to set up a hydroponic system.

I have an area of 5ft Length x 4ft Width x 8ft Depth.

I have found many hydroponic system designs online, on various sites, and I was needing a pro-opinion on what would work best for my work area?

I found systems that flooded the WHOLE tray, then drained back into the reservoir.
I found systems that pumped water into drip nozzles, that in turn were set in the mother and each clone's pot, then the run-off drained back into the reservoir. I, personally, like the drip nozzle concept because it simply makes a little more sense to me than flooding an entire tray. (How would you set your plants up if the ENTIRE tray were to flood and drain?)

Please help?? I'd like to get a successful hydroponic system up and running soon... Thank you.

Here is a small closet grow I used to have a cpl years ago. It is a top fed dripper system into netpots suspended from the 3 gallon bucket lids. Started off with a cpl shop light floros then made some DIY CFL hoods. The pump is in a reservoir and when the timer dictates it's feeding time, the nutes are forced thru the main line and then to their respective drippers. Then as the nutes drain to the bottom of the bucket, gravity comes into play as the nutes return to the reservoir. But I have since scrapped my dripper systems and went to flood and drain, If you do choose the dripper system, just a heads up...they will and do get clogged after time.

 

[Jayke]

Here is a small closet grow I used to have a cpl years ago. It is a top fed dripper system into netpots suspended from the 3 gallon bucket lids. Started off with a cpl shop light floros then made some DIY CFL hoods. The pump is in a reservoir and when the timer dictates it's feeding time, the nutes are forced thru the main line and then to their respective drippers. Then as the nutes drain to the bottom of the bucket, gravity comes into play as the nutes return to the reservoir. But I have since scrapped my dripper systems and went to flood and drain, If you do choose the dripper system, just a heads up...they will and do get clogged after time.

Very nice, I like the concept. Thanks for sharing. I'll defiantly add this into consideration when designing my over all design. So, how do you clean a clogged dripper?

 

[Smokey the Bear 420]

dude i have a bloombox royale from BCNL. Best investment ever

 

[Jayke]

dude i have a bloombox royale from BCNL. Best investment ever

Nice man I just looked it up, looks very expensive for me, speaking I'm just starting off lol
I might actually invest into a couple of these, http://buyagrowbox.com/poptent.html

I emailed the designer/site owner and he said he could switch the design to feature a hydroponic system for extra cost.

 

[Smokey the Bear 420]

im a fan of those types of grow areas for what you spend. Ive seen many flourishing beauties in some of those types of boxes. im not sure what your price range is but just for more systems to look at Dealzer.com was my original choice before i went with BCNL. have you decided what type of hydro setup you wanted yet?

 

[Jayke]

im a fan of those types of grow areas for what you spend. Ive seen many flourishing beauties in some of those types of boxes. im not sure what your price range is but just for more systems to look at Dealzer.com was my original choice before i went with BCNL. have you decided what type of hydro setup you wanted yet?

Not sure on what hydro system, i'm leaning toward the flood/drain system

 

[tat2ue]

Very nice, I like the concept. Thanks for sharing. I'll defiantly add this into consideration when designing my over all design. So, how do you clean a clogged dripper?

just unscrew the dripper head and clean any blockage. I use the end of a paper clip. They are just big enough to fit thru the holes in the dripper head.

 

[Jayke]

just unscrew the dripper head and clean any blockage. I use the end of a paper clip. They are just big enough to fit thru the holes in the dripper head.

Sweet, thanks for the tip

 

[Smokey the Bear 420]

im sure whatever you do is going to flourish if you keep this kind of planning up. I must insist that you purchase the bible. The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green its the second edition. Ive read it multiple times through cover to cover and still refer to it for info.