Well, i agree with most of the stuff above. Youll also need money. Lots of money. If you havnt already bought the pumps and buckets id go with dirt for your first couple grows and then do DWC. Just sayin. I wish i would have done it that way. Im 2gs into it and still spending. Dirts cheap as hell. Bucket, dirt, nutes, lights, go. If you insist on starting at the top and working your way down by going with hydro first like i did aswell then giver shit. This is what ive learned so far. Im going to pick apart the excelent info above as nicely as possible, its all good. As far as a ph meter goes, youll need to measure ph. As far as buying an expensive meteer on your first grow, i wouldnt. 7 bucks buys you a liquid ph tester kit. Ph is important but not as important as some will make you belive. Anywhere between 5-7 is fine even a little outside is fine. Your plants wont die, theyll just be a little smaller. I dont like adjusting my ph with chemicals so i just spend a bit more on sensi grow nutes and i have never had to adjust my ph. It stays where it should. Ppm meter is your best friend blue lab truncheon is what you want (150$) but if your on a budget for your first grow, which you are, you just dont know it yet, theres a blue one made by hanna on amazon for like 16 bucks and its worked great for me. Calibration solution on the other hand i skipped out on. I just measured my tap water and measure it every now and then to make sure this 16 dollar pos is still close which it is. Just dont go past the no water zone on the cheap tds meters because theyre not waterproof and theyll kick the bucket. Do you see how i made that DWC joke there?
Go with black buckets from the hydro store. You want black because it keeps light/alge out. Dont buy lids and cur holes for net pots. Buy the lids that have the pots in them. Theyre stronger and you wont risk the flimsy net pot bursting because your bush has a huge root system, or the frickin thing falling through into the water cause shes so heavy. Drill your air line hose through the top (lid) so if you just want to change out your bucket to clean it or whatever you dont have to disconect your air stone every time. I put them through the side of the bucket and regretted it. Every time i changed it out i had to disconect air stones an reconect. I wouldnt go with four inch, id go with six inch pots built into the lids. You can toss em in the dish washer and theyre good as new, almost. If your using the rock wool cubes soak them, take the ph of the water after theyve soaked, adjust to good ph, soak longer, test ph, soak again...fuck it man, just get rapid rooter plugs and screw the hassel! I think thats what theyre called, theyre brown and look like a dirt sponge. Ive never had a problem with them, ive had many problems with rockwool cubes, i hate those things.
Air pumps, yes, they run all the time. I only have one stone in mine and theyre fine. Ones got a stalk almost as big as my wrist. Shes a beast. You dont need those 100 dollar air pumps, i have the 15 dollar ones and they work fine. Two air outlets on one pump = two plants, done.
Air circulation...carbon filter and inline fan combo, 100%. Youll need it. Sucks out humidity, odor, and gives you circulation for new co2. Then for fans. Theres plenty of things air circulation is good for and prevents. Too much and to direct can be bad though. Wind burn sucks. Also when you blow the hell out of them they hate it.
Temp and humidity reader with hi/low meter, get it. You may need that dehumidifier aswell later on. To much humidity is bad, air movement will help but late in flower with four plants goin humidity will rise...oh ya..youll see.
Cal-mag, yes get it. Make sure that its the kind for hydro not dirt. Theres a difference. Also, super thrive, small bottle (8$), get it.
all i use is that stuff, and sensi nutes. Theyre lookin great.
Complete darkness, buy some of that while your at it, youll need no light leaks whatsoever during flower. Do what you gotta do to make it happen.
Res. get one or dont. I just got a res because my girl are drinking 3/4 of a gallon a day. I have to feed them every day or theyll die. So im hoping this will give me a couple days in between. The res is linked to the buckets with tubing and just gravity feeds. Youll have to change out your res and clean it every couple of weeks, along with the buckets your plants are in. In the begining your plants wont be drinking or eating much so screw it, havnt changed my res on my liitle ones for a month, i will soon but crap, they have hardly drank any water at all, why throw out all that good food every two weeks. My big ones get changed out every ten days now. I chang them around when theyve consumed the bucket volume once. So if its a five gallon bucket and they eat 1/2 gallon a day = 10 days. Now i dont have five gallons of water in there and mine are closer to 3/4 gallons a day but im lazy, whatever. I was also confused on water level at first so ill fill you in. Take clones or start seeds in plugs. Message me if you need help with this. Grow the clones for around two weeks. You want alot of roots sticking out, lots. Then drop em in the baskets and fill hydroton in there. Put them in and done. Just kidding. I hand water 3-5 times a day untill when you look inside the roots are in the water and then one or two days more. Your water level should be at around a half to 3/4 inch of the net pot in the water. As the roots get bigger you can go a half inch below the net. A great tool to water with is a giant syringe. Also i love my syringe when it comes to nutes. It fits into the bottles perfectly and i know exactly what the ppm meter is going to say before i test it. No mess just sucess. Wah wah wahhh.
Also, never disturb your plants dark period, dont tell anyone what your up to. Anyone!! You might think your pretty cool shit and so will everyone you tell, and then they tell someone else and on and on. Loose lips get growers killed. Hopefully that scares you enough to make a point. But its an amazing hobby. Its so rewarding. Its a hell of a long wait but its worth it. If you want to see my ladies check out, I think flushings a myth heres why, thread on RIU. Read the whole damn thread and then make sure you flush. Its different in dirt and thats what most of the comments are about, dirt, were in water so flush. I just gave you what took me a long time to figure out. I hope you appreciate it. Any questions just drop me a line. Dirts way easier and cheaper just so you know but youll never get the production of hydro. Oh ya, im noobish too so if theres anything any readers dont agree with correct me.
thanks 
