Total hydro noob, please help!

Okay, so I'm growing 7 plants outside and it's going well. In the meantime I'm going to grow 2 indoors. I got a hydro cabinet and germinated a few seeds. I got a good deal on a turnkey cabinet and bought it, but I am OVERWHELMED by the amount of info online, and this came with very little info about how to set up.

My biggest questions are: 1. How much water do I put in the reservoir to start? and 2. How much of the nute solution should I add to start? It came with a sample of Supernatural GroAqua so that's what I'm using. It's powdered and supposedly pH balanced but I can't find anyone else who's used it. It says 1-2 tsp/gallon, but it seems to me there could be a big difference between 1 and 2.

Anyway, ANYTHING anyone can tell me that will help me with the very basics will be tremendously appreciated. My head is spinning from everything I've been reading online. I know these are dumb questions but I really appreciate any help.

I don't know anything about your particular system but that really doesn't matter much. You need to understand PPM (parts per million) and PH. NOBODY can tell you how high a concentration (PPM) of nutrients to run. All systems are different. You need a good PPM meter and a good PH meter. PH is easy.....in hydro systems anywhere between 5.6 and 6.0 will work well but it will change DAILY...thats why you need a good PH meter (as well as a bottle of PH Up and a bottle of PH down) to measure it. Hydro kicks ass but it is sensitive to PH because it affects nutrient uptake. Get too far out of whack (on the PH) and the plants can get "nutrient lockout".

As far as PPM goes heres the deal. You're trying to achieve a situation where the plants are using EQUAL amounts of water and nutrients. If you measure your PPM today and lets say its 500...then you measure it tomorrow and it's 550 it means your plants are using MORE water than nutrients and you should dilute the solution a little. Conversely, if it's 500 today and 450 tomorrow the plants are using more nutrients than water and you can go a little higher on the next mix. It is more important to know the RATIO of nutes. If you use 3part (either General Hydroponics, or Advanced Nutrients as lots of hydro growers do) you want to know the ratio of EACH....not how many ounces. YOU figure that out after mixing and reading PPM.

New seedlings DO NOT NEED NUTRIENTS...... you'll kill them. Again....NOBODY can tell you What PPM to run. I run 900ppm in my drip systems and it's perfect. I run 600 in my aero systems and if I went to 900 in the aero systems I'd kill everything. Hell..I've seen some people run as high as 2000ppm in their systems but that isn't for everybody or every system.

Hope this helps.

Here's a RATIO recipe that has been around forever. The 3 parts are Micro, Grow, Bloom. General hydroponics as well as Advanced Nutes sell these 3 components.

BD97's recipe for General Hydroponics 3-part nutrient solution designed for aeroponics and other constant feeding strategies. Ml per gallon.

Epsom salts are used at 1.5 tsp per 5 gallons of Reverse Osmosis water. pH is held around 5.8. Blossom Blood (a bloom additive) is added at week 3 and they are flushed for the final 12 days.

Veg

Week-----1-----2

Grow-----3-----6

Bloom----3-----2

Micro----3-----4

Bloom

Week-----1-----2-----3-----4-----5-----6-----7

Grow-----3-----3-----2-----2-----2-----2-----2

Bloom----6-----6-----6-----6-----6-----6-----6

Micro----3-----3-----4-----4-----4-----2-----2

Ml per Gallon

Oh..one other thing. Your tap water will have a certain PPM straight out of the tap. Depending on the hardness of your water it may be as high as 200ppm. If you're shooting for 500ppm of nutrients you need to add the reading from your tap. In other words...if your tap water measures 200ppm and you want to run 500ppm, you should mix your solution to 700ppm.

OR...buy a R.O. (reverse osmosis machine) which will basically give you distilled water. The reading out of my RO machine is 8-10ppm but the water out of my tap is 160ppm.

Thank you SO much...here is my system:

STEALTH HYDROPONIC GROW CABINET CAB BOX LIGHT SYSTEM 1 - eBay (item 260243157368 end time May-29-08 03:42:19 PDT)

Your advice is very helpful so far, please keep it coming! So these plants will root if I give them only water at first? I would really like to try this with the Supernatural nutes since I have them.

littlebat said:

Thank you SO much...here is my system:

STEALTH HYDROPONIC GROW CABINET CAB BOX LIGHT SYSTEM 1 - eBay (item 260243157368 end time May-29-08 03:42:19 PDT)

Your advice is very helpful so far, please keep it coming! So these plants will root if I give them only water at first? I would really like to try this with the Supernatural nutes since I have them.

Click to expand...

Yep....water only....at least until you see the 2nd set (node) of serrated leaves. Then you can start low.....say 150ppm and steadily increase Those tubs look similar to the home made Rubbermaid tubs I grow in. I use a 20 gallon tub with (6) 3" net pots in each and I run 600ppm MAXIMUM when the plants are 10-12" tall.

It's amazing at what you can do with a Rubbermaid tub besides store old clothing.

Wow, your plants look incredible! I hope mine look that good someday! I've wanted to learn to grow hydro for a long time.

Would the light I have be enough to grow more than two plants? There's a hydroponics store nearby so I'm going there tomorrow just to look around. Hopefully I'll get more of an idea what's possible.

Another question I have for you is whether Superthrive works as a rooting hormone. I hear varying things and I'm wondering if you've ever used it. What is the rooting hormone you recommend? As soon as I'm able to take clones from my outdoor plants I'll be using those to grow in the cab. For now I'm just going to do a test run and see if either of these seeds I germed turn out to be girls! I have one Conquistador and one Papaya...wish me luck!

Without looking back at your cabinet I can tell you that 50-75w per square foot is a good. Those two tubs you see are under (2) 400HPS which works out to about 50w/sqft. since the area is slightly bigger than 4x4. I'll switch ballasts/bulbs to 600s in a few days since they're so dense.

littlebat said:

Wow, your plants look incredible! I hope mine look that good someday! I've wanted to learn to grow hydro for a long time.

Would the light I have be enough to grow more than two plants? There's a hydroponics store nearby so I'm going there tomorrow just to look around. Hopefully I'll get more of an idea what's possible.

Another question I have for you is whether Superthrive works as a rooting hormone. I hear varying things and I'm wondering if you've ever used it. What is the rooting hormone you recommend? As soon as I'm able to take clones from my outdoor plants I'll be using those to grow in the cab. For now I'm just going to do a test run and see if either of these seeds I germed turn out to be girls! I have one Conquistador and one Papaya...wish me luck!

Click to expand...

Whoops...didn't answer your last question.....

I use Olivias cloning SOLUTION (which is a very weak nute solution....not Olivias cloning gel) to root my clones. Just add it to the water in your cloner. After I cut the clones I stick the cut end in honey and pop them in to my cloner. I have roots in 10 days and am 99% successful.

Did you know about willow bark? I just found this online -- you can use willow tea as a rooting hormone! And wouldn't you know my neighbors' giant weeping willow tree is growing branches over my terrace right now?? I think it's a sign. Yay science projects!

http://www.ehow.com/how_172766_make-rooting-tonic.html

Personally I think most of the rooting hormones are a joke. The 2 things that contribute to my success as far as clones go are:

1. I have a clear plastic COVERED cloner which helps to keep the moisture on the leaves.

2. I use a razor and scrape the sides (gently) of the stem that is being sprayed in my cloner. After the 45 degree cut I scrape the sides a little, dip them in HONEY and pop them in the cloner. No gel...no rooting hormone...no nothing. 10 days later I have beautiful roots on cuttings that look exactly like the the way they did when I cut them. No yellow or drooping leaves.

Okay so I got it set up. I put the teeniest pinch (maybe 1/8 tsp if that) of nute powder in just because, y'know, science.

The fan is really loud. Are you supposed to run it all the time? This ain't stealth at all.

There's no carbon filter with this. I'm not sure how to install one or when I'll need one.

The light is wack. This thing isn't the greatest in terms of craftsmanship. It hangs down about 1" farther on one side than the other and I can't figure out yet how to fix it. The top of the cab doesn't come off and the light doesn't move up and down...

Okay guys, here is my hydro cab:



Papaya seedling L, Connie seedling R (I ate the other two that germed! Gotta honor their short lives somehow!)



Here is the issue. The screws that hold the light in have fallen out on the left side and there's no way to fix them because you can't take the top off the thing. Is this going to affect the way the plants grow?



Full cab with fucked up light.

What do you think?? Overall I'm not thrilled with the construction to say the least.

it dont look pretty but it shuld grow fine

ya make do with what u got an learn from it yanno?