Hows this setup sound

[h2o]

Hi also new here but ive been growing in soil for a while, now im trying my hand at hydroponics.

Well i started with this

2 10 gallon fish tanks
2 10" air stones
7 cups in each
1 big air pump
8 40w compact flourescents at 1600lumens each
perlite
exhaust fan
75*/ 65% humidity
5-10-5 water soluible fertilizer
ph levels vary from 6.4-6.8

how does this setup sound? this is a water culture system, I already germinated the seeds and planted them in the perlite, this is my second day hoping to see a sprout by the end of the week. Any tips and advice is welcomed as this is my first try after lots of reading. Also down where i'm from we dont have to much grow shops its either walmart or homedepot, so what else can i use as nutrients in the water? will the soil fertilizer break down enough in the water?

 

[Biffdoggie]

Firstly, if you intend to go through the whole cycle in these cups you won't have enough room for roots, they will grow, and they may even stay alive until you finish but they will be very limited in size/vitality once the roots fill the cup, minus the space whatever medium you are going to use takes up.
I'm not sure about using soil ferts. in hydro. I guess it would work but I would be concerned about knowing PPM levels and such before I used any. I would suggest ordering some nutes on-line.
Ph of 6.8 is a bit high for my liking, I keep everything around 6.0 and usually don't have any problems.
Do you intend to have the cups sitting in the water all the time as it bubbles? If so you will need to top feed them until they get roots to the depth of the water.

 

[Stoney Bud]

Hi also new here but ive been growing in soil for a while, now im trying my hand at hydroponics.

Hey h2o, good to meetcha. I love hydroponics man. Over the years, I've seen hundreds of systems in every flavor you could imagine.

Some work well, some fall on their butt. The systems that are constructed similarly to what you describe are only good for slow growing plants such as ornamentals. As the other person said, you're restricting the area for the root mass.

If you want to grow some weed using hydroponics, it's going to cost some bucks and it's got a learning curve that goes pretty much straight up.

Before you start, lets talk it over and refine your system in a manner that fits your budget and the type of hydro you want to use. Between all of us, we can have you a system that will grow some really nice weed and do so without risk and with the best bang for your buck in terms of weed output.

How's that sound?

 

[Biffdoggie]

Stoney's right, there are a lot of different ways, some being more costly and effective than others,it osunds like you are handy and can probably put something together yourself, that will surely help with the cost.

 

[h2o]

well over the past 2 days i did more reading, i found out they call this a bubbler system? anyways yes the cups do sit in the water all the time and the roots are supposed to poke through the bottom of the cups (i cut alot holes) I also found a store that has water soluble solution in alot of different variations. As far as my ph i did lower it to 6.2 using and ph variance i got from the same store( i mixed in too much nutes with the water). With this system do i need to water the top of the cups daily? i got this setup off of greenmanspage and i am going to be changing the water every 10 days, for vegetive growing im am using the flourescents but during flowering im going to use a 100w hps light. Also i did mask off the tanks so algae will not grow. and my temp droped to 80* with a 60% humidity.

So can we work on this? whats some good pointers yall got? im all ears as most of you know way more then i do.

Forgot to mention that the cups are 9oz cups with big enough holes for the roots to poke through

 

[purple_chronic]

mmm... i guess im all ear on this thread!!!! i thinking of hydroponics to but you know low budget i gotta try it sum time!!!!

 

[h2o]

mmm... i guess im all ear on this thread!!!! i thinking of hydroponics to but you know low budget i gotta try it sum time!!!!

haha let me tell you this is not a low budget thing, soil was so much cheaper the only reason hydros is kinda cheap for me was because i already had most the stuff

but so far the if i bought everything it wouldve gone something like this

2x4x4' grow box - 80(for all the wood and screws and hinges and locks)
2 fish tanks - 20
bubbler - 10
air stones - 3
lines and check valves - 2
flourescent setup including bulbs - 100
hps light - 100
styrofoam - 10
cups - 5
timer - 10
exhaust fan - 20
thermometer/humidty - 10
ph tester - 10
nutes (so far) - 20
perlite - 4
------------
$404 and still growing with more nutes i buy and this is just for 14 plants

 

[Stoney Bud]

The DWC or "Bubbler" systems work great from what I've seen. It sounds like you've already got your plan.

Good luck to you. I'll watch your grow in the Journals.

 

[h2o]

anyways heres some pictures

first one shows everything im using notice how bright the flourescents are?
2nd is a side view on how it is setup
third is got seeds?

 

[Biffdoggie]

Depending on the water level you may have to top-water or top feed them until the roots get down there, it shouldn't be long. Using nothing but perlite you may have to secure the plants some other way also, it doesn't give much support on it's own.

 

[purple_chronic]

im thinking of hydroponics to but you know low budget i gotta try it sum time!!!!

Well i know most of the kit is expensive but i waste more $$$ builting a good grow box than using stuff i got at home...
almost everybody has a pump with a fishtank at home...(not a good start??)


im just saying i got to try it sum time...

but no prob. Peace and happy Growings!

 

[h2o]

Well i know most of the kit is expensive but i waste more $$$ builting a good grow box than using stuff i got at home...
almost everybody has a pump with a fishtank at home...(not a good start??)


im just saying i got to try it sum time...

but no prob. Peace and happy Growings!

ooo i did not mean to discourage you at all, the biggest cost for me was the lights which is always the biggest cost in most systems ive encountered.

Biff - do you think i should add some peat moss to the perlite? or maybe rockwool?

 

[Biffdoggie]

I think both of those will hold a bit more water than you want in a bubbler type of set-up, I would go with it for now and if you need to figure something out later, maybe a screen or something.

 

[AceT9]

What is a bubbler and what does it do?

 

[Biffdoggie]

A bubbler or "DWC" (deep well culture) is a system where te plants are placed in rock or some such medium, fed from the top until the roots make it down to the water and stay there feeding as much as they need. They are called bubblers because usually there is an airstone or similar device in each container to keep the water well aerated. A lot of times they are buckets but they can be made with all kinds of stuff.

 

[h2o]

i changed my setup just a little bit, instead of the styrofoam floating on the top of the water i now cut plexiglass(painted black of course) and put that at the top of the tanks, on day 4 after germinating, kinda got impatient and took one of the seeds out of the medium to check progress and it doesnt seem like its sprouting that much. In my past experiences with soil the rootling would be almost 3" at day 4, am i doing something wrong? is the water to high into the medium? maybe too much water and drowning the seedling?

 

[krsone]

h2o there a many other easy diy hydro setups me I would have used rubbermade totes instead of fish tank try germ in sponge papertowels whatever grow the taproot about an inch then put into a mini bubbler wait till root is about five inches or so place in netcup add growrocks then place in totes(dwc..deep water culture). I found this set up by a guy Nimby on overgrow and it works pretty good of cousre theres more to it but start up is cheap look for diy bubbler in overgrow archive pages theres many if you look u will see one thats right for you

 

[krsone]

one more thing make sure plants arenot to close to cfl's they get mighty hot i've burnt plants not even touching them

 

[big brother]

use some rockwool it hold plenty of air and retains enough moisture which allowes the plant to effortlessly take in all the nutirents just remember rockwool has no buffing capacity and a high PH so before transplanting soak your rockwool in ph balance water 6.0 HP is ideal!! good luck

 

[dj_destroyer]

Hey h20, I'm currently underway with my first ever hydro grow.

For your seedlings, I would suggest putting them into rockwool and placing all your rockwool into a tray with some standing water at the bottom. Just until they show signs of roots poking through the rockwool. you can then transplant them back into your tubs and the roots will naturally stretch for the water.

Please check out my grow journal (link in my sig) for some ideas.