Hydro help

[Santa Chronic]

I am starting this thread to discuss different cultivation techniques involving waterculture. I have always been interested to start a hydro setup of some sort, I have been growing in either soil or a soilless bag mix like sunshine 4 for a few seasons now and dont get me wrong i love it but a part of me always has felt that hydro is the future and something i need to be involved with, If you have experience running successful hydro setups or just want to join the discussion please post your thoughts, i would like to compare different setups and different strains run with any waterculture technique so that i can get a better idea what i want to start out with in the near future.

I appreciate feedback of any sort very much thanks everyone and keep on tokin!

 

[medme]

Re: Hydro help???

i've tried a few different hydro methods,,, but i'm sticking with the DWC,,,, its so easy, a bucket with a air-stone in it... BUT,,, you need a good air pump...

 

[Santa Chronic]

Re: Hydro help???

TY for responding how are the returns on DWC compared to your other methods you tried?

 

[medme]

great,,,,, bulb type does matter,,,, they say for quality go with MH,, and for quanity go with HPS,,, thats why i use both... i've seen massive buds under HPS with this method, thats why i tried it...

 

[Santa Chronic]

I see what kinda return per light do you get with an average DWC cycle?, yeah i like MH a lot this breeder i follow did this article about sativa and sativa dom hybrids curing and growing for quality and flavor, he says you get a much more natural spectrum with the MH and you will get a broader range of flavor expression i prefer to medicate with sativas and i am all about quality so i like to keep at least one going all the time i think its worth the trade off

 

[medme]

i have a perpetual crop... so plants are small,, i get "just" enough...

 

[Santa Chronic]

Oh ok do you have a preference between organic and synth nutes i am very interested to hear peoples experience between these two with hydro as well

 

[Santa Chronic]

i read an article about DWC in an outdoor greenhouse environment i dunno if anyone has heard of this but i think it sounds pretty sweet

 

[Franknstrain]

Mine is just of many DWC units. Cheap, effective and I have pulled off as much as 22 oz. off of one plant using this system.

Sorry about the quality of this pic but I wanted to show this system with the ring.

As you can see they can get pretty big. This one is about 4 ft tall. with about a 4 to 5 foot table top. I will post pics on how this last plant has progressed through its life. I am on the last 3 weeks right now with her.

I have used both types of nutes. I used to grow with the GH 3 part system and now make my own nutes. I like the taste and the final product with my homeade nutes.

I use both MH for veg.. and HPS for my flower. I find that the plants really respond well to the light change. I also go.. one system... one plant.. one light.

 

[DL-Toker]

Franknstrain: very nice! I love the rig and the bushy last pic Awesome. Have you thought about doing a grow log? I'd love to see more!

 

[Xlr8]

I just did my first DIY bucket set-up, which is a combination of Water Farm style and DWC (much like the one Frankenstrain posted). I bought a bucket and net-pot lid (about $7 or so). Then I bought the Waterfarm plumbing kit ($14), air-pump ($10 or so) and an airstone to make the reservoir DWC ($3 or so). Can't remember all the exact prices, but that's pretty close. Probably around $35 plus the cost of hydroton and it works great. Here's a picture:

There are a couple of more pics in the link under my signature - right around page 10 or 11 I think.

Overall, I like DWC quite a bit, but I think great results are possible with a number of different methods. Hempy's are also super cheap and easy -- just take a little more maintenance as they are pretty manual. I'm trying the new Flo N Gro product by Titan Controls on my next grow (Ebb N Gro style buckets). Will be my first time trying the flood/drain method - I may just put airstones in those buckets, too, to get more oxygen into the nutrient mix.

 

[Hydrologist]

I like the Discussions im seeing here guys and I gatta say XLR8 that's a fucking dope bucket dude! Props on it, I like how you strapped the air pump to it so you have it all in one place. From personal experience I know it gets annoying as hell to have your lid tethered to an air pump expeciallly while trying to change nutrients. The one recomendation I would suggest would be to add a bulk head with a 1/2 inch spout connected to an on/off valve in the most lowest part of the bucket but still on its side as possible (i've done this before with the bulk head sticking out the bottom and its the pain in the ass, plus you can get alllll the old water outer by simply tipping the bucket just a bit with the on/off drain on the side) then put it on a crate or something and vuallla you don't have to lift your plant out of the bucket when it comes time to changing the nutrients. Simply drain and then have another feeder bucket with 6 ft of 1/2 inch hose comming out of the bottom of it to feed nutrients back in. Make sure you get a bucket with a handle so you can hang it on a door handle-comes in very handy I must say.

Something else i've noticed about your guy's set ups thats the same and differs from mine is that both of you who posted pictures use a top feed drip feed ring thing at the top. I don't use that. Because everything i've read has stated that besides being useful in the first 2 weeks when roots havn't hit the water they are pretty much over kill.
So for those two weeks when the roots havn't even poked out the bottom net I use a sterile plastic cup 3 times a day, morning afternoon and night and I scoop a cup full of nutrients and pour it back over the plant. And I continue this until I get roots in or atleast very close to the water where I know they're atleast getting splashed by the recirculation going on in my system/and the air pumps in the water churning up the soup.
As you Can see here I get nice healthy roots pretty quickly:
This is from my cycle 2 this is after 3 weeks of veg-just flipped to 12/12 though I still have her on Veg nutrients for first 7-10 days

This baby is from cycle 3 her roots just hit the water. I've also noticed that even when I don't always water 3 times a day and in fact on days i've forgotten completely it seems as though the plant "searches" quicker for food and they grow roots faster.
Still testing this hypothesis though.

Might have gotten a bit off topic with that one but I guess thats what this is right? a presentation of different idea's kinda thread? maybe? lol its late and im tired...

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

 

[Xlr8]

Hey Hydro - that blue tube on the side of my bucket serves two purposes - allows me to see the level of my reservoir inside the bucket without having to open it (white mark is ideal level). The second purpose is that it can be removed from the top clip and bent down as an aid in draining the bucket (similar to how you mentioned). It's connected to a 1/2" valve running through the bulkhead. I know the waterfarm drip ring thing isn't completely necessary, but I'm curious to see if it does anything different than the straight DWC that I've been doing.

By the way H - I'm pretty jealous of your system now that you've got it recirculating. Have you seen the new Flo n Gro set up i got? If not check out my thread about page 10. Here's a pic of what it will look like all set up (except I'm making my own res. and only going with 6 buckets):

 

[Franknstrain]

Franknstrain: very nice! I love the rig and the bushy last pic Awesome. Have you thought about doing a grow log? I'd love to see more!

Thanks for the props. I will be starting a log here in a couple of weeks. I am waiting for 2 clones to root right now. I will be setting a Connie Chung and a Strawberry Cough and will do the logs on those two strains.

 

[Franknstrain]

i read an article about DWC in an outdoor greenhouse environment i dunno if anyone has heard of this but i think it sounds pretty sweet

I am thinking about throwing one of my dwc units outside and see how she responds. Just need to work out some minor details first.

 

[Hydrologist]

(posted the reply origionaly on XLR8's main journal)


hey whats going on XLR8

wow, it looks like we're both really going in the same direction here and both of our set ups are about to blow up and go crazy it seems, very exciting and cool times I must say! You must be from where I am from ;-) ;-).

I am as jelous of your new flow and grow system as you are of my chillers most probably. I must ask you a few things about that particular system as I have seen it in a few grow magazines, but i've only seen the add not a break down on how it works. My question is simple, is it just a regular old RDWC system? or is it like flood tables but uses buckets instead of the table? Im guessing this is just a nice RDWC system similar to my cycle 3 except more buckets no chiller with a control bucket and a large R.O rez.

Also to answer your question from the hydro forum regarding the idea of incorporating an external rez into my system. At the moment I am not persuing this because I am dealing with small spaces. This is all going to change though in 2-3 months when my room mate moves out and His room becomes the grow room. At this point I will finally be getting into perpetual mode and harvesting atleast 2 plants a month, and maybe move up to four super plants by the end of the summer with the extra space, extra rez and controller bucket.

Like I said things are going to get exciting

Also I had a question for you. So I see these pictures and I don't have the time to read much but are you trying to grow that one clone out in that bucket to be a mother to take clones off of for your big Flo Recirculating system? Or are a bunch of clones being propogated at the moment and in a few days we'll be seeing your system up and running? Can't wait to hear back on this.

Take it easy dude EXCITING STUFF!!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

 

[Xlr8]

(posted the reply origionaly on XLR8's main journal)


hey whats going on XLR8

wow, it looks like we're both really going in the same direction here and both of our set ups are about to blow up and go crazy it seems, very exciting and cool times I must say! You must be from where I am from ;-) ;-).

I am as jelous of your new flow and grow system as you are of my chillers most probably. I must ask you a few things about that particular system as I have seen it in a few grow magazines, but i've only seen the add not a break down on how it works. My question is simple, is it just a regular old RDWC system? or is it like flood tables but uses buckets instead of the table? Im guessing this is just a nice RDWC system similar to my cycle 3 except more buckets no chiller with a control bucket and a large R.O rez.

Also to answer your question from the hydro forum regarding the idea of incorporating an external rez into my system. At the moment I am not persuing this because I am dealing with small spaces. This is all going to change though in 2-3 months when my room mate moves out and His room becomes the grow room. At this point I will finally be getting into perpetual mode and harvesting atleast 2 plants a month, and maybe move up to four super plants by the end of the summer with the extra space, extra rez and controller bucket.

Like I said things are going to get exciting

Also I had a question for you. So I see these pictures and I don't have the time to read much but are you trying to grow that one clone out in that bucket to be a mother to take clones off of for your big Flo Recirculating system? Or are a bunch of clones being propogated at the moment and in a few days we'll be seeing your system up and running? Can't wait to hear back on this.

Take it easy dude EXCITING STUFF!!

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

On that note, here's my reply from my journal:

Actually the Flo n Gro system is like a flood/drain table only with buckets instead of a table. I'm totally new to this, but the way it works is that there is a control bucket with float valves, and a separate reservoir (which I'm placing outside of the tent). The control bucket will trigger a drain and flood with a timer set at pre-set intervals. In addition, I'm going to aerate the bejebus out of the reservoir with airstones or an aquarium pump, so that when the buckets get "flooded" it will be with highly oxygenated nutrient solution and then drain back into the main reservoir where it will be continuously aerated by the airstones. If that makes sense!

I hear you on the small space, I'm impressed with how you tackled that by using your grow buckets as your control and res. while still recirculating through the chiller. Slick and sick, bro!

Normally I don't grow in the summer for a whole bunch of reasons, some personal, many related to weather and humidity. But, I thought I'd do a single quick autoflower (Big Bang Auto) and use the summer to upgrade my setup with a bigger room and new equipment. I thought it'd take me all summer, but the thing is I kicked serious butt and got it nearly completed a couple of days ago (until my basement turned into a flood/drain hydro system, dammit!)

So, now I'm rethinking my summer grow strategy. I'm probably going to get a few more plants going once I get things pulled together after the flood, but maybe not too - we tend to have a lot more company in the summer, and company makes me uncomfortable when there's a lot going on in the secret garden.

So, just a little autoflower for now, maybe more in a bit. I had to grow something or go crazy -- and I almost didn't start a thread for one little plant, but I'd miss you guys too much otherwise, and I like journaling now, ya know?

Super cool to have you drop by Hydro -

 

[Santa Chronic]

Ill start by saying wow thanks for picking things up in here a little bit havent been on in a few was kinda feeling like this thread might be a bust but i am happy and honestly blown away by a few of those responses great custom setups guys very nice all around

Might have gotten a bit off topic with that one but I guess thats what this is right? a presentation of different idea's kinda thread? maybe? lol its late and im tired...

((((HYDROLOGIST))))

Thats exactly what i was hoping for get as many different ideas as i can so i can see what works for others and figure out what i want to try out

 

[Santa Chronic]

I am thinking about throwing one of my dwc units outside and see how she responds. Just need to work out some minor details first.

Let me know how that goes if you end up doing that i follow this old time breeder from the 70s and he did this article about using stealthsheds (any sort of custom shed with the roof replaced with greenhouse plastic or siding to allow in light but remain sneaky) combined with hydro outdoors in NorCal back in the day, sort of put the idea in my head, i would love to take this concept and set up a small shed with some tables and see what you could do outdoor hydro sounds awesome to me

 

[Xlr8]

Ill start by saying wow thanks for picking things up in here a little bit havent been on in a few was kinda feeling like this thread might be a bust but i am happy and honestly blown away by a few of those responses great custom setups guys very nice all around



Thats exactly what i was hoping for get as many different ideas as i can so i can see what works for others and figure out what i want to try out

Santa, I've been spending a lot of time researching and experimenting lately, and if I can help provide information that would be of further benefit in any way, please let me know. So far I'm really pleased with how well the DIY hydro bucket is working, and I know that Hydrologic has had great success with his DWC bucket system - nearly winning plant of the month not long ago. I came up with the idea for my DIY bucket on my own based on a lot of research, but after purchasing everything found a youtube link of someone who did pretty much the EXACT thing. (Which made putting it all together a little easier).

The only difference is that I used an airpump with dual outlets, and used the second outlet to run an airline into the bucket that's attached to an airstone making it a combination of drip/DWC. I'm considering modifying this in the future so that the drip ring is on a separate pump and can be "cycled" on and off throughout the day (instead of continuously on) while the DWC portion would run 24/7. Cycling the drip ring after the roots are established would promote more vigorous root growth than leaving it dripping constantly, but this time around I might just leave it as is to see how it goes.

Here's a link to the youtube video:

YouTube - ‪How to make a Top Drip Bucket Hydroponic System‬‏

I really think a single bucket system like this can be done pretty well for $50 or less. Mine was somewhere in the $35 range total if I remember right.