Hydroponics Question and Answer NewGrowth Style

I've never done grows before but plan on building a 21 site do you think it would be difficult for me to get 2 oz per plant vegging for 1 month or to around 18 inch's which ever comes first in a Co2 sealer room. Also I plan on buying a good chunk of AN line are they good for aeroponic's? My reservoir is going to be outside the grow room would that be ok or would i need to cool it down more? Any tips in general to help achieve my goal would be MUCH appreciated and sorry if you've posted something similar before can't read through 80+ pages lolol

Encomium said:

First of all I'd like to say thank you for all the help you've been giving! I'm currently reading this thread in hopes of finding relevant tips/tricks to my first grow. I have a few questions that may have been answered so I apologize if they have been already...

My set up is ebb and flow w/ 250 W HPS/MH in a 3x3 grow area in 5x5 inch pots using trimmed 6" rockwool slabs (so the total height of the medium is 6'). I purchased 1 microgarden ebb and flow system that came with a bundle of nutrients (Flora grow/ Liquid karma / flora bloom) and then made 2 more ebb and flow systems myself. I'm using distilled water for the time being until I install a RO filter.

Here are my questions:

1. I've heard a lot of ppl referring to "Ph'd" water. I assume this means water where the exact Ph is known (like distilled water @ 7)? Is there a way I can use tapwater and Ph balance it instead so I don't have to use 3-4 gallons of distilled water when flushing or pre-treating rockwool/hydroton?

2. In an earlier post you said that 4" pots would be sufficient for a plant from veg to harvest as the root would grow past into the flood tray. I'm using 5" pots with rockwool slabs with a total height of 6" (I had to trim a 6" slab of rockwool to fit into the 5" pots). My problem is that my flood tray doesn't drain 100% and small amounts of water pool in the ridges/valleys of the flood tray. Should I be thinking of transplanting into larger pots? (My estimate is that by harvest my plants will be roughly 2 ft tall).

3. You've repeatedly stated that ionic nutrients are better suited to hydroponics and from your reasoning I'd tend to agree: How should I go about switching over from organic nutes to ionic? Just basically flushing my medium with ph'd water and washing out my reservoir/flood table?

4. Lastly, my home made ebb and flow system is using some Home Depot storage bins: Should I be worried about what kind of plastic it is?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

PS - I do *not* have a TDS meter at the moment.

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1. Tap water should work fine if you are worried order a water quality report from your utility.

2. As long as its just a little water at the bottom of the tray it should not cause too much of a problem. Sometimes angling the tables slightly helps them drain better. The plants can go into larger pots but if the roots have room to migrate out (net pots or bottom) they should be fine.

3. Ionic is just a brand there are plenty of good mineral nutrients on the market, I a currently using General Hydroponics. Soon I'll be transferring to Nutrifield Coco nutrients. The transition is easy just go light at first because they are generally more fast acting than organic sludge.

4. Nah plastic should not worry you

Don't worry about the TDS pen it can be a useful measuring tool but if you watch your plants then you should not need one. They'll tell you what they need

smok3y1 said:

I've never done grows before but plan on building a 21 site do you think it would be difficult for me to get 2 oz per plant vegging for 1 month or to around 18 inch's which ever comes first in a Co2 sealer room. Also I plan on buying a good chunk of AN line are they good for aeroponic's? My reservoir is going to be outside the grow room would that be ok or would i need to cool it down more? Any tips in general to help achieve my goal would be MUCH appreciated and sorry if you've posted something similar before can't read through 80+ pages lolol

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One month veg is a pretty long time but it depends on your veg lighting too. I can get a pound off some strains after a month of veg so yah anything is possible. Advanced are overpriced and the additives are just confusing but if you are stuck on them go for it. There are really no tips to yield just consistently give the plants exactly what they need. Gardening is a labor of love and is the culmination of a million tedious tasks performed on a regular basis. If you learn to pay attention and recognize the signals plants will tell you exactly what they need. Beyond that proper canopy management is also key. Good luck!

Thank you for the speedy reply I was planning on using 600w Mh for veg. And I don't mind spending that extra little bit as long as I get that extra bit back. Also would 2 600w Hps be okay for the 21 site 3 rows of 7 and what size res would I need?

600w with a decent reflector will light a 3x3 area optimally so it depends on your system layout

Okay thank you NewGrowth

No worries man, good luck!

Cool avatar BTW

thanks for all your good advice. I ran across a GE bulb that is 9325K, the brightest I had seen before that was 6500k, any advantage to the 9325k?

K = Kelvin, it's the color spectrum emitted by the bulb not how bright it is.

One more thing on lighting, I run a small 6-plant hydroponic, so I have a 2ft T5 (1 3000k & 1 6500k) everything seems to be growing fine, but since I recently bought it I do have the opportunity to exchange my light, would I get any better results from an HTG PL-55? and if so would four bulbs be even better, or just two, or just keep what i've got?

I don't want to go overboard because I will never be growing a ton of plants, but if something will benefit me a little more as a newbe and its not gonna cost to much more....

im using tap water with a ppm of approx. 240ppm. If the nutrientss call for 740ppm and my water is 240 ppm. should i add just 500ppm of solution?

anewhydrogrower said:

One more thing on lighting, I run a small 6-plant hydroponic, so I have a 2ft T5 (1 3000k & 1 6500k) everything seems to be growing fine, but since I recently bought it I do have the opportunity to exchange my light, would I get any better results from an HTG PL-55? and if so would four bulbs be even better, or just two, or just keep what i've got?

I don't want to go overboard because I will never be growing a ton of plants, but if something will benefit me a little more as a newbe and its not gonna cost to much more....

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Not sure the pl-55 is a two tube t-5. How many tubes is your t-5 now? More light can't hurt unless is causes to much heat.

kblcljack said:

im using tap water with a ppm of approx. 240ppm. If the nutrientss call for 740ppm and my water is 240 ppm. should i add just 500ppm of solution?

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240ppm is fairly high you can order a water quality report from

your local water utility. I would not subtract the initial 240ppm just because we're not sure what exactly is in the water.

Hey NewGrowth am back for 2 last questions! looool what size reservoir would i need for the 21 site setup and do you think 2 sprayers per pot is fine? Thanks again! i really do appreciate your help!

NewGrowth said:

Not sure the pl-55 is a two tube t-5. How many tubes is your t-5 now? More light can't hurt unless is causes to much heat.

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I just have two tubes one 3000k, and one 6500k, but it's only 6 plants. happy to spend a few extra $ if the PL-55 will help but I may have enough for my small garden?

smok3y1 said:

Hey NewGrowth am back for 2 last questions! looool what size reservoir would i need for the 21 site setup and do you think 2 sprayers per pot is fine? Thanks again! i really do appreciate your help!

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I shoot for about 1gal/plant. So a 20-25gal reservoir
should be adequate. I'm sure two sprayers would work as well.

On the pl-55 question: Go for it!

NewGrowth said:

2. As long as its just a little water at the bottom of the tray it should not cause too much of a problem. Sometimes angling the tables slightly helps them drain better. The plants can go into larger pots but if the roots have room to migrate out (net pots or bottom) they should be fine.

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Thank you very much. + Rep in appreciation as always.

Ok, my plants would technically have room for roots to migrate out below the pots but them I'm faced with either the exposed roots getting light exposure and/or the roots drying out (since the bulk of the roots are in rockwool).

Also, I don't suppose you have a general rule for ideal pot container size for hydroponics with end plant height (ie. harvested height) of roughly 2.5 feet? I'd prefer never having to transplant my babies after the initial transplant from seedling/clone to veg.

Cheers!

A gallon per foot of plant height is usually pretty adequate. Hydroponics allows for a smaller root zone however. Generally hydroponic plants have a smaller root mass than soil plants because the plant can feed so readily.

hi NG. congrats on this thread bro, i think this is awesome. i read over half of it and it solved many of my questions. i still want to ask u something. im planning on running 2x600w hps, and im planning to make my own hidro sistem. so here goes the avalance of questions

1. im planning on using adjustawings medium with my lights. the site sais i could cover 1.25x 1.75 meters. thats about 2 square meters per light kit. Do u think the bucket sistem works good with this light coverage, or maybe i should make a pvc pipe sistem that would sustain more and smaller plants, rather than few large plants ? both sistems are drip based sistems

2. on both sistems (pvc pipe and buckets) there will be a small ammount of water so the roots can stand in it. would that level of water be the same componence as the main nutrient solution in the tank ? i'm thinking maybe the nutrient level may increase as the water evaporates. my main concern is that when the roots stay in that bottom solution they wont get damaged or something.

3. regarding the bucket sistem, does the size of the top bucket filled with expanded clay pellets make any difference ? i.m planning on vegging for 4-6 weeks. i mean can i grow the same plant and same yield with both 10liter top bucket as with a 20 liter ?

4. do clay pebbles retain water, because i dont know how the plants will get thru a power shortage(may happen, but not often).

5. regarding the bottom water level the roots stay in, should i run air lines to oxigenate that water, or will 2-3 airstones in the tank be sufficient ?

6. also could u aproximate the power the pump needs to have for this sistems(buckets & PVC) ?

also if u have any sugestion on what should i choose or add in this hidro design would be greately apreciated. also the room im setting this up is at least 10 square meters, so im gonna put mylar on 2 walls that should take care of one side of the grow space, and for the other 2 sides i will be setting up easy to move mylar walls (cardboard with mylar on a vertical structure to act as walls for grow area) also how powerfull should a pump be to work for 13-15 bucket or the pvc pipe design. also is it posible to overwater in dripper sistems ? i dont think its possible but still worth a question. sorry about being unorganised at the end of message but the haze is starting to kick in lol. also i would like to thank you in behalf of the forum for helping inexperienced growers. peace bro.

LATER EDIT: what mediium should i use to start seeds or clones in this kind of sistem ? im asking because i dont know if i should drip around the rockwool or on it ? also if i drip around the rockwool cube, the roots in the rockwool wont become dry, causing problems for the plant ? sorry for bad spelling and bad english and poor exprimation skills, but english is not my native language. peace bro and tx again for helping the forum out.

For a first time grow, they are starting to look pretty good at 3 weeks. My understanding is that when it is time, I initiate the final growth/harvest by cutting the lights back to 12/12 and turning off the 6500K and just using 3000K. Is that correct?