noob with some questions..

Hello all, i've recently decided to give hydro a try, until I started researching it I always thought it was much more complicated that what it really is hence not trying it sooner. I've done alot of reading and have learned most of the basics but with all I have read I'm still alittle unsure of a few things before I put the investment to all the equipment.

I should first say that I plan on making a dwc using a 5 gallon fish tank, I have several of them from when I was into aquariums. I also plan on growing auto flowering plants, probably lowrider or others crossed with lowrider. I'm lucky enough to have a hydro store not far from where I live so I should have access to everything I will need once I start. As of right now the few questions I have are...

1-will using tap water work or should I exclusively use distilled bottled water?

2- Do autoflowering plants need the same nutes as normal seeds, what type of nutes should I use?

3- How will I know how much nutes to add and when to add? I see every 7-14 days but is their a way to measure the nutes in the water to know the right time?

4-Does the water need to be completely flushed when adding new nutes?

5- Would small aquarium rocks be a good medium to put the germinated seeds in?

Any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks for reading.

1- Tap water will work. Fill your res with tap and use ph test strips to check it. You want it around 6. Phtest strips can be found at hydro store or pool supplies . PH up and down you can make or buy at hydro store too

2- same nutes. Veg until they are as big as you want then put them in flower. If you are using a hydro system i suggest HYDRO NUTES. I use the technaflora BC line but there are many.

3- most have formulas on the label. You want to use plain water (ph 6) to germinate seeds then put into rockwool and into your system. Wait 2 weeks or until you have a second growth of leaves, at that time look up the minimum amount per gallon and use about 1/4 ogf that. FOr example, bc calls for 3tspns per gallon and i know for my res thats about a cup, my first feed i use a qrtr cup.

a week later , refill your res with water, and a week later or when your low on water, dump the res, refill with water and now give a full minimum dose if the plants are healthy and responded well to last feeding.
when res is down about half or a week later, fill with water, a week later give them maximum dose.
My last Veg feed i give them full dose plus some awesome blossom.

When you goto flower, dump your res and refill with water, wait 4-5 days and add your minimum flower dose. I also at theis time use awesome blossom by technaflora.
I do the same week later fill with water then next week dump and re feed. my last flower feed i use Sugar daddy along with awesome blossom and flower nutes. My last week I put new water and just sugar daddy, after 3 days of that i dump the res and do just water the last 4-10 days waiting for my trichs to be just right.

4- mostly see three. If you run into a broblem where your plants wilt or start yellowing, you may wanna flush and let go on water a couple days. Some people never change there res, they just use ppm meters to keep levels always on optimum. I prefer to change my res and i dont use a ppm meter because i trust my ability to nute them without overdoin it.

5- dude use rockwool. Can you do it in aquarium rocks? Im sure you can somehow, but rockwool is cheap and to me a no brainer.

Good luck

If your looking to Check Your Nute Levels to be sure your are not over nuting get a PPM Meter off clist or ebay. Yellowing Leaves are one idea you know of they are getting too much or too little

Also for roots some Hygrozone and Peroxide 3% (Mouthwash Type) for you roots if they start to look bad Dark Brown Dead (ususally from lack of oxygen or infection)

- Note for Autos Keep them on an 18/6 schedule after 3 weeks . Remember they do like some sleep even though they will Flower in 24/0.
- Feed Autos Half of what you would feed a 12/12 style plant as a little is a lot with Autos. This way you will never over feed an Auto.


Hope this helps

Me personly would not use glass once u fill it up its heavy and u might have to move it and cleaning it is gonna be a pain in the ass and i suggest advanced nutrients 3part it goes a long WAY AND NO BROWN ROOTS IF U HAVE ANY QUESTION JUST ASK

Might want to wrap the aquarium with aluminum foil to prevent light from getting In.I had to do this with my orange Home Depot buckets to prevent algae from growing.
just my .02
good luck-have fun!

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Ricko. Thanks for the time it took to write such a detailed reply, I have to ask though where you say in answer 2 to veg it Until it's as big as I want then go to flowering. I was under the impression that I couldn't control auto seeds as to when to flower them. Is ther a way?

Williac. I do plan on gettin a ppm meter just to take any guess work out of using the nutes. Yeah I've read different thing about the photoperiod for different strains but still not 100 % sure what I'll be gettin so I'll prob have to ask for advice on that when I do.

Mista. As for th weight A 5 gallon tank fill with water should only weigh a littl over 40lbs fully filled but irr will probably be 1/2 to 3/4 filled not including the weight of the plants, I don't expect problems but incase it is too heavy I have what's called a python syphon I used for my aquariums and it hooks up to a fauset and uses water pressure to syphon the tank

dux. I was a actually planning on using black duct tape to wrap it. Though foil would be good too.

Thanks for allthe advice everyone. I'm sure I'll have More questions soon.

i must admit that i do not have any experience with auto flower, but from reading about them on the forum it seems that you can put them into flower whenever you want. Anybody with more experience can chime in but from what i have read it doesnt really make much difference. I veg for 5-7 weeks.

RikoSuave55 said:

i must admit that i do not have any experience with auto flower, but from reading about them on the forum it seems that you can put them into flower whenever you want. Anybody with more experience can chime in but from what i have read it doesnt really make much difference. I veg for 5-7 weeks.

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Im pretty sure they go into flower automatically after a 2-3 week veg keeping a 18-6 or 24-0 photoperiod the whole time so a 5-7 week veg might not be possible. All the same thanks for the info on the nutes.

RikoSuave55 said:

i must admit that i do not have any experience with auto flower, but from reading about them on the forum it seems that you can put them into flower whenever you want. Anybody with more experience can chime in but from what i have read it doesnt really make much difference. I veg for 5-7 weeks.

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Autoflowering plants grow for 14 days then burst into a rapid intense flowering stage, it does not matter what your light schedule is, so you could keep the lights on 24/7 if you want.
Good luck man.

This is my Williams 60 Day Wonder from DNA. 37 Days Old Today

- For lighting I would stick to 18/6 after two week seedling period the rest of the way through.

- Join the Autoflowering group on here. Chat with Ripster. He is a soil grower but gives good advice for Autos and runs the group. https://www.rollitup.org/groups/autoflowering-grow.html

- Another person on here put the 60 day on 24/0 and got a big ass bush with late flowering that gave immature buds in the end before it harvested.

- NOTE: Marijuana likes to sleep Auto our not - 18/6 is what I recommend but you can go 22/2 or 20/4 which should work fine. Just give her a nap at least man.

1.use distilled water less nute problems that way i just bought a ro filter saved me time lugging all that water in. 2.yes they do all use the same nutes depends what kind of fert regime you are gonna have. 3.depending on the size of the res you should change the water every week. 4.my choice yes but if there is still a little left over water it doesnt matter. 5.NO you dont want sharp aquarium rocks or if they are colored rocks at that, use rockwool cubes to plant and the hydroton to cover the cubes from light and so that it hold water, nutes, air, ETC..

slick75 said:

Hello all, i've recently decided to give hydro a try, until I started researching it I always thought it was much more complicated that what it really is hence not trying it sooner. I've done alot of reading and have learned most of the basics but with all I have read I'm still alittle unsure of a few things before I put the investment to all the equipment.

I should first say that I plan on making a dwc using a 5 gallon fish tank, I have several of them from when I was into aquariums. I also plan on growing auto flowering plants, probably lowrider or others crossed with lowrider. I'm lucky enough to have a hydro store not far from where I live so I should have access to everything I will need once I start. As of right now the few questions I have are...

1-will using tap water work or should I exclusively use distilled bottled water?

2- Do autoflowering plants need the same nutes as normal seeds, what type of nutes should I use?

3- How will I know how much nutes to add and when to add? I see every 7-14 days but is their a way to measure the nutes in the water to know the right time?

4-Does the water need to be completely flushed when adding new nutes?

5- Would small aquarium rocks be a good medium to put the germinated seeds in?

Any help would be greatly appreciated..Thanks for reading.

Click to expand...