Recommended store bought hydro systems?

jijiandfarmgang said:

bubble buckets are a pita

First of all the bucket is filled with around 4 gallons of water. A large plant can drink over a gallon a day.
This messes with nutrient solution and ph.

Second they are a pita to do nutrient change outs (if you have big plants)

Third running multiple plants, means you are running multiple reservoirs that all need balancing.

You can solve these issues by making it recirculate with other buckets but then you no longer have a simple system.

- Jiji

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Like I said some people are slow
I have answers for every reason you list


SLOW

Also there's no rocket sceince most people just use excuses if they fuck up

Imo Ebb and flow is easier as far as growing plants, a little more expensive than dwc, but dwc requires more maintenance.

For example first planting a seedling or a clone can be tricky for a newb in dwc and once your plant are established maintaining your water temps are much more critical since your plants' roots are in the water 24/7, also once your plants are big you have to add water more frequently because of the size of your reservoir.If you go a while with low water levels that brings ppm up and ph down which can have adverse effects.


I've grown all but nft system and that is my advice gathered from my experience with hydro, hope it helps.

Edit oh yeah as far as system for ebb and flow I use botanicare tray with lid and reservoir.
Like below but 3x3 and 4x4 trays,pic below is not mine.

Flagg420 said:

Aero isnt really large plant compliant, fast vigorous veg grown tho... great hydro system, not so much for flowering cannabis...

Want big? Wanna grow trees? RDWC.

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Why do you say areo isn't good for flowering ????

I think most dwc systems to me were low maintenance
just my exp

Cold$moke said:

I think most dwc systems to me were low maintenance
just my exp

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Yea my 15 gallon tote dwc is extremely low maitnence top off once every 5 days with phed RO water and change out once every 12-14 days

I have the EuroGrower from General Hydroponics that I bought through my local hydro shop.
Im on my first grow and its worked well for my 2.5 x4.5 tent. Youll need to get a pump or syphon to drain it properly.

There are pics on my tsu site https://www.tsu.co/DogEatWeedWorld

I too like the supercloset site and almost went with them, but didnt want a 200lb kit delivered to my door. So i learned from their site and bought through my local hydro store.

I think I will get the Bubble Flow Buckets when I expand to 9'x9', if I dont choose to try to make something on my own.

I think growing in COCO might be the solution for you. It's still hydroponic. But as forgiving as soil.

^ I agree. Hydro is by no means hard, but not at all forgiving. There is a serious learning curve for most when it comes to growing mj. I would start in cocco, or a soiless mix. Benefits of hydro with the forgiveness of dirt. No pumps, hoses, etc unless you want to set up a drip system. otherwise I started with a simple 5 gal dwc set up to experiment, and now I am running 2 different 9 bucket rdwc systems and loving it. though like already said a 1 bucket system can suck once she is drinking a gallon plus a day.

As long as you follow the rules
and The instructions of the nutes you are using(lots of mj specific these days)

Imo coco is just another form of flood and drain(edit) unless it is amended fir organic growing

Just listen to the people who made the nutes not the people that buy them

Cold$moke said:

As long as you follow the rules
and The instructions of the nutes you are using(lots of mj specific these days)

Imo coco is just another form of flood and drain(edit) unless it is amended fir organic growing

Just listen to the people who made the nutes not the people that buy them

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Hey cold smoke, can u go to my journal and maybe help w/an issue thats come up?? ive been told to trim lower branches day 1 of flower and not sure if i should as my plants are only 5-9 inches tall when put in..now they are near 2 feet , anyways please read the journal and give me ur opinion on that and the T5 lighting...

The only thing I hate about dro is that you need multiple setups for different strains cause all strains and phenos weren't created equal when it comes to the amount of nutes. If you got clones then dwc or ebb and flow are fine. I would personally build my own cause you get charged 10x more than it would cost to build.

Big Trees said:

The only thing I hate about dro is that you need multiple setups for different strains cause all strains and phenos weren't created equal when it comes to the amount of nutes. If you got clones then dwc or ebb and flow are fine. I would personally build my own cause you get charged 10x more than it would cost to build.

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Not true as long as flower times are in the same ballpark

ive grown up to 4 diff strains in one tote
at one time

you just have to be "smarter" then the plants
It might not be "optimal"

but by no means un doable
just my 2

agree need to build ur owne for way cheaper,also if ur worried about diferent strains getting diferent nutes, build buckets, then each can get a diferent formula..im having that problem now in my dwc 24 plants are happy and healthy wile 3 purple bud plants by seedsmsn are not, leaves curling down and light green almost yellow..5 diferent strains all in same water and only the purple bud is unhappy?? getting rid of her after this run,, i have no time for finicky plants that are not even purple!!

thanks cold, ill trim everything but top 3 nodes before flower next run,, but not sure when to do the trim, day 1 of flower or a few days or a week before so they can recover from the trim??

TheChemist77 said:

thanks cold, ill trim everything but top 3 nodes before flower next run,, but not sure when to do the trim, day 1 of flower or a few days or a week before so they can recover from the trim??

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You should always give your plants time to "destress" ibefore switching to flower in my opinion at least a week

like I said MY OPINION

I built this RDWC undercurrent system. This is my first run at it. Exciting so far!

blackforest said:

I built this RDWC undercurrent system. This is my first run at it. Exciting so far!

View attachment 3304053

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While I started this thread specifically hoping to discover "off the shelf" systems, your system looks well put together at a glance and I'm really interested to understand how it works. Could you explain the mechanics of it to me please? (where water flows into/out of each site and how it's circulated and likewise the path of any air being pumped as well as how the water solution is oxygenated and what happens to its levels within each bucket and when)

Heavy Consumer said:

While I started this thread specifically hoping to discover "off the shelf" systems, your system looks well put together at a glance and I'm really interested to understand how it works. Could you explain the mechanics of it to me please? (where water flows into/out of each site and how it's circulated and likewise the path of any air being pumped as well as how the water solution is oxygenated and what happens to its levels within each bucket and when)

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It's built based on a current culture undercurrent system. A friend of mine bought the complete kit and it looked really nice so I decided to build one. Speaking of store bought system, you can certainly just buy this setup from current culture. The current culture system comes with 8 gal or 13 gal containers and I built this to fit in my 4x8 tent specifically.
It's a 7 bucket system, (5 gal) with 6" net pots for the lids. I use a 840gph pump to pull from the end of the system which goes through a chiller (to keep water temp down) and then pumps into the epicenter. I have a commercial air pump with a manifold going to each bucket with an air stone. All the buckets are linked together and it's hooked up to a RO water supply with a float valve so it tops off automatically between nutrient changes. The entire system with pumps and chiller was about $600, so a pretty decent discount to a store bought system. The roots are white and healthy and I've never seen growth like this before. I've been warned by all my grow friends of the complexities and problems that can arise, like aphids, root rot, etc. but I'm willing to take the risk. I can only have 6 in flower here in CO between my wife and I, so hopefully this will make them bigger, faster!

Here is an example i found on youtube of someone's undercurrent setup

@blackforest THANKS!

I previously checked out some of their systems and they look GREAT, but they are not cheap, even by general retail standards! That's a nice vid' though that demo's really well how the system operates. And yes, really nice looking set-up too! Thanks again!

EDIT: Questions.... Is the system easy to drain in its entirety when the nutrient solution has to be renewed? Do the individual sites all get drained at the same time as the res'? Also, Is it not high maintenance keeping the water/solution adequately supplied without the use of a large res'?