SpruceZeus' SOG. new to hydro, lots of questions.

Howdy friendly water gardeners. Hopefully you guys can answer some questions for me.
I've been growing in soil for a while and have really taken to it. However, theres been this nagging feeling for a while that i'm just not growing to my potential. If only there were some way i could grow dope quicker and bigger than before...
AHA!!!! HYDRO!
So a while back i went down to my local hydro shop and orange box hardware store and spent a bunch of money. Heres what i purchased.

Elicent 6" fan and cooltube


2 2x4 tables and all the acoutrements: large rubbermaid roughneck reserviors, tubing, fittings, netpots, pumps, and i had some hydroton laying around from a friend who had to leave town.
I also got a "PT CLONER" which is essentially an aerocloner. I'm so tired of fucking around with rockwool. Its either too dry or too wet, grows algea on it and is expensive. Having purchased this machine, i'm sure i could build one myself for about $60. (i paid $200) In any event, it appears to be working great so i'm not too beat up about it.

Anyhow, I've got my tables pretty much assembled, 1000w hps in the cooltube, and my clones are showing roots. so everything is coming together like madfire now. Theres just a few things i'm not clear on.

I don't want to use rockwool. My thoughts were that i would just be able to nestle roots gently among the hydroton pellets, is this going to be okay or will the plant need more support?

I have some nirvana white rhinos that i am vegging now, i expect the good females to become my mothers for this sog, How large of a clone should i take to ensure a decent yield with no veg time.

It takes about 30 minutes total for my table to fill and drain fully, any thoughts on how often i'm going to have to do this, 2? 3? 4 times a day? more?

How often am i going to want to flush my res?

Also do you guys have any reccomendations for a good, not too expensive EC\PPM meter?

Thanks in advance for all your help, i'm sure i will have more questions, but this is a good start. I'll post more pics or info if required.

Bump, with some budshots from previous harvests, because that seems to be the only thing that gets attention around here.

SpruceZeus said:

I don't want to use rockwool. My thoughts were that i would just be able to nestle roots gently among the hydroton pellets, is this going to be okay or will the plant need more support?

It takes about 30 minutes total for my table to fill and drain fully, any thoughts on how often i'm going to have to do this, 2? 3? 4 times a day? more?

How often am i going to want to flush my res?

Also do you guys have any reccomendations for a good, not too expensive EC\PPM meter?

Thanks in advance for all your help, i'm sure i will have more questions, but this is a good start. I'll post more pics or info if required.

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First of all i want to say very nice set up you got there +REP. You can use just the hydroton for the roots i would just make sure that it dose not shift at all because of roots breaking. you should give them some support for a few weeks until the roots get entangled with the hydroton. if you fill up your table 3 times a day you will be ok, if you make it four just to be safe that wont hurt either. I do a water change to my res about a week and a half to two weeks for a 15 gallon resavour. you should go to ebay to get your PPM meter at a super low cost. I just got a digital PH meter off there from hong kong for only $30 and it works great keep up the good work let me know if you have any more questions.

motoracer110 said:

First of all i want to say very nice set up you got there +REP. You can use just the hydroton for the roots i would just make sure that it dose not shift at all because of roots breaking. you should give them some support for a few weeks until the roots get entangled with the hydroton. if you fill up your table 3 times a day you will be ok, if you make it four just to be safe that wont hurt either. I do a water change to my res about a week and a half to two weeks for a 15 gallon resavour. you should go to ebay to get your PPM meter at a super low cost. I just got a digital PH meter off there from hong kong for only $30 and it works great keep up the good work let me know if you have any more questions.

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Thanks alot, i really appreciate the advice.

Anyone else got any input?

I wish i could give you input bro but as you know i'm kinda in your situation except I'm using 4x4 tables and just filling up the tables with as much rockwool as i can. I am however putting a 1000 watt light on each table which seems to be what you are doing. good quesitons though,i heard the clones should be atleast 6 inches with no veg. It's going to be interesting to see the differences in our grows. nice setup to, i'll get my pics of my stuff up later

Put a couple hours into the grow today, mostly just cleaning and prepping hydroton.


I learned that you have to wash it like mad to get all the extra clay dust off of it. Even after rinsing it in the sink for a solid 5 minutes it still left a nasty residue on my table.

alas so it goes, i expect to be cleaning alot.

Even if it is dirty and hurts to step on, i've gotta admit it makes for a pretty good photographic subject.

Heres the instructions from my cloner as a compairison.

and mine.

Not quite there, but soon enough. Out of 28 clones, only 3 have not really rooted to any extent.
I'd imagine another 5 or 6 days and these babies will be ready to go into the tables. (just one at first, i hope to have the other one up in 4 or 5 weeks, giving me a somewhat (every 4 or 5 weeks) perpetual harvest.

Heres a shot of my flowering space looking really messy.

I'm going to share the 1000W hps with my soil mamas until i have the other tray going, then i'll throw them under the 400 off to the right. With the setup of the room like this, if i ever want to get a couple more tables and another cooltubed 1000 they could go right next to each other inline.

Because my grow is pretty far from any drain in my basement, i have the need for an additional pump to empty my reservoirs, Damnit, i thought i was almost done spending money for a little while, I still have to pick up the TDS meter i ordered at my local hydro shop, the spending, it never ends.
I picked up the pumps for my tables for $25 bucks a piece, unfortunately it seems that was a one time deal and the next cheapest one is about $50, so it goes


Heres an Arjan's ultra haze #1 clone 3 or 4 weeks into flower, i smoked a joint of her mom in her face today, just for sadistic kicks.
Anyhow, i'll update when i've made more progress, as always advice, comments and insults are welcome.

Got the ladies on the table yesterday.


They seem to have taken to it without too much trouble.
I ordered a bluelab TDS meter through my local hydro shop and it should be in monday or tuesday, pretty pricey, but i'd rather buy it once and have it last for years (i hope)
Also did a bunch of cloning today, you can read all about it in my thread
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/168507-lets-talk-aerocloners.html

Until i get the TDS meter i'm erring on the side of caution and feeding very lightly, about 1\4 of the reccomended dose, i'm also using 35% h202 and was wondering if anyone had some advice on a good amount to add to my reservoir.

And cause i know how much you guys like budshots.

So its been 6 days, yesterday i filled the rez with fresh PHed H202ed water and today i've added a small amount of nutes 0.8-1.0 EC (400-500 ppm)

The last week hasnt really seen alot of growth and some of the weaker clones are doing some serious yellowing.

This one especially has crispified and i am doubtfull of its survival at this point.
Is this crispifying a result of a lack of food or am i missing the bigger picture here?
PH is 5.7, watering 3 times per lights on for 12 minutes.

Also am I going to have to take bigger clones in order to get a respectable yield (1/4 per plant, I'd like a half, but i'm not greedy )

quick question for you zues.... how big are those net pots and how much hydroton did you buy/is in the pic?

they are 5"? netpots and the hydroton is from a fellow grower who had to skip town. He also gave me his 1000w hps and some other miscelaneous stuff for $100. To fill up all the pots from a 2x4 table (21) used a little under half a bag.

Mate Just A Bit Ov Advice Try Filling The Rest Ov Your EBB Table With Hydroton As The Lights Gonna F..k With Ya Ph Fill It So You Cant See The Water As You Flood or use some card with ya holes cut out save you alot ov water changes and what ph you keep your res at just interested

Mate Also You Gotta Get A Bluelab Trunchen Will Do You A World Ov Favors lol Getem For About £60 uk www.growell.co.uk

DrGreen007 said:

Mate Just A Bit Ov Advice Try Filling The Rest Ov Your EBB Table With Hydroton As The Lights Gonna F..k With Ya Ph Fill It So You Cant See The Water As You Flood or use some card with ya holes cut out save you alot ov water changes and what ph you keep your res at just interested

Mate Also You Gotta Get A Bluelab Trunchen Will Do You A World Ov Favors lol Getem For About £60 uk www.growell.co.uk

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I PH to 5.7 but as you predict it does drift up, I didn't realize that light would effect PH, first i've heard of that. I'l definately do some research on that.

As for the bluelab, way ahead of ya. Just picked one up last week for $120 CND.

SpruceZeus said:

I PH to 5.7 but as you predict it does drift up, I didn't realize that light would effect PH, first i've heard of that. I'l definately do some research on that.

As for the bluelab, way ahead of ya. Just picked one up last week for $120 CND.

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Ye Man lol They A Life Safer EntThey lol
The Clay Surrounding The Pots Will Give The Roots Somethink To Crewl Around Also
I Use Tetra Aqua Safe And Easy Balnce I Use On My Fish But It Wrks Well Good For Keeping Water At Its Optimal P.H On The Back Ov The Bottle It Says Makes Water Safe For Aqutic And Plant Life So I Gave It A Try Couldnt Reccomend Highly Enough Mate.

Not sure if you are keeping up with this thread or not. I saw your journal. Good addition of the sheet over the tray.

One suggestion is looking into alternatives to H202. Apparently it kills not only bad bacteria, but beneficial bacteria. Plus I guess it can make some nutrients less effective. I picked up Dutch Master Zone, wasn't very expensive, and I you only need like 1 mL per gallon/ per rez change.

Otherwise good stuff.

Should I watch the basement grow journal for updates on the hydro?

jigfresh said:

Not sure if you are keeping up with this thread or not. I saw your journal. Good addition of the sheet over the tray.

One suggestion is looking into alternatives to H202. Apparently it kills not only bad bacteria, but beneficial bacteria. Plus I guess it can make some nutrients less effective. I picked up Dutch Master Zone, wasn't very expensive, and I you only need like 1 mL per gallon/ per rez change.

Otherwise good stuff.

Should I watch the basement grow journal for updates on the hydro?

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Yeah this thread has kinda petered off, I'm more likely to use the thread in my sig.
As for an H2O2 alternative, i'll definately be looking into that next time i'm at my hydro shop(which is pretty often), even though i haven't had any problems with the h202 (other than burning the shit out of my hands) i do have to use a fucking lot of it and it adds up pretty quick.
Thanks for the advice.