Totally new, thinking about a DWC setup?

LOL okay...my idea of a cold winter varies somewhat to yours......I consider -40 as ridiculously cold.....we would play outdoor ice hockey in -20F

I reckon you ain't from the great white north

Oh well all the better! Yeah, I'm California native, so I say no thanks to THAT cold, but yeah. The cold here will still be something to consider. This actually leads me to a question I've posted elsewhere but haven't gotten a great answer on. I was thinking about 1000 watt hps both to promote growth and for heating help, but I'm told that may be a bit overkill for six plants (my target start). People elsewhere are steering me toward 600w. Sound right?

Also, trying to figure out whether doing a whole first grow under dual-spectrum is ok, or if I should start off with separate sections. Once we've got some money to throw back in I can always build up my setup in the future, so really just looking for what's best to start. SO MANY different opinions out there.

Indoor Sun King said:

LOL okay...my idea of a cold winter varies somewhat to yours......I consider -40 as ridiculously cold.....we would play outdoor ice hockey in -20F

I reckon you ain't from the great white north

Click to expand...

So for multiple reasons (the main one being that my local grow shop guy's personal grow experience is strongly based in DWC, thus giving me a coach I can stop into at any time with specific questions), I'm going ahead and going DWC (I know, I know...). From what I hear. AK48 is a pretty resilient strain too, so here's hoping. Here's my setup so far.

1000w dual-spectrum light (wanted to be able to use one light for entire grow that I can integrate into a larger setup once I separate rooms for veg and flower).
Ballast
One larger fan for outtake, one smaller for intake.
Reflector hood
Ventilation to run Intake->Lamp Hood->Outtake (air-cooled til things start to cool down around here)
7 5 Gal buckets (6 for grow, one for holding a plant while I change water/nutes)
Buckets with 6-inch basket lids
1 big ol bag of hydroton
3 2-out air pumps
Air stones
ph control kit (up, down, and test)
GH's Flora series nutes

Outside of what I've got, the only other things I can think of I'm gonna want are:
Timers for lamp, possibly to turn off fans with lights when it gets colder, and maybe a third for a heater if needed. My guy in town thinks with a properly insulated shed, that the lamp's on cycle might provide enough heat to last the off cycle, time will tell.
Reflective material for walls (also going to hang a divider to make my room smaller for this first grow, instead of losing light... 6 plants, a 10x10 room...)
Rope or chain for hanging divider and lamp.
Fiter for outtake once flowering starts

Am I missing anything here?

good luck with your DWC

Thanks for the luck, and all the advice.

I've had great success with dwc you will be happy with it. I yielded 5.5 Oz off my first ever plant in dwc RP og kush last month. I didn't have as good of success with hempy. Just be sure to keep that water cool in dwc. Having the bucket on cemet or hardwood will help a lot.

Fazer1rlg said:

Just be sure to keep that water cool in dwc. Having the bucket on cemet or hardwood will help a lot.

Click to expand...

Awesome to hear. Thanks for the tip. It'll be on hard wood... I'll have some ice bottles on hand just in case. Thanks. I've seen the recommendations. What did you try to keep your water at?

You guys have been very helpful so far, so I'll ask here what I also asked in the room setup forum...
I've got two fans, and that's all I've got and will be able to afford til I can throw more cash at my room.
The way it was explained to me was "simple, you throw your smaller fan near the floor pulling air into vent leading to lamp, then your larger exhaust fan is hooked to reflector pulling air out of lamp and vent out of room. Negative pressure, cools lights, etc"

but now as I'm mentally mapping out the (imagined, since I'm inexperienced) science of the room, I'm wondering isn't that not enough? Especially with a glass sealed reflector, that can't possibly be pumping the air needed for the room itself can it? I'm planning on having some oscillating fans to move wind around, but do I need separate exhaust/intake (or maybe just exhaust for passive intake) for the room ITSELF?

I've also thought maybe of having the intake fan just pumping air into the room, and having one side of the lamp open so that the exhaust fan hooked to the lamp pulls the room air through and out of the room?

As always, ANY AND ALL INSIGHT APPRECIATED.

Got this figured out, thanks.