Suggestions for My Flood Table. New to Hydro

Alright... I've done my homework, bought the equipment and am not sure how I want to proceed from here. I'd like to do a SOG garden with clones under a 400w HPS, but I'm open to other ideas. The planter is 6" deep by 2 ft across and I have a 50l bag of hydroton.

I'll be using GH flora series and cal-max from a 20 gal res into a 10 gallon flood with a 425 gph pump. And, unless I get a better idea here, I'll be just filling the tub with my big ass bag of hydroton and planting the clones right in that. (I'd just like to avoid adding a monster bag of hydroton to my shopping list every 2 months). No lucas formula, I'll be changing my res every 2 weeks.

So, are there anybody out there willing to throw some suggestions, advice, or criticism my way? I'm just afraid I'm overlooking some critical flaw here.

Here's a pic of my equipment. (I apologize for slow responses, family/job)

actually it looks like you got your first setup pretty much handled. make sure you keep a fan or 2 going. your hydrotron can be washed. i wouldnt use it more than a couple of cycles but thats my opinion. since your doing cuttings just start them in rockwool cubes.

have you plumbed the reservoir to your grow tub and put in the drain back into your reservoir?
Got an air pump and air stone for the reservoir?
What kind of water is your source water? know the pH and PPMs of that? (this dictates your calcium needs)
got a little oscillating fan for the room?
6" deep is not bad.. you can flood up about 4 inches maybe without making the hydroton all float!! not cool to do that.
Do you know not to use full strength pH up or pH down? You have to dilute in water b4 adding to nutes.
Do you have a pH meter?
How much height do these plants get to enjoy in your space?

that is a good start...

I'm new to it also, and I have a feeling awesome results are a lot easier with hydro than soil.

Hey thanks for replying!! Let me answer your questions...

tommyo3000 said:

have you plumbed the reservoir to your grow tub and put in the drain back into your reservoir?
Got an air pump and air stone for the reservoir?

Click to expand...

Yes, I built an ebb and flow out of storage totes but it didn't feel right to me, so I've been on the lookout for the right flood table. I have airstones, several water and air pumps, drain fittings, tubing, PH/EC meter, every bottle of GH product sold at my hydro shop... I've just never used it. Then I came across this tub in lowes garden center for $11 and bought it (could use it for a million things anyway, lol)

tommyo3000 said:

What kind of water is your source water? know the pH and PPMs of that? (this dictates your calcium needs)

Click to expand...

I will be using r/o water, ATM I'm using distilled for my soil grows. Once I'm happy with my build, I will purchase a water system.

tommyo3000 said:

got a little oscillating fan for the room?
6" deep is not bad.. you can flood up about 4 inches maybe without making the hydroton all float!! not cool to do that.
Do you know not to use full strength pH up or pH down? You have to dilute in water b4 adding to nutes.
Do you have a pH meter?
How much height do these plants get to enjoy in your space?

that is a good start...

Click to expand...

^this is the kind of advice I was hoping to get, did not know I had to dilute my up/down before adding to nutrient solution. My closet is 73" from floor to ceiling and I've got more fans than I can use ATM.

So what do you think of a 12/12 SOG from clone for this setup? If they're too close together, will that cause problems? What should I be careful of?

Thank you again for responding!!!

So what do you think of a 12/12 SOG from clone for this setup? If they're too close together, will that cause problems? What should I be careful of?
--
I think that sounds great. Hopefully you have a good light and are able to cool it in there?
You can coax them towards the edges of the space by bending their branches and training them to bush out..

You may want to veg a little, but then again, you may not.

Do you have an iphone? if so, GH has a nutrient calculator app.. it rules my world.
If not, they have the same thing on their website. It tells you what to do for which week, etc.

be careful of fucking with pH a lot.. GH has buffers built in. Hydro is FINE with low pH (5 and up).. If you mix up nutes and they are 5.3 or so, I would just leave it.. Let it work istelf out and drift up naturally if it wants.. Then at the top of the range (6.3) you can take it back down to 5.5... if that makes sense.

tommy

hornedfrog2000 said:

I'm new to it also, and I have a feeling awesome results are a lot easier with hydro than soil.

Click to expand...

Those are my thoughts exactly, I feel that I want to progress to a more involved grow. Time will tell if this is a wise move for me, lol

tommyo3000 said:

So what do you think of a 12/12 SOG from clone for this setup? If they're too close together, will that cause problems? What should I be careful of?
--
I think that sounds great. Hopefully you have a good light and are able to cool it in there?
You can coax them towards the edges of the space by bending their branches and training them to bush out..

You may want to veg a little, but then again, you may not.

Do you have an iphone? if so, GH has a nutrient calculator app.. it rules my world.
If not, they have the same thing on their website. It tells you what to do for which week, etc.

be careful of fucking with pH a lot.. GH has buffers built in. Hydro is FINE with low pH (5 and up).. If you mix up nutes and they are 5.3 or so, I would just leave it.. Let it work istelf out and drift up naturally if it wants.. Then at the top of the range (6.3) you can take it back down to 5.5... if that makes sense.

tommy

Click to expand...

OK, yes, excellent!!!!! I've got a 400w HPS and an a/c on my closet, sorry I didn't mention that, pics in my sig. Didn't know that about GH nutes either but I understand what you're saying. Good advice!!! I'll probably be on top of my PH twice a day till I feel comfortable with it.

How about EC conversions? Which one is the most common for MJ? I'm using a Hanna. It's got 2 different TDS conversions, but I'd rather just use my EC reading and convert myself for ppm's

Xcon said:

OK, yes, excellent!!!!! I've got a 400w HPS and an a/c on my closet, sorry I didn't mention that, pics in my sig. Didn't know that about GH nutes either but I understand what you're saying. Good advice!!! I'll probably be on top of my PH twice a day till I feel comfortable with it.

How about EC conversions? Which one is the most common for MJ? I'm using a Hanna. It's got 2 different TDS conversions, but I'd rather just use my EC reading and convert myself for ppm's

Click to expand...

I would just use the recipes from GH. They tell you what each mix is supposed to be EC wise... You can use your meter to do tests on how much the plants are drinking up and stuff like that later.