First Grow (Hydro)

So I am going to make a probably 5x5 grow room out of some metal shelving materials kind of like a cave. That way I can cut out ventilation slots for a carbon filter and put a fan. That way I can hang my light easily and line it with mylar with a sheet of it that can roll down over the opening to act as a light blocker when in the 12/12.

I am going to use a Drip Irrigation with the drips coming out of rubber tubing in a circle around the base of the stem. And have it drain into a 5ish gallon reservoir underneath my hopefully 9 plants.

What would be a good watering schedule?
I have heard:
-30 minutes at 30GPH every 8 hours
-30 minutes at 30GPH every 6 hours

Also would a NPK 7/4/3 or NPK 30/15/15 be better nutes for my plants that I will be growing from seeds.

Also, what is the best method for triggering the drip? I am thinking a light timer to control the water pump and an air pump (4" stone) going continuously.

Cheers for any info
MWS

what size light are you using? what medium also rockwool; hydroton? the watering schedule depends on what medium, and is this drip going to flow back into a single feeding resevoir or nine seperate 5 gallon res's

Lighting:
-400w Ballast HPS and MH, might go to 600w if I get a good number of fems

Medium
-Rockwool to germinate
-Transplant with rockwool intact to a hydroton main pot

And the drip is going to flow into a single 5-10 gallon reservoir.

I plan on buying a 9 way tubing splitter

to much water. follow someyhing for rockwool. you can drowned them fast in rockwool

what size of rockwool? to be honest 15 minute watering, once when lights come on the roughly four hours before they go off is more then enough for rockwool, it keeps water like jews keep change with that light make sure you have the proper circulation to keep temps down, as the higher the temp more evaporation therefor you will need to water more often, with rockwool you want to be safe and try not to OVERWATER underwatering usually isnt an issue, how many inch rockwool will you be using im guessing 4"? 6" would be ideal but its your decision either will work

sagensour said:

to much water. follow someyhing for rockwool. you can drowned them fast in rockwool

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So maybe every 3 hours for 15 minutes?
Or do you mean my pump is too much? I have the larger pump because 1 pump will be dripping 9 plants

no twice a light cycle
every three hours is way to much for rockwool

BrandonT said:

what size of rockwool? to be honest 15 minute watering, once when lights come on the roughly four hours before they go off is more then enough for rockwool, it keeps water like jews keep change with that light make sure you have the proper circulation to keep temps down, as the higher the temp more evaporation therefor you will need to water more often, with rockwool you want to be safe and try not to OVERWATER underwatering usually isnt an issue, how many inch rockwool will you be using im guessing 4"? 6" would be ideal but its your decision either will work

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Probably 4" cubes of rockwool then transplant it into a probably 8-12" diameter permanent pot which is where I will hook up the drip system

you can test it tho, best way to do it is to water a rockwool cube without a plant in your system with everything going, then see how long it takes for it to get "damp" not dry you want it to be wet at all times, you will be surprised at how long this takes but if somehow it doesnt take that long which i doubt you know to make the watering time more often

no pumps fine im sure, just the rockwool holds lots of water.

Cheers.
Im going to be running a 24/0 cycle until i switch to 12/12, so maybe 5 minutes every 4 hours? (I will run some tests when I get my setup and time the drain)

Would I be better off using only Hydroton or only Rockwool as a medium or is mixing the two okay?

yea the pump will be fine, whats good about rockwool is if your pump fails from nute buildup at any time, your plants wont die in three hours, you will have atleast a day to get them watered

hydroton is good if you dont want to worry about ph and PPM's as much, but if you get the proper meters i prefer rockwool, using both works just as well, as rockwool cubes are square and net pots are round you can fill the remaining space with hydroton, just make sure you thoroughly wash them before using them they will clog up your system

i would even water less than that, the time of watering isnt realy the issue, think about this you will have a completely soaked rockwool cube in probably 2 minutes of your watering, so 5 minutes multiple times is almost the same as 15 minutes multiple times the only difference is for the 15 minutes your replacing all the old water with new water, thats the point of it i would do 15 minutes twice per light cycle, if it gets any dry go to three

I dont mind worrying about the pH and PPM have a pH/EC/TDS meter on order and will keep below 800ppm when nuting.

Which NPK ratio'd nutes would be best? I plan on building up till 100% of the recommended is reached starting after 2 weeks into seedling

depends on the nutes honestly some are more concentrated, im using the GH series
post some questions ill get back to you i have to sleep im passing out, and i will update it tommorow

no doubt dude. I would water like 30 seconds every day once a day at first with just speghetti lines. 3 minutes for 2 times a day with drippers. Thats as a default. Lift up the rockwool everyfem hours to check then water only if needed. Get the idea? better to water less than to water to much.

sagensour said:

no doubt dude. I would water like 30 seconds every day once a day at first with just speghetti lines. 3 minutes for 2 times a day with drippers. Thats as a default. Lift up the rockwool everyfem hours to check then water only if needed. Get the idea? better to water less than to water to much.

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True there, water less than more.

Quick question with my setup, should I have deep main pots or shallow ones to hold the rockwool? I mean im guessing I want some water to stay at the base of the pot for a little while until it has time to drain back into the reservoir. That way if the rockwool does dry up it can wick

MrWeedSocks said:

True there, water less than more.

Quick question with my setup, should I have deep main pots or shallow ones to hold the rockwool? I mean im guessing I want some water to stay at the base of the pot for a little while until it has time to drain back into the reservoir. That way if the rockwool does dry up it can wick

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rockwool will completely wick up all this water, until its soaked i would use deep ones, rockwool will not dry up this will take days, it maintains water like no other medium