Hydro or Aero

alright so im redesigning my grow cabinet. I had this old shower bottom sitting around and figured id put it to use, right now i just have my cloner sitting it in. but i want to try and make it either a aero or hydro set up. the biggest problem is how shallow it is, its only about 3" deep. but it is 4'6L X 2'4W. So i was thinking maybe the roots being able to spread out far would make up for not being able to go down deep. What do you guys think, is it worth trying to use or is it just too shallow? I was planning on hooking the drain up to a res and having it recirculate that way.

I dont really know much about jack shit yet, I'm just on my first aero grow with a shit town of knowledge wedged into my head but my guess would be that is way to shallow...i havnt flowered yet, but in veg alone after like 3 weeks id imagine those roots would be pretty crowded!..also keeping in mind that your drain is right in the middle...youd have to have a good root blocking mechanism to stop it from getting clogged up!..i dig that idea though, pretty smooth, just very shallow...what would you be using as a cover?...i mean looking at it again....maaayyybbeee...but fuck dude, idk...3 inches isn't shit..have you ran hydro or aero before?...i run ab aero set up right now, the ghe rain forest 36 basket and those roots get fucking thick bro..im talkin quick too...im laughing because I'm not qhite sure how I'm goi,g to be able to gently pull my plants out to transfer for them to my larger Dutch pot aero system...i wasted a shit ton of cash on my first real grow system only because i wanted to know hke to do it right before i got to exlieriementing myself...and i would say it was worth it, cause the shit j thought before is out the window!...aero grows like nothing I've seen before...id say give it a try if you don't have anything better to use/and or nothing to waste...i run two 600 aircooled for my mainly flowering tent and a 400 cooltube for my mother/clone room...on top of a 110w blue spectrum tube set up i got for a aeroponic cloner/bubbler...almost overkill..but not really...im running purely for fun, its a hobbie, and from what ibsee already, i have no doubt in my mind that my first harvest will overlap all of my set up costs and then some...however if you neeeeed this shit...tey with like 4 plants...takr it from there...just what i think..

sorry, I'm drinking while reworking my set up and happened to see your post and felt like chiming in!..

yea those are the same lines i was thinking along. My original idea was to fill it with perlite and have a recirculating system like Flowamasta had with his grow, he was using a 13g tub or so for his. But if course even with that i was thinking it would probably be too shallow. i was trying to think of some way to build the sides up a bit, maybe put some 2x4s around it bring it up another 4 inches, but id have to find some kind of water proof sheeting to put up over the 2x4s. Im thinking i may give it a try with just 4 or so plants like you said to experiment, see how it works out. if nothing else i could always just set buckets up right inside it. At least then i wouldnt have to worry to much about spilling water and stuff because it would be in the tub rather then all over a table or what not.

no dont apologize, all chiming in is welcome haha

How much headroom do you have there?...another thought you could get one lr two Rubbermaid style tubs, the shallow ones.. run sprayers in them and you could run a bunch foe a sog OR You could only run two or so as you said and just grow them thick and wide and fuxking loooowwwww...lmao...but that way you could still run it as a recirculating system as you would like, you could do aero or hydro, not totaly sure how hydro runs, but aero totally easier I think..lol..a recirculating system is great in imho...howevwr, you need to u,derstand the chemistry of water and all that shit...msybe you do already, idk...but that will make shit sooo much easier for you..ylur ph fluctuates..your ppms...the temp can be a somewhat hastle, maybe...water levels to keep an eye on...im used to running different type of fishtsnk setups, so in familiar with that stuff already, but once you understand kt, its simple as cake...hell you can go with out completely changing your resevior in a harvest if not more once you grasp how to add back the right amount of chemical to plain water, that shit is soo cool to me..and I live in Europe..watwr is fuckin expeenssiivveee!

roadtripper said:

How much headroom do you have there?...another thought you could get one lr two Rubbermaid style tubs, the shallow ones.. run sprayers in them and you could run a bunch foe a sog OR You could only run two or so as you said and just grow them thick and wide and fuxking loooowwwww...lmao...but that way you could still run it as a recirculating system as you would like, you could do aero or hydro, not totaly sure how hydro runs, but aero totally easier I think..lol..a recirculating system is great in imho...howevwr, you need to u,derstand the chemistry of water and all that shit...msybe you do already, idk...but that will make shit sooo much easier for you..ylur ph fluctuates..your ppms...the temp can be a somewhat hastle, maybe...water levels to keep an eye on...im used to running different type of fishtsnk setups, so in familiar with that stuff already, but once you understand kt, its simple as cake...hell you can go with out completely changing your resevior in a harvest if not more once you grasp how to add back the right amount of chemical to plain water, that shit is soo cool to me..and I live in Europe..watwr is fuckin expeenssiivveee!

Click to expand...

Or get bigger rubbermaids, cut a drain hole in the bottom, so it drains into the shower tray, that way ou have the height and the spray won't go all over.

Wouldn't that actually reduce his height even more?...cause you WILL need to cover those roots...

hmmm, how about if i flip the containers upside down and get one that gos from side to side perfectly, and get as many as it takes to go side to side also so its perfectly covers the while thing, then you cut holes in the bottom of the upside down rubbermaids and that way it has all the container then the tub as kind of a spread out zone

oh yea and i have about 5ft high to work with

something like this, but imagine like 3 side by side by side perfectly filling the space, and probably a bit shorter cause those ones are kinda tall

perfect.. thats what i meant

Word to that!

Or....lol just have a drip system with pots in the tub base draining back to res under it. Again the res being a tote with the tub base on top. Good luck! One good (or bad lol) thing about RIU is you typically get 50 different ideals lol. And good luck not draining it for the whole run. I drain my system every 7-10 days depending and i typically don't add back because i don't know shit and found it just got all fucked up trying to add back and keep things stable.

You guys know more than I do I'm sure, but how do any of you feel,about the Lucas formula along with the add back formula...the base formula is simple if,you want that, but using the addback formula it allows you to control what your ppm stay at using two diferent solutions, you gh flora micro and bloom...i think its pretty cool andeasily adapable especially for someone getting their,feet wet in a new system and orbtrying to understand nutes a little better than just dumping them every time..thats easy, but where's the fun in that?..lol

I've been reading lots from a excellent grower/riu legend 'uncle Ben'. Now I'm not bashing the Lucas formula, but from what I've read, the users claim that yellowing leaves in the flowering stages is normal in a plants life cycle, mostly due to the low nitrogen formula. However I'm going to agree with uncle Ben that green plant growth start to finish is extremely important to the whole grow. Maybe it's possible to semi modify the formula or add nitrogen high frets on first sight of yellowing.

just a thought

Good though indeed, I'm,flowering next week and will be trying different things throughout I think...

If you are using the lucas formula you are missing out big time on quality and production.
No you dont want your plants green from go to whoa.
How often do you guys see in nature a tree a plant or anything else that is green in the fall and winter when harvest is ready?NONE..EXACTLY .
I cant believe some of the stupid shit i hear on here..especially coming from the so called experts.
If you try and run plants green and give them to much N all the way through the grow you are going to have some really crappy crappy tasting bud.
Now for the grow.If you can use a ebb and grow system and remove the tank to the outside of the box and not have the res placed under the plants you could gain a couple more feet in head space.Not knowing the entire set up makes everything im saying kind of a guess. So these are just ideas for you to use or not.
Most indica strains can be kept very short.So can auto flowers.
The sooner you get them from clone to bud the shorter they will be.Allot of aero growers will only veg for a month then flip the nutes and light to 12/12
They get their production through lots of smaller plants not through one large plant.Growing like tons of single cola lolly pops.If you get the right strain will produce like a mofo.
Al B Fuct has a good sticky with allot if ideas..lots of reading though.
Good luck .