Hydroponic System Advice Please

Hey guys, I am fairly new to growing and would appreciate your advice on a question that I have.
I am planning on starting an indoor grow, hopefully as soon as possible, with the monster ebb and flo six site system with five gallon grow buckets.

Is it necessary for me to buy a separate system (like a flood and tray) for vegetation and then to transfer my plants to the ebb and flo for flowering or can I use my monster ebb and flo for the whole process?

I will be buying clones, not doing the germination/seedling process myself, so I wanted to JUST buy the monster ebb and flo and not have to purchase a whole separate veg system.

I am afraid that the 5 gal buckets will be too large for my clones what do you guys think?

I am thinking that regardless I can just go to the hydro store and find net pots that will fit the size of these big buckets and that will solve my problem??

please help as I would like to get started on this asap
all of your replies are appreciated thanx

Ebb and flood is great if you like pumping gallons and gallons of water into a tray to water your plants. Or you could just buy $12 worth of 1/4" drip tube and avoid all that hassle by top feeding.

Yes, 5 gallons is too big for little clones. Start in small pots close together under a small light. Then when they outgrow that put them in bigger pots under a bigger light. 5 Gallons is a big fucking pot for hydro. When I use pots that size I typically have 6 plants in a 4x4 table.

And wtf are you going to fill them with? The only thing I could think of to fill something that big for ebb and flood is perlite.

My suggestion. Use 3 to 5 gallon smart pots (fabric) and coco. Feed from the top once or twice a day. Don't over do it. Coco is very forgiving, hard to over water and will hold enough water for a day.

If you use coco, you can start in little pots and transplant.

Step 1 set up the DWC. With 5 gallon buckets and either 10" or 8" net pots for vegging. Step 2 once they get the desired height put them in to you monster EBB N FLO system...I have a similar set up its really that easy.. Do a DWC for vegging and ebb n flo for blooming. The net pots will work for both

Thanks for the quick reply!!

• And wtf are you going to fill them with? The only thing I could think of to fill something that big for ebb and flood is perlite.​
  
  
  
  

I was going to buy a shit load of hydroton clay pebbles to fill the buckets with and use as my grow medium. Another solution I was thinking about was just getting some net pots and placing the clone inside and surround it with a solid base of hydroton, then it essentially would be like a DWC where the water would fill up the bucket to the point of the net pot to supply the plant with nutes and the roots would just hang into the emptiness of the bucket. Would this not work???

I wanted to use the five gallon buckets because Im aiming for a bigger root ball which in turn would give me a larger yield? My closet is about 8-8 1/2 feet tall so I have some room to work with vertically. I plan on eventually expanding this unit and the reservoir is 55 gal which I could use for 12 plants.

Should I maybe go with the waterfarm 8 pack drip system instead then? these buckets are 2 or 3 gallons I believe. Would I be able to veg my plants in this system instead of having to buy something separate?

Thanks again for the feedback

La Azulrubi said:

Step 1 set up the DWC. With 5 gallon buckets and either 10" or 8" net pots for vegging. Step 2 once they get the desired height put them in to you monster EBB N FLO system...I have a similar set up its really that easy.. Do a DWC for vegging and ebb n flo for blooming. The net pots will work for both

Click to expand...

Wouldn't I be able to do that WITH my monster ebb like I suggested in the post above? how come I need to buy a whole new DWC system?

thanks for the reply!!

Don't you want a continuous cycle of plants from veg to bloom. Maybe I'm lacking on some detail but just from what I read you can't achieve that with just your current system. In order to have a continuous cycle of vegging to bloom you need to set up a vegging system for your plants. What I'm saying is use DWC for vegging get 6 5gallon buckets with net pots, and veg in that. Once they get mature enough take the net pot with the plant and put them in you ebb n flo system. If you solely use you monster ebb n flo for vegging you'll have no continuous circle of life. You have a couple of months lag time between crops. I sure hope I explained that

Your first thread stated that you thought about using a flood table to veg in. I'm saying 5 gallon buckets with net pot so the transplant will be as easy putting the net pot onto you 5gallon buckets in your monster ebb n flo system

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah I understand that I would need a separate growing environment for the vegetation process if I wanted to do a perpetual grow where I am harvesting every two months or so. I really don't have the space for two set ups in my current situation, and another factor is that I am not sure on how long I will be living in this place. Eventually, yes I will set up a perpetual grow where I have two separate rooms for veg and flowering along with cloning my own plants so I am producing a constant flow of buds

Currently, I just want to learn the basics of an indoor grow and keep a journal for nutes, lighting height, ventilation experimentation, humidity, etc. for future reference and I think it will be a fun project to do.

I did a lot more research last night and I agree with your DWC idea for veg. I actually think I might just build a whole DWC system myself and throw out the monster ebb idea. what do you think about this?

Will I still see good results in yield and quality with say eight separate 3.5 gal buckets hooked up to an air pump with a airstone in each bucket? all under a 1000 watt light

Ive seen in forums people say that this is the only way that they prefer to grow and that buying a whole system is a waste of money

thanks again for the advice