Does any Know what the easiest hydro set-up to make urself?

F

Feild of dreams

Well-Known Member
Like the title said does anybody know the easiest (and cheapest) hydro set-up to make ur self?

I've herd that DWC is the easiest route to chose when ur new with hydro.I was thinking of incorperating it in my next grow.But all the step-by-step instructions dont explian everything.

If anyone knows where to guide me with this.Or a good link for instruction it would be greatly apperciated.
 
papajock

papajock

Well-Known Member
I did my first grow in a DWC. It went through to harvest, but was a fight. Changing the res water and dealing with algae and keeping water temps low were my biggest problems. If you have a high ppm tap water, it will be hard to deal with PH and nutes. If you buy filtered water to cut with tap water, it will add costs above the high costs of nutes and PH down.

I found that growing with a passive hydro system is more cost effective than DWC, grows slower, but a lttle faster than a soil grow.
What I have is 6 plants in 3" rockwool cubes. The cubes are spaced out evenly in a 18"x12"x6" deep container that has 3" of rockwool slab in the bottom that was cut to 6"x6" and are separated by aluminum foil to keep the roots in thier own area. If you use rockwool, I highly recommend using the rockwool conditioner when presoaking. You can top water or bottom feed. After watering, you want 1" of water in the bottom of the container. When it soaks that all up, it is time to water again. The only nute mix you use is one gallon at a time. It lasts for around a week. It takes 2-3 days between waterings.

Now I have one plant that is in sphagnum moss (available at lowes hardware) that is doing very well, so I am thinking next grow I will use it instead of rockwool and wont have to deal with the PH of rockwool.
I would also recomend a little larger container for 6 plants, I just planned on at least 2-3 males, then after milking some pollen and taking them out the roots of the females will have plenty of room.
 
entropic

entropic

Well-Known Member
I'll second hempy as simplest and cheapest passive hydroponics method.
Materials:
Bucket, grow medium, something to punch a hole with.

Cost: From free to $5

DWC is probably slightly easier to set up than a flood and drain but much more involved than a hempy. If you've got some materials laying around it could be very cheap.

You need:
Bucket/Rubbermaid container with lid (You could probably find one of these for free easily, otherwise a 10gal rubbermaid is only $5 at walmart.
Aquarium air pump (The dual outlet aqua culture one is $8 at walmart although it is a bit too noisy if you plan on doing a stealth grow, you'll need a $20 one for that)
I use a 12" airstone with both outlets from the pump going to the stone, it works well. ($3.50)
Air-line ($2-3)
Net pots (you could make your own for free or buy a could for like $0.75 each)
2" rockwool cubes ($0.25 each)
Hydroton (1L - $3.50)

So probably around $25 for the set-up. You need to factor in around $8 for a decent way to test pH (I would not recommend the strips (litmus) they make it difficult to distinguish between levels), over $50 for a good PPM meter, probably at least $20 for nutes. You can get away without some of these things but they eliminate guesswork and help you focus on other things.
 
U

UserFriendly

New Member
:spew:
entropic said:
I'll second hempy as simplest and cheapest passive hydroponics method.
Materials:
Bucket, grow medium, something to punch a hole with.

Cost: From free to $5

DWC is probably slightly easier to set up than a flood and drain but much more involved than a hempy. If you've got some materials laying around it could be very cheap.

You need:
Bucket/Rubbermaid container with lid (You could probably find one of these for free easily, otherwise a 10gal rubbermaid is only $5 at walmart.
Aquarium air pump (The dual outlet aqua culture one is $8 at walmart although it is a bit too noisy if you plan on doing a stealth grow, you'll need a $20 one for that)
I use a 12" airstone with both outlets from the pump going to the stone, it works well. ($3.50)
Air-line ($2-3)
Net pots (you could make your own for free or buy a could for like $0.75 each)
2" rockwool cubes ($0.25 each)
Hydroton (1L - $3.50)

So probably around $25 for the set-up. You need to factor in around $8 for a decent way to test pH (I would not recommend the strips (litmus) they make it difficult to distinguish between levels), over $50 for a good PPM meter, probably at least $20 for nutes. You can get away without some of these things but they eliminate guesswork and help you focus on other things.
Click to expand...
All that is easier than coco in a pot?
 
Azgrow

Azgrow

Well-Known Member
I'll second hempy as simplest and cheapest passive hydroponics method.
Materials:
Bucket, grow medium, something to punch a hole with.
Click to expand...
this is...an i will say hempy as well for ease an inexpensiveness check the link in my sig...start on the first couple pages peace az
 
Azgrow

Azgrow

Well-Known Member
so where does the runoff go.....or are we to assume that everyone knows how much water to give coco without overwatering it...peace az
 
FilthyFletch

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
User be careful the hempy guys have some kind of hatred for those who dont just except the hempy bucket as is and ask questions lol Back to the original question check my posts I have posted several step by step how to hydro and aero systems.The easiest will be a simple flood table as you set it up then walk away check it once a day for about 3 minutes and nothing to do til the end of the week with a simple res change.
 
U

UserFriendly

New Member
FilthyFletch said:
User be careful the hempy guys have some kind of hatred for those who dont just except the hempy bucket as is and ask questions lol Back to the original question check my posts I have posted several step by step how to hydro and aero systems.The easiest will be a simple flood table as you set it up then walk away check it once a day for about 3 minutes and nothing to do til the end of the week with a simple res change.
Click to expand...
Damn it FF; we all know E&F is the shit. Poster wants it simple and cheap. Nothing can compare to taking coco out of its packaging and putting it into a friggin' pot.
 
F

Feild of dreams

Well-Known Member
Wow! guys thanx for all the feed back,its great :)

Well these are the three main things that stood out for me from ur replys (in order of interest)

1."hempy bucket" system
2.Plant growing in coco meduim
3.DWC

Really i would like to try the coco medium,but i dont have a place where i could buy it at the moment.

Another question,wuts is faster and has better results."hempy bucket" or DWC?

So the main idea of the hempy bucket is: a bucket completely filled with perlite.And a hole drilled a couple of inches from the bottom for run off.Thats it?Thats the whole set-up?If so,wow thats easy.

So if the bottom of the bucket kinda acts like a res. wont that cuz root rot cuz the water stagnet?Do have to change the water at the bottom regularly?Or does watering it and having it flow out the over flow kinda acts like a water change?

So wut would be the advantage of the DWC?The fact that is airated?

N e ways guys thanx alot again.I read all ur posts word for word and definatly learned alot today :)

So lemme know if my thougths are rite about this system.And answering any of the question i had would be greatly apperciated.
 
Azgrow

Azgrow

Well-Known Member
yep you have the
hempy​
idea nailed on the head..with the hole an
per lite​
....as for root rot i have been doing
hempy​
for a couple years an have yet to rot an roots...
there's​
some root pics in my
hempy​
thread....you
dont​
need to overflow as the water is used up daily to bi daily so you will continue to add fresh water to the "
resi​
"....an FF i hope your not jumbling me into that
category​
cause
every time​
i have seen you ask a question i have
answered​
...the problem i see is your
condescending​
attitude you use when asking your questions in regards to
hempy​
....i have gone so far as to implement a flood table
hempy​
grow...with using grow bags
per-lite​
an flood tables with no holes..an keeping a 2in level of water in the tray.....this eliminates the need for individual plant
watering's​
....but still no
ph​
ppm or
tds​
meters are used....peace
az​
 
ditchcheck

ditchcheck

Active Member
try a NFT table it will cost about 120$ and your can grow 50-60 on it. I use 5 gutters you buy at lowes the ones that are a even u shape. buy the end caps and seal up one end leaving the other open for runoff. get the largest rubber maid container you can find, 1 that will fit under your table and catch the runoff. buy a water pump and some plastic hose that will fit on the water pump. run the hose to the end of the table that has been capped. buy a length of PVC and cut it to fit across the back of the table. end cap it and put an L shape on the other end. make sure the plastic hose will fit inside the l shape piece very snug. you will need to drill holes in the PVC so the nutrient solution can drain into the gutters. i like to use 3" rockwool cubes and before you put the plants in the system cover each guttr with thick black plastic so no light gets to the roots. before you put the black plastic on run the system and check for leaks etc...you will need to put some notches in the gutters so the PVC piece will stay in place. it is a very easy system to run always check ph and adjust accordingly and you will need to fasten a netting up about 15" because the plants will be very heavy. on average from putting a clone in thats about 4"-5" tall and go straight to flowering i average 1.5 oz a plant. this also depends on the strain your growing. good luck hope this helps some. if you have any questions just ask.
 
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Hempy evangelists swear that they do not have root problems in them related to keeping the bottoms of the media saturated at all times- but that's what Hempys do.

A wick system is not much more complex than a Hempy and absolutely assures that the media or soil is never saturated. Wicks have no pumps, valves or anything, just a bucket, a pot of media or soil and some bits of nylon rope.

This page at simplyhydro covers many different hydroponic systems. Lots of choices there. The depicted wick diagram has an air pump. It'll work without it but will work better with one.
 
Azgrow

Azgrow

Well-Known Member
heres some root ball pics of a hempy root ball...everyone i have done looks like this....please tell me where the problems are....peace az

 
White Widow Woman

White Widow Woman

Well-Known Member
FilthyFletch said:
User be careful the hempy guys have some kind of hatred for those who dont just except the hempy bucket as is and ask questions lol Back to the original question check my posts I have posted several step by step how to hydro and aero systems.The easiest will be a simple flood table as you set it up then walk away check it once a day for about 3 minutes and nothing to do til the end of the week with a simple res change.
Click to expand...

Hey FilthyFletch - I understand why you feel this way, I mean in the thread https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/64974-seedling-hempy-buckets-drooping-4.html we did seem to gang up on you and for that I am sorry. I also even said so in that thread...


FilthyFletch said:
Whats the benfit of using these hempy buckets aka flood bcukets over simple flood and drain tables and pots with rockwool and hydroton seems like alot more work with some issues?
Click to expand...

FilthyFletch said:
Glad you like the setup Big but even you said you have no clue for a ebb and flood table or aero setup as you have not even tried one.I guess if your not worried about knowing what exactly your plants are doing, how you could increase thier yield and just take whatever grows then not watching your ph or even checking your ppm will work for anything. i persoanlly like to know what each starin can be maxed to and then adjust the nutrients to thier max potential for my money.Again not bashing this setup as it seems to work well for those using it.But your are way off on hydro big and it shows with your comments so yeah this way is much better for you as you dont have the knowledge to do a simple flood table as those who fight ph issues apparently arent expirenced yet as my water is ph 7 from the tap and once I add my nutes which have ph buffers in them and add a bit of ph down I adjust my ph maybe once in a week twice in the middle of flower times..You mention timers as being time consuming or work I guess if 1 minute to set your digital timer up is work for 8-8 weeks of growing your right very hard work lol Yes air stones those are time consuming you have to plug it in and your done so thats 30 seconds if you do it reaaalll slow.I just wanted to see the benfits of this type of setup and from what your telling me you have to do its just more work to me to have to water every day or 2.I like to setup and walk away.Oh and vents yeah all vents and co2 are timed too so never have to touch those except once a month or 2 change a co2 tank..Anyways glad its working for you guys but some you hempy guys should smoke a nice bowl relaxe and try to be cordial to people who wanted to learn about your used method instead of being so defensive in answering questions.Good grows to ya
Click to expand...

White Widow Woman said:
Well, to throw my 2 cents in - I grew ebb&flo for years and gave DWC a try this past grow. Compared to Hempy the other methods (suck!) just don't even come close!!! I am Hempy for life or until they come up with something that doesn't require me to do anything - besides sit and watch my crop grow!!!

And that's not bound to happen!!! I'm just saying...

Widow
Click to expand...

White Widow Woman said:
Didn't want to seem hostile, it's just that I've used a few systems; including soil. I stuck with ebb&flo/flood&drain tables for quite a while because I learned the system and it was working great for me, but I wanted to try something that would give me a larger yield.

So I tried DWC and found that it required just a little too much maintenance. Now I'm someone that loves spending time in the growroom - talking to my plants (which they love cause of the CO2 that we humans put off), playing music for them, re-arranging them and a host of other tasks... But the constant tooling around with PH and such was maddening.

Moving to Hempy has solved all these issues for me. Sure I know it's not for everyone, nothing is. And I thought about automating the watering system, but when I water them - it's a perfect opportunity for me to talk to my girls and just enjoy being around them. So I've decide not to automate and just stick with the original Hempy program.

Guess I might be one of those types that love the gardening part as much as the toking part of cultivating weed. And since I am also a lazy stoner type... lol (not suggesting that any of you are), this system works awesome for me.


:peace:
Widow
Click to expand...
I again apologize for being somewhat of a hothead... I just really love this system!

Al B. Fuct said:
Hempy evangelists swear that they do not have root problems in them related to keeping the bottoms of the media saturated at all times- but that's what Hempys do.

A wick system is not much more complex than a Hempy and absolutely assures that the media or soil is never saturated. Wicks have no pumps, valves or anything, just a bucket, a pot of media or soil and some bits of nylon rope.

This page at simplyhydro covers many different hydroponic systems. Lots of choices there. The depicted wick diagram has an air pump. It'll work without it but will work better with one.
Click to expand...
Hey Al B. Fuct, thanks for the club name! - The Hempy Evangelists... lol

To each, his/her own system! And we can all come up with great reasons for choosing the system that we are currently using... but

Remember the title of this thread... https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/67376-does-any-know-what-easiest.html

This new to hydro grower asked about the "easiest hydro set-up to make urself?"

And well, hands down that would be hempy!

:peace:
Widow
 
B

bigwheel

Well-Known Member
Okay..think your the fella I been looking for:) Now there aint no need to water them pots is there? You just raise the water level to barely touch em when they babies..then you lower the level in the res to keep the water in the general area of where you want it on the roots? Now is this hot or cold? Looks likes this technique put the mister boys out of bizness? I dont understand how misting could help a DWC. I mean the roots is already in the water..why mist em? About all you could mist is the middle part. Now could see the difference in the misting crowd who uses the double stacked Rubber Maids and actually allow the roots to drain and to dry out a bit afore resquirting. Think I could build one of them things your talking about purty easy. Thanks.

Big Wheel


entropic said:
I'll second hempy as simplest and cheapest passive hydroponics method.
Materials:
Bucket, grow medium, something to punch a hole with.

Cost: From free to $5

DWC is probably slightly easier to set up than a flood and drain but much more involved than a hempy. If you've got some materials laying around it could be very cheap.

You need:
Bucket/Rubbermaid container with lid (You could probably find one of these for free easily, otherwise a 10gal rubbermaid is only $5 at walmart.
Aquarium air pump (The dual outlet aqua culture one is $8 at walmart although it is a bit too noisy if you plan on doing a stealth grow, you'll need a $20 one for that)
I use a 12" airstone with both outlets from the pump going to the stone, it works well. ($3.50)
Air-line ($2-3)
Net pots (you could make your own for free or buy a could for like $0.75 each)
2" rockwool cubes ($0.25 each)
Hydroton (1L - $3.50)

So probably around $25 for the set-up. You need to factor in around $8 for a decent way to test pH (I would not recommend the strips (litmus) they make it difficult to distinguish between levels), over $50 for a good PPM meter, probably at least $20 for nutes. You can get away without some of these things but they eliminate guesswork and help you focus on other things.
Click to expand...
 
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