Kool I'll be watching, on another note. I might bug you about your hydro setup. Do you have a thread where you built it? I havnt checked your threads yet, lazy. LoL. I'm considering a water farm. Dirt was good for me to have at the time because of location and noise but now that Im in a better location it doesnt matter. I tried to look at the pix you put up and was wondering what are the little round things, bubblers? Any info to get me around wasting money on shit i dont need would be helpful. I cant afford a learning curve!! I'm primarily using Flora-Nova Nutes from Gen. Hydro. and dont want to have to purchase a whole new regiment of nutes. They have an outline for both so I should be ok on that other than learning the diff PH level's etc. I'm currently using a 2X2 tent and its just too small for my new 400w HPS. I got some cheap idea's to expand space wise but how to build a good hydro system is what I'm looking for now. I've seen a lot of DIY set-up's but I want it to be good from the start so I dont end up rebuilding some shit bec I didnt like certain things I didnt know from the start.
I'll help u a bit. What space u working with first if your ditching the 2x2? I'll give a few recommendations pros/cons...
Waterfarm: Good if you have 4 or less... They become tedious with large plants that drink 1-2 gals a day making your EC spike in the 2 gal rez. Only way I've seen these successfully working in a larger setup (8+) is converting them to top drip and adding a system rez they all drain back to. They also require a bit of cleaning atleast montly as the drip ring likes to clog. I suggest removing the tube that holds the water column and replacing it with 1" pvc pipe. Then you have some space to put a airline for a stone in the rez and you can pull the water column out for cleaning without the damn clips/bottom plastic nozzle getting stuck in the damn tube...sry that drove me crazy lol But they have awesome growth as you've seen from Scottyballs & Dayzt here. But you will be committed to tend to them DAILY sometimes twice a day. No vacations, be prepared lol
Ebb&flo/Tables: Large tables and rezs are nice if you have the space. A 4x4 table with a 70 gal rez is very very stable and you could leave it untouched for a week without too much PH or EC swing. Build a table out of 2x4s to save some dough. Only downside is they make a bit of noise while flooding and are rather large. I personally use a 4x4 for veg, and a 3x3 & 4x4 for flowering. They are nice to just move the pots over into flower. Also the setup is flexible, I can run 12 plants or 20 depending on pot size. Medium/Fast growth rate, not quite as impressive as a waterfarm tho TBH. Consider how you will drain the large rez though (70 gal is 550+lbs), I use a 396 pump and 1/2 hose to my bathtub.
DWC: Great if you have a large rez for each plant and the solution can be kept around 68-75 degrees at the most. Heat is a huge enemy in DWC or RDWC. Anyone dropping 2 grand on Undercurrents should be spending another 500 on that chiller because the difference it makes is day and night. Nutrients are usually kept about half strength in these setups as 100% root contact demands a more timid solution. Huge plants with massive fan leaves, a single plant can be grown in a 20 gal tub that fills an entire 4x4 scrog screen and yields over 1.5 lbs under 1000w. Plant count will depend on legality and length your willing to veg. Less time you have to veg the more plants you will need for same yield.
and of course there's Aero, but I wouldn't bother unless it's high pressure, and those setups are expensive. Low pressure aero is just a lame form of NFT imo. Ok hope that helps get your mind stirring.
