Check out my hydro innovation! (pics)

Soil grower here taking that step up to hydroponics. Based on a few different systems i've seen, i came up with this. Please note, this is NOT my first grow.. this is my first HYDRO grow, hence only 2 buckets. Depending on who you are i kindly welcome ALL critisisim and shit talking and pointing out everything im doing wrong, OR compliments on the idea and suggestions from you guys on how to improve or upgrade it. ALL feedback gets rep!

I am using-
*Medium- washed cocoa shells
*nutrients- Fox Farm Hydroponic
*H20- tap water left out 24 hrs.
*Fish tank water pump
*air pump
I know im going to need more but the garden shop is 5 minutes away from my house. I dont have too much money to spend on this. I hope this works out because i am planning on building 5 more of theese, except each w/ 5 buckets, and completley make the switch to hydro. this is a photobucket slideshow and the pics are clear, please enjoy!!

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e303/sensi42069/?action=view&current=22c75f05.pbw

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Very Inovative, very unique. Looks like it is working good for you.

I do not understand or see any roots growing into the tank from the cups, are they "net cups"? or are the roots just staying in the cups?

nice recirculating d.w.c.

nice system, encompassing different methods, i like that you have the plant ratio right for the tub, those stealth hydro thingy's with 6 pots in them are only suitable for small clones, yours could grow a couple of nice plants, be interesting to see how it turns out for you

Roseman said:

Very Inovative, very unique. Looks like it is working good for you.

I do not understand or see any roots growing into the tank from the cups, are they "net cups"? or are the roots just staying in the cups?

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"Roseman"- thank you! compliments on my FIRST setup ever mean a lot, cant wait to get deeper into it. the roots are not comming thru yet, i just transplanted them from soil last night. im waiting! the cups are just the throw away buckets you get from the garden store with more holes cut in the bottoms.

"Chitownsmoking"- thanks a lot! bigup's chicago!!!

"Easygrinder"- ya know, i was kinda thinking the same thing. maby ill go with 3 buckets per tub with the next ones i build. 6 does seem to be a bit much.

thanks everyone. i am curious to know what cycle i should have it on. right now its constantly running. should i mabye time it to 30 mins on, 30 mins off? 1 hr on 1 hr off? im not so sure...

two is just fine, i wouldn't stretch it too far, you can see how crowded they get just by looking in the stealth hydro threads,

hey rosie, nice to see you here,

still working for stealth hydro?

easygrinder said:

two is just fine, i wouldn't stretch it too far, you can see how crowded they get just by looking in the stealth hydro threads,

hey rosie, nice to see you here,

still working for stealth hydro?

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haha wow as a matter of fact i was just looking in there. yes your right, 2 or 3 is what im going to go with on the new ones. once i understand more how this differs from soil growing, i will be making all kinds of these things!

roseman, you work for a hydroponic supplier? i am going to need to switch up all my nutrients, you will see what i have now in that slideshow. mostly fox farm but its all for soil. i am sure i will need some ph controll as well.

ink slingin' in the 805 said:

haha wow as a matter of fact i was just looking in there. yes your right, 2 or 3 is what im going to go with on the new ones. once i understand more how this differs from soil growing, i will be making all kinds of these things!

roseman, you work for a hydroponic supplier? i am going to need to switch up all my nutrients, you will see what i have now in that slideshow. mostly fox farm but its all for soil. i am sure i will need some ph controll as well.

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yeah he works for stealth hydro, but he will only supply stealth hydro stuff, including stealth hydro nutrients, thats the reason he is here.

there is very little point though in you using anything other than organic nutrients and soil in your cups, it kinda takes away the point of having soil if you use chemical nutrients,

foxfarm nutes can leave a nasty residue in hydro systems though so a change might not be a totally bad idea, the only problem your going to run into with organic nutrients though is on your drippers, organic nutes are generally a lil bit thicker and lumpier than chemical nutrients,

if you want this to really work for you, i'd suggest you look into the purchase of a nutrient and ph meter

easygrinder said:

yeah he works for stealth hydro, but he will only supply stealth hydro stuff, including stealth hydro nutrients, thats the reason he is here.

there is very little point though in you using anything other than organic nutrients and soil in your cups, it kinda takes away the point of having soil if you use chemical nutrients,

foxfarm nutes can leave a nasty residue in hydro systems though so a change might not be a totally bad idea, the only problem your going to run into with organic nutrients though is on your drippers, organic nutes are generally a lil bit thicker and lumpier than chemical nutrients,

if you want this to really work for you, i'd suggest you look into the purchase of a nutrient and ph meter

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sent you a request man. ill soak up all the info you got! thanks

I was wanting to know your reasoning for leaving the water out for 24 hours. A lot of people do this to try to remove chlorine from the water. Many water systems have moved away from chlorine to another similar chemical. The new chemical will not evaporate out. You might want to consider talking with your city to find out what they use. You may be screwed and able to skip this step. If you want to go super pure you can start filling the reservoir with Perrier. lol BONG! ...maybe Ozarka.

Ichi said:

I was wanting to know your reasoning for leaving the water out for 24 hours. A lot of people do this to try to remove chlorine from the water. Many water systems have moved away from chlorine to another similar chemical. The new chemical will not evaporate out. You might want to consider talking with your city to find out what they use. You may be screwed and able to skip this step. If you want to go super pure you can start filling the reservoir with Perrier. lol BONG! ...maybe Ozarka.

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isn't perrier mineral water?

i.e. contains minerals

distilled water is the way to go, just get yourself a science kit and distill your own lmao

Perrier was a joke. It is often hard to imply tone to posts. lol BONG!

Ichi said:

Perrier was a joke. It is often hard to imply tone to posts. lol BONG!

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ha i felt the tone. anyone with enugh knowledge about the synthetic chlorine must know that you cant grow hydro with pirrier. thanks for that info, i am going to check w/ the city because thats exactly why i am leaving it out 24 hrs. thank you

Guys...just my .02.....

The little chlorine that is in the water will evaporate very quickly especially if you are aerating your water in your res. That little bit of chlorine will also help keep algae from growing in your res. We water all of our gardens with tap water. Why would the same tap water hurt a WEED? It doesn't make sense, to me at least.

420Chef said:

Guys...just my .02.....

The little chlorine that is in the water will evaporate very quickly especially if you are aerating your water in your res. That little bit of chlorine will also help keep algae from growing in your res. We water all of our gardens with tap water. Why would the same tap water hurt a WEED? It doesn't make sense, to me at least.

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Chlorine is bad for all living things. We can handle more than your tender plants.

Almost all city water in the united states has Chlorine and Flourine.

Chlorine will evaporate in 24 hours, much less if you aerate it. Flourine is in there unless you distill it. I use a $200 distiller that easily puts out 10 gallons in 5 days leaving a foul smelling sludge in the bottom.

PH your pater... VERY important. Use atleast a cheap $20.00 meter. 5.8 - Live it love it.

You will do fine.

p.s. Just tried a little "Skywalker" nice....

What is holding the pots in place? They look like they are barely held up by the rim of the pot. When they get big, they can weigh 25 lbs each (each plant).

GreenThumbSucker said:

What is holding the pots in place? They look like they are barely held up by the rim of the pot. When they get big, they can weigh 25 lbs each (each plant).

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fuck!!! why didnt i think of that?? what was i thinking??? what was i smoking??? haha nah good call man, good eyes. that was initially a fuck up cutting the holes too big but i made a fix-it for when the time comes. thanks

hey chlorine boy, go to hell. they are not weeds, they are my babies and i AM concerned about the chlorine content in their water. i am a god to theese plants. you grow yours ill grow mine... but thank you, iv'e been waiting for an ego to jump in this thread, about time. lol

StreetRider said:

Chlorine is bad for all living things. We can handle more than your tender plants.

Almost all city water in the united states has Chlorine and Flourine.

Chlorine will evaporate in 24 hours, much less if you aerate it. Flourine is in there unless you distill it. I use a $200 distiller that easily puts out 10 gallons in 5 days leaving a foul smelling sludge in the bottom.

PH your pater... VERY important. Use atleast a cheap $20.00 meter. 5.8 - Live it love it.

You will do fine.

p.s. Just tried a little "Skywalker" nice....

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Skywalker" is off the chain here in socal! nice

ink slingin' in the 805 said:

Skywalker" is off the chain here in socal! nice

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Yeah, normal guy had a special treat. Very sugary, but the taste not so good. Maybe lack of curing. I'm shooting for Snow White and PPP myself.

StreetRider said:

Yeah, normal guy had a special treat. Very sugary, but the taste not so good. Maybe lack of curing. I'm shooting for Snow White and PPP myself.

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there is a big hype with the skywalker in the LA area, possibly improper curing, maby a cross? i got skywalker once from a club in north hollywood and it was some of the dankest EVER, by far. well, that i have smoked, and my girl and i deffinately are all about variety everytime we hit the shops so were always getting something new.