deteriming witch method of hydro best suits YOU

FuZZyBUDz

Well-Known Member
there r systems to fit any ones lifestyle the bottom line is deciding..

- time u have to devote

- ur budget

- space

- plants u grow, lol.

once u know wat u got to put into it then u can decide witch system is for you. ebb & flow or drip systems is great fer first timers they r not complicated OR costly. advantages to hydro systems is how versatile it is with wat u have to werk with.

there r a few different things u should know of hydro, systems can be identified as..

ACTIVE- a hydro system that activly moves the current of water.

PASSIVE- a system that relies on capillary action of a wet wick.

RECOVERY- re-circulating systems.

non-RECOVERY- a system that supplies nutes to the growing system, witch is NOT recovered. (run-off)

BARE ROOT SYSTEM-
a system that DOES NOT use a growing media.

SUBSTRATE SYSTEM- a hydro system that uses a growing media using such as rockwool, perlite, or vermiculite.

now that we understand the dinamics of hydro, lets apply it to sum of the hydro systems out today...

THE WICK SYSTEM-
this passive, non-recovery system does not require a pump. a candle wick (OR THICKER OIL LANTERN WICK) is used to move the nute solution to the roots. passive systems r generally laess expensive route, and also can be too wet fer healthy plant growth and thus tends to be less productive.

EBB & FLOW SYSTEM-
also called flood and drain, this is an active recovery system that uses a pump to move the nute solution to the roots of the plant where oxygen depleated air is exchanged with oxygen rich air. the pump stays on fer about 20 minutes and wen the nute solution reaches a certain level it is over flowed back into the res. due to low maintenance iis good fer the starter hydro grower.

NUTRIENT FILM TECHNIQUE-

charecterizes as an ACTIVE recovery system, an NFT consists of slanted grow tubes that have flow of nutes/water throo them assisted by gravity to the res, and fed to the top by a pump. it is one of the LESS forgiving ways of hyro, as the roots DEPEND on the flow of nutes.

CONTINOUS DRIP SYSTEM-
this NON-recovery OR recovery system (DEPENS ON WAT TRAY USING) has a constant flow fed by a pump to the top of the growing media (or net pots) and out drippers to the roots (A GOOD BEGGINER SYSTEM TOO).

AEROPONIC-
in aero systems the roots r hangin in the air constantly misted with the nutient solution. in this bare root system the nurient solution is 20% oxygen
and plants can acess the max amounts of oxygen for tremendous growth. this is generally fer the MORE advanced grower tho.


for flexibility, if your needs r growing small scale, and you want an uncomlicated system, EBB & FLOW or DRIP systems are right down ur alley. if your goal is bigger plants then the bucket system might be for you. as u become more experienced in hydro, u can upgrade to get a more challenging but HIGHLY productive AERO system.:peace:
 

JimmyT

Well-Known Member
aeroponics offers the highest performance. I'm just quoting him because I'm aero partial bongsmilie
 

LuciferX

Well-Known Member
DWC and wick never appealed to me, I've tried every other method though and now flower using mainly aeroponics with the occasional soil. Aeroponics has way better performance but somehow I end up getting "gifted" plants that are in soil so I deal with it.
 

JuniorBuds

Member
I want to make my own hydro system as alot are very expensive. I was thinking of getting a 18 Gallon plastic tub, cutting out about 8-10 hole in the top big enough for some net pots, place the net pots in the top.

I will then buy a fish tank block, and a puamp, I will place the block in the bottom of the tub, poke a hole through the top of the tub and train the tube out to the air pump.

I will then fill tub with water and nutes and turn pump on, fill the pots with stones or cocoa.

I think this would work but Im just thinking how I would change the nutes over from veg to flowering. Would I have to drain the whole tank and then refill?

Would this work?
 

Michael Phelps

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info, its very informative

Do you know the benefits of having feeder tubes as opposed to not having feeder tubes?

For instance, im currently on first grow, dwc. I started off the grow and had feeder tubes pumping water to the hyrdoton, well after a month or so the water pump either failed, got clogged, broke, i really dont know what happened to it, didnt worry about it cause alot of people do regular dwc just fine, just curious if feeder tubes increases growth rate or what?
 

FuZZyBUDz

Well-Known Member
so ur saying a constant feed to the dwc bucket??? if so i dont think so, i would think that the benefit of letting the bucket dry up and then refill would be greater. the more oxygen in the rootsystem the better (with out letting them dry up of course). oxygen is one of the great keys to a heavy harvest. it is one of the main macro-elements to the life of a plant tho; oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, phosphurus, sulfur, nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium.
 

Michael Phelps

Well-Known Member
Well I used to have a water pump inside my reservoir pumping water up to the net pots then the water would run down the roots back down into the reservoir as well as having an airstone.
 

FuZZyBUDz

Well-Known Member
HUH? i dont know then, might be beneficial, but the air stones create a mist in the bucket regardless.;-) sounds like a good idea tho! i might do a side-by-side of that tho! i like where your heads at.:eyesmoke:
 
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