ebb flow system questions N00By

I have never grown anything before and i've been doing a lot of research on soil, then coco which i thought was good but now i seem very interested in hydro.
Is there a kit of some sort i could buy which has everything included? Would this be much more expensive than buying parts separately? What size do i need for around 6 plants? I'm planing on growing the 6 plants under 600w hps and the plants i'll eb growing are 2x serious seeds ak-47 fem, 2x nirvanas PPP fem and 2x Homegrown fanta seeds cheese fem.
Any advice on this set up will be much appreciated, thanks everyone.

I would just start with a small ebb and flow tray system. You can fit at least 6 if not a couple more under your 600 watt and grow some great buds

How much space would that take up? and what site would be good for buying the system from?

hey. i am an ebb n flow grower and the best advice i can give you about growing, having not grown anything before... in my opinion id tell you to not start your first grow by hydro. you can grow 6 plants in a small, inexpensive (around $150 at the very least) or you could grow 6 large plants in a huge system. the best advice you could get is to not buy a prebuilt system as it will cost you gobs more than building one, but i wouldnt advise you to build one until you understand the in's and out's of growing. some of the plants you mentioned are sativa dom some arent. i can tell you from experience, DONT grow a sativa dom on your first grow or you might never grow again. i did that with a skunk/haze and i almost quit growing. it grew to 9 feet tall x 3 feet wide.

if anything start in peat, soil, or coco. for me, peat was the best option but i can tell you as most any grower with a grow or two under their belts, dont grow hydro on your first time. in hydro you have Ph meters, PPM meters, lots more money in nutrients because you have at least a 5 gallon reservoir at the minimul which will cost you in nutrients. also the 600 watt system is a good tried and true system, but that all depends on how big your grow space is, youll definately need fans for your reflector, some sort of odor filtration or ona gel or something. i dont mean to throw you a curve ball with all this but all are just bare bones what you need for a hydro grow. you also have to get a correct balanced nutrient system (im in this almost 4 years and homebrew JUST today and last night got me zoned in on this). you need to take a step back and just run the easiest system as well as getting new user friendly strains. i can tell you that ppp from nirvana isnt a newby friendly strain. the serious ak-47 was just done perfectally by homebrew and that strain is sativa dom as well.

the best thing anyone can tell you is to read read read all the info you can get, because growing is a lot of trial by error. and you will screw up, its just one of those things we have all gone through. before you invest serious money (you will with hydro in nutrients, water/air pumps, growing media, plumbing, trays, lights, fan, odor control, meters, timers, the list goes on and on), you should really immerse yourself in knowledge. this site is a very valuable tool in your quest. knowledge is going to be your best friend and so is this site http://www.marijuana-seeds.net/Thanks-ThankYou.htm. if you have a local "hydro store" go in there and ask all you can about different systems like soil, soilless, or hydro.

i dont want to scare you away from growing as its a wonderful thing that if you truely love, itll reward you, but before you decide what strains you want figure out what will be the easiest and the most forgivable strains. another huge thing is first time growers think theyre going to get huge yields, when in reality most new growers get right around an ounce per plant IF you dont have any major problems. experienced growers can get 1gram per watt, but dont be expecting anything big especially not from a sativa indoors. i wish you the best of luck on your quest and i hope i see some badass grows in the future from ya, but just remember to keep an open mind and learn as much as you can... from creditable growers.

Thanks for your honest answer and advice dgaf. At first, i was planning on growing 9 plants in 11litre pots in a 1.2x1.2x2m tent. I had everything sorted out for my future grow. Planned on using coco coir and perlite and a certain nutes from cana. rhino carbon filter, 6" extractor fan with acoustic ducting. I had everything planned out but then i thought i might have to constantly be checking on my plants and it would be more messier, which lead me to think about a hydro set up so everything was hydro but after reading your post, i think i'll just stay with my previous well thought out plan. My budget is around 600 and that includes literally EVERYTHING. All 2 of the strains i've chosen are sativa dominant as well so i dnt understand what you mean by having indicas and sativa.
Thanks for your post, + rep man!

wavey.mofo said:

Thanks for your honest answer and advice dgaf. At first, i was planning on growing 9 plants in 11litre pots in a 1.2x1.2x2m tent. I had everything sorted out for my future grow. Planned on using coco coir and perlite and a certain nutes from cana. rhino carbon filter, 6" extractor fan with acoustic ducting. I had everything planned out but then i thought i might have to constantly be checking on my plants and it would be more messier, which lead me to think about a hydro set up so everything was hydro but after reading your post, i think i'll just stay with my previous well thought out plan. My budget is around 600 and that includes literally EVERYTHING.
Thanks for your post, + rep man!

Click to expand...

oh yeah, if youre able to fit all that into your budget (600 bp is almost 1200 is usd) then youve got it right on. the part about peat or coco being messier may be true as far as getting your hands dirty, but in a hydro system you have to be on top of everything and have everything dialed in to exactly the right spec's because one mistake and you not only have a huge problem to deal with, but instead of maybe screwing up one plant in coco, you end up screwing up youre entire crop. in coco or peat if one plant has an issue, the rest are ok and in coco... the coco is a buffer between the plants root and the nutrients so its much more forgiving with little mistakes. in hydro if you have a Mg problem and youre new to growing you might think its a Fe problem and end up adding the wrong stuff making it worse.

with the system and tent youve described youre on the right track. you can easily grow 6-9 plants of a good medium size which will get you nice first time yields. as you get deeper into growing and you gain the extensive knowledge about growing you might want to go to hydro only because once you dial in what strains like what nutrient levels... hydro only makes it easier to give your plants exact and precise amounts of nutrients and you schedule your timer to feed your plants when you want them to. in my opinion im only in hydro because i can precisely adjust the amounts and times my plants get what they need.

in a coco or peat set up, you actually have to check on your plants less because you have that medium as a buffer. dont get me wrong, peat and coco are used by some of the best of the best growers. chemdog grows in peat and will only grow in peat as well as subcool who grows in his own soilless mixture that he blends himself. in coco and peat i personally, as well as many experienced growers believe that your buds taste and smell better as well as it creates more potent terpinoids. also in the 11 liter pots or bags you were planning on using, youll be able to grow quite large plants without transplanting and if you decide you want HUGE plants you can transplant into bigger pots which is nice. i on the other hand, after i put my plants on my rockwool slab, i cant move them. im stuck with that medium and even if i wanted bigger plants itd be really hard to do so. so theres plenty of really good reasons to grow in peat or coco, and in the future you can actually take those same plants in coco and put them on hydro trays and run a recirculating drip system. so it also give you the ability to have more variation in the future.

youll be doing well just how you planned things and if you have any issues, youre on the right site to get advice. as well as growing in coco is classified as a soilless (not soil) so its technically a hydro garden. i wish you the best of luck, and if you stick with that ak-47 by serious youll be really happy in the end. and if you have any further questions dont hesitate to jump on here and ask away. thats what were all here for.

Thanks for that info. I want to have a strain that i really like and other people really like. I've tried AK-47 and cheese from different places and i really liked them so if i get a good pheno, im most likely going to be cloning them constantly and i guess once i start getting the hang of things and start learning what things my plant likes, i'll move onto hydro and improve my yield. I'm sort of worried whether my fem plants hermi on me and fuck everything up. So i'll see if i get any free fem seeds when i order my strains and germ those fem seeds and see if they herm. If they do then it'll probs be my fault from stressing them and im not gonna bother germing my ak 47 or cheese since they'll probs do the same and i'll just get PISSED lol But hopefully everything will be smooth

Don't start in hydro unless you want to fail and fail again...people will tell you all day long how easy growing Marijuana is. Just put it in dirt and water it is what you'll hear till the cows come home. It's a weed it grows wild in nature everywhere...is what they'll say. But don't believe it's easy and for everyone...it's not! Every grower that has done this more than a few times will tell you they have failed with a crop or two at one time or the other. I'm no different I've failed at more than my fair share. But it's the love of growing and helping people that keep me in it. You will have problems in any medium you choose...but keep at it and you'll get to the end. Good luck and good growing.

yeah everybody that grows the real ak-47 from serious really like it, but it is sativa dom so itll stretch and get tall and lanky. its nice smoke and everybody likes it, but i personally havent ever grow it. UK cheese is a really nice strain. i just harvested some 2 weeks ago and it not only smells really good but it tastes just as good. mine was deep dark green with pink pistils and calyxes. depending on what company you buy the seeds from will depend on if the cheese is indica or sativa dominant. big buddah, greenhouse, and barneys farm (blue cheese) are the best. greenhouse and barneys use big buddah's uk cheese so it all comes from big buddah but greenhouse sells the seeds cheaper and barneys are cheaper and theyre blue cheese. all round theyre good as well as nirvana's bubblicious. bubble is a good strain and iuts beginner friendly. i always have some seeds around as well as nirvanas blue mystic.

as far as herming out, if you buy fem seeds and you buy them from a halfway decent company they wont herm. i have only had 1 plant ever herm on me and i harvest 20 plants about every 5-6 weeks for almost 4 years. and the only reason the great white shark hermed on me was because when it was vegging my girl ripped it out of its pot (in peat!) threw it outside and i got home and had to rescue it. i had to cut all but its bottom 2 TINY branches off and then i had a light leak in flower for about 2 weeks. so it really does take a lot for a plant to herm, but it does happen even from good seed companies because you gotta figure they make so many seeds that 1 or 2 are bound to have an issue. all in all i wouldnt be too worried. always go lighter on the nutrients never heavier and make sure you dont have any light leaks in flower and youll be good to go.

you shouldnt have any really big issues, i think youll be good. all you gotta remember is less is more and before you do something that youre unsure about jump on here and ask. dont ever do something out of emotion and make sure you think everything through. OH hey by the way just a little tip, most of the seed banks like single seed center and the attitude (which i used for months and they screwed me more than once so ill never use them again) run monthly specials. like last month the attitude seed bank ran a special that if you spend over 30 pounds they gave away th seeds s.a.g.e fem, kusage fem, burmese kush fem, 2 darkstar reg, 2 heavy duty fruity reg, and 1 new g13 labs fem seed as well as free clothing and stuff and a chance to win a trip to amsterdam all expenses paid. attitude has a special on right now that if you buy dinafem seeds you get just as many free haze autos. im just saying that you wanna look out and maybe wait for their specials to order so you get more for your money. on the other hand if youre looking to buy single seeds, id go to single seed center as their prices for singles are better. since youre in the uk most of these seedbanks are also in the uk so shipping will be much cheaper too.

Yeah i'm planning on buying the ak-47 from serious seeds and cheese from homegrown fanta which is sativa dominant. I'll be planning on topping each and every one of my plants so that the height is short and i've heard sativa plants yield better when topped. I might LST them aswell to keep their height down. I'm gonna be getting a 5 pack of each strain and im gonna def be waiting until attitude have another one of their specials later on this year.

I'm pretty sure serious seeds and homegrown fanta are good companies so i doubt they will hermie now unless i REALLY fuck them around and stress the crap outta them. BTW, would an intake fan really be important since the room i'll be growing in wont have any windows and would be i able to exaust the air into the same room the grow tent is in or would i have to exaust it outside?

Thanks a lot for your help man, you're making me feel more confident!

ok ill start from the beginning of your reply to make things more organized here.

the ak-47 is a great strain, and while many sativas can handle topping (im not saying ak cant be topped well) some dont respond as well to it. the good thing about sativas is actually what everyone really dreads. the stretch that makes them quite unruly is what gives them their potential of having such big harvests because it creates more space between internodes so that they can create more, bigger sites to have buds. so your plants stretching a little isnt such a bad thing, just a bit more work esp. if the grower is new to growing. if you put the time into it though, youll be very pleased. and even though i havent ever grown it i have seen from others that always have it... they like the nutrient ppm to be right around 850-900 in full bloom. so be careful going too heavy on the nutes. the cheese also is about the same but the nice thing about the cheese is that it has good stable internode distance with a lot of good side branching. i personally dont top cheese plants because from my experience they develop quite well without.

serious seeds shouldnt give you any problem, but as far as homegrown fanta. im not sure how "genetically pure" their cheese is. i dont buy from them mainly because their cheese seems to be a dutch cheese, not a uk cheese. not the same, but im not saying its bad either, just different. dutch strains tend to have their own taste and aroma. as an example im in the u.s. and our kush plants and skunk plants are much more of a lush deep flavor and the skunk is very pungent while dutch skunks are more sativa uppy with a hard indica knock out as well. again, not the same but im not saying theyre bad just different from what im used to.

you probably wont have any hermie issues unless you really have light leaks. i havent met anyone who had anything happen from a couple nutrient problems, but i have seen seeds go hermie from some LSTing.

on the intake fan... in theory if you have an exhaust fan (not the one connected to your light system) that is able to pull the air in cfm's out of your tent within 5min (your cfm's per 5min is your lengthxwidthxheight of your tent divided by 5 is what youll need your exhaust fan to be rated at as far as cfm's) it will create a vaccume in your tent. by doing this if you open one of the vent flaps on the bottom of your tent... the constant air flow taken out of the tent by your exhaust fan will make fresh air suck in from the bottom open flap (i say bottom flap because hot air rises so if you open a bottom flap it will be cooler air being sucked into your tent from the vaccume created).

and as long as the room that youre growing in has some kind of air flow (ceiling fan, a/c ducting from your central a/c system bringing in cool air, or any other kind of air exchange in the room) you shouldnt have to exhaust it outside. this will also help keeping whatever smell may still be in your grow room, from going outside. but it also depends on how big the room is compared to your grow tent size. but i think youll be fine in just having it being exhausted in the room. thats exactly what i do with my tent because its in the same room as my grow room. i will venture to say though that i have a larger house with 2 4 ton central a/c systems and i keep it 69 degrees F in my house at all times. so it really all depends on what your temps get to in the tent that will tell you whether or not if it will work in your home. i have daytime temps of 76-78F in my tent so about a 10 degree F increase in my tent. but i also keep my grow room door closed at all times. id venture to say that as long as your daytime temps arent above 90 F... and your night time temps arent more than 10-15 degrees F lower than your day temps youll be alright. if your temps in the day are say 90F and your night are 70F then youll have much longer internode distance and more stretching because thats just how cannabis act with such big day/night temp differences. im not sure what the Farenheit to Celcius conversion is or id try to put everything into celcius for you. i actually strive to achieve the same day/night temps as arjan&franco from greenhouse seeds keep their grow rooms at because i grow mostly greenhouse seeds strains, so if you can find out from the breeders what those strains like id go with them and if not id try and find someone on here who grows those strains and ask them. i know someone on here who grows a lot of serious seeds strains but i dont have his screen name off hand. ill try and find it and send it to you in a message by tomorrow.

you should feel confident, because although you never want to do something youre not sure about... you dont want to be afraid of making a mistake because at some point or another youll make a mistake somewhere. if you ever get into a bind and youre not sure what to do, send me a message and ill try and help you out. and if i dont by chance know the answer ill know someone that will know the answer. like i said this is all trial by error and once you get it down youll love growing. in the state i live in if they find you growing they completely screw you, but this is something i truely love and even though its a huge risk if i believe in something ill do it til they kill me.

i hope this helps you out a little bit more. once you get your grow up and going the best thing i can tell you right off the bat is go really light on the nutrients. thats something even i screw up from time to time. like last week. i was in a hurry and mixed up the nutes and was over my normal feeding by 100ppm and im paying for it because my plants were really unhappy with it. but yeah man, if you have anymore questions id be more than happy to help ya out.

hey i just looked up homegrown fanta cheese. and honestly, that far too enpensive for a dutch cheese. if you want a really good reliable cheese heres the best 3 cheese's that are indica/sativa mixes, but grow like an indica with a good indica/sativa mixed high. big buddha is the original and most expensive of the real uk cheese. (uk cheesexafghani) buut the greenhouse "cheese" is the same cheese made by big buddha, just cheaper. and the greenhouse seeds exodus cheese is the EXACT same cheese from big buddha, but is brand new and much more affordable. if you want the homegrown cheese, hey go for it. im just gunna throw you the links for these other cheeses because theyre all HT cannabis cup winners (edit:they are all winners as far as the originals came from big buddha's which took cannabis cup)

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/big-buddha-cheese-feminized/prod_62.html
http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/green-house-seeds-exodus-cheese-feminized/prod_3075.html
http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/green-house-seeds-cheese-feminized/prod_61.html

im not trying to push any one breeders strains on you, im just trying to help ya out in saving money. ive personally harvested the "cheese" by greenhouse many times. its big buddha's strain for cheaper and they a.l.w.a.y.s. perform and theyre pretty darn nooby friendly. the greenhouse exodus is the same strain just produced by greenhouse thus making it much more affordable. some people hate greenhouse for their politics, but i love them because theyre reliable, they always germinate, and the price for the strain is unbeatable. im going to be starting their big budxskunk and their og kush here in a couple weeks so ill be sure to report, but i already know theyre both cash cropper winners.

Thanks a shit load for ALL your help man. You actually odnt know how much this has helped me lol I'm going to be following a couple of journals which are growing ss ak47 and see how they treat the strain. I think i'll be going for big buddahs cheese now since i chose it before but i then found out hgf's cheese is sativa which i really like but i think i'll just go with big buddahs since i want the same or similar cheese to the uk one.

I'm not sure if the room i'll be growing in will have an ac since i'll be growing in a shitty flat but it will most likely have a window somewhere in the room so i think i'll just exaust into the room and leave the window open so that fresh air can come in and replace the air being exausted out. Hope fully the carbon filter i'll be getting which is this RHINO PRO 150x300 CARBON FILTER, will be good enough to elimate the smell so that anyone form outside wont be able to smell it.

How was the high when you smoked greenhouses cheese? Did it give you the giggles? and i think i'll be adding TGAs Vortex into my grow since i've been hearing really good reviews on it and many people have said how good the high was.
Thanks once again for your help bro.

wavey.mofo said:

Thanks a shit load for ALL your help man. You actually odnt know how much this has helped me lol I'm going to be following a couple of journals which are growing ss ak47 and see how they treat the strain. I think i'll be going for big buddahs cheese now since i chose it before but i then found out hgf's cheese is sativa which i really like but i think i'll just go with big buddahs since i want the same or similar cheese to the uk one.

I'm not sure if the room i'll be growing in will have an ac since i'll be growing in a shitty flat but it will most likely have a window somewhere in the room so i think i'll just exaust into the room and leave the window open so that fresh air can come in and replace the air being exausted out. Hope fully the carbon filter i'll be getting which is this RHINO PRO 150x300 CARBON FILTER, will be good enough to elimate the smell so that anyone form outside wont be able to smell it.

How was the high when you smoked greenhouses cheese? Did it give you the giggles? and i think i'll be adding TGAs Vortex into my grow since i've been hearing really good reviews on it and many people have said how good the high was.
Thanks once again for your help bro.

Click to expand...

yeah man no worries. im hear to help people out (unlike most of the people on here with 10,000 posts who have their head up their asses). that carbon filter should be plenty enough because even if it had a little bit of smell left it probably would disperse into the outside air so that no one would smell it. i think even an ozone generator would work but not as well as a carbon filter so youre right on track. but if youre exhausting out of a window, really think about a backdraft damper so you dont get bugs coming in through your ventilation system when its not running. i think theyre like $5usd.

with the hgf cheese, it says it is a sativa but so does greenhouse. the thing about the greenhouse cheese from what ive seen, it grows like a perfect blend between indica/sativa. it can get tall if you let it, good long side branching exactly like a xmas tree. the good indica mix in it though keeps the internodes close enough together and so uniform (my internodes were 2 inches all the way up to the main cola) that its perfect. i think hgf cheese is just more skunk than kush which makes it more sativa.

the high from the greenhouse cheese starts off with a super hard hitting indica couchlock stone where you just melt into the sofa, but after about 30-45 min it evolves into a happy giddy social sativa uppy high. thats why i like it so much because when i get home from work it relaxes the hell outta me til im ready to go out and after the indica wears off and the sativa kicks in im really social and go drinking and its just a blast. the greenhouse cheese are big buddhas literally big buddha gave his seeds to greenhouse to sell and breed. so theyre all really good uk cheeses as close to the real uk exodus cheese you can get.

tga's vortex is an awesome strain! i loved it so much that i took a vortex male and bred it into greenhouses great white shark because the GWS is a little too heavy of an indica for me... even though i love indicas. vortex is nice because if you top it, it grows tons of nice big colas. it can get tall and unruly though if not kept in check. i wouldnt put it into a large pot/container because from what ive seen itll get quite tall and quite wide taking up a lot of space. its the perfect very clear social uppy sativa high.

depending on how long you veg them and how tall you let them get you might want to do some LST training or maybe do a SCRoG grow to help control the height of them. and that way you can grow less plants, but grow them bigger getting more of a heavy harvest, but that all depends on how you want to do it.

I went through ebb and flow at the start , I didn't have good luck with it at all, you have to worry about timers, the second fill spot needs to retain moisture, just didn't work for us, we ended up doing a DWC system, VERY easy, at LEAST half the work it took to make the Ebb and Flow and have had great results with it since. If I were you, I would look into DWC if you are interested in hydroponics. Both are doable and both create great results, if done right.

I suggest you check this video out.

Hope it helps!

[video=youtube;9yy5kJwdMv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy5kJwdMv8[/video]

dgaf757 said:

yeah man no worries. im hear to help people out (unlike most of the people on here with 10,000 posts who have their head up their asses). that carbon filter should be plenty enough because even if it had a little bit of smell left it probably would disperse into the outside air so that no one would smell it. i think even an ozone generator would work but not as well as a carbon filter so youre right on track. but if youre exhausting out of a window, really think about a backdraft damper so you dont get bugs coming in through your ventilation system when its not running. i think theyre like $5usd.

with the hgf cheese, it says it is a sativa but so does greenhouse. the thing about the greenhouse cheese from what ive seen, it grows like a perfect blend between indica/sativa. it can get tall if you let it, good long side branching exactly like a xmas tree. the good indica mix in it though keeps the internodes close enough together and so uniform (my internodes were 2 inches all the way up to the main cola) that its perfect. i think hgf cheese is just more skunk than kush which makes it more sativa.

the high from the greenhouse cheese starts off with a super hard hitting indica couchlock stone where you just melt into the sofa, but after about 30-45 min it evolves into a happy giddy social sativa uppy high. thats why i like it so much because when i get home from work it relaxes the hell outta me til im ready to go out and after the indica wears off and the sativa kicks in im really social and go drinking and its just a blast. the greenhouse cheese are big buddhas literally big buddha gave his seeds to greenhouse to sell and breed. so theyre all really good uk cheeses as close to the real uk exodus cheese you can get.

tga's vortex is an awesome strain! i loved it so much that i took a vortex male and bred it into greenhouses great white shark because the GWS is a little too heavy of an indica for me... even though i love indicas. vortex is nice because if you top it, it grows tons of nice big colas. it can get tall and unruly though if not kept in check. i wouldnt put it into a large pot/container because from what ive seen itll get quite tall and quite wide taking up a lot of space. its the perfect very clear social uppy sativa high.

depending on how long you veg them and how tall you let them get you might want to do some LST training or maybe do a SCRoG grow to help control the height of them. and that way you can grow less plants, but grow them bigger getting more of a heavy harvest, but that all depends on how you want to do it.

Click to expand...

I hate those people with who have shit loads of posts and act like complete dicks on here. Wouldn't it be obvious something dodgy is going on if someone from outside sees a exhaust through a window? I just thought of leaving the window open a bit and exhausting the air from the tent into the room and gradually the air from outside will replace the air in the room.

Greenhouses cheese sounds exactly like what im looking for =D I cant wait till i start growing the beauty! I might fill my whole tent with them since people in my area fricking love the uk cheese strain and i'm sure i'll LOVE the high!

How tall did your vortex plants reach up to since my tent will be 2meters tall and i don't wanna be struggling to keep the height down. Also, does big buddah cheese respond well to being topped?

W N L said:

I went through ebb and flow at the start , I didn't have good luck with it at all, you have to worry about timers, the second fill spot needs to retain moisture, just didn't work for us, we ended up doing a DWC system, VERY easy, at LEAST half the work it took to make the Ebb and Flow and have had great results with it since. If I were you, I would look into DWC if you are interested in hydroponics. Both are doable and both create great results, if done right.

I suggest you check this video out.

Hope it helps!

[video=youtube;9yy5kJwdMv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy5kJwdMv8[/video]

Click to expand...

I was thinking of a DWC system but then i started researching about soil and that lead be onto researching SHIT LOADS on coco coir so i think i'm gonna stick with coco coir as my medium. Thanks anyways

OK, I am NOT going to get into a hydro system debate but it IS generally known that DWC is a more "Advanced" hydro system. One that has significant draw backs and actually has a higher start up cost than others. Hydro is not "hard" per say, but you need to know what the hell your doing. There are general guidelines and what not, but you need to do allot of reading and know how this affects that and what not before you go hydro. I fucking love hydro! Its clean, the plants grow like gangbusters, and with the proper tools and knowledge its pretty easy and completely maintenance free.

The simplest system is ebb and flow. You can built a table out of scrap wood, plastic sheeting, and an inlet bulkhead fitting that costs $4 You are going to spend at least $125 dollars because you absolutely need a good quality PH and PPM meter.

Perhaps you should just do a hybrid of sorts right now. Plant your plants in smart pots filled with coir and place them in a flood table like I described. once a week? a small pump turns on and fills the table from a rezervoir. It turns off, the table drains. Tadahhh you just completely automated your watering.

I read a couple of posts up that you have decided to go with coco but, if you're still interested in Flood and Drain, here's a few links to the setups that I copied.
I'm on my first grow and it's a DIY Flood and Drain under a 600w HID using Dyna-Gro nutes.
Homebrewer's grows:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/395741-testing-beneficial-bacteria-ebb-flow.html
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/358562-dyna-gro-vs-general-hydroponics.html
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/346767-purple-urkle-looking-1-gram.html
Dadio161's grow:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/372572-dadios-flood-drain-closet.html

Cheers, and good luck with your grow!

hey man my bad ive been out busy for a while. well first things first... with the exhaust question, yeah it will be really weird if you have duct work going out the window, even worse when its cold out its very obvious that the exhausted air is hot because it will be steaming like crazy in the winter. you have it good with opening the window.

my vortex plants were grown in 5gallon containers, so mine were over 4 feet tall, so pretty much your whole tent if youre going to have a 600w hps because even air cooled, you have to keep it a minimum of 14-18 inches away. but if grown in say 6 liter pots, they should stay right around 2 feet, so less than 1 meter.

on the other hydroponics comments starting with DWC... people make it seem like you plop in a 2-6inch net pot and put in nutrients and youre good to go... bad idea. i ran a series of 3 18 gallon dwc systems, and the salt residue from the nutrients gets all over but thats not the worst. the worst is nutrient costs. as if even a 10 gallon container is much much more expensive to actually get going, and to keep going. i wouldnt screw with them until youre broken in on coco.

as for the ebb&flow... your system is going to treat you better and youll be happier with less problems, so best idea is to stick with what youve already devised.

but hey on the vortex, i just thought id let ya know that since theyre sativa heavy, it does branch... a lot so it takes a good bit of room to grow wide. heres another idea that might help ya if you really want vortex... if you get some kind of scrog netting and you put stakes (bamboo poles, or anything you can stick into the coco) you can take the netting and basically wrap it around the plant to control its outward growth, also giving you a better yield. but thats not something you need to worry about til you have the seeds, known which are female, etc... i can help ya when you get to the point where you might want to do that.

and as long as this prick on here with 10,000 posts doesnt try to ban me again because i dont support the horrible companies he represents, ill be able to log back in.