First DWC grow. Help needed before starting.

I recently built a 4' x 2' x 4' (L x W x H) grow box and plan on starting my first DWC grow. The box has 2 chambers, 1 for veg and 1 for flower.
On the veg side, I plan on having an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote with 6x 4" holes cut out of the lid to hold 6x 4" net pots. In the veg chamber there are 4x 100w 6500k lumen cfl's that will continuously run at 18/6. The veg tote will contain veg nutes. I plan on starting with 2 plants from seed (set 1) and after 2 weeks adding 2 more plants (set 2) and will repeat this process every 2 weeks (set 3, set 4, etc). This means that for the first 6 weeks, only the veg chamber will be used. At the end of the 6th week, I will move set 1 to the flower chamber and add a new set to the veg chamber (set 4). Each set will veg for 6 weeks.
On the flower side, I plan on having another 18 gallon rubbermaid tote with 6x 4" holes cut out of the lid to hold 6x 4" net pots. The flower tote will contain bloom nutes. In the flower chamber there are 4x 100w 2700k lumen cfl's that will continuously run at 12/12. Week 6 I will add set 1, in week 8 I will add set 2 and in week 10 I will add set 3. Each set will flower for 6 weeks.
At the end of week 12, I will be ready to harvest set 1. Every 2 weeks another set will be ready to harvest.
BTW, I just ordered a 10 pack of white label seeds so the first three sets will be from my seeds, then the following sets will be clones.
Sooo, does this seem correct? Are my cycles correct? Am I using the right lights?
Any and all comments are welcome. I don't want to f this up.

well... using 4 100w cfl's in flowering is not the best way to go. use a 400w HPS would give more lumens, less heat more buds and same power usage. in veg you can use cfl's or fluros less than 400w i think 200w would be enough but thats up to you. you can also get a 250watt MH or HPS for vegging with, it's also more efficient than cfl.
for the cycles, the timing is ok but you might encounter problems with a continuous harvest plan, you will never be able to spray pesticides since there will always be plants flowering. i would rather harvest big then clean up and spray the room then flower again. you will have less work to do all in all, no need for the continuous transplanting and you will get better overall control and yield

Thanks for the advice. So here's the new plan. I will remove the divider and keep the two totes and fill them with 5 plants in each tote. I will buy a 250w MH bulb and veg for 6 weeks. I will also buy a 400w HPS and flower for another 6 weeks, all in the same totes.
More questions: Is it ok that the plant stays in the same pot for the entire 12 weeks? How often does the water need to be changed? Should I lst or scrog since my grow box is only 48" tall?
All comments and suggestions are welcome.

if the tote is big enough for massive roots then yes it is ok to grow in same tote. water needs a change every couple of weeks if you want to be on safe side. i let it go for longer because i'm experienced with it. with enough testing equipment and nutes in parts you can go on with it for the whole grow unchanged but you dont wana go there in your case. 48" is not awefuly low height, but with your plan on vegging for 6 weeks i think you would need a scrog or LST tying or whatever method to keep them down. you might wana veg for a shorter period, plants double or triple in size in flowering depending on strains

How many weeks do you recommend I veg? The shorter the total grow period, the better.
Would 4 weeks veg and 6 weeks flower be better?

I work with a small cabinet and veg for 4 weeks, and flower for 6. it helps control the height. I havent made the leap to LST yet but am researching it.

JP

jameslone said:

How many weeks do you recommend I veg? The shorter the total grow period, the better.
Would 4 weeks veg and 6 weeks flower be better?

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Yeah 4 weeks would be cool if you decide o flower with a HPS you will get mass stretch ..

Mass stretch? Is that good or bad?

jameslone said:

Mass stretch? Is that good or bad?

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Stretch means they will stretch out and try to grow taller to get more of that HPS light. You are talking way more lumen than florescent and the plants will stretch them selves out to get closer to the light but if space isnt a issue then " STRETCH ON" but if space is a issue you can always super crop ( bend branches ) Stretch is good.

Is one 400w MH/HPS enough for the size of my grow box?

jameslone said:

Is one 400w MH/HPS enough for the size of my grow box?

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Yep should be fine could probably do a few plants with that.

All of this good information has me excited. My brain is on overload. Now I am contemplating not using the 2 totes because I don't want to cramp the roots. Now I'm thinking about using 6x 5 gallon buckets and growing 1 plant per bucket. This method will allow me to grow 6 plants at once, instead of the 10 I originally planned for.
Which is the better idea?

jameslone said:

All of this good information has me excited. My brain is on overload. Now I am contemplating not using the 2 totes because I don't want to cramp the roots. Now I'm thinking about using 6x 5 gallon buckets and growing 1 plant per bucket. This method will allow me to grow 6 plants at once, instead of the 10 I originally planned for.
Which is the better idea?

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I always like the buckets because if something goes bad or you get root rot you dont destroy all your plants only the one that is sick. Word of advice dont harsh your mellow just sit back be patient and let the plant do it's thing. In DWC bubbleponics you want to make sure your water temps are a cool 63-68 degrees, light proof 100% , Get a PPM and PH meter if you do that you shouldnt have many problems.. Keep a eye on that water temp every day. I use sport coolers so I dont have to worry about my temps jumping too high..

I wrapped my res in aluminum tape to light proof it. Works quite well and only costs 7 bucks at walmart.

JP

jameslone said:

All of this good information has me excited. My brain is on overload. Now I am contemplating not using the 2 totes because I don't want to cramp the roots. Now I'm thinking about using 6x 5 gallon buckets and growing 1 plant per bucket. This method will allow me to grow 6 plants at once, instead of the 10 I originally planned for.
Which is the better idea?

Click to expand...

6 plants is sure a better idea, your starting seeds they would need space, you should time the flowering by estimating their fujture growth, they would double or triple in size during flowering

Ok, so I have the grow box, the life cycle, the planting setup and the lighting all figured out.
Now I need to learn more about aeration, oxygen, nutrients and watering.
Bring on the info! Thanks for all your help so far.

the more oxygen the better, I use two stones in my 4g res.
As for nutrients i use general hydroponics flora series. it buffers the water to a ph of 6 and keeps it there. I have had zero ph issues since using gh. for watering, i keep 3 gallons in my four gallon res at all times. my girls drink about a half a gallon a day believe it or not. more water than nutrients so use a light touch.

JP

When you say res, I know it means reservoir. But do you have a separate reservoir that contains just water and nutes with no plants in it?

No mine is a simple dwc system, four net cups in a 4g container. I have two plants in there currently, i should have made it a 2 hole because of the size of my cabinet.


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JP

What do you have in your res, just an airstone attached to an external pump?
What type of water do you fill the res with, tap? Then just add the nutes to the res?