Grow Room Ideas

Well I've been looking around and I haven't been able to find any T5s.. So in the end I'm just going to go with a 400W MH for the vegetative cycle and a 400W HPS for the flowering cycle. BUT... While looking through all these growing sites for T5s I ran into a system that interests me quite a bit because I won't have to deal with soil and they apparently will grow better: it's the GRO-TANK GT 604 NFT hydroponic system, and it seems to me that one of those for the vegetative cycle and one for the flowering cycle would be the perfect size for 5 plants in a row, it would make less mess, take less work and give a better yield. So any opinions?

Know your growing before you start a hydro opp, but it is a totally viable way of growing. Ill tell you right now though that hydroponics require and investment in chemicals and monitoring equipment that soil does not require.

I've looked into it a bit already, a part from a ph meter, ph up, ph down, a ppm meter, my nutrients, a thermometer, rockwool cubes and a ton of water, there's nothing else I really need, right? If I'm willing to make the initial investment, do you think it could potenially work out better then soil, even though this is my first grow?

Thanks!

ir74 said:

do you think it could potenially work out better then soil, even though this is my first grow?

Click to expand...

never know unless you try! I'm still on my first test grow with peppers. I had some problems getting the nute mixed right. I'm using general hydroponics, and the chart on the bottles is way to strong. I flushed the system, and using half of what the bottle says works much much better. my rez is still a bit warm, and I'm only using fish tank stone for a grow medium, but it's doing well. one plant I used a half gallon jug for a pot, and it's going root bound. they're in flowering now, and looks like they'll be ok. the plants I kept in soil did grow better then the ones in my hydroponics, but that might change once I work out more problems.

if you have the room, you can always do both at the same time. soil and hydroponics side by side.

You need you water in a hydro system at an optimum 68 and certainly no more then 75 (so iv seen) to prevent problems. Roots cant breath in hot water, it has no oxygen in it.

I got my res down to 72f by blowing air on it. I was thinking about maybe some kind of heat exchanger with antifreeze in it to cool the res in the winter time, and a fridge in the summer. shouldn't ever leak if done right. probably wont do anything like that. it's so much simpler and easier to just put a fan over the res near the fresh air intake.

OK well I've been working on it, and even if it must seem that I really don't know what I want given how many times if changed my mind, I think this setup will be the good one. All the details are in the diagram (again), so if you guys don't see any problem with it I'll soon be able to start growing. The reason I decided to go for 2 x 250W is so that I could do a small grow with only one of the lights if I felt like it.

Just one last question: would it be OK to germinate the seeds in a 1.5" Rock Wool cube and put them directly in the 3 gallon pots? And will the 3 gallon pots be big enough? (My plants could potenially grow to about 160cm)

Thanks for all your replies!

EDIT:I abandoned the NFT idea, I just didn't like the idea of moving a 68L reservoir with 1m marijuana plants from my vegetative cabinet to my flowering cabinet

Sorry I forgot the attachment.

A little bump, and I'd also like to mention that the temperature in the room where I'm going to put my grow closets has a yearly temperature of about 75°F so do you think dual 120CFM intractor fans and one 240cfm extractor fan will be able to keep the temperatures manageable even with two 250W HIDs?

Well it's been pushed back to the fifth page so just one last bump, I would like to get this sorted out as quick as possible to be able to start growing so... Can I put my germinated seeds inside a 1.5" rockwool cube for the first week or two, then put it directly in a 3gal pot? and will this 3gal pot (the biggest I can find here) be big enough to grow a 5-6' plant? Lastely will the ventilation for the setup shown above (240cfm extractor fan and dual 120cfm intractor for dual 250W bulb) be enough?

Thanks