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New to hydro, what system is good in a 2'X4'?

beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
Hi all, know nothing about hydros, what system would be good for a 2'X4’ tent?
would like to consider the follow conditions
1.yield obviously gonna be a big factor :D
2. low initial set up cost
3. number of plants

I want to shot for the best yield without having to purchase a really expensive system, by all means growing is to save money.

I was thinking of doing deep water 5 gallon buckets, each bucket setup would cost around 50 for me.
but thing is that if i do buckets i can only fit in 4 plants, at most 5.

Really looking for some help!
Any suggestions are well welcomed!
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
dwc can be effective when you know how to do it well

areoponic is by far the most productive but can go wrong fast

I like flood and drain, and water flow systems

As the water is held away from the plants so they can dry out and also it reduces the chances of root rot a small flood and drain or dripper system is cheap

Aquapot, aquafarm and so on

Read up and have a look I like to use clay pebbles in my flood and drain, I grow my plants in coco using superoot pots or "airpots" that way when I put them into my flood and drain the roots can grow right out of the pot into the clay pebbles
 
Thecouchlock

Thecouchlock

Well-Known Member
I am on my second run of flood and drain and I like it for the most part but there are just some issues that are hard to solve. I seem to get this like film in my res every single time and the temps are around 70 ish degrees. Also if a bug finds its way inside your room it is a pain in the ass trying to keep them from spreading in hydro as the ones I got were in love with the water. Root bugs suck ass!


I think I am going to choose to stay with soil over hydro next run.
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
I am in a 2x4, right now I am running 2 x 5 gallon buckets in a top drip that drains to an external res. It is not that expensive, and I like having the external res to add nutes and test water even during lights out. In my veg tent I have a little 22x40" flood and drain set up to try a run. Right now it has the res under the tray, but will be converted to external when I move to the flower tent. The flood and drain is a bit cheaper to set up initially but both are pretty easy to manage.

You can see my setup here if you like, I made some mods as I progressed. I started a different journal for my flood and drain:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/hbbum-going-hydro-f-cking-incredible-og.846446/
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
Research "Hempy Buckets". Very, very simple, extremely cheap, very hard to screw up.

Ideal for someone just trying hydro for the first time.

-spek
 
beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
Thecouchlock said:
I am on my second run of flood and drain and I like it for the most part but there are just some issues that are hard to solve. I seem to get this like film in my res every single time and the temps are around 70 ish degrees. Also if a bug finds its way inside your room it is a pain in the ass trying to keep them from spreading in hydro as the ones I got were in love with the water. Root bugs suck ass!


I think I am going to choose to stay with soil over hydro next run.
Click to expand...
yea i liked soil a lot too, but heard.. hydro yields more and cuts weeks off, have to do it myself to judge :D
 
beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
THE KONASSURE said:
dwc can be effective when you know how to do it well

areoponic is by far the most productive but can go wrong fast

I like flood and drain, and water flow systems

As the water is held away from the plants so they can dry out and also it reduces the chances of root rot a small flood and drain or dripper system is cheap

Aquapot, aquafarm and so on

Read up and have a look I like to use clay pebbles in my flood and drain, I grow my plants in coco using superoot pots or "airpots" that way when I put them into my flood and drain the roots can grow right out of the pot into the clay pebbles
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply mate!
Do you think 5 plants in a 17 gallon container is too many? i m thinking of doing 3 x 53L boxes, each contain 5 plants, a air pump and 2 air stones. I want to keep the plants as small as possible and as many as possible as long as there is no issues. For lighting I have 2 190w led lights to cover the 3 boxes, do you think i could fit 15 plants in there?
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
As a hydro newbie also, it sure seems like a lot more work and definitely use more nutrients ($$) but it is fun to tinker with. One thing that does make life way easier is having an external res, the bigger the better if you need any "away" time.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Thecouchlock said:
I am on my second run of flood and drain and I like it for the most part but there are just some issues that are hard to solve. I seem to get this like film in my res every single time and the temps are around 70 ish degrees. Also if a bug finds its way inside your room it is a pain in the ass trying to keep them from spreading in hydro as the ones I got were in love with the water. Root bugs suck ass!


I think I am going to choose to stay with soil over hydro next run.
Click to expand...
I keep my res covered have air pumps and a circulating pump/filter I also have a filter bag on my pump that sends the water up keep thinking about getting a spreader mat anyway I either use root zone conditioner or beneficial bacteria and molds so I don`t get a film but salts and some odd gunk can start to build up if I don`t clean or flush the system for over 3 to 6 months but maybe I`m just lucky ?
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
beastbub said:
Thanks for the reply mate!
Do you think 5 plants in a 17 gallon container is too many? i m thinking of doing 3 x 53L boxes, each contain 5 plants, a air pump and 2 air stones. I want to keep the plants as small as possible and as many as possible as long as there is no issues. For lighting I have 2 190w led lights to cover the 3 boxes, do you think i could fit 15 plants in there?
Click to expand...

Depends how big the plants are you can buy pre made flood and drains like the aqua farm and the water farm think they are around 30 x 30cm and 50 x 50cm nutriculture does one around 45cm by 50cm and you get 80cm x 80cm ones and so on they are not expensive even in the uk you can get a kit with a pump even an air stone and clay pebbles for £30 to £60

Some nutes some other bits aint that expensive to get going main things are a good ph and ppm or ec meter
 
beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
hbbum said:
As a hydro newbie also, it sure seems like a lot more work and definitely use more nutrients ($$) but it is fun to tinker with. One thing that does make life way easier is having an external res, the bigger the better if you need any "away" time.
Click to expand...
i ll have to spend every weekend working at a different city, but only 2 days, whats the benefits of an external res? does that make it a rdwc instead of dwc?
THX!
 
beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
THE KONASSURE said:
Depends how big the plants are you can buy pre made flood and drains like the aqua farm and the water farm think they are around 30 x 30cm and 50 x 50cm nutriculture does one around 45cm by 50cm and you get 80cm x 80cm ones and so on they are not expensive even in the uk you can get a kit with a pump even an air stone and clay pebbles for £30 to £60

Some nutes some other bits aint that expensive to get going main things are a good ph and ppm or ec meter
Click to expand...
i already bought the containers and the pump, air stones, net pots, not that expensive, only thing is i m not sure how many plants would fit in a 53L container.
 
beastbub

beastbub

Well-Known Member
THE KONASSURE said:
Depends how big the plants are you can buy pre made flood and drains like the aqua farm and the water farm think they are around 30 x 30cm and 50 x 50cm nutriculture does one around 45cm by 50cm and you get 80cm x 80cm ones and so on they are not expensive even in the uk you can get a kit with a pump even an air stone and clay pebbles for £30 to £60

Some nutes some other bits aint that expensive to get going main things are a good ph and ppm or ec meter
Click to expand...
btw i bought a 10 dollar ec ppm meter, and it works fine :mrgreen:
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
An external res can be used in several forms of hydro. The advantages that I see are I can check and modify my res at any time without opening the tent, it also helps to keep the res water from getting to warm and makes it much easier to drain and clean.
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
Just for ideas, I am trying 2 different styles for my 2x4

Top drip buckets to an external res, they drip through the top and drain oout of the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets back to the res to recirculate:

5 weeks of veg and this is about 5 weeks from flip:



Once these are done, I have this flood and drain table so I can try with 6 smaller plants instead of 2 bigger ones: I will go on the same table as the 2 x 5 gallon buckets when ready.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
yeah that ! the flood and drain just put 6 to 1000 small plants in one of them and look after the res pull out the ones that are ready to be flowered or even flower them all at ones get small pots plastic bag pots 1L to 20L are good sizes they cost nothing they take up zero space and you can chuck them away, you can go for fabric pots or some recycled plastic`s air/root/pruning pot them flood and drains make growing so easy once you learn how to keep the water nice
 
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