So i decided to go hydro for my 1st time. Nutrient advice and opinions?

Since i have had such a long time to research before i can start growing, cause of family visiting and a vacation coming up. I started to make a grow cabinet out of a wire shelve i got at lowes. At 1st i was going to do soil. But after watching a bunch of videos on growing. I changed my mind and decided to go hydro, mainly because when i saw how easy it was to make your own hydro system off of instructables.com. I figured it was the most logical way to go for me. That way i wont have to worry about getting rid of a bunch of dirt at harvest. Plus it seems easier to regulate.

anyway i am currently still purchasing materials, such as net pots, grow medium, mylar and water pumps.

I still haven't decided on what brand of nutrients i should buy, also does anybody know if those package deals on htg supply will be good for a beginner? Or is there better places/prices to get my nutrients from? I'm sure this question has been answered plenty of times on here. But I would like to hear peoples current opinions.

Oh and if your interested, i'm going to be using t5's. I'll take some photos of my setup more towards completion. Cause right now it just looks like a shelve with some rubbermaid totes on it and some funny looking tubing scalpture and light fixture.

Thanks everyone for your input.

debtheburk said:

Since i have had such a long time to research before i can start growing, cause of family visiting and a vacation coming up. I started to make a grow cabinet out of a wire shelve i got at lowes. At 1st i was going to do soil. But after watching a bunch of videos on growing. I changed my mind and decided to go hydro, mainly because when i saw how easy it was to make your own hydro system off of instructables.com. I figured it was the most logical way to go for me. That way i wont have to worry about getting rid of a bunch of dirt at harvest. Plus it seems easier to regulate.

anyway i am currently still purchasing materials, such as net pots, grow medium, mylar and water pumps.

I still haven't decided on what brand of nutrients i should buy, also does anybody know if those package deals on htg supply will be good for a beginner? Or is there better places/prices to get my nutrients from? I'm sure this question has been answered plenty of times on here. But I would like to hear peoples current opinions.

Oh and if your interested, i'm going to be using t5's. I'll take some photos of my setup more towards completion. Cause right now it just looks like a shelve with some rubbermaid totes on it and some funny looking tubing scalpture and light fixture.

Thanks everyone for your input.

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scrap the t5s get a 600 or a 1000 hps. read al b fuct's thread get a harvest every two weeks. ebb n flow is the easiest way.. try it.

t5's are great for cabinets. low heat output w/ lots of lumens.

I'd go w/ the dutch master gold series. best hyroponic nutes out by far imo.
you need to invest in a ph/tds meter ASAP. before you start growing make sure
you have a reliable one.

What system are you building?

I've used GH flora series for many successful grows. I have really hard water (350ppm) and the hard water micro attrached me at first. I also use Liquid Karma during flower along with some Cal-Mag and a little superthrive. Not sure you can make a mistake no matter which line you like. I'd also recomend getting a PH and TDS meter if you are going to do hydro. Helps you keep everything in the boundries. Lighting depends on how much ventilation you can provide. I can use a 250watt HPS in a 4x7 closet and cool it by keeping the door open and having it blow out the hot with some fans on top and an oscelating fan outside the door blowing fresh air in. Kind of loses that stealth effect though. LOL. Here's a link: These guys are legit.

http://www.discount-hydro.com/productdisp.php?pid=40&navid=12

I'm currently dead set on using t5's, since space is limited in my grow area i need a low heat solution. I'm highly interested in those new L.E.D. lights that are starting to come out. But will wait on those since they are so new. If those things prove to work, i'll be converting to those in a heartbeat. I'm a energy saving freak in my house.

Sorry for going off on a tangent. Anyway i'm building a drip system, i'm using these 2 set ups (http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydroponics---at-Home-and-for-Beginners/ and http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Hydroponics-Setup/ )as a reference and sort of customizing my own design since theres so many tote sizes to choose from.

Yeah i haven't looked into the ph and thd meters yet, but they look pricey so they are going to be the last things i get i think.

I can't wait to start. Oh i'm going to be growing AK-47 stain also. they were cheap, yup i'm all about getting things cheap. At least when i start doing something i have no experience in.

Thanks for your input so far, its good and extremely helpful.

A homemade ebb/flow would be the cheapest to build and run and would be more reliable than drip. Also, a low wattage HID (150w-175w) would be cheaper to buy, run, replace bulbs, and would give off the same heat with better results. In fact you could take all the money your saving and buy a reliable tds/ph meter.

All right guys just wanted to give you a little update if you care.


i got back from vacation this weekend and started my seeds last saturday. 1st off I went with Technaflora nutes for my 1st grow. There's a local store that had the “recipe for success” kit for 30 bucks. Therefore it was a pretty sweet deal IMO for my 1st time. Plus the people there were super awesome and they talked me into only building 1 drip system since its my 1st time. It was funny cause they had warning signs everywhere in the store that said “if your scared to ask then don't ask, because you will be asked to leave”. I was able to ask them all the question I needed and even though I never mentioned what I was growing they knew exactly what I was up to and where so cool about it. I'm totally going back there in the future.


Anyways so yeah I started to germ on saturday, and yestuday I put 5 seeds in there rookwool cubes and only using 2 of the 4ft t5's. One is already popping its head out (please be a girl). It was so awesome coming home to see that today. I'm a tad worried about the other 4 but maybe i'll get a surprise in the mañana and have 5 heads popping out. LOL that sounded weird. I also decided to try and germ another seed this morning cause I got space for 6 plants on my drip box. I had and old bag seed that I tried to germ just to see if it would sprout, but no luck...yet.


I haven't totally finished my grow cabinet yet. The wife and I started putting the mylar on sunday but after getting it 75% covered stop cause we were still tired from jet lag. Plus I finally found the perfect totes and decided to redo my drip box, its only a 7 dollar change so no biggy. I hope to get it 90% done this weekend, I got so crazy ideas floating in my head about doing a custom ventilation system using the bathroom exhaust fan I purchased. So thats another question I have, when should I expect my plants to start stinking? Oh and when should I us all 4 of my t5's and when should I switch to the grow bulb t5's I have? right now i'm using the bulbs they came w my fixtures, I dont know what power they are putting out or anything. it says nothing about them on the box, all I know is there high output. But I figured I could us them for the 1st week or 2.


Well guys and gals sorry for the novel, but i'm like a little kid all excited about his tomato plants and got to tell somebody about it.