Hydro setups- what type do you use and why?

[Ckbrew]

Planning on setting up a hydro system. Considering options. What type of system do you use and why? Also, who is your favorite source for supplies?

 

[DW2]

Howdy Ckbrew, I have been using a Bubblephonics style setup. Basically a 10 gallon tote with six 3 3/4 inc net pots in the lid. I use only five of the net pots for plants, the other one is for filling and to hold the ice bottles to keep the temperature down (the bottom is cut out for the bottle). I have a submersible water pump with a Dig-6 outlet manifold to deliver the water to the bottoms of the rockwool cubes in the net pots. I also use four air stones in each reservoir. The parts can be purchased almost anywhere and at (mostly) reasonable prices.at local stores or on line. I can not say my favorite source of supplies, as that would (or could) be considered as advertising.

 

[gbauto]

Welcome, CK
I've been growing hydro for the past 5 years. Simple bubbler buckets, an 8-site RDWC system, and currently a 4-tote UC system.
First ?-how large a grow are you envisioning?
Second-how are the environmental conditions in your grow space?
Hydro needs to be able to keep the solution temps within a pretty narrow range, so if heat is a challenge then some type of chiller will be needed.
While I do get the best results from hydro, if I had to do it all over again, I'd take a long look at coco.
I set up a 3x3 dtw tray in my pheno tent and the results are in line with what hydro runs.

 

[Ckbrew]

Can you elaborate on your bucket setup? Two buckets, but you keep one dry, connected together, pumps, valves to keep separate water levels? Trying to picture what you are using and how you control it. Thanks for the info.

 

[RagWeedDWC]

Simple Walmart totes, cheap off the shelf plumbing for drainage and a pond bubbler hooked up to a Whisper AP300. One plant per tote (I leave a lot and it has to survive on its own). Hydro DWC is the only way I will grow now.

 

[Obi-Wan]

5 bucket passive recirculating top feed DWC system. 4 grow buckets in a 3x3 tent for plants, 1 bucket used as an external reservoir that contains the top feed pump and manifold for the small top feed tubes. 4” air stone in each bucket as well as 1/2” drain lines feeding back to the external reservoir. The top feed pump trickles nutrient solution into every bucket and the 1/2 drain lines feed it all back to the reservoir in a very passive way. The entire system uses 20 gallons of nutrient solution that remains far more stable than a single 5 or 10 gallon bucket, this allows me to run my nutrient solution for 4-6 weeks depending on growth stage. I’ll run my veg reservoir for a full 6 weeks doing weekly top offs, then I’ll do a full reservoir change before I flip to flower. I generally do a full reservoir change every 30 days in flower. Otherwise I will only do a full reservoir change if I see root issues or my pH gets wonky. At any life stage I can go away for 7 days without having to top off the reservoir.

 

[growell]

ok obi wan any chance u can show some pics of your system every part if homemade want to make my own cheers mate

 

[RagWeedDWC]

Eventually I want to end up with a similar system, currently using approximately 6 gals per tote (Drops with root growth) and 13 gal res, that "tops off" the level of water in the two totes would much rather have a system that circulates the nutes and keeps them all at the same PPM.