Second grow - trying hydro in coco.

[spase]

After an apparently nice grow in soil, I'm going with hydro in coco. I just cut part of the bag seed Indica I've grown. There's still a bag seed sativa finishing up, so I've started 3 clones of the Indica. The first soil run, this Indica matured in 6 weeks from flip. I'm really hoping it's good considering that fast flower! The sativa is huge and lanky and looks like I'm going to get over 4 ounces.
Here is a picture of my clone/ veg room. The girls are hanging out in their little tray just waiting to try out their new cloth pots.

 

[spase]

I have most of the components I'll need. Air pumps, water pumps, hose, a reservoir. My pots are probably bigger than they need to be at 3 gallon. I've tested the pumps. I think I've got a good plan.
My set up is a converted closet. I split the 7 foot long closet into the veg room pictured above - about 3x3x77 and the flowering room- about 49x39x77. I'm using a lot of AC Infinity products, and I think they seem to do a great job. I'm using the AI controller on the flowering room with their 500w light. Currently, it's got just a heater as I moved the ac and humidifier to the drying tent.
My venting is a little weird, but I'm hoping it works ok. I have a vent in the flowing room, which is fairly sealed. It has an AC Infinity S6 exhaust fan. The veg room and the drying tent feed the flowering room. I do have a second 4 inch fan I'm considering venting the drying room separately, but the ac in the drying tent is helping keep the flowering room chill.
I am using the AC Infinity coco and for nutrients I'm using the Veg+Bloom ro. I picked up all their extras, so I'll be adding the life, stax and shine at their appropriate times. I'm planning on feeding twice daily, I'll have to figure out how much - I'm just hand feeding the clones a couple times daily now. I'll describe and add pictures of the set up as I get to putting it together.

Here's a couple pics of the current grow:

 

[Grownsince95]

Looking good! Get some perlite in that coco and keep in mind that the high water level in your reservoir must be lower than your emitters or you will run into siphon issues. I learned this the hard way lol.

 

[spase]

Looking good! Get some perlite in that coco and keep in mind that the high water level in your reservoir must be lower than your emitters or you will run into siphon issues. I learned this the hard way lol.

I'm pumping into a funnel that will feed the plants and remove the possibility of a siphon. I'll also make rings out of hose and Ts to better irrigate the pots. I'm going without the pearlite this time. I do have some, but have read it is unnecessary. Hopefully not a decision I regret...

 

[Grownsince95]

I'm pumping into a funnel that will feed the plants and remove the possibility of a siphon. I'll also make rings out of hose and Ts to better irrigate the pots. I'm going without the pearlite this time. I do have some, but have read it is unnecessary. Hopefully not a decision I regret...

If you already have some perlite it's silly not to use it. It greatly improves the structure of the medium, the plants love it, and leaving it out offers zero advantage.

When you say funnel are you using some kind of gravity feed setup, like pumping up to a funnel and having gravity pull it down to the plants?

 

[spase]

I just put the drip together. I need more of the Ts to finish my drip ring, but I can leave the ends open until I get some. It drops the solution in the funnel and gravity does the rest. I used my kitchen faucet and the funnel wouldn't overflow, so the drip should be good.

 

[spase]

Maybe I'll add the pearlite to one or 2 and see the difference.

 

[greentomatoes2025]

I also use a funnel located outside at the top of my tent, this is connected to a halo ring which supplies one plant only so forgive my inexperience in your setup.

However how does the two plants on the right receive the same amount of water/nutrients here using a gravity feed? Wouldn't the right hand T-junctions only receive water once the main line is full?

If you are planning to use a pump (perhaps later) wouldn't you want to keep all individual feed lines the same length from the central 3 way or 4 way junction and assume even pressure and flow rate this way?

Just curious on your setup!

 

[Grownsince95]

I just put the drip together. I need more of the Ts to finish my drip ring, but I can leave the ends open until I get some. It drops the solution in the funnel and gravity does the rest. I used my kitchen faucet and the funnel wouldn't overflow, so the drip should be good.

You will not get an even amount of water from each ring, they have to split at the same place and the runs need to be exactly the same length so they start and stop at the same time.

 

[Grownsince95]

I also use a funnel located outside at the top of my tent, this is connected to a halo ring which supplies one plant only so forgive my inexperience in your setup.

However how does the two plants on the right receive the same amount of water/nutrients here using a gravity feed? Wouldn't the right hand T-junctions only receive water once the main line is full?

If you are planning to use a pump (perhaps later) wouldn't you want to keep all individual feed lines the same length from the central 3 way or 4 way junction and assume even pressure and flow rate this way?

Just curious on your setup!

I also learned this the hard way

 

[greentomatoes2025]

I also learned this the hard way

Haha did you encounter flooding or under watering or both?

I haven't tried a pump/reservoir setup yet but am keen to.. I have been hand watering. My hydroponic shop said id get over it pretty quickly (he was right) so have been doing a bit of research.

 

[Grownsince95]

Haha did you encounter flooding or under watering or both?

I haven't tried a pump/reservoir setup yet but am keep to.. I have been hand watering. My hydroponic shop said id get over it pretty quickly (he was right) so have been doing a bit of research.

I did what the OP did. Built my whole system, turned it on for the first time, and watched in horror as one pot got 90% of the water and rest just a few drops. Had to tear it down and start from scratch.

The week after I accidentally siphoned out an entire 20 gallon rez into the tent and nearly got kicked out of my apartment. I told my landlord the toilet overflowed. The downstairs neighbors were pissed.

 

[Grownsince95]

Haha did you encounter flooding or under watering or both?

I haven't tried a pump/reservoir setup yet but am keen to.. I have been hand watering. My hydroponic shop said id get over it pretty quickly (he was right) so have been doing a bit of research.

I just built a new setup step by step in this thread if you want to check it out.

Thread 'Grown since 2025! Backyard shed edition!' https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/grown-since-2025-backyard-shed-edition.169992/

 

[greentomatoes2025]

I did what the OP did. Built my whole system, turned it on for the first time, and watched in horror as one pot got 90% of the water and rest just a few drops. Had to tear it down and start from scratch.

The week after I accidentally siphoned out an entire 20 gallon rez into the tent and nearly got kicked out of my apartment. I told my landlord the toilet overflowed. The downstairs neighbors were pissed.

Oh man that sucks! I can only imagine the horror coming home to that

 

[greentomatoes2025]

I just built a new setup step by step in this thread if you want to check it out.

Thread 'Grown since 2025! Backyard shed edition!' https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/grown-since-2025-backyard-shed-edition.169992/

I've just been reading through it coincidentally! Looks great

 

[Grownsince95]

Oh man that sucks! I can only imagine the horror coming home to that

I wish I could have told them the truth that it wasn't stanky toilet water but it was illegal at the time and you know how the coco runoff has that golden brown color? It was the perfect lie

 

[spase]

At least if I manage to empty my res, it only affects me and my wife.
I did attempt a "manifold" with a section of slightly bigger hose to hopefully keep the flow even. I'll do a test run and verify before it goes into production.

 

[spase]

So, I think I'll experiment with the pearlite. I'm doing 3 clones of a plant, so each will get it's % of pearlite. One will get the traditional 30, one 20 and one 0. I can see how much it helps.
I also tested my drip manifold and report little success. I think I'll just use a pump for each plant. I've got a couple should be here in a few days, and they're doing great in the little tray.

 

[spase]

Ok. I've moved them to the cloth pots. They're on a low dose of veg+bloom.

 

[spase]

The drip has been working nicely. I'm currently running 3 seconds on every 6 hours while lights are on. It's about 300ml each feed and I'm getting probably a little more run off than needed, but 2 seconds isn't enough. It should reduce as the plants get bigger anyways and I'll need to adjust.
I did decide 30 percent on the pearlite. There's a hole in the saucers that drains into a bucket below the plants. It's working as needed and I'm pretty happy. I'm even leaving town for 3 days and I think I'll just need someone to drain the waste bucket...