Who am I kidding, this ain't ICMag! Was a copy&paste error.. Sorry THCFarmer

Just go to the Hydroponic section. Read, when you dont understand something.
Look it up, dont ask what it is. That's how you start to learn. Before you start a hydro grow, i think one should know off the top of there head where the PH levels should be. Under standing EC/PPM levels bast on age of plant. And start simple, dont jump into some big RDWC style. A NFT table or PVC build is easy.

First, you need to decide what kind of hydro you are interested in. There are many - ebb & flow (also called flood & drain), DWC, RDWC, NFT, etc. I suggest doing a bunch of general reading to see what will work for you in your setup and to see what looks interesting to you.

There are some good hydro websites, as well - some run by stores or manufacturers, some run by enthusiasts.

It's really hard to make recommendations on what to check out without knowing what you are interested in.

Here are a couple of places to start. Remove spaces from the URL's; I don't like posting direct off-site links because people can click them accidentally.
sdhydroponics. com /resources/articles /gardening/ how-to-grow-hydroponically-%E2%80%93-overview-of-grow-systems

hydroponics .about. com / od/hydrosystems/

Awesome guys! I've been doing tons of research nonstop for a couple months now. The system that seems to best suit my situation and set-up is probably ebb & flow. It seems to be the simplest and most interesting setup without investing a whole lot in hydro equipment. I figured if I can utilize gravity as much as possible, I'll be saving money (redundant). For now, the only information I'm struggling with is measuring ppm (like you said @WSG99) and feed schedules. I feel like a nutrients4dummies book would fit me just fine right now. For that reason, I haven't really been able to find the right thread regarding nutrients for beginners. But I'll keep looking and if anything, I will learn through trial and error :).

Cheers,

BBJ

Ebb & flow is my favorite system. I've tried several systems and I keep going back to that. It is more forgiving than most systems, it is EASY to build your own systems that don't cost much, the temp of the res water is much less sensitive than other systems.

I have built myself at least a dozen E&F systems over the last 20 years, refining the design each time. I have created my own design that reduces chances of leaks and improves production. I don't use tables like most systems - my "table" is just a tray that collects overflow from the plants and drains it back into the reservoir. The flood lines go to the bottom of the plant containers instead of flooding a table. With a typical flood table, the water that seeps into the plant container as the table floods stays stagnant until the pump shuts off and the water siphons back into the reservoir. With the feed lines inside the plant containers, the nute solution rises to the top to drain holes and it helps to carry remnants from the last flood up to the top and out. This greatly improves the pH level at the roots and reduces the toxic buildup of nutes in the medium.

I use storage totes as reservoirs (get a strong one to hold up to the weight of the water or double it as shown in the link below). My drain tables are large shallow storage bins. My plant containers are whatever works at the time (gallon size plastic milk cartons, small wastebaskets, etc). Wastebaskets are my favorite for flowering. Every single thing to build the system can be purchased at Wally World or Casa dePot. The only things you will need from a hydro store are pH & EC/TDS meters, calibration solutions, and nutes. The easiest nutes I've found to use are the old GH 3-part Flora series. A lot of people add cal-mag to the standard mix.

If you are on ICmag, check out this thread. It's an old one of mine. I have made changes to my system since then, but this is basically my setup. The first part of the thread is building the "grow tent" over a bathtub (I don't grow there any more). At about post #30 I start getting into the E&F system planning and creation. Remove the spaces from the URL.
icmag. com /ic/showpost.php?p=228992

Building the reservoir is post #34. I do not use the commercial manifold any longer, I build my own out of garden hose & irrigation fittings. The "Y" to drain the res is not necessary, but it was really convenient in that setup since the res was trapped inside the tub under the garden. I don't use them in my current setup. A pond pump from the garden center is all you need.

Post #51 is the carbon scrubber. The loose carbon in that setup was not as effective as it could be, so my current setup is a little different. I still use the metal grid & window screen to hold the carbon, but I "sew" the window screen to the metal grid so the two grids are 3" apart to make a 3" thick layer of carbon (use only 1 layer of the thin quilt batting). I fill it with the carbon & use a heavy duty foot vibrator to compact the carbon. The box that the blower goes in is now divided by the carbon filter - the blower is on one side to pull air through the filter & blow it out my ventilation system, the intakes from the grow hut are attached to the box on the other side. The ducting from the hut is attached to the top of the hut to pull heat out and take it to the box with the carbon scrubber.

Post #55 is a separate small system that is self-contained. I used it for catnip at the time, but it is perfect for cloning & seedlings. It uses the same basic E&F system as the big unit.

Post #70 shows more info on the carbon scrubber & ventilation system.

Post #71 is the lighting. I still use fluoros like this in my mothers/veg unit - my flowering unit has a T5 unit now. Instead of wiring the lights as shown, I mount a power strip to the framework of the hut and plug the light fixtures into it. The power strip is plugged into a timer. This gives me the flexibility of only plugging one or two fixtures in for cloning or plugging all of them in when I need good veg growth before going into flower.

Post #72 is the meat & potatoes of the E&F system. These days, my drain "table" is a 28-quart Sterilite tray the same bottom dimensions as the large bins shown here, but I still rough up the surface & paint them (first with black to block light, then white to reflect light/heat from the root zone). I no longer use hydroton as medium, I use coarse perlite.
The overflow holes are now about 2" below the top of the grow container. I fill the containers with compressed perlite up to about 1" below the rim of the container, but with the drain holes another inch below that, it eliminates the chances of small pieces of perlite overflowing out the top of the container and it eliminates the chances of getting bugs growing at the surface of the medium.

Post #98 has some updates/changes to the system, including how to build manifolds out of garden hose, how to use rubber "soaker hoses" instead of airstones (one tip - before using the hose, stand on one end, hold a piece of it at about waist level, and stretch it upwards about a foot; this opens the pores in the rubber & reduces problems with it getting clogged up).

There are links in this thread to a couple of my other builds from back then (8 years ago, LOL).

Wow thanks for putting all that time in to help me out :D really appreciate it i really do. Do you have another link to this thread? unfortunately the one you posted only goes to a single post regarding the bathtub, but i'd love to give all the other ones a read as well! Looks very interesting and helpful

Cheers,

BBJ

@BudBongJovi Welcome new farmer been running nft for many years its as simple as it gets check out my latest set up

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/my-200-00-nft-rain-gutter-system.60308/page-6

If I were in your shoes, I think the best advice I could hear would be, the only hydro truely worth it is RDWC. After using it for a decade now, the only other option I'd ever consider is pots of coco. But that's just my opinion

A pretty biased one at that.
Ive seen results all around the board. Rdwc seeming to be the most problematic for a begginer, on a budget. I say ebbnflow, or nft for is the way to go on a budget. Check out cannapas grow shits in lock.
Happy farmin;)

@straincreation @Canappa This whole NFT thing sounds real interesting! Ill definitely have to look into it more. Would you advice NFT for a micro grow though? Im looking for something simple that can be put in a small setup

How small? im pretty sure you can. How many sites ?ive seen it done with 2 at the least. I mean its pretty simple when it comes down to .
Happy farmin;)

straincreation said:

A pretty biased one at that.
Ive seen results all around the board. Rdwc seeming to be the most problematic for a begginer, on a budget. I say ebbnflow, or nft for is the way to go on a budget. Check out cannapas grow shits in lock.
Happy farmin;)

Click to expand...

My first grow ever was RDWC at the age of 17 and went smooth as butter.

I was then brought on to do tables. Cutting 200 clones and wasting all that rockwool plus the cleaning of tables . the whole thing is just something I wouldnt recommend .

And cost of RDWC is miniscule when building a DIY system. If I was able to afford it as a teenager in hs I sure hope a grown adult could swing it

BudBongJovi said:

Wow thanks for putting all that time in to help me out :D really appreciate it i really do. Do you have another link to this thread? unfortunately the one you posted only goes to a single post regarding the bathtub, but i'd love to give all the other ones a read as well! Looks very interesting and helpful

Cheers,

BBJ

Click to expand...

Here is a link to the full thread, sorry, Remove the spaces again.
icmag. com /ic/showthread.php? threadid=14682

FooDoo is right, RDWC is a great system & Cannapa is right, NFT is great, too. There is a link in my old thread as to how I built my RDWC and I loved it for winter grows. But I live in the south and it's f**king hot here; if res temps get much above 70, you will have root rot & all kinds of problems. If you live up north, you will probably love it. Here in the south, without a res cooler, DWC/RDWC, NFT, & other systems that keep water on the roots constantly are not good choices.

Truthfully, I would not recommend DWC or RDWC for a beginner. I'm not sure about NFT, either. E&F is very forgiving & will be a good way to get basic experience with hydro.

NFT Looks awesome, but at this point, I want to avoid any major drilling as much as possible. For that reason, I think im going to go with a single E&F tray that ill throw in a small grow tent. Should be easy enough to build under an hour i'd say. ILL START A GROW JOURNAL ONCE I ACQUIRE MORE SEEDS. Until then thank you everyone for all the great responses and ill keep y'all updated through the next few months.

Much love,

BBJ!

BudBongJovi said:

@straincreation @Canappa This whole NFT thing sounds real interesting! Ill definitely have to look into it more. Would you advice NFT for a micro grow though? Im looking for something simple that can be put in a small setup

Click to expand...

Just like @straincreation said you can go as small as you like, its up to you how big or small it can be. nft is best in a larger scale IMO for something small check out @satived he has the smallest nft system I seen on the farm and put out nice big buds;)

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/breeding-for-whorls.63887/

@Canappa has a dope system no doubt. Just throwing hempy buckets at you. Simple as simple can be. Couple different ways to do it but no moving parts but still get growth and yeild of a true hydro system. Doesn't get much easier! Good luck and vibes to u bro!

For the few of us around 14 years ago, you might remember a grower by the handle of NIMBY who specialized in stealth dwc micro grows.



The tote and aquarium head pump is like $20 for the system . combined with the basic Lucas formula and RO water from Safeway or Walmart at .99 cents a gallon, you have the cheapest fool proof hydro system ever thought of

FooDoo said:

For the few of us around 14 years ago, you might remember a grower by the handle of NIMBY who specialized in stealth dwc micro grows.



The tote and aquarium head pump is like $20 for the system . combined with the basic Lucas formula and RO water from Safeway or Walmart at .99 cents a gallon, you have the cheapest fool proof hydro system ever thought of

Click to expand...

This looks perfect. Thanks a ton!

FooDoo said:

For the few of us around 14 years ago, you might remember a grower by the handle of NIMBY who specialized in stealth dwc micro grows.



The tote and aquarium head pump is like $20 for the system . combined with the basic Lucas formula and RO water from Safeway or Walmart at .99 cents a gallon, you have the cheapest fool proof hydro system ever thought of

Click to expand...

This is far better that what I paid a LOT of money for!! Anybody got a laid out design on this? Something on paper at least? I mean it seems straight forward but there are always things you cannot see from a picture.