Newb, any and all info appreciated

[Skinnypuppy80]

So I have not ever grown, am I getting into too much by doing hydro? I'm looking at getting a 5x5 gorilla tent and their hydro recirculating dwc 6 bucket setup, gorilla hydro clone/seedling tent, mammoth 8 led, and aci hvac and controller. Any advice, suggestions, or links would be greatly appreciated as I am looking at close to 3k on this purchase... thanks in advance!!

 

[amneziaHaze]

since its not the same as growing in soil you are not getting in to too much.but a 5x5 for a first time growing maybe.... i personally would start with one dwc bucket and then when i decide i can do it then go for 6 buckets.dont forget the messuring instruments ppm ph...

 

[TheGoldenRoad]

Welcome! I'm a soil grower so I can't toss my two pennies in about hydro but hang in there and more people will chime in. Happy growing!

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

since its not the same as growing in soil you are not getting in to too much.but a 5x5 for a first time growing maybe.... i personally would start with one dwc bucket and then when i decide i can do it then go for 6 buckets.dont forget the messuring instruments ppm ph...

I have a ac industies pro ph kit in my basket. It comes with a probe, a pen, and stuff to correct the ph. Should I grab other stuff besides nutrients? Like preventive additives for the water?

 

[GlueGuru]

So I have not ever grown, am I getting into too much by doing hydro? I'm looking at getting a 5x5 gorilla tent and their hydro recirculating dwc 6 bucket setup, gorilla hydro clone/seedling tent, mammoth 8 led, and aci hvac and controller. Any advice, suggestions, or links would be greatly appreciated as I am looking at close to 3k on this purchase... thanks in advance!!

Hell yeah, I Iike your style! Fire in there head first and buy good gear from the start cheers to that! My first grow years ago was 12 photos at a time and I don't regret it, even my first ever auto grow I'm doing right now is 12 at a time
I feel if you have spent more on the setup and have more on the line, you appreciate it more and wanna learn more, or maybe that's just me
Anyway I can't comment much on hydro as I do soil, but I say go all in man I'm sure loads of people here can help though and so many good journals to browse, it's amazing here! Good luck and happy growing amigo

 

[TheGoldenRoad]

Hell yeah, I Iike your style! Fire in there head first and buy good gear from the start cheers to that! My first grow years ago was 12 photos at a time and I don't regret it, even my first ever auto grow I'm doing right now is 12 at a time
I feel if you have spent more on the setup and have more on the line, you appreciate it more and wanna learn more, or maybe that's just me
Anyway I can't comment much on hydro as I do soil, but I say go all in man I'm sure loads of people here can help though and so many good journals to browse, it's amazing here! Good luck and happy growing amigo

This energy is epic

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

Thanks for the encouraging words!! When I get into something, I tend to go big from the start Example, I dropped close to 3k and countless hrs to watercool my pc... way more than the cost and time for the actual hardware of the pc components lol. But yeah, here to get an idea of what I'm about to get into and what I have looked over. I have a few friends that do/did soil, and my led alone is what they paid for there entire 4x4 setup lol. Come trim time I'll try to get them to help in exchange for beer, weed, and pizza lol.

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

So the ggt hydro setup i was looking at is a 6-5gal bucket, 35gal reservoir. I noticed there's a DIY kit from pa hydroponics follponics that has 4-13gal buckets and a 13gal res. the pa system has a 400 gph pump compared to the 250gph gorilla. pa is also $300 cheaper, much assembly acquired lol. Any thoughts?

 

[amneziaHaze]

I have a ac industies pro ph kit in my basket. It comes with a probe, a pen, and stuff to correct the ph. Should I grab other stuff besides nutrients? Like preventive additives for the water?

Ph+ or - depending on your nutes and water.cal mag if growing under a led a ppm meter. Pool shovk or hydrogen peroxcide to keep life away or trichoderma to have carnivores in your water

 

[PooToe]

IMO, like anything, you need to start slow and work your way up if you want to get good at whatever it is you want to do well at.

As cool as all that gear is you really want to start with the basics and master those first. I'm not saying it can't be done out of the gate but as a first time grower you're going to have a lot going on at the same time and when a lot of stuff is going on and you have an issue it becomes much harder to figure which of all that stuff is causing the issue.

Honestly, for a new gardener, I would suggest you downsize into a 2 x 2 tent, pick up a ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro for your lighting along with a 5 gal pot of your choice, soil media of your choice and whatever nutrient line you like. Getting into hydro your first time can be really frustrating. I would not recommend you do that. If you want to go organic then organic media for water only in veg and whatever organic nutrients you want to use once your plant goes into flower. Keep it simple the first time because even with as simple a setup as I've posted a lot of issues can crop up. Once you've learned how to take a plant from seed to harvest on your own, then you can go bigger and use the 2 x 2 to sprout seeds, grow clones, isolate infected plants, house mothers, whatever you want to use it for.

I get that this isn't sexy or cool but it will get you where you want to go quickly and cheaply.

My setup consists of a 5 x 5 as my main production tent and two 2 x 2's. One of the 2 x 2's houses 3 different mother cultivars for me to be able to take clones from that are guaranteed females. The other I use to sprout seeds, grow clones, etc. I've been growing for over 30 yrs and have worked in both legal and illegal facilities.

I know you said you like to go big, which is me to a T, but I(and my bank account) learned that doing it that way will usually end up with me having a lot of gear that I don't really know how to employ to its fullest because I'm not proficient enough to understand how it will work within the entire system. You mentioned you have friends that grow so you do have resources available to you when you have an issue but their grow style and yours may differ.

Don't be that guy that has the latest of everything but has no clue how to use it but likes the idea that he has the latest shit. Growing weed successfully doesn't take much. Gear just makes things easier and more automated.

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

IMO, like anything, you need to start slow and work your way up if you want to get good at whatever it is you want to do well at.

As cool as all that gear is you really want to start with the basics and master those first. I'm not saying it can't be done out of the gate but as a first time grower you're going to have a lot going on at the same time and when a lot of stuff is going on and you have an issue it becomes much harder to figure which of all that stuff is causing the issue.

Honestly, for a new gardener, I would suggest you downsize into a 2 x 2 tent, pick up a ViparSpectra XS1500 Pro for your lighting along with a 5 gal pot of your choice, soil media of your choice and whatever nutrient line you like. Getting into hydro your first time can be really frustrating. I would not recommend you do that. If you want to go organic then organic media for water only in veg and whatever organic nutrients you want to use once your plant goes into flower. Keep it simple the first time because even with as simple a setup as I've posted a lot of issues can crop up. Once you've learned how to take a plant from seed to harvest on your own, then you can go bigger and use the 2 x 2 to sprout seeds, grow clones, isolate infected plants, house mothers, whatever you want to use it for.

I get that this isn't sexy or cool but it will get you where you want to go quickly and cheaply.

My setup consists of a 5 x 5 as my main production tent and two 2 x 2's. One of the 2 x 2's houses 3 different mother cultivars for me to be able to take clones from that are guaranteed females. The other I use to sprout seeds, grow clones, etc. I've been growing for over 30 yrs and have worked in both legal and illegal facilities.

I know you said you like to go big, which is me to a T, but I(and my bank account) learned that doing it that way will usually end up with me having a lot of gear that I don't really know how to employ to its fullest because I'm not proficient enough to understand how it will work within the entire system. You mentioned you have friends that grow so you do have resources available to you when you have an issue but their grow style and yours may differ.

Don't be that guy that has the latest of everything but has no clue how to use it but likes the idea that he has the latest shit. Growing weed successfully doesn't take much. Gear just makes things easier and more automated.

Thank you for your time and advice! I am wary of going hydro as I assume there's a bit more to it than soil. If it wasn't for others like amneziaHaze, I would have no clue about a ppm meter. Pretty vital so you know the concentration of nutes in the water during the different stages of growth.

You brought up a lot of good points and I appreciate all of it. As a new gardener, I should crawl b4 walking, let alone sprinting lol. My thinking though is, ultimately I want to go hydro. So if I fail spectacularly at my first, second attempt, I can dial back and for a few hundred, do soil.

Your experience and knowledge is invaluable. I really appreciate you confirming my initial apprehension of going hydro. That being said , I'm going forth with it. I would greatly appreciate any info u could give, stuff you'd expect in a "hydro 101 for dummies" book. Or links even? This is asking a lot, have to try though

I'd really like your opinion of the 2 hydro systems you would go with that I mentioned in this thread, the gorilla grow tent 6 bucket or the pa hydroponics follponics DIY 4 bucket.

You are probably spot on with your advice, and I truly do appreciate it, something I need to hear. Thank you!

 

[PooToe]

Thank you for your time and advice! I am wary of going hydro as I assume there's a bit more to it than soil. If it wasn't for others like amneziaHaze, I would have no clue about a ppm meter. Pretty vital so you know the concentration of nutes in the water during the different stages of growth.

You brought up a lot of good points and I appreciate all of it. As a new gardener, I should crawl b4 walking, let alone sprinting lol. My thinking though is, ultimately I want to go hydro. So if I fail spectacularly at my first, second attempt, I can dial back and for a few hundred, do soil.

Your experience and knowledge is invaluable. I really appreciate you confirming my initial apprehension of going hydro. That being said , I'm going forth with it. I would greatly appreciate any info u could give, stuff you'd expect in a "hydro 101 for dummies" book. Or links even? This is asking a lot, have to try though

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of experience in DWC. Hydro yes but running wool blocks rather than full on water only. I do frequent a site that has some real hydro/RDWC experts that can guide you through the entire process from setup to harvest but this site discourages posting links to other grow sites. Probably some of the best, most knowledgeable RDWC guys I've known.

I've run water culture maybe 10 times so I don't really have enough experience to comment on what the best setup would be. When I do RDWC I usually just cobble together a system from disparate suppliers. I will say that most of the all in one systems I've seen are pretty much the same. There really isn't much to an RDWC system other than making sure the water pump is working as it should and there are no leaks.

The first time I ran DWC was with a buddy of mine. He lived in an apartment and wanted to get into growing. He called me up to go with him to the hardware store as I had some experience growing weed. He decided that he wanted to go big so he bought six 30 gal Bruiser trash cans with lids. He also bought some net pots and hydroton. He was going to cut a hole in the top and put the net pot in it along with the hydroton for media. Big air pump and some 8 inch air discs and we were complete. I cautioned him against using such large reservoirs but he wasn't having any of it. While all this was going on I asked him if his wife was going to be OK with him doing this in their apartment. He puffed his chest out and started saying crap about how he was the man of the house and if she didn't like it she could go pound sand, blah, blah, blah.

We get everything setup and running and the wife comes home. The moment she sees what we had setup she fucking lost it!!!

She started screaming "Why are there trash cans full of water in my dining room?!!??"

My buddy tucked tail and hid in the bedroom. I was laughing so hard that she kicked me out of the apartment. After a few days I go over to my buddies apartment to see what happened. Everything was the same but his wife took me aside and told me she was really frustrated with me. I asked her why and she told me that I should know that I'm the adult in my buddy and mines friendship and that I should have told him no!

I'd really like your opinion of the 2 hydro systems you would go with that I mentioned in this thread, the gorilla grow tent 6 bucket or the pa hydroponics follponics DIY 4 bucket.

You are probably spot on with your advice, and I truly do appreciate it, something I need to hear. Thank you!

The difference I see is the GG is turn key while the PA is accessories only and you need to provide the square buckets and hydroton. Kind of apples to oranges. If you have a source for the buckets and are willing to go hunting for all the other little shit you may need to complete your system then go with PA otherwise GG.

Honestly, this system would probably do just as well as the ones you noted at a considerably cheaper price.

Amazon.com : 4 Site Bucket Ultimate Hydroponic Growing Kit: Build Your Own Self-Sustaining Aquaponics Garden and Herb Garden Planter Indoor Kit - rDWC Hydroponic System Kit - Veggie Grow Kit with 5 Gallon Bucket : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 4 Site Bucket Ultimate Hydroponic Growing Kit: Build Your Own Self-Sustaining Aquaponics Garden and Herb Garden Planter Indoor Kit - rDWC Hydroponic System Kit - Veggie Grow Kit with 5 Gallon Bucket : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

Want more sites cheaper?

Amazon.com: VIVOSUN DWC Hydroponics Grow System with Top Drip Kit, 5-Gallon Deep Water Culture, Recirculating Drip Garden System with Multi-Purpose Air Hose, Air Pump, and Air Stone (8 Buckets + Top Drip Kit) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com: VIVOSUN DWC Hydroponics Grow System with Top Drip Kit, 5-Gallon Deep Water Culture, Recirculating Drip Garden System with Multi-Purpose Air Hose, Air Pump, and Air Stone (8 Buckets + Top Drip Kit) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

I would look for the cheapest way to get my system together to see if I even like that grow style or not. As I mentioned, I've been growing for 30+ years and have grown in practically every different type of system but I keep coming back to dirt.

Check out this thread. He started in soil in a 2 x 2.

This is my first real grow!

Hey everyone! Im growing a seed i got from a bag of Platinum Garlic OG from Triple Seven out here in AZ. Iv had some trouble keeping the temps down where my grow tent used to be, so i dedicated an extra room to it. I was keeping my temps between 70° and...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[PooToe]

BTW don't be too dependent on name brand tents. Cheap chinese ones block out just as much light as the more expensive ones. Zippers may be shittier and you won't have the luxury of being able to raise your roof but if you run your grow correctly roof height shouldn't be an issue.

All of my tents are no name and they seem to do just fine.

 

[mstrpkl]

So I have not ever grown, am I getting into too much by doing hydro? I'm looking at getting a 5x5 gorilla tent and their hydro recirculating dwc 6 bucket setup, gorilla hydro clone/seedling tent, mammoth 8 led, and aci hvac and controller. Any advice, suggestions, or links would be greatly appreciated as I am looking at close to 3k on this purchase... thanks in advance!!

Danm you aint fuckin around hahaha welcome to the farm dude! Im on my first grow right now too :) happy to help if i can. But you got a really good person in your thread already lol @PooToe has helped me a lot.

Im in a 2x2x4 vivosun setup, if youre lookin to get something really good quality i can recommend getting a vivosun setup. They have a badass humidifier called the aerostream h19, the tent is good quality and you can get different sizes if you want, and my favorite part is the fact that i can control just about everything through 1 app. The only thing that wouldnt be controlled by the app is your heating/cooling.

Anyways, hope you have a lot of fun growing! What kind are you gonna grow first?

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of experience in DWC. Hydro yes but running wool blocks rather than full on water only. I do frequent a site that has some real hydro/RDWC experts that can guide you through the entire process from setup to harvest but this site discourages posting links to other grow sites. Probably some of the best, most knowledgeable RDWC guys I've known.

I've run water culture maybe 10 times so I don't really have enough experience to comment on what the best setup would be. When I do RDWC I usually just cobble together a system from disparate suppliers. I will say that most of the all in one systems I've seen are pretty much the same. There really isn't much to an RDWC system other than making sure the water pump is working as it should and there are no leaks.

The first time I ran DWC was with a buddy of mine. He lived in an apartment and wanted to get into growing. He called me up to go with him to the hardware store as I had some experience growing weed. He decided that he wanted to go big so he bought six 30 gal Bruiser trash cans with lids. He also bought some net pots and hydroton. He was going to cut a hole in the top and put the net pot in it along with the hydroton for media. Big air pump and some 8 inch air discs and we were complete. I cautioned him against using such large reservoirs but he wasn't having any of it. While all this was going on I asked him if his wife was going to be OK with him doing this in their apartment. He puffed his chest out and started saying crap about how he was the man of the house and if she didn't like it she could go pound sand, blah, blah, blah.

We get everything setup and running and the wife comes home. The moment she sees what we had setup she fucking lost it!!!

She started screaming "Why are there trash cans full of water in my dining room?!!??"

My buddy tucked tail and hid in the bedroom. I was laughing so hard that she kicked me out of the apartment. After a few days I go over to my buddies apartment to see what happened. Everything was the same but his wife took me aside and told me she was really frustrated with me. I asked her why and she told me that I should know that I'm the adult in my buddy and mines friendship and that I should have told him no!

The difference I see is the GG is turn key while the PA is accessories only and you need to provide the square buckets and hydroton. Kind of apples to oranges. If you have a source for the buckets and are willing to go hunting for all the other little shit you may need to complete your system then go with PA otherwise GG.

Honestly, this system would probably do just as well as the ones you noted at a considerably cheaper price.

Amazon.com : 4 Site Bucket Ultimate Hydroponic Growing Kit: Build Your Own Self-Sustaining Aquaponics Garden and Herb Garden Planter Indoor Kit - rDWC Hydroponic System Kit - Veggie Grow Kit with 5 Gallon Bucket : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 4 Site Bucket Ultimate Hydroponic Growing Kit: Build Your Own Self-Sustaining Aquaponics Garden and Herb Garden Planter Indoor Kit - rDWC Hydroponic System Kit - Veggie Grow Kit with 5 Gallon Bucket : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

Want more sites cheaper?

Amazon.com: VIVOSUN DWC Hydroponics Grow System with Top Drip Kit, 5-Gallon Deep Water Culture, Recirculating Drip Garden System with Multi-Purpose Air Hose, Air Pump, and Air Stone (8 Buckets + Top Drip Kit) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com: VIVOSUN DWC Hydroponics Grow System with Top Drip Kit, 5-Gallon Deep Water Culture, Recirculating Drip Garden System with Multi-Purpose Air Hose, Air Pump, and Air Stone (8 Buckets + Top Drip Kit) : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

I would look for the cheapest way to get my system together to see if I even like that grow style or not. As I mentioned, I've been growing for 30+ years and have grown in practically every different type of system but I keep coming back to dirt.

Check out this thread. He started in soil in a 2 x 2.

This is my first real grow!

Hey everyone! Im growing a seed i got from a bag of Platinum Garlic OG from Triple Seven out here in AZ. Iv had some trouble keeping the temps down where my grow tent used to be, so i dedicated an extra room to it. I was keeping my temps between 70° and...

www.thcfarmer.com

lol, love the story!! So the PA DIY kit comes with everything but the pvc and you have to drill holes in the buckets. For about 200 more, they sell it w the pvc and holes drilled, just assembly required.

Got to the 3rd page of that thread, very interesting read so far. Will most definitely continue, good info in that w lst and such. I do have a net already in my basket

 

[m8ty]

Are you getting the water chiller? And how often are you going to change the water?

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

Danm you aint fuckin around hahaha welcome to the farm dude! Im on my first grow right now too :) happy to help if i can. But you got a really good person in your thread already lol @PooToe has helped me a lot.

Im in a 2x2x4 vivosun setup, if youre lookin to get something really good quality i can recommend getting a vivosun setup. They have a badass humidifier called the aerostream h19, the tent is good quality and you can get different sizes if you want, and my favorite part is the fact that i can control just about everything through 1 app. The only thing that wouldnt be controlled by the app is your heating/cooling.

Anyways, hope you have a lot of fun growing! What kind are you gonna grow first?

Thank you! I have very much appreciated all the input, I'm learning more and more and will probably have to start giving my friends advice lol! @PooToe most definitely has been very kind w his knowledge.

I like the gorilla tent, may go w

Danm you aint fuckin around hahaha welcome to the farm dude! Im on my first grow right now too :) happy to help if i can. But you got a really good person in your thread already lol @PooToe has helped me a lot.

Im in a 2x2x4 vivosun setup, if youre lookin to get something really good quality i can recommend getting a vivosun setup. They have a badass humidifier called the aerostream h19, the tent is good quality and you can get different sizes if you want, and my favorite part is the fact that i can control just about everything through 1 app. The only thing that wouldnt be controlled by the app is your heating/cooling.

Anyways, hope you have a lot of fun growing! What kind are you gonna grow first?

Thank you! I have very much appreciated all the input, I'm learning more and more and will probably have to start giving my friends advice lol! @PooToe most definitely has been very kind w his knowledge.

I like the gorilla tent, may go w ac industries though.. I'm gonna get circulating fans, inline w filter, and a controller 69 from aci. I'll b able to control all that and my led from that controller so was thinking of getting their tent. Higher density but getting a better deal w gorilla, plus gorilla is 15" taller. My apartment stays in the 70-72°(northern mn area) range so not really concerned w heating/cooling.

I am probably gonna get feminized blue dreams, supposed to be a resilient strain good for hydro and high yields.

 

[Skinnypuppy80]

Are you getting the water chiller? And how often are you going to change the water?

Very good question!! I'm assuming u r talking about the gorilla setup? Dunno if I'm getting that or the PA hydroponics follponics setup. If u have any suggestions on either setup, that'd be cool. Would u recommend the chiller? How often should I change the water? Does it depend on the ppm, stagnation, clarity? Something else I need to research.

Thank you for the question and would appreciate any info you have!

 

[MisterDunk]

So I have not ever grown, am I getting into too much by doing hydro? I'm looking at getting a 5x5 gorilla tent and their hydro recirculating dwc 6 bucket setup, gorilla hydro clone/seedling tent, mammoth 8 led, and aci hvac and controller. Any advice, suggestions, or links would be greatly appreciated as I am looking at close to 3k on this purchase... thanks in advance!!

I am a scientist, and I agree with this message thread. Welcome to the Farm

 

[DillyTrying2Learn]

My first grow I did a 5x5 Gorilla with a 4 site RDWC set up. I love it and couldn't be happier. You so have to have the time to do it though, it's a little more involved because of water changes and such.