been looking into flower bed growing in soil , now i need to weigh up the odds between that and a hydro system.
but what system?

ive got 2 x 1 meter's to play with (2 meters high) , ive got 2 600 watt lights and im looking to grow a scrog.
id like to fill the whole area if i can.

im on a limited budget and noise is a big issue. i dont mind fabricating my own system if it works out cheaper.

i only grow once every couple of years so high yeild is essential as this means longer spells between grows.

i know nothing about hydro.

any help would be much appreciated guys.

DIY Ebb and flow is the best for very little money.

here is my £20 DIY one i made out of stuff i had floating around the house.

LINK

how many plants would you be able to grow in that then?
and how quiet is it?

ive been looking at flood and drain and im thinking if i do go hydro , this will be the way to go.

either way , soil or hydro , i will be buying the gear next week so its pretty much decision time.

the only sound is from the air pump in the reservoir tank.....so it as quiet as a small fish tank

as far as how many plant, the two trays are 80cm long so you could fit 3 big ones in each and have 6 large plants or upto 12 for sea of green.......all comes down to how big you top try or "flood table" is....its such any easy system to make your self and the only cost are:

flood tray
reservoir
air pump
water pump
tubing


there are some other DIY hydro systems that are even cheaper like DWC bubble pots (deep water culture).....but from experience they make alot more noise if you have more then one pot.......iv got 3 DWC pots and that make 3x the noise of my Ebb & flow.

its going to have to be an ebb and flow then i guess.

is there any rule as to depth of media etc?

im thinking , if i buy 20 seeds , keep 2 as mothers, thats 9 plants per light should i get 100 percent germination.

if i could get three of those planters in your set up under each light , thats 3 plants per planter.

im going to need a huge holding tank arnt i?

a mate use's mop bucket's & does well with DWC.

I would say anything over 20cm depth should be fine and hooked up to a timer so it floods the table 3times a day for about 15mins.



you want a tank that will hold at least double what flood tables volumes is....otherwise you will end up having to top it up alot when the plants get big (mature plant drink a large amount of water each day), you want to be looking for 50L+ IMHO

how many litres are those planters you have roughly?

edit , ah , 30 ltrs.
so , if i use 4 of those , i will be looking for a 120ltr tank.
i might have to split the system in half and run two seperate systems..

2x 80cm 30L planters £2.99 each

brains not working , thats 240 ltrs.
thats a big tank.

e2a: PC just went mad

sorry i worded that really badly

you want a ratio of atleast 1:1 so if you have a 100L flood table you want a 100L+ reservoir

i was only saying twice the size as i have two flood tbles 30L x 2= 60L+ reservoir (i could get away with the 50L reservoir just have to keep an eye on it to see if it ever needs topping up)

you could get away with a 100L or 2x50L tanks easy, but you would just have to keep an eye on your water levels towards the end of each week during the end stages of our grow......systems with bigger tanks can just be left alone a lot longer.

i only grow once every couple of years so high yeild is essential as this means longer spells between grows.


I had a long run of start/stop growing, there's a lot to be said for it. Veg the seeds under the 2 x 600w hps, flower them and after harvest dry them in the same place. Pack everything away until you need to start again. They go into the tent as seeds and come out as buds in jars.

My first time with 2 x 600w hps and a 2m x 1m space (Budbox XXL) was also my first time with hempy buckets. Harvested 0.6 grams per watt so 26 ounces. Not bad for a seed grow. Am currently getting about 16oz per light now, same type of seeds.

This is my nightly routine: I have a 40L bucket on a table with a float valve to the ro unit, I forget how many litres it's set to but it's always the same volume of pure water. Using a measuring syringe I add 30ml of GH flora micro. Then I add 60ml of GH flora bloom, different syringe. Finally I add 12ml of Liquid Silicon, this brings the pH up to about 6.1/6.2. I pour the contents into a 40L bucket below. That's the nutes mixed.


Each vegging plant gets 1 litre of nutes each night and the flowering plants get 2 litres a night. The buckets or pots are usually filled with 100% perlite. Healthy plants, no problems, rinse and repeat. It is possible to leave them longer between feeds, but I'm here anyway and it helps stop salt build up. If I need to miss a night or 2 I can do so without worrying about them.

When I restarted my grow after a break it was oh so easy to do the same routine.

I dare say ebb and flow will yield a bit more once you're experienced with it but passive hydro with reverse osmosis water is about as foolproof as it gets. You get the ec and pH right once and that's how you mix it for evermore.

I've used hempy buckets alongside 11 litre square pots, 100% perlite alongside 100% Fytocell and haven't noticed any real difference. They grow slow for the first 2 weeks then the vigorous growth starts.

Good luck with your grow.

thanks guys , ive been told that a scrog of the same size as mine could/should produce 50-60 ounces , how realistic is this? i have no reason to doubt this estimate , but that may be just because ive never grown at this kind of scale before.

Far better to grow in compost imho as you don't have to water half as often.



i dont scrog so cant really help with that, but i think how much growing experience you have had will make a big difference though

ive found this, its a 110 litre storage box.

do you think this would do as a tank?




ive seen dripper systems being used , whats the score on these ? im thinking a dripper system wouldnt need such a large tank?

top feed (drippers) and ebb & flow systems use the same amount of water so the size of the tank can be the same.

thats a big one, 110L!

the only trouble is its clear (light + water + nutrients= algae) but you could paint it or cover it in bin bags to stop the light......it is a very good size!

Far better to grow in compost imho as you don't have to water half as often.

As I said, I do not need to feed them every night. Many users of hempy buckets leave them 3 or 4 days between feeds. Passive hydro can't be overwatered at one feed per night and it's an easy schedule to remember when blitzed, which I usually am. When I use Fytocell as a medium I could probably leave them almost a week between feeds but then I'd be needing to do something about salt buildup and the pH changing, can't be arsed. If I'm here anyway, 10 minutes to feed them is no nevermind and I'm not going to play scrooge over a few pennies worth of nutes.

Fighting fungas gnats, having to do re-potting and get lower yields? No thanks. I have a 10 minute a night no hassle system that keeps me as stoned as I ever want to be, why would I ever want to change it?

bobbert, scrog brings it's own problems. Normally done with clones but I put 5 overgrown fem seed plants into an emergency scrog and they're looking good. Are you prepared to keep a mother plant for the years between growing? If not, I can vouch for Paradise Seeds fems.

How are you going to access the plants at the back? They'll need weaving almost every day for some weeks. If the plants at the back develop mould when the canopy of buds is like a jungle, how are you going to spot that? Something to keep in mind if choosing a fixed system that involves plumbing.

You could do a modular scrog, say 8 plants total but dragging 6 modules out to get to the back 2 modules will quickly become tedious imo although a price you might be willing to pay for the increase in yield.

i havent considered access yet. i was going to butt the room to a back wall.
i might have to have a re-think regarding position. the room is 1.8 meters wide x 3.6 long. so building it so that i can have all round access would mean a room within a room , that givs me around 40 cm's either side if i still keep my 1m x 2m dimensions.

another 50 or 60 mil for the growroom walls and we are looking at around 35 cm's either side.

When planning a new system I find it useful to draw out a floor plan, then cut out shapes for the grow box etc. I have the scale so that I can use coins to represent the plants.

not a bad idea.

what if i just built a stud wall sectioning off 2mx1.8m of my room , basically just building a wall straight across the middle of the room?

i could then position the hydro in the centre , keeping the 2x1.

it would make the grow area bigger by around 3.2 square meters and give me access to both sides of the growing area.

i would have to put a hatchway either side of the wall to access both sides of the grow area.

id lose a lot of light and the enviroment might be harder to controle , id also have to use a lot more mylar to cover the extra wall space.


worth the effort do you think?

ive been looking at ready made systems on tinterweb , one thats caught my eye is the ef420.

its Dimensions are: 1525 x 510 x 115 Tank Volume: 114 Litres , although most sites state it as 1765mm x 620mm x 240mm.

im assuming the second set of dimensions are for the tank rather than the growing tray.

anyhow , its listed as a complete kit. would this include everything? pump etc?

also , would this be suitable for a 2x1m grow space? or could i go bigger? and would 18 plants be a squeeze?