where to buy growing equipment?

[look closer]

im looking into building a bucket hydroponic system, but i dont know where to buy all the stuff like the nutrients, ph indicator, and im not sure what my bucket should look like when im done building it. i cant find any pics of a bucket so if anyone could help me w/ starting this up i would be forever grateful.

[Big Poppa Puff]

www.overgrow.com has a faq section with a folder on bubble buckets aka deep water culture. There are pic there as well as column on a bubbler construction.

You can use a five gallon bucket or something square like a rubbermaid bucket. triple wrap it with good old duct tape to keep the light out or you get roots infested with algae. Don't wrap the lid to the rest of the bucket or container or it will be a bitch to dump your waterr every couple of weeks. Drill a hole in the side near the top just big enough to run a aquarium air line in. Attach a small air stone in and hook it up to the air pump.

Your bucket should have a hole cut in the top so you can set a net pot in and it won't fall through.
As far as nutes etc., you can find a local hyrdo shop and buy in person or buy online from a hyrdo shop. Growers Edge magazine is a mag published for hyrdo gardners, specifically vegatable and flowers not weed. They always have listings for supply stores and on-line sources. i think Growers Edge even has a web site where you can get a listing of on-line hydro supply stores.

I don't know your set-up but lights can be bought for around $150. Nutes, media, pots, pH control etc are going to run around $75. Air pumps, stones, misc crap around $35. PH and EC meters around $125. And then your seeds or clones. For around $400 you can have a basic set-up and start growing.

[vatoloco]

How long does your grows usually take from seed/clone to harvest? I'd really like to use a bucket for my next grow since it'll be cutting back on electricity. Would 2 of these "buckets" be alright for trying your way of growing? I'm not even sure if this is considered growing hydroponically or not

[Big Poppa Puff]

It depends on the seed types and their growing patterns, but its usually quick. Once the roots hit the water, its usually 14 to 20 days of vegetative growth before turning the lights back, and then 6 to 7 weeks for flowering. About 9 weeks from germing seeds to cutting down the final plant.

i'll give you an example: Places 2" seedlings in the buckets on Halloween and cut them down on New Years day. Cleaned up the system and started a new crop mid January and will cut it down April Fools Day and have it cured enough to smoke on 4-20-2002.

Once you try the buckets indoors, you wonder why you didn't try it sooner. During Veg growth you can see 3" of growth a day sometimes.

Your squared-up rubbermaid will work fine but you could probably find one smaller that will do the same job. You only need 3 to 4 gallons of water at all times. The bigger container you've got will need more water to keep the roots floating in the solution. Try something smaller so you don't have to use as much water and nutes. Also you need to wrap that blue bucket with duct tape (3 layers) or some reflecting Aluminum duct wrap (1 layer) to keep light from bleeding through to the water. Algae in the water is bad for the roots.

[vatoloco]

I'm at 10 weeks and I haven't started flowering yet! I was doing some research on bubble buckets and I'm convinced about growing hydro. It'll save me a lot of time and money in the long run...check out the site that made me anxious to start a new project without soil...http://www.geocities.com/~friskyfreddy/invsout.html

[dcmind]

Go to ebay if you want supplies, they have all kinds of hydroponic systems (including DWC's) and extraneous stuff for ass-cheap prices. I got my 400w HPS from there for 100$ US.