DIY - It's Cheaper!

[Future Man]

Osho, i am building a grow cab with dimensions of 6' tall x 4' wide x 3' deep. i am growing hydroponic and i am currently building my own "bubble bucket" in a 3 plant 15gal tub. So my questions are: How many air stones do i need? What kind of air pump do i need in that big of a container? Also how should i arrange the air stones? Does having a water pump, like the bubbleponics, make a big difference in grow time and yeild/ size of plant ( i dont have a water pump)?

[Future Man]

oh yeah one more thing i have the 3 separate nutrients in different bottles, do u have any idea what the mix should be in the 15 gal tub and through what stages?

[Osho]

If you are positive that the seeds you plan on propagating are female, then the three planter is good. If you are using seeds from a bag or un-feminized, the tub is not the way to go. I started off myself by building a bubble system as the one I saw on bubbleponics site. What I found is that when a few plants turn out to be male, they must be cut out, but the roots are entangled so they rot along with the rest of the remaining plants roots. They cannot be untangled, and if you try to cut them out, you will be damaging the existing plants roots.

My suggestion to you is get a few 5 gallon buckets with lids, the orange painters buckets you will see stacked all over the store. If money is a problem, they are only 4 dollars each with lids. Go read in "General Indoor Growing" section of this site and article called Lets build a bubble bucket step by step by rumpleforeskin. They are perhaps the cheapest and most efficient way to grow under a buget that I have seen thus far. I myself have built a few to test them out, and they are fantastic. No pumps needed, just airstones and tubing. Really works with low money projects. If you are growing in rockwool, you will need to get the roots to a lenth that can touch the water. If your going to stick with your bubbleponics style setup anyway, then you will need a pump to help drip water from the top so the roots can grow until they get to water level. Check out his article and tell me what your thinking. Also, read the label and look at posts from other users of your EXACT product to help you find out that your feeting regiments should be. Nutrients must be added properly or you will kill your plant(s).

[Future Man]

the design i am going to use is based of of rumples bubble buckets. i have ordered feminized seeds so males will not be a problem. i am definitely reading every thing i can find about this system. i was just wondering if the placement of the air stones will affect the grow(rumple seems to think so, lots of bubbles is better).

[fluffygrrrl]

I really appreciate you taking the time to help us out. I've got a Michigan medical marijuana card and can grow 12 plants, but want the ability to upgrade as I hope to be a caregiver for at least one other person. Like others, I've been researching different types of grows. Every week I seem to change my mind because I read something else is better. I've decided to go with the Ebb and Gro 12 bucket system. The buckets are 3 gallon. Since I have a limit on plants I might as well have big ones right? I have no handyman skills whatsoever so I figure I'd be better off buying it. I found one for 445.00 with free sh.
What I don't know is what type of cloner should I get that would be easy to use with this system. I saw a diy bubble cloner on you tube that I may be able to get someone to make for me. I have a separate 2 x 6 basement closet that I'm going to use for veg and clone. I have 2 4 lamp fluorescents, but want to buy a 150 or 250 w mh. Would it be too hot for a closet?
My flower room is in my laundry room in basement. I have a sink nearby. Do I need a tent to separate or should I just divide with panda black/white plastic? The space I have would be around 5 x 10. Can I get by with a 1000w hps lamp or should I put it on a light rail? Or should I get 2 600s?
Also what can you run on a single electronic lumatek ballast? Can I run 2 lamps? Can you run 1 mh and 1 hps on the same ballast?
Thanks for any advice.

[Osho]

Didn't see how many plants you were growing, so I wont be able to answer your what type of lighting to use question without knowing how many you have. Also, only one lamp per ballast. A 1000w HPS can give you area coverage in left in one spot to cover about 8-10 plants. If you want to split your room in two, that is a good idea as long as you make sure it is light tight. You want no light from your veg or flowering room to leak into the other room. It will mess with the photoperiod, aka the growing cycle.

The 12 site ebb & gro is a great system, and requires not much maintenance. Building your own cloner is also very cost effective, and would be a much better choice then spending the money to buy one, they are not cheap at all.

Temperatures above 90 degrees for more than a few hours is bad for the plants, you want to keep the temps around 75-85 daytime, 65 nighttime.

[Osho]

Thanks for all the users sending me PM's with questions of interest, glad to help out, keep em coming.

[stillsmokin843]

hey osho i am debating on what to do for veg going form ez cloaner to ebb and grow bucket system. was considering making a homade ebb and flow using hydrotron in baskets then when it time to move jsut put the smaller veg baskets into bigger ebb and grow basket need the veg station to hold 24 plants so i can have perpetual harvest

[Osho]

Do it where you can fill up the EBB tray with hydro ton, no baskets. When the roots outgrow, then transplant so there is no need to worry about baskets and all that shit.

[Osho]

Bringing it Back!

[stillsmokin843]

i have the ebb and grow bucket system an ebb and flow tray already have the baskets jsut planed on planting entire basket in bucket system when there ready to flop cycles. so what do ya think about trying to add reflective material to the inside sides of the cool sun xl 8" to try to help. since i wasnt lucky enough to read this thread befroe buying 4 of those hoods

[sensi13]

Originally Posted by Osho

...in conversion ballasts, the MAIN frequency is that for a HPS, the secondary is MH. Its all determined by how fast an electric charge taps a piece of metal in the ballast to give off a specific amperage and frequency of current.

If you want to use MH, get a MH ballast, dont get converstion ballasts, they burn out faster, become less reliable due to frequency conversions, and dont give you 100% of what you need for your MH bulb, you would get lucky if you got 60% full MH spectrum with a system even as good as Sun Systems, how do I know? I have the convertible ballast sitting in my garage. I throw rocks at it on the weekend.

This is very discouraging because this is a real money saver, not to mention the time to switch out, etc. In looking around, it seems that most are now conversion ballasts. Since you say that most are set mainly for HPS, do I have to worry if it is a conversion ballast if I only intend to use it as HPS? Do the digital ballasts have this same drawback? What brands do you recommend? Thank you.

[Medicated420]

Hey man I think some of your info is great about the hydro stuff but um I thought you called this thread " diy its cheaper" but your basically telling ppl that if they want a decent yeild we have to go out and buy a $300 light. Ive see some fantastic yeilds with an all cfl grow. I think you said some were that cfls are no good for flowering because they produce more blues but last time i checked you can buy cfls in both spectrums. blue and red. however I would like to know more about hydro seeing is how im planning a hydro grow next week and I would really like to do a DWC bubble bucket. what advice do you have for me regarding that? also I plan to use fox farms grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom as my nutes will those do fine?

[HOTBOXX]

DUDE! This rocks! Can you see the post I just posted in this section! I'd love your help!