hydro setup

[vatoloco]

How are all my fellow blades? A friend of mine has granted me permission to post pics of his bubbler setup. He goes by the name of ICE_COLD here in the forums. Unfortunately he doesn't have the time he used to. This is 100% credited to him.


After many members asked me for infos on my bubbler setup...here it is.
Most important thing about this setup...the trays are not deep...so you will
HAVE to reajust the ph twice a day. If you want a bubbler setup that is less
maintenace you should use much deeper trays!!!

Ok here it goes....This is the tray with the glued air stones. The tray dimensions are
38"x22"x5". I bought them at Canadian Tire for $10us each. As for the air stones
they are 4" long and i glued them to the bottom of the tray with fish tank silicone grade.
MAKE SURE to let dry the silicone for a week before you use your setup!!!

[vatoloco]

Now the lid. On this one there is 6 holes...this is my bloom lid. The one for veg has
12 holes. The extra little hole is to take ph and ppm readings.

[vatoloco]

Now....you do NOT want to have light to go in your tray...so here is the plastic
sheet that i use to bloc the light. I bought it at an hydro store...it is white on one side
and black on the other one.

[vatoloco]

Sorry to break your neck.

Now the baskets...they are 3.5" wide and you can find them at any hydro store.
I start my plants into peat pellets, but you can also use rockwool. After the roots starts
to come out of the peat pellet then they go into the bubbler.

[vatoloco]

The air pump.....make sure to use an air pump that will be able to deliver enough
air to the stones. You should aim for at least 800cc/min per air stone. My pump
delivers 5000 cc/min and i use 6 air stones.

[vatoloco]

Finaly....the air valves and the fill/empty tank. You should use an air dispenser that
as a valve for each air stone. Because the air stones do not have the same 'resistance',
so in order to have the same amount of air trough the stones you need a valve for each.
Unfortunately...the biggest ones have only 5 valves.

I use the black bucket to fill up and empty the tray. There is a water pump in the bucket
and a manual valve on the water line.

Now......i do NOT recommand this kind of setup for newbies. Most of ALL.....you need to have
a ppm and ph meter to operate such a setup. I hope that this will help out some of you

[vatoloco]

Finaly...a picture of the roots. For those who remember i did trim the roots on 3 of the
plants in their 3rd week of flowering. This little surgery did not cause any hermie behavior
at all....and the biggest yielder was one of the trimed ones. So...it looks like it is a good
thing to trim the roots to allow more space in the bubbler!!!

[vatoloco]

Here's a pic of the results. I hope I've got some organic growers, *cough* woody *cough*, interested in giving hydro a shot.

Again, these are not mine and I only wish I could take credit so please don't bother asking me any questions regarding hydro. If any hydro growers want to answer than be my guest. Have a great day celebrating the Lord's gifts.

[unoit]

HIGH All, say HIGH to ICE_COLD for me vatoloco he doesn't pop around much.

My LHM had a setup simalier to what you guys have, but useing rubbermaid which are blue. His problem was he put different strains in the one tub and of coarse some plants needed more ferts than the others. Others grew faster! So from now on it's All the same strain *LOL*.

Pruning roots shouldn't hurt them too much...but...me I just hate doing something I don't need to. I've been doing Hydro foe over 20 yrs and I've been doing the Bubble Buckets now for two years and it's the only way I go now. With the Bubble Buckets feeding only for one, no root trimming and (I think) easier to clean.

Nice grow keep it coming.

[vatoloco]

I told him, hopefully he'll find the time to stop in and say what's up.

[Big Poppa Puff]

He's getting light leakage into his tubs, the red stuff on the roots is algae.

[bud stuffer]

didn't seemt bother the plants much.