first hydro grow design/equipment help

hey there im looking for a little guidance on what im going to need for my first hydro grow. im a legal card holder and am looking to start growing my own medicine. i need to know about nutrients and lighting. would appriciate all the help i can get. just trying to get my plan ready before jumping into it.

i will have two seperate rooms one flower and one veg/mom room

i was going to build my own square box and line it with panda film and cover with stirofoam cubes and cut holes in the cubes for the pots to go. thats all i got so far need your input!

thanks GC.

For lighting it depends on how much room you have and what you can afford. CFL's are not good for flowering if you want a good yield. How much room do you have and can you afford a ballast and light setup? They are about $350 with the balast , hood and bulb.

For nute's there are too many options to say which is best. I just go with General Hydro since they have been doing so long. I used Fox farms when I grew in soil I used Fox farms but it was such a hassle. The nute's settle so fast in the water bottle, you have constantly shake the water bottle or the it all sinks to the bottom. You have to shake, water a plant, shake, water another, and so on.

As far as home made diy setups go, I wish I just spent the money up front and bought a good quality hydro setup. I have closets full of crap i experimented with.
If you can afford it, I would look into proper setup.

its 2 rooms and i was going to make my own water res out of wood and line it with a 3 layers of panda film to prevent leaks. then put small circulating water pumps going around with one big pump to change water and such. and have one more small pump to feed out a drip system to the girls. and have airstones throughout the water to keep the oxygen flowing. as for lights i was thinking about buying a 1000w hps for a 8x8 space. im trying to do a perpetual harvest every month or so. i know i want to have good ventalation going into a inline then a carbon filter. i just have to wait and see what kinda of cash flow i got. and yes i heard general hydro is very good. prolly what ill end up using.

its 2 rooms and i was going to make my own water res out of wood and line it with a 3 layers of panda film to prevent leaks. then put small circulating water pumps going around with one big pump to change water and such. and have one more small pump to feed out a drip system to the girls. and have airstones throughout the water to keep the oxygen flowing. .

You will need separate res's for each room as feed requirements are different for veg and bud.
I suggest a piece of pond liner rather than panda poly as the panda rips and cuts rather easily.
Also, (learned from my own experience), the veg room can be 1/2 the size of the bud room if you have the option of adjusting the room sizes.at this point.

ya im trying to figure out how big my res would need to be for 7 flowering plants i plan on vegging them for atleast 1 and a half months before flipping them to flower. and thank you for the pond liner advice. its prolly easier to clean eh?

ya im trying to figure out how big my res would need to be for 7 flowering plants i plan on vegging them for atleast 1 and a half months before flipping them to flower. and thank you for the pond liner advice. its prolly easier to clean eh?

Easier to clean yes. I also keep mine covered with panda to keep light out and hamper algae growth.
My res's are 11' long, 2' wide and 11.5" deep ( I made out of 2x12') They are this size because I sit my plants on sloped ramps that return liquids to the res through gravity so they are the length of the room width.. They are bigger than I really need, but during mass growth during bud stage I am comfortable leaving for a weekend with no worries of the res drying out with that
available volume
http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=900032&thumb=1&d=1339542753

thats a good idea. i was going to just have a big water pump with a hose going to a water source and a bucket to fill and drain my res.

thats a good idea. i was going to just have a big water pump with a hose going to a water source and a bucket to fill and drain my res.

My main pump operates the drip irrigation to feed my plants and i have it setup with quick connects so I can us it to drain the res as well by connecting the drain line rather than the feed line. I also have a small pump circulating the nutes in the res and an air pump and air stones to aerate the res.

ya i was going to do a pump in every corner going in a circle and airstones throughout the res. ill def look into the big pump for the drip lines and draining the res.you think a 1000w hps will cover 6 plants in flower good? and what lights you suggest for vegging?

and thanks you for your help. much appriciated.

ya i was going to do a pump in every corner going in a circle and airstones throughout the res. ill def look into the big pump for the drip lines and draining the res.you think a 1000w hps will cover 6 plants in flower good? and what lights you suggest for vegging?

I use 4x1000 watt for 20 plants in a 12'x14' area and it works well so I'd say yes.

My latest crop.. I didn't change my bulbs from broad spectrum HPS to the MH I had been using for the veg stage with previous crops... and the plants loved it and did better than ever. Therefore I suggest you try the same thing. This also keeps things simple which I love

so if i had like 14 in flower how many watts hps? and 14 in veg how many mh?

How big are your rooms and how big do you want to grow them?
Remember they will be small initially in the veg room so you dont need as much room.
Re-read my last post....I am suggesting HPS for both stages

haha ya i read that wrong.
i would say a month and a half two months veg but i also want to top and train them to bush out for yield. and the rooms are like 16x10' bedrooms

The more light the better the yield so get as much as you can afford. My rule of thumb is to have 1000 watts within 4' of every plant or 600 watts within 3'

im try and get two 1000w for my flower room and 1 600w for veg. but idk just a rough plan.

where do you get your lights and gear from? im located in the pacific NW

where do you get your lights and gear from? im located in the pacific NW

I'm not far from you. I'm on Vancouver Island and I get my stuff from two local hydroponic stores or online if I cant find what I want there

whats some good online places? i was thinking of going thru sunlight supply for my lights but they only sell complete kits up to 400w haha i wanna find a complete 2 1000 and a 600 complete

whats some good online places? i was thinking of going thru sunlight supply for my lights but they only sell complete kits up to 400w haha i wanna find a complete 2 1000 and a 600 complete

I just google and look for good deals