Step By Step 1st Grow

Hi all! I just signed up today. I've been reading posts on here for months and FINALLY decided to make one of my own. I'll Be Putting some questions at the END of my post that I'd like some feedback on, things I'm still not sure about. 
 
The Prologue
Sooo...  I want to give you all a little bit of background as to why I'm going to be growing.
 
Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you just want to hear about the finer details (good or bad  )
 
My Grow is purely for medical use. I'm starting because my partner has EDS and is currently being subscribed a ton of opiates which aren't good for anyone for prolonged periods of time. As well as the fact that our prescription bills are very high!! I've had some very basic experience with growing in the past, from soil to rock-wool, mothers and clones, all the way up to curing. (but all basic, none my OWN and very amateur). NOW i want to grow, but I have a lot of boxes that would have to be ticked before it became a viable venture.
 
My grow needs to be STEALTHY, FREE OF WASTE, SELF CONTAINED & LOW MAINTENANCE. We both work very hard and long hours. We don't live in the nicest of areas, and we don't have the means of disposing of our wastage. 
 
So the REALLY interesting bit 
 
My proposed setup is as follows
 
1m x 1m x 2m tent
Amazon Aeroponics (16pot) setup
Reflector 300w LED Grow Light (Veg/Flower Switch) Lamp Panel
Autoflowering AK-49 Seeds (10 plants)
1inch Rockwool Cubes
2 Small Fans
Carbon Filter
General Hydroponics Grow, Bloom & Micro
 
 
Its an expensive set-up as far as set-ups go. But I want this set-up to remain under the radar and really work for me. I THINK my months of research have paid off. (it'd take quite a lot of convincing and hard evidence to sway me on this one!) 
 
So to talk though my choices...
 
The tent is a standard tent bought on eBay it came with a 400w Light (in the case of emergency), ballast, fan, carbon filter and lots of other goodies (like a pocket microscope and ph reader)
 
The Aeroponics system is by far the best value for money I've seen. It comes with various options for pot holes (4, 8, 16, even 32) I very much doubt I'll be growing more than 10 plants at once. But I thought it cant hurt to have more holes than i need as long as they are covered up. 
 
300w LED Grow Light is the pricey investment. This is probably the only aspect of the set-up I'm nervous about (yes, more nervous than leaving my babies suspended in a broken aeroponics system while I'm at work) Mainly because of its initial investment and I've never seen an LED light do anything other than flash on my X-Mas tree. The reason I'm trudging into the unknown on this one is because I need "0" heat emission, a lower energy bill (than the 400w HPS) it also comes with a nice switch to go from veg to bloom light spectrum's. Effortless right? Lets HOPE so! Apparently Lumen of 14600?
** I'm going to be running my lights on 23/7 for the most part also. no light cycles for me. this is still up for debate!!
 
Auto AK-49... hmmm, My choice here came down to a few factors that, again, worked well in my head as far as functionality goes. I needed a plant that is going to be fast and my research says "seed to flower in 9 weeks!" I don't want to mess around with mothers and nurseries and not to mention having in excess of 20 plants instead of the 10 I called a limit to. I don't want to have to mess around stress training and/or deciding I'll give them another few weeks in veg (like the mad botanist I am at heart) I want to set them up, sit back and watch them grow with next to no effort in my already busy work-life. Yeild is aparently 30g - 50g but i'd be happy with 15>20g of cured end product. They don't grow any larger than 70cm.  Apparently, these plants do STINK, but I do need them to work for medical use and in my experience the nose never lies   
 
1inch Rockwool Grow Medium, now my research tells me that AutoFlowers need as little stress as possible as you have no time to wait for them to recover before stepping them up into bloom. All my research has shown that the best Aeroponics growers go from cuttings into aeroponics, for whatever reasons; Ease, Safety, Etc Etc. For this reason, I've decided (in all my NOOBIE wisdom) to go from Seed to Rockwool in the aeroponics. This is because IF the aeroponics system should for whatever reason fail, there will be a small rockwool cube holding a tiny amount of moisture for the plant to live on while i return home from work. It also acts as a small support at the base (I'm also using plugs and clay pellets for additional support) not that the Auto AK-49 grows that tall anyhow. Although I REALLY want as close to 0% waste disposal as possible, 10 inches cubed of Rockwool is a small price to pay for all the pro's it brings. 
 
General Hydroponics Formula's, are another grey area for me (and I HATE grey area's). I've looked at all the nutrient posts and videos I can get my hands on but they all say the same thing. Until you have put them all to use on the strains you are using, "just half the instructions amounts and build it up until you know where you are safe at.. " Well okay, but I want to pro this thing first time round. LoL! Guess I'm going to have to leave SOME things to trial and error.    If anyone has any nice tips on grow formulas in Aeroponics and on Auto flowers like I'm doing please feel free to hook me up with replies and Links. MOST WELCOME!! the 3 I'm going to be using are apparently "industry standard", "Grow", "Bloom" & "Micro" are there any OTHER formulas I should think about buying and at what stage in the plants life should I introduce them. Again, please remember I'm using an Aeroponics system not a watering can system.
 
 
 
That's about all I can think of that really needs to be brought to light. PLEASE PLEASE feel free to leave me some constructive feedback on this bunch of tech'. I've not purchased this equipment YET, but will be doing so in the coming weeks. I'll also be giving weekly updates on the whole thing. Probably asking a whole bunch more questions and maybe even posting up a few cheeky pics (WIN, lose or draw) for all you big enthusiasts.  
 
Peace!

 

Wow, Farmer, cheers bro. Just what I needed to hear! I had a feeling I might be easier just leaving them on 24/0, think i'll try that next time round. 
 
How long have you been growing for to achieve 50g yeilds on auto's? (just trying to get a gauge on things)

 

OK! Got about 75% of my kit. A few things I thought I should mention for anyone looking upon this with intentions to do something similar. 
 
The Aeroponics Amazon 16 pot system...
 
Yeah, I drastically underestimated how big those pots are. They snugly hold the 1in rockwool but you can forget about room for a neoprene plug* or clay pellets. Bonus is, the store I've been using sells the tops separately for the system at an amazing price SOOO this thing just doubled up as a cloner. (not that i need it for that)
Definitely recommend going for the 8pot system. I think 8 plants in a 1mx1m space is probably enough anyway. I'd also recommend buying a second pump to have on standby. the reasons are obvious but I'll state them anyway. If the pump dies or starts to fail. your plants have VERY LITTLE time to live! the last thing you need is a trip to the hardware store in rush-hour when your plants are weeks away from finish. 
 
* these plugs don't come with the system. they arent hard or expensive to find though. 
 
The Led Light
 
Upon investigating further I have become some kind of wiz at LED specs. (not really) but one thing I have noticed is that it doesnt matter whether its a Black Dog $2000 LED or some china made knock off equivalent. They all read the same (or next to the same) specs. looks like we're paying for a label? proof will be in the pudding I suppose. I have for now gone with a (3wx100) VIPAR 300w for veg and will no doubt order another one (5w LED 400w output next time) to double them up giving me equivalent of 700w for "True Power" draw of roughly 360w during Bloom. which is amazing coverage in a small space and no heat emission! + if one of these china knock offs lets me down at least I'll still have another to back me up on. 
 
Nutes
 
I've had quite a few tutorials on nutes since my first post. Feeling pretty confident now. I've been recommended to change the aeroponics water out fresh once a week. Which could prove tricky without some aids. going to get either a manual or electronic water pump so i can extract the water without disturbing my very delicate Autos. My Nute collection just tripled in size also going from the basic General Hydroponics, to the more advance additives (which are important without a solid media). In my first post I also forgot to factor in the all important CalMag and (slate me all you want) but a few drops of Superthrive in my base water supply. 
 
Water Suply
 
So, my tap water tested to a very average 7.5pm. & 100>120 ppm pretty standard base huh?
40ltrs took me 3ml of ph-down to get to 5.6ph.
 
Im putting in a 60ltr res and an airstone to keep my water on hand and at room temp. decided again due to my busy work schedule i dont have time to mess waiting for water to hit room temp. this water will always have superthrive and calmag in and be set to 5.7ph. Im not sure how alien this sounds to some folks but if my feeding plan works i'll be publishing my whole grow formula on here. I have no secrets to keep. Its not like im planning on winning any medals 
 
Air Circulation
 
I decided to get in another RUCK fan to bring air in. main reason for this is there is no circulation and I cant really fit in an oscillating fan in the small tent with the aeroponics system sat in there.
 
Seeds
 
So I decided to drop my number of plants down to 5. Main reasons being. I have no idea, until i actually grow these bad boys under these conditions, How big or manageable these plants are going to be. with a 9week lifespan anyway I dont think its too much of a problem. This should still provide us with enough medicine to see us through. I might germinate some more later on but for now "Slow and steady wins the race!!"
 
I'll keep updating with new bits of info and feedback I get when I get them. I have some pics to post too but I thought I'd keep ya'll hanging a little bit longer 
 
 
Any questions or help or links needed feel free to msg me or reply. Im always happy to share any and all knowledge I accumulate.
 
PEACE!
 

 

These Auto-AK 49's dont really do bushy to my knowledge lol. Im aiming to get one fat cola on each and tucking the rest. I could be wrong tho lol

 

 
 
I dont like it, there's some odd claims on there (to my knowledge) like 90w LED, 400w output?
 
the whole thing looks a bit shoddy for the money too.. those fans aren't expensive. the dwc box is a regular tub nothing you couldnt achieve from home. look over the pics again and try to pick faults with it, they'll soon pop out at you. 

 

4 weeks. 

 

filling out

 

How wrong I was....?

 

really flying now