Been browsing for a long time, finally posting here! On to my question. I am in the planning stages of designing an 8k indoor scrog grow. So far I am thinking of 2 rows 4k each row. My question is which hydro method would be most efficient and use the least amount of water. I think flood tables are out because it seems like it would require a ton of water and huge resivoir. I think either ebb and flow buckets or nft tubes would be my best bet, or another that Im not thinking of. I have one guerilla grow under my belt but this will be my first hydro grow. Any advice would be much appreciated!
I have no clue about hydro but individual dwc buckets seems like it would work and be better than flood tables or ebb and flow
I love the idea of dwc. But for the sheer number of plants I will be doing it seems like it would be a huge pain as far as monitoring ph, changing rez water etc. I could be wrong though. Looking for something with a single rez to simplify things if at all possible. Maybe rdwc is an option. Anyone know if startup costs for a large scale rdwc setup would be expensive or not???
You can definitely run dwc linked up, my friend uses one with 9 buckets and one rez, recirculated undercurrent i think, sort of an art to set it all up right so they feed evenly. I would recommend coco, best of both worlds imo.
Forget buckets on a multi grow. I use tanks for six plants (three in each tank). If you run RDWC, go for the biggest interconnection to keep soup levels equal. I run a 2" connection between tanks.
I'm adding another light (1000W) and have another 4x4 space next to my 4x4 Ebb & Flow table. My only complaint is the amount of water consumed (I'm going to incorporate rain water soon). RDWC looks great, but more complicated and I don't know if the quality or yield increases would be worth the trouble? For the second setup, I was thinking of building simple E&F buckets. When you say run tanks, you're basically just stringing together rubbermaid containers with netpots instead of using one big table or separate buckets? Sounds simpler, but with less of a water savings...
Rubbermaid is SHIT, but it serves a purpose. I use industrial grade polypropylene tanks. Tamco® Tanks Category | Tamco Heavy Duty Polyethylene Tanks, Tamco Heavy Duty Tanks. | U.S. Plastic Corp.
The more I research the more I am leaning towards nft. Seems very simple and cheap to get started. Esp for an 8k 96 plant op. And I like the idea of only having to change one rez out. Still trying to figure out just how big of a reservoir I will need. Havent got any feedback yet on that. But I appreciate all the input!
I've also thought about building one of these. I've been leaning towards e&f with buckets, but NFT isn't all that different in many ways and I think it will use a lot less water than what I'm doing now for sure. I'll be curious to hear what you decide, as my budget is much smaller but I'd ultimately like to expand into something much larger if possible. By that point I'll be looking to purchase LED lights too .
if i was you, i would look at the method of this guys, its all you need, for a start to a 8k setup. planing on getting the less water, and the bigger plants, then look this method here this is exatly what you want : grow your own: med-man brand medical film troughs
Thats almost exactly the setup I want! Only difference is mine will be 2 rows of 4 channels. Each channel 6in wide and 20ft long and 12 plants per channel. Can you imagine 2 20x5 ft canopies of solid scrog buds!
The med man setup looks great, but 1) i don't know if the top drip is even necessary with those big flood tables and 2) his results are also very dependent on the nutrients and a host of other environmental variables. I'd love to see the end result though, those baskets look awfully small, but he's allowed them plenty of room to grow so I'll be curious what his overall yield is like vs. running larger numbers of plants in a smaller area.
dude,,, ths guy is working for health canada,,,, since a while,,, he know what hes doing health canada call him when they have problem with ther grow and they want a improove or upgrade, they have like 75 pound for 75 light,,, WHEN THIS GUYS ENTER IN THE SETUP,,,, THEY PULL OVER 150 POUND,,,,, its not only the ferts,,, its the root, environement, everything,,, like we all want it to be,,, nice control of environement, everything... we still can do like him in little grow,, hes doing his own ggrow just to show at people they want to learn,,, hes pulling good stuff
My bad, I didn't mean to sound like I was doubting the guy's ability, just trying to understand why he needs the drip system. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense though - I've seen other pro growers run irrigation line through the tables to get more water into the roots, as with that kind of growth I've heard that flooding doesn't always reach the insides of large, dense root balls. I'm still unclear how much this setup is yielding - are you saying he's pulling 1-2 lbs per light? If we're talking 1000W HID, 1 lb would be average but 2 lb would definitely be a great grow (and to do that on a large scale is amazing). I'd be curious what the absolute maximum is? I'd bet it isn't much higher than that. I've always felt like 1-1/2 lbs per 1000W / 4x4 Sq Ft was a good goal to shoot for myself...
make things easy on yourself and do soil -) i love the end product of hydro, but its too much up keep for me D: soil is just so much less time consuming just saying, i know your already set on hydro though good luck man !!
well im not sure if hes using 1000 or 600, also he put some metal halide light with flowering light that help a bit. the trick is doing why he can pull over 2 lbs per light its because hes groing big plant, with 1 plan he can pull over 3 pound, this method is veg long time and flower, he got like 3 to 4 room for this , like 1 room for babies, 1 room for pre-veg, and 1 room for veg, and 1 room for big flower. that why he can yield so much, but its a reaal serious job, neeed about 2 guy working in there 24 on 24 youno. he can also do , more plants, less veg time, that equal at about the same on average yield. but like i said, its not only plants. its most likely yeah advance nutes, plenty of freebies like big environement, big air exchanger, not even co2 is needed because big room = enough co2 sometimes... if it was not to the cost of the wood and everything, i would be making the exact setup hes doing. for my part i dont have a lot of experience not a 10 year so... im going different. so much people grow different. but this one with small setup that give little water plants need, and look at his roots,,,,, wowowowoowow nice roots, so white... mine also are so white, but youno, the little table he build are just what i also need, or with some bucket would do the same.depend on what you need youno, if you need long veg time with big plants, then use bucket 5gal otherwise go with a table, just double the size of the plants he make,,, and gogo i love marijuana growing hahahahahha