Switching to Hydroponics after many years in soil. A few questions.

Allot of levels of what one would consider ( Hard water ).
Best would be post what your waters PPM.s are..............................and what the PH is tooooooo.
Personally I think its a mistake to only use filtered water or RO water.
Half RO and half tap might be a reasonable starting place .
IMO you need to keep the DWC water temp below 69 F or you might have root issues .
Might think insulated DWC tanks with a cooling systems.
You need about 40 watts of quality LED lighting per square foot of grow space .
Need to change the water out every 7 to 10 days max using bottled nutrients .

One drop of bleach per gallon per day helps keep the root rot away .
I use allot of Cal mag .
Sativa strains grow to tall for my tents .
Try to come up with a DWC system that is short or lowest to the floor of the tent.
Seen my plants use up to and past 6 gallons per day.
How many gallons will your dwc system hold? I leave my home for several days at a time so my dwc system is 20 gallons per plant which is over kill, this where you don't have use allot of water reservoir and bottled nutrients by going RDWC system.
Ten DWC systems @ six gallon of evaporation plus one dwc systems water being changed per day = 80 gallons per day of RO water.
I have a commercial 5 stage RO system but I had to buy two twenty gallon fiberglass pressure tanks.
What a RO system produces per day is meaningless if you can't store the water.

 

1. I usually prefer doing SCRoG for max yield and I would leave a plant vegging for at least 2 months in a 55 liter (12 gallon) fabric pot but I was going for 1 plant only. Now I will probably have 2 in each of the bigger tents. My question is, what size of buckets do I need if I'm going to be vegging for 1 - 1.5 month in hydro?
If I'm going with DWC, I understand that I can just transfer the netpots to a bigger bucket, but what is a recommended size for my needs?

-For hydro, 1.5 months is a very long veg time. You’ll be more than likely flipping at 4 weeks of veg. Be prepared for your plants to quadruple in size during the stretch. It’s actually unbelievable how large these plants get once you flip to 12/12 and how fast it happens. I used 5 gallon buckets with a homemade recirculating system. If you have the space, go for 5-10 gallon buckets. (Totes work awesome too)

2. Can I use a single bucket for 2 plants? They say for the GHE System you can have up to 6 plants in one bucket??

-I personally like having one plant per bucket as roots will tangle over time and maintenance is next to impossible once the roots tangle together. Can you do it? Absolutely. But I don’t recommend it.

3. My tap water is hard. Is it worth it investing in a RO filter or am I going to get away with it if I just leave the water to evaporate the nasty stuff?

-This is the most important question and the most important answer in my opinion. If you’re water source sucks, maybe you want to reconsider hydroponics completely. If you can get a really good reverse osmosis system and don’t mind a monster water bill, go for it. But your water quality out of the tap will dictate the success of your entire grow. I’m on a well on the side of a mountain with under 100ppm water and I had some issues late in flower. (My well couldn’t keep up with the reverse osmosis demand so I switched back to soil)

4. Is a 30 Euro EC-Meter going to do the job or do should I go with a Bluelab Truncheon?

The cheap meter will do the job. I personally like the blue lab conductivity pen, and with 6 years of the same pen working flawlessly, I recommend it.

One more thing, make sure you look into a water chiller. The reservoir temp battle is a miserable one to fight without a chiller.

Best of luck and keep us updated

 

I put my Sativa plants into flowering/trellis netting @ 30 days and the plants still hits the lights.
I do three G13 Haze Sativa plants per 4x8 grow tent .
I never use Feminized seeds. I clone off of one mother plant
I use a old refrigerator with a special switch to chill down three twenty gallon DWC systems.
I like Sativa but I think growing something besides a straight Sativa strain would be better.
Design your grow tents to the strain or size of plant you plan on growing .

I would never buy a pre made Hydroponic system ever again.
Water pumps and compressed air make or carry heat into your hydroponic system.
I am not above freezing bottles water and using them to help chill my DWC systems .

DWC systems ,, I check the PH everyday.......
Never mix max nutrients .............
You need ventilation to expel the humid air out of your tent/home .
Dehumidifiers use a shit ton of energy , better to use a A/C system to cool your air and dry it at the same time.

 

The best hydroponic system is the one you build to cater to your specific needs. With a hydro kit, at the end of the day, you’re essentially paying somebody to put all the parts in a box.

 

100% with you on that statement

 

For a drain I would put pump in the bottom of each bucket and leave it in there.
You can use a plastic bulk head fitting in the side the bucket but it will squeeze the side of the bucket flat .
I will not use copper/brass fitting in my DWC systems .......
Amazon.com: PVC Bulkhead Fitting Double Threaded Bulkhead Water Tank Connector for Rain Barrels, Aquariums, Water Tanks, Tubs, Pools, Spigot, Black, 3/4 Inch Male 1/2 Inch Female (4 Pieces) : Industrial & Scientific

 

Not where I live, right now we are getting 100 degree F days .
The swamp cooler in my home will only drop the temp 25 to 30 degrees F max.
As said above I converted a refrigerator into a chiller .

 

My city tap water is 1500 PPM's @ 8.2 to 8.4 PH
After the RO system I am about 45 PPM's @ 7.2 to 7.4 PH.
I don't use a EC meter.
I use a PPM meter, the PH droplet tester and a nutrient photometer

 

I used to RDWC with phenomenal results. There are too many moving parts/points of failure.

I switched to a 4x4 flood and drain table and I top feed. The nute solutions drains back to the reservoir. So much simpler. Fewer points of failure. Less to troubleshoot. Just 1 reservoir instead of several mini-reservoirs (buckets).

RDWC can be a pain in the ass to drain/clean and mix nutes. I love RDWC but I'll NEVER go back.

I used to SCROG as well and that damn trellis net is a pain. Now I FIM/top, defoliate, and lollipop like crazy with similar results.

 

here's some honestly.....

your setting yourself up for failure. you have no need for three tents and a 1mx1m is barely good enough for two plants....

dont know any of those systems you mentioned cause the best are pieced together, not bought.

being new to hydro, your best bet is to find security in volume of water.

that HPS is gonna sky rocket temps and not worth doing.

cheap equipment in hydro is a no go. cheap equipment equals problems, blue lab all the way.

a dirty res is better than a sterile res

what do you mean by hard water? i have learned its not just well water that can be defined as hard. my city water is trash and id consider it hard.

if its a well that you are defining as hard, its not, you have the best bones for dirty res water which will promote the best growth.....

as a word of advice kid. dont listen to 99% of these people on here. look for the G every time.

 

The most you have to worry about then Is chlorine and chloramine