Johnnys first time

Hello everybody! :yippee: I've been reading this forum for a while and now when Im starting my first hydro grow, I thought theres no better place for a log than this.

Now Im at the point where I have got some of the stuff what I need for growing and rest of them I've ordered. Im hoping that I could start sometime next week. Im planning to grow 2 girls in my system. I try to keep this log updated regularly. All help is appreciated.

At the start Im going through my setup and the price of it.

The cabinet: 60cm x 60cm x 200cm (Its a closet, came with the apartment so no cost here.) For ventilation Antec Big Boy fan 134CFM/H COST 20â?¬(29$)

3x125W CFL lamps. White/Blue spectrum Lamp for propagation and vegetative stages 6400ºK. And for flowering two red spectrum lamps for flowering stages 2700ºK. COST: 76� (111$)

Hydro: General Hyroponics Aqua Farm 46x46x43 cm COST:78â?¬(114$)

Seeds: Big bud COST: 20â?¬(29$)

Nutrients: GHE One Part Total Gro 1.0, GHE One Part Total Bloom 1.0 L, Advanced Hydroponics Growth/Bloom excell. TOTAL COST: 45â?¬ (65$)

Other stuff: Perlite, PH-meter, timers, lamp sockets, wires, PH-down, rockwool cubes, ata-clean, screws... etc. TOTAL COST: ~150â?¬(219$)

ALL TOTAL 389â?¬(567$)

Heres my closet. Still under consctruction.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/2...ture346zn1.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9...ture347he5.jpg

looks great, i am using those same lights now, i think you will be satisfied good luck:jointsmile:

Thanks sub! I really hope this is going to work.

I have no experience with hydro, so i wont be much help there. my setup is pretty similar to yours except i used only two lights at a time, one blue and one red for veg and two red for flowering. veg went super smooth with great growth and the flowering is going just as well so i hope all turns out the same for you. I plan on maybe a hydro grow in the future so i will be watching with great interest. Get em germinating!!!! :jointsmile:

All you hydro growers there! I pretty much ran out of money for now and I had to leave something out the equipment. I didnt bought ec-meter. How critical error is that? Can I success without it?

Im growing on soil, so no help from here... Lookonhg good though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnnyRico

All you hydro growers there! I pretty much ran out of money for now and I had to leave something out the equipment. I didnt bought ec-meter. How critical error is that? Can I success without it?

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Although I'm sure others will disagree, I'll say that the EC meter is not critical. Nutrient companies will give you the ratio to mix their nutrients with water and the resulting nutrient solution is usually dead-on where it needs to be (concentration-wise).

One potential problem is not knowing the PPM of your tap water (or water source). If your water has a high starting PPM, that could possibly cause problems with over-fertilization.

The only other place where an EC meter is very handy is when you are topping off your nutrient solution. Without one, it's nigh impossible to tell if you need to be topping off with plain water or a nutrient solution.

Ok. So if I just follow the instructions on nutriens I should be fine.

I set my hydro system ready for start. I havent got seeds and fan yet, but I'm hoping that I get them on mail tomorrow.

http://http://img257.imageshack.us/i...ture351jw4.jpg
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3...ture354fz5.jpg

I have a question about the light cycle. For now I have to put the lights on at night so the darktime would be from 10am to 4pm, but I when I turn them in to flower I want to switch it, so that the darktime would be from 10pm to 10am. To do this I have to keep the plants in dark for 24 hours. Is this going to cause problems?

The reason for this is that Im expecting maintenance to come to my apartment with in a month and I dont want them to see small light leaks from my closet and get too curious. They arent doing anything in the room where the grow is, but who knows what those nosy bastards will do if Im not home when they come. And also I dont want to wait that month to start my grow.