1st time hydro-which method?

I would like to say thanks for all the info everyone has put on here. I have been reading posts and threads, and stickys for 4 days straight! and love the info... That being said, I am starting my first hydro grow. I have helped friends in years past with drip sysytems, and seen some ebbnflow (filln drain), and have seen many vids/pics of bubbleponic poor mans DWC set ups that seem to work wonders. I am growing moms and clones in a 4x4x5' room, and the producers in a 4x6x5 rm. the clones will get a combination of 2 T5s and 2T8s while the producers will get a 400w hps with a T8 and 4 2' flors for added spectrum. I am leaning toward the poor mans DWC with a perpetual harvest adding 8 clones every 2 weeks, or use DWC for just the moms and clones and switching them to an ebbnflow (fill and drain) for a sog about 35 plants 1 every .5sqft.. I don't want to fail like anyone else, so in the experience of the masses here I am looking for some guidance, and help ( I have successfully grown in soil and gorilla style in the past) but want the yeilds and pretty flowers you can only get with the dro.. oh, and i have to do it on a 40 amp breaker, possible?

ok.. so i have read more and more for hours, and found most of my answers.. I will post pics this weekend of the construction thanks everyone that took the time to read appreciate it
:thumbsup:

Hello bud2thekind,

Welcome to the boards. Glad that you found most of your own answers here!:thumbsup:

When you get to some question's that have you stumped, I'm sure you will get more responces.

Good luck and good growing.
OM

That's alot of plants in a 4x6x5. Well all the magic happens in the mother room. That would be about 8 plants vegged and ready to go every 2 weeks. That is one hella job there. We run into problems just trying to keep up with harvest once a month. Got a 4x5x8 room cut in half.

Another thing is alot of small plants. We ran small for over 2 years and have found more mature plants to be more potent and larger harvest in the same space. What used to be 36 plants is now just 4 larger mature plants and we are just now getting alittle better than .5 grams per watt of light.

If you went with 4 or 6 plants and vegg a bit more or with the height of your room a screen of green or scrog would do very nicely. I think you would be more pleased with the outcome and a hella lot less work in the mother clone room.

old mac, i appreciate the reply.. yeah the boards are like a trove of needles in the hay stack, you read and read and don't quite find what your looking for ie watering info-how much-how often etc.. little intangibles left out of the books and literature, and then all of a sudden wham! you find it here and its like a lightning bolt hit you... You are all awesome for lack of a better term for sharing all the info here, anyone will be greatly rewarded for the time they take to read

loc- thanks for the advice man, is exactly why i posted it, you vets know what works best in what spaces! I appreciate and will heed the advice... I will post pics on this post this weekend when i get the room construction finished, and progress reports ea week w pics.. thank again :jointsmile::thumbsup:

If it was me I would most likely do 4 possibly 5 plants tops. Anymore than that and no room to grow and worst yet no way to get to all of them because you have to fit in there also to tend them ;) I have an 8x12 room that I built and tops will be 21 plants and it gonna be tight to get myself in there to tend.
As far as the 40 amp breaker, I read somewhere to plan on light taking 15 tops on its own. Yet you have a few extra bulbs :D Depending how elaborate this room is gonna be, when I built mine I put in a subpanel that runs off a 50 amp from the main box then the sub has 6 seperate 15 amp breakers in it. I also put in a GFI outlet that anything that plays with water gets plugged into. 40 amp can probably handle it but remember that if something trips the breaker you lose juice to all. Oh and dont forget ventilation :thumbsup:

tinytoon, thanks for the input, and thanks to all that have even just read this, gotta be like teaching stubborn 1st graders working with us noobs :thumbsup: to all of you again
besides the previous mentioned lights i will use 3 airpums (one for moms 1 for clones/veg and 1 for flower res) 1 sub pump for flower res - a 350 cfm exhaust fan and a 210 exhaust fan, each room with a GFI outlet on the same 40 amp breaker
I read somewhere to add total watts of light and divide by 120, so i should use about 6.23 amps for the lights? seems a bit low? but i should have enough juice for the rest unless my math is way off...
def 4 plants going with scrog grow in ebbnflow (fillndrain style) with some LST unless anyone can tell me if topping would be better with white russian and rock lock my two strains i picked (maybe Georges Diamonds, less THC but seems like it was bred for us hydro beginners...) though i will use bag seed till the system is down.. i am gonna keep reading, and checking out scrog grows, but wont post again till the rooms are done this weekend..

I'd DWC but tell you what... if you do it right, one plant will end up taking up so much space that it'll probably drive you nuts. good luck to you. Move air through the space, across the plants. (like tiny said)