Bubble Buckets (making transition from soil growing)

Hey there, Im currently in the middle of my first soil grow, but Im looking to make the transition to hydro grow for my next grow. First off is this smart or should I get a couple more soil gros under my belt? I have had failry no problems with the soil growing but I've heard hydro is more difficult.

I really want to incorporate somesort of small time SOG technique. So Im thinking about setting up seedlings/vegging plants and 1 mother with CFL lights in one room and having flowering plants in another room under HPS. Im pretty sure I have this part under control. But what I'm worried about is setting up the buckets. I have the general idea but I also have a couple questions.

Is it better to put 2 airstones in the bucket?

If using 5 gallon buckets could I get 2 plants per bucket or would this make the yield per plant suffer?

and finally... Is bubble buckets the way to go? Im trying to keep cost to a minimum but if there is a more efficient way of setting up a hydro system for about or around the same price I may go that way.

Im open to any suggestions or info. I have a little bit of time before I start this project but I would like to have some plans and an idea of how much it would cost in advance.

Thanks, Brodi

i think the bubbler is the best for hydro, ive talked to many people from the hydroponics store and online and i hear signle plant in a single 5 gallon bucket with bubbler. this is the set up i use. i run one 5 gallon bucket with a 5 inch rock stone running from a dual line 60 gallon air pump both lines run into a T spliter and run to one rock stone for more bubbles. i use 6 inch net pots so they will grow bigger. i dont use a resi. i jsut change the water every 2 weeks and the plants seem to love it.

here is what i based my grow off of but i dont use floros.
Day by Day, Bubbler Grow Guide: - The Garden's Cure

oh yeah and it cost like 20 bucks for each bucket so its realitively cheap

You can see how simple a bubbler setup is. The plant on the left is my hydro from seed (started in a jiffy cube then transfered when 3" tall) and the one on the right I started in soil then transfered to rockwool, then put in hydro, both germinated at the same time. Is it a coincident that my full hydro is so big while my others are so small still? I think no...

Third pic is the rest of my soil plants taken a couple days ago.

i really enjoy the drip and aero diy systems, there easy to make and dwc can have its problems.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HiInOC

i think the bubbler is the best for hydro, ive talked to many people from the hydroponics store and online and i hear signle plant in a single 5 gallon bucket with bubbler. this is the set up i use. i run one 5 gallon bucket with a 5 inch rock stone running from a dual line 60 gallon air pump both lines run into a T spliter and run to one rock stone for more bubbles. i use 6 inch net pots so they will grow bigger. i dont use a resi. i jsut change the water every 2 weeks and the plants seem to love it.

here is what i based my grow off of but i dont use floros.
Day by Day, Bubbler Grow Guide: - The Garden's Cure

oh yeah and it cost like 20 bucks for each bucket so its realitively cheap

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This was a really great thread. I feel real confident planning this grow out now. Thanks for the link.

I just need to pick a strain now. Im thinkin about Grapefruit. But I don't know how well it will fair with indoor growing. Anybody have any recomendations I would like to grow Sativa dominant.

-Brodi

Keep your water temps BELOW 70 in a bubble bucket, 65-68 being optimal(Any thing above 70 and your asking for problems, PYTHIUM!!). Keep your PH at 5.8. These two factors will avoid many problems in the future. Also keep the buckets clean. Use a strong H202 solution to clean everything inbetween rez changes.Buckets, air stones, tubing etc. Cold temps, cleanliness and PH are going to be the backbone of your grow. Get those right and you will avoid many problems. Heres a really good recipe link for a bubblebucket with your standard three part (Grow Micro Bloom) either by Advanced Nutrients or General Hydroponics, Calmag +, and liquid Karma. Its pretty straight forward. Let me know if you have any questions.
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...rt-calmag.html

PS for water temps, A Coolworks chiller is a great and fairly inexpensive route. Easy bulkhead installation. I have mine installed under my bucket because the bulkhead is hard to fit on the curved bucket walls. You just have to prop up the bucket with bricks or whatever.

You could get a rubbermaid container and use the Coolworks chiller about anywhere, I am going to look into it for mine.