Collective discussion on all things Hydroponic

Amarok

bad mother chucker
Staff member
Moderator
Been all hempy for a few years now. Other than the odd battle with fungus gnats, it's been great. I use 2 gallon buckets and if a 6 week veg period doesn't give me a QP+, I blame the strain.

Dz22mQaaTVqa2h2ylh5PAmFBgEEG87YURaJv0E3O.jpg
 

Frosty78

Habitabat autem somnium
If you want something super easy but with hydro results, have a look at Hempy buckets. You grow in buckets of perlite (with or without varying mixes of either coco or vermiculite) with a small reservoir at the bottom. I use pure perlite.
Another benefit is how light it is. I have a blown back, hip, shoulder and neck. I went thru a tree on a race quad, no idea how fast, but I was in top gear and flew off a decent drop off before hitting the tree.....so you can imagine it was a doozy lol! Some days I feel like Quasimodo lol!
Hempy buckets are easy to maneuver because they have less water than DWC, and are much lighter than soaked soil bags, so for my body aches it's been a quite a relief.

Very efficient. Virtually impossible to overwater. You water every day or two to runoff so salt buildup is much easier to keep at a minimum. If you add beneficial bacteria, you can virtually guarantee a pathogen free reservoir, without the need for airpumps, or scrubbing buckets/rezzes out.

Great results with no moving parts. You can automate Hempy buckets with timed irrigation rather than hand watering, but don't mention it if you do, because Hempy purists can be savages lol

I'm currently waiting for two of my tents to finish in dirt so I can be 100% Hempy all the way around my entire setup. I've used it lots in the past and I am at it again and I regret not sticking with it thru the years.


Best of luck, no matter the method you choose.
I saw the hempy bucket thread there but the fella switched at the end as he wasn't happy with it
 
I saw the hempy bucket thread there but the fella switched at the end as he wasn't happy with it
I found the trick for me is to stick with straight perlite and resign myself to watering every day. Anytime I added even so much as 10% vermiculite to the mix, I had issues. Anytime I tried to leave it a day without watering, I had issues.

I ShopVac my waste water, but I use deep oil trays to catch it, so sometimes I'll leave the vacuuming for a day or two, but I always water every day. Things started improving when I took this approach.
 

Amarok

bad mother chucker
Staff member
Moderator
I found the trick for me is to stick with straight perlite and resign myself to watering every day. Anytime I added even so much as 10% vermiculite to the mix, I had issues. Anytime I tried to leave it a day without watering, I had issues.

I ShopVac my waste water, but I use deep oil trays to catch it, so sometimes I'll leave the vacuuming for a day or two, but I always water every day. Things started improving when I took this approach.
I fill the 'reservoir' with hydroton balls and the rest with a mix of coco and perlite.
 

Frosty78

Habitabat autem somnium
I found the trick for me is to stick with straight perlite and resign myself to watering every day. Anytime I added even so much as 10% vermiculite to the mix, I had issues. Anytime I tried to leave it a day without watering, I had issues.

I ShopVac my waste water, but I use deep oil trays to catch it, so sometimes I'll leave the vacuuming for a day or two, but I always water every day. Things started improving when I took this approach.
So water like rdwc? Do you top water or flood? I'll go have a look at the hempy section. Rdwc and Dwc I can wrap my head around. This style has my befuddled ATM. Maybe it's the Saturday Arvo steamy summer and ice cold beer combo..... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it lol
 
So water like rdwc? Do you top water or flood? I'll go have a look at the hempy section. Rdwc and Dwc I can wrap my head around. This style has my befuddled ATM. Maybe it's the Saturday Arvo steamy summer and ice cold beer combo..... That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it lol
Lol! No worries man.

Top water just like you would soil.

1613800167685.jpg

There's a hole drilled 2"-2.5" up the side of the bucket.

1613800182653.jpg

The water comes down, fills up the bottome of the bucket, and when the water height reaches 2" (or however high you drilled it) it spills out the hole, carrying many of the excess salts right out with it, and into my dollar tree oil drip trays, where it's vacuumed out.

1613800220226.jpg

Everything tells you this shouldn't work but it certainly does. Perlite actually retains much more water, and wicks much better than most would think.
One might also think the stagnant water in the bottom of the bucket is a problem, but it's not, it gets gobbled up rather quickly when the plants get bigger, and refilled every day. There is enough retention of moisture, even with pure perlite to make sure the roots don't dry right out.

I love it.
 

Frosty78

Habitabat autem somnium
Lol! No worries man.

Top water just like you would soil.

View attachment 54115

There's a hole drilled 2"-2.5" up the side of the bucket.

View attachment 54116

The water comes down, fills up the bottome of the bucket, and when the water height reaches 2" (or however high you drilled it) it spills out the hole, carrying many of the excess salts right out with it, and into my dollar tree oil drip trays, where it's vacuumed out.

View attachment 54117

Everything tells you this shouldn't work but it certainly does. Perlite actually retains much more water, and wicks much better than most would think.
One might also think the stagnant water in the bottom of the bucket is a problem, but it's not, it gets gobbled up rather quickly when the plants get bigger, and refilled every day. There is enough retention of moisture, even with pure perlite to make sure the roots don't dry right out.

I love it.
Christ it looks very simple
 
Christ it looks very simple
Oh yeah lol!
And that's the beauty of it.
And to get started, it's very reasonable for price. Buckets, catch trays and perlite (and possibly vermiculite or coco) and your nutes/additives.

And if you wanna make it even better.....

Build a sloped drain table for them to sit on or in, a catch basin and a sump pump/submersible pump and a garden hose.

All you do is water, and it pumps off to your drain automatically. Avoid ShopVac'ing it like I do. I spend about an hr and a half to 2 hrs every night, but that's mixing various mixes, and watering and vacuuming over 40 plants. So not bad at all.
 

Frosty78

Habitabat autem somnium
It's very interesting. I'm old school outdoor grower. Very interested in indoors and hydro
Funny thing is those are old DWC buckets lol. See the one on the right there has an inverted tap drain, which was used with clear tubing as a site glass. I said screw DWC and just ended up drilling those 3/4" hole
I'm a
Funny thing is those are old DWC buckets lol. See the one on the right there has an inverted tap drain, which was used with clear tubing as a site glass. I said screw DWC and just ended up drilling those 3/4" holes

Funny thing is those are old DWC buckets lol. See the one on the right there has an inverted tap drain, which was used with clear tubing as a site glass. I said screw DWC and just ended up drilling those 3/4" holes
Been looking at hydro of some sort indoors. I'm an old school outdoor grower. Indoor is a new beast for me. Learn learn learn and then learn some more
 
Act 1
Man this thread kicks ass, I've done DWC in 5 gal buckets using Jack's 321, hydroguard, and great white, germed the gals in rockwool then once some roots came out the bottom I'd cut the tap root flush with the rest then into a 6 in bucket lid net pot full of name brand hydroton, for the floating issues, I'd start em pretty hot around 500 with 110 out of the tap, then ramp up to about 900 max with vpd close to the green zone, Initially i had root issues due to 0 use of benefecials, soon as the hydroguard and great white came in that stopped, i ran temps all over the place in the systems, i always leave a good headspace in the buckets once established that way there are always some roots up top that are not soaked and can breathe, 4 in airstones and a bigass pump, LOUD AS FUCK pardon my French. That was my reason for going to F & D @HydroRed style. This way kicked ass for sure, shorter veg times, and some decent smoke but could have been better, downsides were all the dam water being carried around, and 3.5 gals goes quick when they're big lol and it's really easy to overdo feed if they are drinking a shitload, gotta be on it for sure.
Act 2
Upgraded to 17 gal totes for rez, same bucket lid, aeration setup, feed and bennies but a much more stable easier to manage amount of water for sure, I could leave these for about a week if needed, smoke got a lot better with the less erratic feeds and better controlled ph levels, again not much worry about temps, I just insulated them with 3/4 in foam board foil taped around the outsides and on the bottom, never saw temps above 75 when I did the changeouts wich was about every 10 days with 2 topoffs in between. Again lugging tons of water around got old quick as did the constant drone of my cheap ass eco air giant of a pump.

Act 3
Flood and drains were next, same 17 gal totes just with a 10 gal inside for the tray, ran these on the same nutes and bennies Jack's 321, hydroguard, and great white, media was old faithful hydroton again in 1 gal fabric pots. Same as before seed to rockwool to hydroton and off to the races, 2 plants per system watered between 4 and 6 times a day depending on growth stage, same nutrient ramp as before about 500 to start and 1000 max in this system in my conditions. This way netted some of the best smoke I've grown to date averaged about 2.75 ozs per 1 gal first try ??????
Act 4
Hempys
Last run was a go at hempys in some 5 gal craftsman buckets, hydroton up to the hole at about 2 inches then slightly amended coco perlite at 70/30, coco was rinsed for dust and salt removal then charged with cal mag at 175% normal dose. This was setup to top water once a day automatically, then drained back into the rez so its a recirculating sip/hempy bastard setup. Switched over to recharge this go, the greatwhite is getting old lol fed the Jack's 321 against around 850 for the whole run but had the ph out of whack for weeks 3 through 6 so the run suffered for sure 5.8 to 6.1 seemed to be my sweetest zone with all three methods for sure. I'm still working with the same hempys just going to try switching the media over to organic based coco/pete/compost/perlite based mix with some biochar,pumice,and vermiculite in small amounts, so not really hydro anymore, but the last coco run for sure was. Sorry for the book, but I've got a little experience with hydro so figured I'd share where I've been with it.

The End ✌✌??
 

Frosty78

Habitabat autem somnium
Act 1
Man this thread kicks ass, I've done DWC in 5 gal buckets using Jack's 321, hydroguard, and great white, germed the gals in rockwool then once some roots came out the bottom I'd cut the tap root flush with the rest then into a 6 in bucket lid net pot full of name brand hydroton, for the floating issues, I'd start em pretty hot around 500 with 110 out of the tap, then ramp up to about 900 max with vpd close to the green zone, Initially i had root issues due to 0 use of benefecials, soon as the hydroguard and great white came in that stopped, i ran temps all over the place in the systems, i always leave a good headspace in the buckets once established that way there are always some roots up top that are not soaked and can breathe, 4 in airstones and a bigass pump, LOUD AS FUCK pardon my French. That was my reason for going to F & D @HydroRed style. This way kicked ass for sure, shorter veg times, and some decent smoke but could have been better, downsides were all the dam water being carried around, and 3.5 gals goes quick when they're big lol and it's really easy to overdo feed if they are drinking a shitload, gotta be on it for sure.
Act 2
Upgraded to 17 gal totes for rez, same bucket lid, aeration setup, feed and bennies but a much more stable easier to manage amount of water for sure, I could leave these for about a week if needed, smoke got a lot better with the less erratic feeds and better controlled ph levels, again not much worry about temps, I just insulated them with 3/4 in foam board foil taped around the outsides and on the bottom, never saw temps above 75 when I did the changeouts wich was about every 10 days with 2 topoffs in between. Again lugging tons of water around got old quick as did the constant drone of my cheap ass eco air giant of a pump.

Act 3
Flood and drains were next, same 17 gal totes just with a 10 gal inside for the tray, ran these on the same nutes and bennies Jack's 321, hydroguard, and great white, media was old faithful hydroton again in 1 gal fabric pots. Same as before seed to rockwool to hydroton and off to the races, 2 plants per system watered between 4 and 6 times a day depending on growth stage, same nutrient ramp as before about 500 to start and 1000 max in this system in my conditions. This way netted some of the best smoke I've grown to date averaged about 2.75 ozs per 1 gal first try ??????
Act 4
Hempys
Last run was a go at hempys in some 5 gal craftsman buckets, hydroton up to the hole at about 2 inches then slightly amended coco perlite at 70/30, coco was rinsed for dust and salt removal then charged with cal mag at 175% normal dose. This was setup to top water once a day automatically, then drained back into the rez so its a recirculating sip/hempy bastard setup. Switched over to recharge this go, the greatwhite is getting old lol fed the Jack's 321 against around 850 for the whole run but had the ph out of whack for weeks 3 through 6 so the run suffered for sure 5.8 to 6.1 seemed to be my sweetest zone with all three methods for sure. I'm still working with the same hempys just going to try switching the media over to organic based coco/pete/compost/perlite based mix with some biochar,pumice,and vermiculite in small amounts, so not really hydro anymore, but the last coco run for sure was. Sorry for the book, but I've got a little experience with hydro so figured I'd share where I've been with it.

The End ✌✌??
Mate that's awesome, I'm envious of your efforts. I've gotta bite the bullet shortly and make a decision.
 

spyralout

🌱🌿🌲🔥💨
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I've run RDWC and F&D @HydroRed tote style. RDWC was fun as hell and can reap crazy benefits, both yield and potency, but can break your heart in a flat NY minute if you fuck up. You'll see it the same day, so you gotta be on top of it all the time. F&D has a lot more wiggle room and while the growth is not as quick as RDWC, it is quicker than soil and yields some really nice buds. And if you have a clean space, no bugs like all hydro! a bigger res is a must if you're running multiple totes w multiple strains. It is one of the quickest most efficient methods. I found it to be great for hunting multiple strains as you can get the veg going fast, hence getting to sex plants sooner and turning beans faster to get to where you need to be in your hunt even sooner. Plus w the all contained tub, leaks are almost eliminated vs RDWC, leaks can happen anywhere especially if your pipe seal game isn't on point. I do miss RDWC, it was such an in your face live action system, but these days, I need more of a set it and forget it type of system vs being on it all the time. Great experience though.
 
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