Sour Diesel

@Grnthume, Your welcome man. I'm glad i could spread some knowledge and help you feel a little more comfortable on your journey. It's a weird thing to be a person that generally hates people, but at the same time i take great pleasure in helping them where and when i can.

@AutoflowersSucK, yes that what I did made my own system the air stone kind. Witch I don’t really like because of exposure to the roots. I will definitely make a better system like the one you’re talking about with separate tank and drip lines. And thanks for the help.

@Grnthume,If you've already got some lava rock ordered then it's fine to use. Lava rock isn't meant to be used as soil. What i mean, is you wouldn't fill a 5 gallon bucket with lava rock and drop a plant in the top with some drip emitters. I mean you can, but it's not necessary. You can fill a 6" or 8" net pot with lava rock, place your clone or seed in (which was germinated in rock wool, or placed from paper towel into a rock wool starter cube) and then back fill the sides to stabilize the rock wool cube. And perhaps carefully place a few lava stones on the rock wool but don't bang scrape or pinch your seedling in any way. Then get a couple drip emitters, a pump, some drip line and a reservoir and your off and running. Lava rock and Hydroton clay pebbles are just a means to hold the immediate root structure in place. The roots will grab hold of the rocks and anchor itself. From there the roots will just grow down through the rocks and hang in your bucket with nutrient solution cascading down the roots and into your bucket bottom where it will flow back to your reservoir, hence it being called RDWC the R stands for recirculating. The other method would be to just have a single bucket with a few air stones in it and have it filled all the way up to the bottom of your net pot with nutrient solution and once the roots grow down into the solution you will no longer need to do any watering from the top, but rather just top up the solution when needed and change out your solution each week. Be sure to not skimp on air stones. If you intend on having your root zone submerged in water than you better be sure to have a shit load of oxygen bubbling away in there or you will end up with root rot. Recirculating is better in my opinion because you can drain out the system without disturbing the root zones of any plant. You have a separate nutrient holding tank where, what i do, is suck it all out with a shop vac. Premix my nutrients in a separate tub, then pH to where i want, and then dump it in my reservoir and let the plumbing distribute the nutrients (because they are all interconnected) There is a pump in the reservoir, with drip emitters in a tube that fits over the outflow fitting on your pump. From there my feed lines go out through a hole and are placed in each plant. The pump runs 24/7 recirculating the nutrients and i have a 24/7 nutradip pH monitor and probe that remains in the reservoir and constantly gives me accurate pH readings at a glance. Super easy and highly effective. Nutrient solution's temperature matters as well. Try to aim for a room temperature reservoir. Solution that's too hot or too cold can present their own problems, but a water chiller can run you a lot of money, So use a magnetic drive water pump because they produce no heat and as a bonus they are super quiet. If you can keep your canopy around 75F your reservoir should be in the shade or outside your space and it will stay around 70F which is decent. high 60's for your reservoir temps are ideal. I always prefer my solution to be on the colder side than the hotter side. Warm nutrient solution is a breeding ground for bacteria and fungus, algae and root rot. In a single self contained DWC system you have to lift out the plant with it's roots, drain out the bucket, then refill the bucket, then place the roots back in and the plant lid. Real bitch of a routine. There are hydro buckets that are designed with a protruding section with a small lid that allows you to access the water and root zone without the need to lift the plant. It was developed by a Canadian grower in Ontario. The name escapes me. The only downside of the buckets i just mentioned is the price. It's just the buckets without anything else and i believe it's eighty nine each. Too pricey for my blood. I prefer to just make my own system using sterilite tubs from walmart and hose and fitting from my local hydro store. If you understand the principals of hydroponic growing then it can be a fun and rewarding experience to create your own system and watch it work. Hydroponic is fun, but is far less forgiving for new growers. You make a mistake and you can literally watch your plants get sick before your eyes. Like a hot nutrient mix that you didn't realize and as your sitting there watching your garden all of a sudden you notice everything is wilting and clawing and going to shit in real time right in front of you lol. Follow feed charts, change out your nutes weekly, and maintain a good consistant pH and you got all the hydro bases covered. Couple that with good ventilation, humidity range Circulating air, and somewhat stable temperatures and you'll be fine.

@Golden,thank you very much. I can’t wait either.

@UmbrellaCorpCow, 22 inches at 100%. 18 inches at 65%