I do hydro, well Aeroponic actually. Do you have a type of hydro in mind? I am on my first Aeroponic cannabis grow, but I have grown tons of veggies in hydro! Happy to answer any questions I can.
Here is my Aeroponic plant today.
@Hellraiser is an model grower who really knows his stuff, so for sure follow his advice. I can add some specific hydro info to help a little too.
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Well, I’d like to get started with a system that I can, not literally, get my feet wet with. Something that’s not overly complicated to use with minimal upkeep that will produce. I don’t mind diy, building something might even help me understand how everything should work.
I’m a blank canvas man lol
Edit: very healthy looking plant, love how dense the veg is.
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Kratky system is the simplest, it’s just a whick in the grow medium and the other half sits in water. Water travels up the whick to feed/water the plant. I don’t really care for it.
RDWC or DWC ( recirculating deep water culture and deep water culture)are probably the most commonly used. They work very well, and are pretty easy to set up and use.
Aeroponic is a system where a large portion of the root system is suspended in the air and is either sprayed or misted to feed/water the plants. There are other methods as well, those are a few of the most popular.
My system is a mix of Aeroponic and DWC, as I needed to add air stones because the root system is very large.
I am happy to go into further detail on any particular system as well, the good and the bad parts.
One thing I will say for sure, no matter what type of system you want, the nutrients you should use in any hydro is the Flora Flex line. Best nutrients you can get IMO.
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I appreciate your reply, if I wanted to do 2-4 plants in a 4x4, wanted to keep costs relatively low to operate. I understand there are +- of all. But if you knew what you know now and you were just starting out, what advise would you want to hear? lol
Again, thanks for your time.
I built my system for about $45, $30 of which was a very nice water pump. I did add an air pump and air sting for another $20. If you keep them smaller, say veg for 4 weeks or so, you could get 2 per 27 gallon tote.
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So you use totes instead of buckets, I’m sure there’s a reason for that. Just wondering how I could do 4 independently.
Totes hold more water than buckets. So many different ways to grow. You’ll find what works for you!
I’ve grown in coco and now am doing rdwc.
This is boring almost…lol
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So the volume of water dictates the size of the plant, kinda like soil and pot size?
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Actually no. I’ve seen some huge plants in 5 gal buckets. I think the difference is, growing in totes help you keep the nutes more stable easier. In five gal buckets you only have about 2-3 gal of water. You’ll feed that much just about every day while in flower.
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I see, so it’s easier to keep things stable with larger volumes of water. I’m guessing that’s why I see, in some systems, a large reservoir to hold water attached to insert bucket number.
With aeroponics, are you less likely to have root issues like you see when roots get submerged?
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I’m not that familiar with aeroponics. Sorry. I’m not sure but I think @beardless May can answer that.
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That’s cool, thanks for your input I really appreciate it.
@Jstar, maybe you could answer my above question about areo. Also, using totes for aero, is that to have space for the components needed, like sprayers etc?
I have dirt under my fingernails.
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Sorry brother. I didn’t know if you knew anything about that. 
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I added air stones for just that reason, to avoid riot rot. Aeroponic systems are pretty good at adding air to the water, mostly from the spray falling back into the water and adding O2 that way, however I wanted to give it the best possible environment, but they should be fine without one.
Also, Aeroponic spraying systems can be pretty small, I used the tote I did because I want to grow a very large plant. With a large plant comes a large root system. A 5 gallon bucket can work, but the plant would need to be pretty small. I also built a 7 gallon tote system, but only use that for veggies.
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That’s cool, could you point me in the direction of a good diy build?
Well, we are not allowed to post direct links to many things, but if you google building an inexpensive hydroponic Aeroponic
Watch the family plot video. That is what inspired me to build the boxing use.
Happy to help you if you run into any issues as well.
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