Ok so should I do the 6 pot plastic 3.9 gallon with 12 gallon res autopot brand or Hydrofarm Active Aqua Grow Flow Ebb & Gro 12 Site 2 Gallon Hydroponic Sytem - Walmart.com. For my 4x4?
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Greetings @Patriots781
At first glance I’d say no on the Hydrofarm Active Aqua. Perhaps even Hell No!
It is an interesting package, but for $450 you can do better and, more importantly, you can get a system that is more custom tailored to growing Cannabis.
The system you pictured has most of the elements needed for the job, it was clearly designed by folks who know ebb and flow hydro, but there’s no telling if the level of control you have will suit your needs. Zero Reviews?
Whatever components they provide is what you’ll be stuck with, for example, they don’t mention any option to add moisture sensors to automate watering schedules. I’m no expert, but I think you’d want that option.
If you’re in a hurry to get going, consider buying a few micro Octopots to play with. Cheap, easy and satisfying.
Just my $0.02 @Patriots781,
-Grouchy 
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Floraflex has some cool setups. I picked up a pretty nice setup for 9 plants for a 4x4 for about half price of the one you posted, but their options are many. Lots of people running sub irrigated planters here as well. There are always blumats as well.
No complaints on autopots from me. I have their basic “easy2grow” trays which each have 2 small pots (2.2gal I think).
I run the a mix of around 40% coco and 30% perlite, and the remainder a mix of pumice, peat, and worm castings. By using a time release fertilizer (grow dots), I just keep plain water in the reservoir. About once a week I top up the res with more water and PH it down to between 5.8 and 6.2. Once every other week or two I turn the res valve off for a day or two and then hand water in some beneficial bacteria/fungus (ReCharge) and occasionally some humic/fulvic acid. The most “difficult” part is the PH adjusting and it only takes like 15min a week.
I do it this way because I want to keep it simple and not spend a bunch of time mixing different ferts and keeping a collection of fert bottles. I originally thought smaller pot would keep the ladies smaller as well, but trust me they can still get big in a small autopot.
if you want a cheap, quick to setup, hydro system, go to walmart. i can put together enough to grow four for about $60. if you scrog it, you can fill any size tent you want. all you have to watch for is humidity and temperature if you use the right nutes, one is grow the other is bloom, a couple of brands that work for controlling ph. change the water every two to three weeks and you’re golden. i’ve set up many friends with that kind of ease of growing. now that you can get cheap led lights online i can get anyone up and growing for under $100. last guy i setup before i used leds has a nice hps/mh 600w system in his closet that cost about $300 for the light, the next one i setup with leds has $30 in a light just a tad brighter. i need to put together a tutorial on it.
edit: i forgot the timer and temp/humidity sensor. about another $20, maybe less if you scrounge around.
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Check this one out I found on eBay that you can add to as time goes on.
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Years ago I used many of the hydrofarm units which were great, much cheaper to make your own based upon the same concept.
I do only aero/nft systems now, many pros and less cons…
Ya I’m leaning more towards autopots with the air base or pot sock,but I was looking at the floraflex ,where do you find a rez to hook up to there sytems and dont you have to get fittings that don’t come with the system?,floraflex would sell alot more if the res came with the system,and I hear some of there tubing is trash,idk I’m thinkin 6 3.9 gallons 12 gallon plastic Rez I hear the Collapsible ones flood all the time
Here’s an autopot setup I’m working with. It’s the 4x 3.9 gallon with 12 gal reservoir, I’m running one in a 3x3 and another in 4x4.
It’s not a perfect setup. But it beats hand watering every 48 hours.
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I have a 3x3 and I’m running a self filling 5 gallon red in my 95 gallon bed. BluSoak with one carrot (I need another but it runs perfect)
It’s a monster and I have to do nothing just make sure it’s running.
This is when I first started and before the growth got under control. (Kept fucking with my lights so flip took too long)
I’m thinking this will be one of my biggest harvests ever. Didn’t need this much lol (rosin time !)
You can save yourself a bunch of money with a diy wicking bucket system . A bucket within a bucket using a 3.5 net cup as a wick and connecting them to a reservior bucket/control bucket thats on a float valve(the 5 gallon buckets work better) .I have been running these systems before the 1st gen autopots were around with a organic mix with great success. I also found out that those cheap auto watering systems with the drip stake sold on amazon for around 30.00 work great as a automatic drip system for coir grows I have mine setup for 2 min drips every 6 hours in 1 gallon pots on a diy drip tray and havnt had problems with it yet.
Anyone else try these growdots?
I may have to make a wicking system like that, I’m using blumats, and I love them, but I don’t like the setup or the fact I can’t really take a plant in and out of the tent easily once they are set up