Hey everyone, this is actually my first ever post on Reddit, so show me some love 🙏
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments, and hopefully learn from the community too.
I’ve been developing tech for hydroponics for about 9 years now, and honestly most of what I’ve learned came from forums, groups, and my customers.
Switching from soil to hydro felt overwhelming at first.
The hardest part for me was the idea of checking and fixing pH and EC all the time.
In full hydro setups like DWC or NFT, the water is always around the roots, so the numbers move fast and it feels like you need to babysit the tank.
I actually started with DWC for my first grow, so I learned the hard way 😅.
But I’m glad I did, because that experience is what got me into building Growee.
If you don’t have any automation, I’d say it can be much easier to start with an in-between system.
I first learned about ebb & flow (flood and drain) setups like Autopot or the AirCube from customers.
⚠️ Just to be clear, this isn’t a recommendation.
I’m just sharing what I’ve seen and learned from other growers who use these systems.
The basic concept of these systems:
- One main tank with nutrients
- Several pots with plants and hydroton
- A controller bucket that floods the pots on a timer
- Then the controller drains back, so roots get both food and air
This cycle makes the water change slower compared to traditional hydro systems.
That means when you’re starting out, you don’t need to invest as much time in constantly balancing the water. It gives you time, at least at the begining. the slower drain cycle, the more time you have.
It feels like a good middle ground, not soil, not full hydro, but something in between. Some people even add automation on top (for pH and EC), so the water is always balanced before it floods the pots.
The photo I uploaded is actually from the IG account of Aee_Labs You should check out what he’s doing, I’ve actually learned a lot from him myself.
Is there something I’ve missed here, or anything you’d like me to elaborate on more?
I’d really like to hear from you all and keep learning from the community.
by IdanFounderGrowee
6 Comments
I’m curious about the “what I’ve learned about moving to hydro(that I wish I knew earlier)” part of the post.
I see an advertisement for your business, some personal feelings about stages of your first grow. And then back to some basic advertising for your system.
What I don’t see is anything about the problems you had due to lack of knowledge and the ways you fixed them, or improvements that were made and why.
Or how any of your “learned” experiences have lead you to design this product, and what challenges it overcomes compared to other systems based on what you “learned”
What I learned about hydro is this: “When you play with water, you’re gonna get wet.”
So make sure to design fail safe systems.
https://preview.redd.it/zsrizy1xrkqf1.jpeg?width=3456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f37b5bf89a195f3dee56bb9e33d7072b5add3ede
And the bigger the rez, the better.
Your tank is your life source. I’m T1 diabetic and it’s the same principle. Constantly monitor, constantly adjust.
Please tell me more about how you measure and add nutrients. What pumps are those, and what is that EC/pH meter computer? That system looks interesting. I’m using injectors, but they are loud and inaccurate.
Pretty cool product but I think most people who are into hydro enough to stick with it will just build their own for a couple hundred bucks.
I run two flower tents on a 10 gal reservoir with two pumps one for each tent. In the tents i run drip rings and have them drain into a Holding/Transfer bucket that has a 12 volt boat bilge pump to transfer back to the reservoir. In the res i have two 4” air stones, with an another pump circulating the reservoir. I also use one gallon plastic frozen jugs to keep things cool. When i refill every day i check PH and EC. Growing in oversize net pots with coco a d Leca. It would be nice to automate but then that takes me away from the joy of growing my own. May the Ganja Gods be with You!