Cheap Hydroponics supply store?

Question

Is there a cheap online hydroponics supply store you favor?

Answer 1

no. but i have seen many DIY grows and it seems that most of the stuff u can get at the hardware store, fish supply and garden centers.

to make a DWC bucket will cost u about $25 USD<<less if u make more than one.

DWC = deep water culture

about the only things i can think of that u cannot get there are certain lights (go to eBay for them), NFT mats and fertilizer. maybe fine mist nozzles too (garden supply for that sometimes though). The water proof tubs are nice at hydro stores too unless u make ur own but with that u would be searching for the shop who sold the size tub u wanted, it's likely to be a limited list once u decide on what u want.

an alternate for ready made tubs is rubbermaid if u are going small<cheap too and but agricultural/farm animal water and feed bins if u were going bigger<not really cheap though.

fertilizer<<u might want to buy this based on what fert u want, not what shop u are at. It's not that cheap or DIY won't work but it's just that some places are VERY likely to sell u something stupid or incomplete just in order to sell u the hydro equipment. Good ones are advanced nutrients (good but be careful that u do not get the wrong ones, their labels are a little deceptive), grotek (best?), fox farm (cheapest maybe) and there is another as good or better, i forget their name but they were more expensive anyway.

DIY hydro fertilizer is already being done.

there are so many ways to do hydro<it seems easy because it has one name but it is quite diverse the methods you have to choose from. It probably deserves some more research before u dump cash into it unless u just happen to have lots of cash.

and once again, I highly recommend looking into the DWC buckets if u want cheap results:

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG...

tip>watch your water temperature because high temps make no oxygen in the water, it wants to be about 68F i think<check that figure against what others say cause actually i do not do hydro myself. also look into hydrogen peroxide as an additive unless u really get a LOT of froth going.

also, lights. The spectrum and strength can matter.

30W per square foot you NEED for vegetative growth but up to 50W is good, maybe especially for flowering plants.

Blue is good for vegetative growth, red is sometimes better for some flowering varieties. Wide spectrum is good/full spectrum..but no matter what they call it, red blue wide or powerful<<it is often all lies when compared to true red blue wide or powerful. What does not lie is nanometer measurements/spectrum charts and also usually wattage does not lie but sometimes it can a little.

I use shop lights<four foot fluorescents with 40W tubes. work really great for vegetative stage and thought to be a joke by a lot of growers for flower but can work good if they are kept about one inch away from foliage.

CFL fluorescents are sometimes used.

if u go with HID, then look into the ones where u can switch from MH to HPS. You could easily convert an HPS ballast to be a part-time MH but not a lot of need to do it if u can find a conversion setup of comparable price (they have conversion ballasts or bulbs<make sure u get the right combo).

whatever light you use, the most important thing about it is that it is kept at the right distance from the plants. The distance it should be kept is usually dependent on what distance it CAN be kept (due to heat). So if u use HID, then think about a hood cooler. Like a fan that sucks the hot air from the light hood; the fan usually expels the hot air through a tube that goes out of the grow area. the fan can often be a computer tower fan, about 4" across and about $5 USd at circuit city or other mega electronic supply stores.