10gal or 18gal res?

[jwb87]

Hey guys,

Gettin close to starting here, just wondering if I could get away with a 10gal tub vs. the 18gal for 4 plants. How many gal of water do you even normally use????

10gal would be ideal for the space in my grow cab, but if recommended I will go with the 18. Looking to start with some 3 3/4" netpots raising some lowryders. Just dont want the res becoming too overcrowded with roots...

Thanks!!

 

[Wing King 903]

i would go with a 10 i used just 6 gal of water in mine

 

[jwb87]

i would go with a 10 i used just 6 gal of water in mine

Awesome, that will give me more room! I think its the same width, just the height and depth is shrunk. So using 3 3/4" net pots should still be fine.

Thanks for the feedback WM!!!

 

[Jango]

Hey jwb, the 10 gallon will work fine but you'll just have to top off water a LOT when in the middle of flowering and it will get filled up with he roots but not overcrowded

 

[jwb87]

Hey jwb, the 10 gallon will work fine but you'll just have to top off water a LOT when in the middle of flowering and it will get filled up with he roots but not overcrowded

Awesome man!!! Picked it up yesterday. Waiting for my netpots to see the exact measurement of the supposed 3 3/4's that I ordered. Then I'll use a hole saw to cut 4 ports and notch for my pump lines.

Also got some foil tape, think its worth wrapping it??

Walmart $5ish....uhhh

 

[Jango]

Yeah id wrap it, it helps keep res temps down if you reflect light off of it, i just have mylar laying on the top of mine, helps keep temps in the 60's

 

[Mr. Krip]

I know I'm a little late to respond to this one, but FYI, you're gonna be real limited on size if you're planning on growing four plants all the way through flowering, using that 10-gallon res.

IMHO, you'd be better going with only two plants in a 10 gallon and as a general rule, plan on about 5 gallons per plant. You can go smaller, but whenever possible, always go with the larger res for several reasons beyond just the size of the plants and space for the roots.

First, as Jango mentioned, you'll need to top off with water much more often. In full bloom, each plant can drink up to a gallon or so of water per day.

Probably more significant is that temps, PH and PPM's tend to be more stable and easier to manage, with less swings, in a larger res.

If you're gonna try four plants in that 10-gallon, just make sure you flip to 12/12 before they get too big, cuz you will NOT be able to remove one of the plants later without jeopardizing the entire grow.

All of the roots will end up growing together and there will be no way to seperate them. If you try to cut them, the dead pieces will rot in your res and cause root rot on the other plants.

Best advice I can give you is to start with two plants, get a feel for how they grow and respond, and if you're comfortable on the next grow, you can try more plants in there. Remember, they will double or triple in size once you switch to 12/12!

 

[jwb87]

I know I'm a little late to respond to this one, but FYI, you're gonna be real limited on size if you're planning on growing four plants all the way through flowering, using that 10-gallon res.

IMHO, you'd be better going with only two plants in a 10 gallon and as a general rule, plan on about 5 gallons per plant. You can go smaller, but whenever possible, always go with the larger res for several reasons beyond just the size of the plants and space for the roots.

First, as Jango mentioned, you'll need to top off with water much more often. In full bloom, each plant can drink up to a gallon or so of water per day.

Probably more significant is that temps, PH and PPM's tend to be more stable and easier to manage, with less swings, in a larger res.

If you're gonna try four plants in that 10-gallon, just make sure you flip to 12/12 before they get too big, cuz you will NOT be able to remove one of the plants later without jeopardizing the entire grow.

All of the roots will end up growing together and there will be no way to seperate them. If you try to cut them, the dead pieces will rot in your res and cause root rot on the other plants.

Best advice I can give you is to start with two plants, get a feel for how they grow and respond, and if you're comfortable on the next grow, you can try more plants in there. Remember, they will double or triple in size once you switch to 12/12!

Shiiiit man, you got me scared. Im hoping that the rootmass will be smaller than regular plants, as they're auto/lowryders.

You dont think I could pull off 4 plants in this setup?

 

[Mr. Krip]

Don't stress, JWB...I NEVER said, "can't"...I just said you'd really have to be careful to keep the plants small.

I have the exact same res I was going to use initially (actually, I have two!). Depending on the size of the netpots you use, the plants will be about 8" apart at the ends. So, with four plants, each plant can only branch out about 4" from the center until it's touching another plant.

It might not be too bad for a mini SOG grow, but it will be a tight fit and you won't be able to veg very long.

FYI...I'm currently flowering 2 plants in a 2'x2' space and it's way too crowded. In the future, I'll most likely only flower one at a time in that space. I'm growing bigger plants, but you'll find it doesn't take much once they start budding for these girls to really take off.

 

[Jango]

Yeah you'll be fine with 4 plants if you keep em small bro. Your box looks similar size to mine, 2x3? I was originally gonna put 4 in mine but I've decided to only do 2 cause my plants have veg'd for like 4 weeks and 2 of them easily fill the whole thing up! It depends on your strain too, if you have sativas 4 will fit a bit better but my snow whites are big time indica and super bushy! At any rate if you go with 4 only veg for like 2 weeks or it'll be really crowded in a hurry

 

[jwb87]

ya I was looking at the stealth hydro kit or whatnot and if they can pull 6 plants off in their res I was hoping to contain 4, weeeee'll see soon enough I guess haha. Biggest concern though is my 3 & 3/4" netpots turned out to be pretty tiny. Not sure if I should order up some more before the germs start...thanks for all the feedback everyone!