40 plant hydro setup for less than £500?

[TheBaron95]

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie and going to do a 40 plant hydro crop.

My question is can I buy all the equipment needed for a 40 plant hydro setup for £500 or less? If so can anyone recommend any set ups, brands, prices and where to get etc.

Don't know which type of hydro system to use yet so going to go with the cheapest and easiest?

Using a room or two not tents.

Cheers

 

[J189RFC]

It will be really tight but I don't see why not. 1000w switchable hps/mh. 150. filter fan 250, build a table and a res 60, pump 10, nutes the rest.... pretty tight. If you can double your budget youll get a better result and wont be freaking out halfway through.

 

[iwltfum]

Agreed with J1. I think you'd be better off at 1,500 or even 2,500 with that many plants, but I think you could probably skimp your way around enough that after your first, grow you could upgrade. I would start with environment first.

J1 laid out the basic materials you'll need pretty well. I would definitely suggest going DIY with the table and res. All you'll have to buy is a hole saw bit and some water proof drain/fill fittings and that will cost you nothing compared to buying the plastic bin and table from a hydro shop. If you didn't want to buy a pump, you could run coco and hand water for your first cycle or two. Nothing wrong with hand watering if you have the time. As for the nutrients, you won't have the option to be picky, but there are some cheap and decent lines of hydro nutes out there like advanced nutrients or several of the GH lines. For the basic start up pack, the nutes will probably run you about 100 pounds if you get a bloom booster and calmag.
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[TheBaron95]

yeah will defo have a bigger budget for the second one. How big should the plastic bin and table be, how many litres? and how many will I need for 40 plants?

I have seen people doing loads of little ones but I would like decent space for each plant.

Cheers

 

[iwltfum]

yeah will defo have a bigger budget for the second one. How big should the plastic bin and table be, how many litres? and how many will I need for 40 plants?

I have seen people doing loads of little ones but I would like decent space for each plant.

Cheers

The least amount of 1000W lights that I would run with hat number of plants is 7. I don't like to put more than 6 plants under one 1000W. My preference is 4. It would be a task to fit 40 plants under 2 lights. How set are you on that number? I think if you wanted to spend an extra week vegging, you could easily half that number and get the same exactly canopy size and yield.

 

[iwltfum]

Your res size is up to you and how much you want to refill it. I usually go for a smaller res because I would rather fill it more often than have the same water feeding the plants for an extended period of time, but it leaves alot more work for me to get done daily.

EDIT: Count on your plants drinking 1/2-1 us gallon of water per day by late bloom. You can get a good idea of how big your res should be by doing that math based on the number of plants you plan to have. With smaller plants, the amount of water they drink per day will be less, but it's a good estimate to start with.

 

[TheBaron95]

How much do you think I could yield of 20?

 

[iwltfum]

A good goal to shoot for, if it's your first grow, is about .25-.5grams per watt. If everything goes perfectly, then you might be able to expect that amount with a decent strain. I would expect less than that and then you will be pleasantly surprised if you end up with that amount.

 

[TheBaron95]

Ok thanks sorry for all the questions but would you still use 7 x 1000 wt lights on 20?

 

[iwltfum]

Ok thanks sorry for all the questions but would you still use 7 x 1000 wt lights on 20?

No worries. I would probably use 3 or 4 lights for 20. People are all over the board with this number though. It's personal preference really. I like to bloom in 3-8 gallon pots and that only leaves room for 1-6 plants under a 1000W light, so that's why I came to that number.

 

[J189RFC]

I figured he would want to go sea of green SOG style. 40 plants for 500$ it would make sense. It's actually probably your best bet for getting started. Run one or two normal runs to get it figured out and dialed in and then run 10x 2 week veged clones every 2 weeks. Could totally hand water coco coir but again thats a lot of extra expense to save somewhere else. You could probably get gravel and rockwool for cheaper.. Or even maybe some pink poly board?

If you could get even 1-200 more I think you would have a better chance getting the big set up going right off the get go. But also you are looking to get a lb from this first go.

 

[TheBaron95]

sounds like a good plan!

I'm debating weather to try and cheap it or just scrape the p together and do it on a bigger budget from the start

 

[AKgramma]

In the long run, if you go cheap and upgrade as you go along, it will be more expensive and very time consuming as you rearrange all your equipment for each upgrade. (Speaking from experience on my first grow). As much money as I spent on expansion and upgrades, I might as well have gone top shelf to start with.

I only have 5 mature plants and a few clones, and I had to double the size on one of my "grow tents". Well-fed, pampered cannibus takes up a lot of room, no matter how you train it.