Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponics system is the easiest hydro system to use for indoor growing because it requires only a few materials, supplies, and know-how to get started:

In a DWC hydro system, you simply fill up a reservoir with your nutrient solution; then suspend your plant’s roots in that solution so they receive the steady, continuous supply of water, oxygen, and nutrients.

Then a continuous oxygen supply is added to the water. The most common way used by growers to oxygenate the nutrient solution reservoir is with an air pump and air-stone to pump bubbles into it.

For example:                                     

These are some of the things you will need for a first-time DWC system:

• Light
• Fan
• Grow Tent (optional to keep the light contained)
• Fertilizer
• Five gallon bucket with lid
• Aquarium air pump
• Aquarium air stone
• Growing media
• Black spray paint (to light proof the bucket)
• Seeds
• Research and Patience

Lights:

The best option currently are still HPS lamps. They produce lots of light per electricity used. They are also inexpensive to buy. On the downside HPS (High pressure Sodium) lamps produce lots of heat and use lots of electricity. Alternatively, you could use LED grow lights. Quality ones will work just as well but are much more expensive to buy.

And, if you want to grow on a very small scale you could use CFL lamps. 1 x 150 Watt CFL will work for 1-3 plants. I recommend you use HPS as its still the best all-round solution. These lights come with a ballast to run the bulb.

Ventilation:

Cannabis needs fresh air to grow properly. Grow areas that are not well ventilated tent to develop insects like spidermites and another kind of pathogens which will diminish the harvest.

Also, you need to get rid of old used air. For example out of a window or vent. The carbon filter will remove the typical Marijuana smell so other people won’t have to smell it. Very small setups with only 1 CFL lamp can work without active ventilation.

Grow Tent:

• keeps the bright light inside
• keeps the plant smell inside
• has reflective insights to direct all light to the plants
• has opening for fresh air to enter at the bottom and used air to exit at the top
• has openings for electric cables

Fertilizers:

Fertilizers are basically one of the most important assets when growing hydroponically. Plants need nutrients to grow and flower properly; for this reason, we recommend the use of high quality fertilizers with natural and organic ingredients such as Complete Hydroponics.

Note: It is very important to understand these two concepts: pH and Electrical Conductivity.

5 Gallons Bucket:

Choose a black 5 Gallons Bucket

When the plants are still small, people simply forget that they will get bigger. The bigger they get, the more water, nutrients, roost space, and oxygen they will need to consume. This is why a 5 Gallons bucket is decent size to start with.

The space provided by the bucket is important because the roots can grow more and get better access to the nutrient solution. It also protects the roots from light, heat, and pests. It’s significant to keep the root zone cool and light proof. Prolonged light will damage the roots, and high temps in the root zone will cause heat stress to your plants, as well as fruit and flower drop as a result of heat stress.

Aquarium Air-pump:

Air pumps can be found anywhere they sell aquarium supplies. Air pumps simply just supply air and oxygen to the water and roots. Air is pumped through an airline to air stones that create a bunch of small bubbles that rise up through the nutrient solution.

The air pump helps keep the plants roots from suffocating while their submerged in the nutrient solution 24/7. For any other type of hydroponic system, the air pump is typically used in the reservoir. It helps to increase dissolved oxygen levels in the water up and keep the water oxygenated.

Airstone:

An airstone, also called an aquarium bubbler, is a piece of aquarium furniture, traditionally a piece of lime-wood or porous stone, whose purpose is to gradually diffuse air into the tank, eliminating the noise and large bubbles of conventional air filtration systems.

The airsotnes keep the water and nutrients moving and circulating, this keeps the nutrients evenly mixed all the time. The circulating oxygenated water also helps reduce pathogens from gaining a foothold in the reservoir.

Growing Media:

Hydroponic growing media is simply a soil-less material that is generally porous so it can hold the plant in place and keep the moisture and oxygen that the root system requires to grow.

Some of the most widely used growing media’s include Rockwool, Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate, Coconut Fiber (Complete Hydroponics) /Coconut chips, and Perlite or Vermiculite. While there are a lot of materials that can be used as growing media in hydroponics, they can all have very different property’s than another type of media.

Black spray paint:

This is used when you have a white container. Light can ruin your root system if it gets access to it. Some people use black spray to prevent any possible contact with light.

Seeds:

There are two key types of marijuana strains (cannabis) – Sativa and Indica. Each strain has its own unique properties and characteristics which will vary the strength, yield, size, type of high and growing conditions required. Depending on how you want to cultivate and grow your plants knowing about these strains and their traits will be a great help in deciding what you want for yourself.

Please! Set up your hydroponic garden before you germinate the seeds. Make sure everything works fine. If you are using clones, skip this section. Use Rockwool cube to start the seed on and surround it with whatever growing media you like to use. Keep the Rockwool cube so that the bottom 70% or so is submerged when the water is at its maximum, but keep the top part above the water so that the seed is never submerged. After the seeds have germinated and the root is about a quarter of an inch long, place the seed, root down, on your grow cube or media in your hydroponic cups.

Research and Patience:

Growing Hydro is kind of a discipline. It is important to do a lot of research and readings to learn more details about this process. Hydroponics is a practice that guarantees a successful but different result in every harvest. This means that every result you get will be linked to your best or worst practices. This is one of the reasons why Hydroponics is so especial to many growers because the final product will bring its own signature.

Hydroponics makes you the God-like master of your plants, why? Well, you would be in control of almost everything your ladies need to grow; such as, water supply, nutrients, light, humidity, temperature, oxygen, ventilation, and many others. It is you (the grower) the one who brings to life the overall quality of your harvest.