First time DWC setup and use

Ignite

Ignite

I've been wanting to try a DWC system for growing plants since I started growing tomato plants many years ago, so this year is finally the year I'm going to pull the trigger and try it.  I'm only planning at growing 3-4 plants and all will be super hots.  I'll still be doing my normal outside grow in raised beds.  I'm getting ready to purchase all of the equipment from amazon and was hoping someone could take a look at it and let me know if I'm missing anything or just way off base with some of the selections.  I may be scaling this setup in the future if this year goes well and I'll be using one line to supply my tea bucket, so I'm really hoping to purchase quality equipment the first time and avoid having to redo everything if I decide to add more plants next year...buy once and cry once.
 
Here's what I'm looking at:
 
5 gallon buckets from Home Depot or Lowes (Black)
 
General Hydroponics Dual Diaphragm Air Pump
 
Supposed to be very quiet and efficient.  I looked at more powerful units from Hydrofarm and other manufacturers but I keep coming back to that one
 
Hydrofarm 4" Air Stone
 
Seems to be pretty standard.  My local pet store has a 5" but I don't see many people using them
 
Lee's Sleek Airline (Black)
 
It's black and the size that I need.  Most seem to be around the same price so I'm just going with the first thing I looked at
 
Hydroton Grow Medium
 
Again...pretty standard from what I've read.  I may just use lava rocks if I can find some laying around the garage.
 
I'm also looking at purchasing a 400W HPS light to keep these things happy.  They'll be growing in my garage which means no access to any natural sun light.  I have a fluorescent setup that I use for seedlings, but I don't think it's powerful enough to supply up to 4 plants with light during there productive stages.  This price isn't bad ($165) but I'm not familiar with the brand.  It comes with both bulbs which seems to make it a better deal.
 
Apollo 400W HPS Light
 
Sorry for the long post...just trying to get this thing right before I drop the money.  
 
I just setup my first dwc.
 
Black bucket, Check! I'm only using a 15L bucket with 13L of nute solution. Doesn't matter at all, there is no way a single pepper plant will produce a solid 13L of roots. Thats the plus of hydro.
 
Air pump, Check! Looks like you got the goods there. That's 1200L per hour. I went with a 400L per hour dual port unit. Runs one bucket just fine on medium with the second port blocked. Only cost $18 down in Aus'
 
Air tubing is great! That's a really decent price. Its expensive down here at almost $4 per metre.
 
You don't need to use hydroton. You can even use little rocks or pebbles, the cheapest option is the fish tank rocks which are like $5 for a big bag.
 
If you're just growing peppers, the general community here suggests that GH FloraMicro and FloraBloom are all that are necessary. I opted just to use these two. Its been 3 days and my plant still looks happy. I don't expect much growth for a week or so until the plant adapts to the change.
 
Its great fun mate, you'll enjoy the hydro stuff. Mine is an outdoor setup so I can't comment on lighting. You probably won't need the HID until the plant is big enough. You should be able to get away with CFL's for a while.
 
You might also need something to test PH. I just use PH paper. I don't use a PPM counter. The water here is soft to medium with a lowish ppm so I just add nutes at 50 - 75% the label recommendations. I made a excel spreadsheet which will automatically adjust how much nutes you need for how much water you use and allows you to add a correction in to adjust overall percentages of nutes.
 
If you only plan a small setup, that pump *may* be overkill. You can definitely get something cheaper. If you intend to expand the system or have even an external reservoir for say a aeroponic system or something else, you may want to get the one you linked. I'm surprised for a 1200LPH unit that it only uses 8w of power. Note though that figure is the overall, so you will have about 400LPH per outlet.
 
My air stone is a 5" from an aquarium store. I can buy 3 for the price of that single one there. Where ever you can save money, SAVE MONEY!
 
Thanks for the quick replies.  The wattage on the pump and the output is what drew me to it.  I'll definitely look into the 5" air stones at my local pet store but I think they were around the same price as the 4" units on amazon.
 
Also, thanks for the tip on the aquarium rock.
 
Sarge said:
I just setup my first dwc.
 
Black bucket, Check! I'm only using a 15L bucket with 13L of nute solution. Doesn't matter at all, there is no way a single pepper plant will produce a solid 13L of roots. Thats the plus of hydro.
 
Click to expand...
 
 
Don't be too sure about that. (Not my pic).
alphahydrodwcroots11.jpg
 
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