Are you growing indoors? What kind of lighting do you have? Do you have an exhaust fan and oscillating fan(s)? As a sidenote, I agree with grizzman. For the number of questions you have, your system is far too large. While hydroponics allows for careful plant management and excellent rewards at harvest time, it is more difficult and time consuming to manage when compared to growing in dirt. Each plant has specific nutrient requirements (as mentioned by Cole_robbie), and this not only varies by species, it also varies based on whether it's flowering or growing vegatatively. Mixing a range of plants in the same system is a recipe for disaster. Larger plants require higher nutrient levels, and the NPK ratio changes during fruiting/flowering. Levels for a large plant would harm a small plant, and levels for a small plant would starve a large one. Some need additions like calcium or magnesium, while others don't. When you flower your tomatoes, peppers, (?peas?) you will have to lengthen your dark (night) cycle(plants don't care about length of day to trigger flowering, only length of night). This change, unless you have segregated grow rooms/chambers, will likely cause your spices and leafy vegetables to flower as well. I'm not sure of the effects to root vegetables, but flowering changes and sometimes ruins the flavours of herbs. Basil, as an example, becomes bitter when flours appear and they should be pinched off as soon as they appear if you aren't trying to get next crop's seeds. 1. The number of plants per tote depends on a few factors. Size of mature plant is the most important, although you can do much denser if you want to do an extended harvest of young greens. I'm growing 30 basil plants in a 15 gallon DWC with a 150w HPS and 2 42w (6400k) CFL. I'm using 2" net cups, spaced like a cloner. 2. Varies greatly by plant size, higher with larger plants. Add air stones in to every bucket and tub, as well as the reservoir. 3. This is the same question as 2, but I'll take this time to mention that all of your setup needs to be sterile before you use it, and all water bins, lids, and pipes need to be completely opaque. If it's translucent (any light gets through), you'll likely have a downhill battle with algae and/or root rot. Spray-paint it black then white, or return it and buy opaque stuff. Seriously. 4. Someone covered this, but you also have to keep in mind just how much water will be used on a daily basis. Having a reservoir that is the volume of the full system might not last for a whole day when your plants grow up. You need to maintain a high enough level to stay above the pump, and also to not cause the water to be toxic. Plants don't use nutrients and water at the same rates, so over time your solution will either increase or decrease in concentration. At high concentrations, some plants will die. Think of it like this, we (mammals) need salt to live. If we're stranded on the ocean, we will die of thirst because the water is too salty for us to drink. It would dry us out just like too-strong nutrients will starve and kill a plant. 5. Your pump just depends on your target flow rate. I've done 6 outdoor top-feed tomato plants, and a pond pump was more than I needed. I'm doing DWC now, but not recirculating, and I don't have relevant experience. 6. Net pot size depends on plant size. I'm using 2" for basil, but I would go for 4-6" for larger plants. The most important consideration is that you are able to block light to the roots with hydroton and maintain plant stability. e.g. basil would do just as well in a 6" pot as in a 2", but tomatoes in a 2" pot would destroy the pot and likely fall over. 7. Varies by plant, but they will grow to be as big as they need to be. In a DWC, don't worry about how big they will get. You'll be fine. You do need to make sure that the roots don't grow in to your pipes (they will surely try) and block the drainage. Think flood. That's another reason to not try to have everything on one system. A single failure could kill your entire crop. 8. For baby plants without roots outside of the net pots like clones and new transplants, water needs to be high enough to keep the plants wet. If you're starting seeds or clones in rockwool, put a layer of hydroton in the bottom of the net pots, then put in the rockwool. Fill beside rockwool cubes with hydroton. Water should touch hydroton, but not rockwool. When first roots start to hang down, water level should be lowered to a bit below the net pot bottom. Leave a bit more space if you're crazy enough to not put in an airline and stone to each bucket. 9. Both/All. 10. 1 stone in each bucket/reservoir will be enough, but some people will say that more is better. There is a saturation point where no more oxygen can be in the water, and it depends on temperature (colder = more dissolved oxygen). 11. The pump needs to put out enough for each stone, so you'll need a strong pump (or a few weaker ones). Don't quote me on this, but a rough estimate might be about 10w per air stone. You'll also need to take in to account the length of air tubing (longer requires higher pressure) and depth of water (deeper requires higher pressure). Separate pumps will help when one fails as well (and it will). Hope that helps! Here is a link that might be useful: DotCaDot - DWC Sweet Basil This post was edited by Seven_Six_Two on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 22:28

Probably, For growing green leafy stuff you really want the 5000 Calvin color temp range lights more than wide spectrum but they will probably work. The real trick with florescents is you want a good reflector and you need to be able to place the lights very close to your plants. Like having the tubes within three inches of your top leaves. This means you need to hang the light in a manner that you can move it as your plants grow and to be able to lift it out of your way when working around your plants and the system. I grow lettuce under a 4' long 2' wide 4 T5 tube fixture. The light is only about 2" away from the plants.

Nice start heather ! I use wood chips for seeding in egg boxes, which I keep wet with a spray can. Never thought about the lights on or off, so can't say. I think the foam floating on water may do well, but is it porous enough to suck up the water? Otherwise keep a spray can ready. Try it out . . see what happens. There's nothing like failures to teach you. LOL

I'm in the same boat! I also looked at the thermador and Jennair promo "buy it all from us" package and I'm not thrilled with getting everything from either brand. My original appliance search started with wanting a larger fridge. We currently have a 36" non-counter depth SxS and it seems so tiny. I thought it was just the SxS, but quickly began to realize I wanted a counter depth fridge so I'd have to go wider to get anything with more room. Thats why the appliance salesman took us to the Thermador and Jennair rooms to show us the larger fridge options. However, neither gets great reviews for all their products so I'm now leaning towards mix and match brands to get what I want and not worry about promo's that save a small amount but get you stuff you didn't really want in the first place. The price joc6820 quoted is about what I got without adding in any tax. After realizing I was ok going that high I found I could look at a SZ 48" builtin and still end up with a similar budget. fridge/freezer: SubZero 48" builtin Cooktop: Electrolux Icon 36" induction Ovens: Electrolux double wall ovens (maybe Icon, mulling over one regular oven and one speed oven) DW: Bosch (not the $1800 model, but one just over 1k) MW: Sharp drawer Hood: undecided on this so far, just has to suck air and be quiet! The SZ seperate columns do end up being more expensive, but the 48" seems large enough for my needs. Its still a SxS which I thought I wanted to avoid, but its wide enough to not bother me I think. There are definitely cheaper ways to get more fridge space and many nice options have already been mentioned above.