Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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I helped setup a grow room years ago. It would've cost about five grand but it was stealthed.
However I know this, lights are important and will be a healthy part of the budget. You also need timers to turn them on and off. The system we used was an ebb/flow type which realistically, to find the best equipment, even if it is not your goal, look into growing pot indoors. Note that in certain parts of the country you will need AC even in the winter. With this system there were pumps, and some of them simply aerated the water, they were also timed.
If indoors you must think about density. There is a limit on how many plants you can grow per square foot. When you approach the limit, strings, ropes and hooks on the walls and cieling come in handy to tie the branches up to keep one plant from shadowing another from the light.
When we got the light setup installed, it was a dandy. Dude probably had a grand at least in just that, but before the rest of the stuff went in, I had them running and actually took my shirt off. These are very close to sunlight, and it felt just like sunlight on my skin.
If you are totally isolated from outdoor light you can trick the plants into faster growth as well. You can set the system up to run on a 20 or 18 hour cycle instead of 24. This requires special equipment or alot of tending.
We didn't use this technique, but there is a cheap way other than that. Just get PVC pipe and use the T fittings for the plants. Pump the enriched water through the dirt in the pipes to feed the plants. It works great, but the drawback is that by the time you are done growing the roots are pretty much pervasive in the pipes and you just throw them away and start again. Luckily the pipe is cheap enough.
No matter how you slice it, this will take some utilities, and that will make them think you are growing pot. But that's not the point, the point is that it costs money, so try to grow enough of whatever to offset those costs, unless you are rich.
Actually I think the best produce is grown in my backyard, the soil is black as coal. At one point the grass didn't even get mowed for seven years. You will never get the seventy essential minerals into the food with hydroponics. But you can probably do quite a bit better than hothouse tomatoes, which I think are about devoid of flavor.
Good luck with it.
T
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Hydroponics? - 
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