What Do You Need to Start Growing Indoors? First Hydroponic Setup Checklist

Chris Brubeck, Apex Grow Hydroponics, Melbourne. Reviewed October 2026.

What Do You Need to Start Growing Indoors?

We don't grow the plants. We build the environment they grow in.

A first setup has five jobs: root zone, environment, light, nutrients and measuring. Every product in it should do one of those jobs. Below is each one in the order it matters, how to size it for your tent, and what you don't need. Our Grow Tent Kit Builder works the same way: give it your experience, budget and tent size, and it builds the kit in this order.

The Five Jobs Every Indoor Setup Has to Do

Strip any working grow room back and you'll find the same five jobs:

1. Root zone: a hydroponic system and a growing medium that hold water, oxygen and nutrients where the roots can reach them.
2. Environment: a tent, an inline fan, a carbon filter, ducting, a speed controller and air movement, so temperature, humidity and smell stay under control.
3. Light: a grow light sized to the tent, with hangers and a timer.
4. Nutrients: a base nutrient and pH Down.
5. Measuring: a pH meter, an EC meter and calibration buffers.

Here's the rule that keeps a first setup simple: your experience is the only thing that changes how many jobs you set up. Budget and space only change which product does each job. A lean budget still gets a carbon filter and meters. It just gets a cheaper version of each.

Start With Your Space

Before you buy anything, measure where the tent will go. The tent size decides the light, the fan, the ducting and how many plants you can run, so everything else follows from it.

As a guide, give each fruiting plant (tomatoes, chillies, capsicums) about 0.3m² of floor space, or 0.5m² if you're growing one big plant:

If this is your first grow, a 120x120cm tent is the sweet spot. It's big enough for a worthwhile harvest and small enough that one fan and one light keep it under control. Leafy greens are different again: lettuce and herbs grow in NFT trays that hold about 10 plants each, so a 120x120cm tent fits two trays and 20 plants. Our grow tent range covers every size above.

1. Root Zone: The System and the Medium

The root zone comes first. If the roots are short on water, nutrients or oxygen, nothing you add above them will make up for it. Your system and medium set how much of each the roots get.

For a first grow, I'd use an AutoPot. It's gravity fed, with no pump or timer in the root zone, so there's less to go wrong while you're learning. Fill the pots with a coco and perlite mix or clay balls. Our AutoPot guide covers how the valve works and how to set it up.

The exception is leafy greens. Lettuce and herbs belong in NFT, the standard system for them. NFT has a pump that runs nonstop, so check it daily, but lettuce grows fast and makes an easy first crop. See our NFT setup guide.

Every grow gets one extra bottle: a root zone cleaner like Guardian Hydro Clean. It's preventive maintenance. It stops root rot and slime before they start, and it's the only kind of extra I'd add.

2. Environment: Ventilation, Air Movement and Heat

Once the roots are sorted, the next job is the air. The tent holds the environment in, and the ventilation controls it.

• Inline fan, carbon filter and ducting. Size all three from the tent's longest side: 125mm up to 80cm, 150mm up to 120cm, 150mm or 200mm up to 150cm, and 200mm above that. The filter and duct always match the fan.
• A carbon filter in every setup. It controls smell, and it's the part people regret skipping once plants start to flower.
• A speed controller. A fan running flat out all day dries the tent and wears the motor. The controller lets you dial airflow to the room, and it must suit the fan's motor. Our JB speed controller suits standard AC fans.
• Air movement inside the tent. A clip fan in tents up to 120cm, or a wall fan in bigger ones. Still air under a canopy is where mould starts.

Our inline fan and carbon filter sizing guide goes deeper on airflow. Once it's running, the number to learn is VPD, which ties temperature and humidity together. Our VPD guide explains it in plain terms.

3. Light: Size It From Coverage, Not Watts

Watts tell you how much power a light uses, not how much usable light reaches the plants. Two 300W fixtures can be miles apart. Size the light from its coverage instead.

• Match coverage to the floor. Aim for a light (or lights) covering 0.9 to 1.4 times your tent's floor area, with the fewest fixtures that do it. One SANlight EVO 4-120 covers a 120x120cm tent on its own.
• Check the efficiency. Look for 2.0 µmol/J or better. Every grow tent light in our builder clears that.
• Let heat decide LED or HPS. HPS costs less to buy and more to run, and it puts far more heat in the tent. In QLD, WA and SA summers that heat is hard to manage, so I'd use LED on every budget there. Elsewhere, HPS is a fair choice on a lean budget in tents over 100cm.
• Run the lights at night. The light's heat then lands in the coolest part of the day. That keeps the tent cooler in summer and keeps the gap between lights-on and lights-off temperatures small all year.
• Add hangers and a timer. Hangers let you set the height as plants grow, and a digital timer keeps the light cycle exact.

For the numbers behind light intensity, see how much PPFD you need. For what a light costs to run in your state, see our power usage and running costs guide.

4. Nutrients and pH Down

Nutrients come last in the order, not because they don't matter, but because they can only work once the root zone, air and light are right.

• A base nutrient only. A 2-part base gives plants everything they need through veg and flower. Size the bottle to the grow: 1L does up to 4 plants, and 5L suits more than that. Browse our base nutrients.
• pH Down. pH rises in most reservoirs between mixes, so pH Down is the one you'll reach for. GT pH Down is what we put in every kit. If yours keeps climbing, see why hydroponic pH keeps rising.

Our guide to choosing hydroponic nutrients compares the main options.

5. Measuring: pH and EC Meters

Every hydroponic grower needs a pH meter and an EC meter. You use them to dial in your reservoir's EC and pH, test runoff, and track pH drift over time. Without them, every problem is a guess.

• A pH meter and an EC meter. A Bluelab pH PenPlus and Bluelab Digital EC Meter, or a Bluelab Combo Meter that does both from one unit.
• pH 4 and 7 buffers. pH probes drift. Calibration buffers keep your readings honest.

I've been through countless cheaper meters. Bluelab is the one I trust, because calibrated correctly, it gives the same reading every time.

Our pH and EC guide covers the target ranges and how to use both meters.

What to Leave Out of Your First Setup

Extra products add variables, and variables make problems harder to diagnose. On a first grow, skip:

• Bloom boosters and PK additives. Learn how your plants respond to a clean base nutrient first. You can't judge a booster without a baseline to compare it against.
• Root stimulants, enzymes and sweeteners. Same reason. Add them one at a time on later grows.
• Automated controllers and dosing gear. Worth it later. On a first grow, measuring by hand teaches you what the numbers mean.
• CO2. It only pays off once light, temperature and nutrients are already dialled in.

The one exception is preventive maintenance, like the root zone cleaner above. It stops problems rather than masking them.

Your First Indoor Setup Checklist

Build Yours in Three Questions

Our Grow Tent Kit Builder sets up every job above for you. Answer three questions (experience, budget and tent size) and it builds the kit in growing order, sized to your tent. Each line says why it's there, and you can tick "I have this" on anything you already own. For complete kits compared side by side, see our hydroponic kits guide.

Starting From Seed or Cuttings?

If you're starting plants yourself, you'll want a small clone or seedling setup alongside the main tent: a clone tent, a propagation light, a cloner or a dome, and a rooting gel. The builder has a clone kit option, and our cloning guide covers the method.

Once you're growing, if leaves start yellowing, curling or spotting, PlantMDx will help you work out why. It's free, with no signup.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to start growing indoors with a light?
A grow tent, a grow light sized to the tent with hangers and a timer, an inline fan with a carbon filter, ducting and a speed controller, a clip fan, a hydroponic system with its growing medium, a base nutrient, pH Down, a pH meter, an EC meter and pH 4 and 7 buffers.

What size grow tent is best for a first indoor grow?
A 120x120cm tent suits most first grows. It holds up to 4 fruiting plants, and one fan and one light keep it under control.

How do I choose the right size grow light?
Size it from coverage, not watts. Choose a light, or lights, that covers 0.9 to 1.4 times your tent's floor area, and look for an efficiency of 2.0 µmol/J or better.

What size inline fan do I need for my grow tent?
It depends on the tent's longest side: 125mm up to 80cm, 150mm up to 120cm, 150mm or 200mm up to 150cm, and 200mm above that. The carbon filter and duct match the fan.

Do I need additives or boosters on my first grow?
No. Run a base nutrient and pH Down only, and learn how your plants respond. The only extra worth adding is a root zone cleaner, because it prevents problems rather than masking them.

What's the easiest hydroponic system for a first grow?
An AutoPot. It's gravity fed, with no pump or timer in the root zone, so there's less to go wrong. For lettuce and herbs, NFT is the better choice.