[GpsFrontier]

Hello JuniorSamples, It sounds like your planning to go all out. Have you grown hydroponically before?

1. venting. Where and how much. Probably east and west walls?

Where? Hot air rises, place your exhaust vents near the top of the greenhouse on both sides, and pull the cool/fresh air in from low in the greenhouse. How much? That depends a lot on your location, how you construct your greenhouse, how well you circulate the air in it, as well as the time of year your growing. But first calculate how many cubic feet of air space will be in your greenhouse. Then you can use that number to decide what fans you want to use. I would choose fans that will circulate the entire greenhouse's cubic feet of air volume no less than twice an hour. But depending on the variables you may want fans that will circulate enough cfm's to circulate your total volume of air as much as five times per hour.

2. panels. clear, white or smoke. We are in zone 8or9. Very hot summers.Suggestions on thickness?

I don't think you'll have a choice on thickness, I think that's pretty standard with polly panels. What color, how much light do you want to let in? Use clear if you want to be able to see the plants from the outside. During winter you'll probably want as much light as possible. But during summer when you want to restrict solar gain in the greenhouse, you can use shade paint or shade cloth during summer.

3.probably ebb/flow for the veg plants and drip for fruiting?

Use any of the six types of systems you want, they'll all work. Each one has their own pro's and con's. Make sure to calculate the water volume you'll need to flood the ebb/flow systems you plan. On a large scale depending on how you construct the systems, it can take quite a bit of water volume. I prefer drip systems for large plants like peppers and tomatoes, and water culture systems or flood and drain for things like lettuce or strawberry's.

4.which pumps to get as in gpm, add aereator?

What pump to get will always be best determined by you, and how you designed your system. GPH isn't the only number, or even most important number on the pump. The head height is (how high it can pump the water up). GPH is rated by head height (1 foot high, 2 foot high, 3 foot high, etc. etc.), and the maximum gph of the pump is at zero head height. In other words, a pump that says 500 gph will actualy be much less if it needs to pump the water say 3 feet high. Some pumps have scales on the box showing the gph at various heights.

Then if you are running multiple systems/containers of the same pump, that will further reduce the actual gph you wind up getting. Basically it's back pressure. The higher the water is, the more force it has pushing back towards the pump. My suggestion is to always get larger pumps than you think you will need if you can afford them. You can always reduce the water flow, but you can't make it pump more than it's rated for. The only system that an air pump is necessary is a water culture system, but it will never hurt using one in any type of system. The more air/oxygen the roots get the better.

5.how tall to make racks for the tubing? 3" or 4" tubing preferred?

I don't think I understand the question. You can make a hydroponic system as tall or short as you want. I am not sure why you would want to use 3 or 4 inch wide tubing to make support racks to hold your systems. Unless you expect your systems to very very heavy.

6.how wide should be the alleyway and racks for plants?

How much room do you need to easily walk through the alleyway and get around your systems to do maintenance when their full grown. As far as how wide to make the racks for your systems, how far can you reach to harvest and do maintenance around your systems.

7.how many circuits should I need? I may add lights and receptacles for fans.

First you will need to figure out how many amps in total you expect to use. Find out the total amperage of all the fans you plan to use, as well as for all the electrical devices like the lights, pumps etc. Do you plan to use AC during, or swamp coolers during the summer, or electric heaters during winter? AC and electric heaters should probably have their own circuit or you'll keep tripping the breaker if much more is running on the same circuit. Once you have a good idea of the amperage of all the devices, and if you plan to use any large devices like AC or heaters. Call some local electricians for a free estimate and advice. I had a buddy of mine that is a licensed electrician do my greenhouse.

They know your local codes, and can give you far better advice than anyone else. Including the placement of the GFI outlets that are mandatory near water and outside. Once you know roughly how many amps you will need, it's easy to tell how many 15/20 amp breakers you'll need, and want if you want to give yourself some leeway in case you add or change things in the future.

8.water is from a well, moderate hardness. Is that acceptable?

I would filter it and use UV treatment if you want to be successful. You may be lucky and not have a problem, but checking PPM/TDS wont tell you what elements are actually in the water, and in what variations their concentrated in. Beyond using filters to filter out elements, the ground is full of soil born pathogens that you could introduce into your systems. You can use chemical treatment to kill the microorganisms, but UV treatment if done right will do the same thing without adding any chemicals like chlorine to your water.

9. ceiling will be 8-9' at the north side and slope to the south

That's fine, not sure if there was a question?