For All Cap Ebb and Grow Users

[Sinclue]

OK, so I just fired it up for another test run after letting it sit overnight. Water level rose to the float, the float moved up and appeared to seat, and the water kept rising. I reached in and pushed it down and let it float up several times. Water level kept rising. I put my finger under the float tip and applied a small amount of lifting pressure and the float mechanism engaged. It seems pretty clearly to be the switch.
I have to say I'm with "patipp" on this one. Its a pretty expensive system that should work out of the box. I had thought of a modification like "smokingrubber" suggests, but I shouldn't have to modify a new thing to get it to work. I can't afford a flood for any number of reasons.
So I'll call CAP tomorrow. At least we're both in California so hopefully turn around time should be short. And yet I know in the back of my mind I'll still be wondering about another unit working properly.....
Anybody else get any cracked buckets with theirs?

 

[smokingrubber]

Yeah I'd probably want to take mine back too. But like you said, you just have to cross your fingers that the next one will be better. I like your chances though It's been a reliable system for me so far. No, I had no cracked buckets with the initial system or the expansion pack set.

My ONLY complaint so far with the CAP Ebb and Grow is: Can't they find an adapter for the pump that fits the included hose? That fukr is a pain in the ass to get on! Plus, maybe a little chart that says if you use 8 pots - fill to 25 gallons and if you use 12 pots - fill to 35 gallons ... or whatever the rate should be. Right now it's all a huge guess when you start out.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

one cracked bucket here, but i got the replacment from the guys i got it from, not cap, the geniuses send me the wrong bucket twice, these buckets breack very easily too, especially when trying to stick a connector thru a grommet, make sure your hand is on the inside of the bucket when installing these peices or end up with a crack .....as for operation i own 3 of these systems and they all run perfectly, absolute bitch to connect the pumps. as for rez size i persoannly start at 40gallon cus its easier for calcualtaing nutes, but look at it this way, a larger water tank will end up in more stable PH and PPM

 

[morrisgreenberg]

Sentinel just came out with a flood bucket system, they are designed to drain the buckets from the bottom so no more standing water, plus the timers are all digital, i think its not even priced yet, only thing i dont like about draining from the bottom i can gaurentee roots will stuff up the lines, since i raise my buckets i notced the roots going into the lines more often and this never happens when im lazy and dont raise buckets...somthing to chew on

 

[morrisgreenberg]

another thing to chew on.....imagine smokingrubber sending back his controller a friggin 2liter bottle attatched to the float dripping with green epoxy talking bout "this shit aint working!" lol xD

 

[boxing119]

does anyone spray there plants in addition to the flood and drain some guy recommended it to me today and i was interested if anyone else had tried it?

 

[smokingrubber]

The only thing I really like about it is the sentinal digital controller. When you want to adjust your feeding schedule, having a digital display mounted in your control room ... a little classier than crawling under the tundra to fiddle with the never-convenient dial. Plus, if it had some kind of sensor/alarm for when things aren't going as planned, that would be sweet.

$599
http://www.nationalgardenwholesale.com/ngw/gardening_supplies.aspx?request=HORT_SENT_EBB-FLOW&title=Tray%20/%20Reservoir%20/%20Grow%20Systems&type=product

 

[morrisgreenberg]

just hardlined one of my units, what i mean is i used 1/2in PVC, i did this for 2 reasons, one i ran out of fresh 1/2 poly and was too paranoid bcus i seen sludge on the inside of used tubing that had been in boiling hot water and bleached, still looked like diahrea, but 2 i like to arrange the pots so they can be moved in either direction when they get largers or if i have to get in there, i normally do this with the soft poly tubing, so i make a straight run of hose/pvc, lets say 8 sites per line, about 18" apart i put a "T" so the site can branch off this main line, soft poly tubing is used from the bucket to main PVC line, i just cut the soft tube on an angle and slide it into the 1/2 pvc, stays pretty tight, when i used all soft tubing i would get major kinks in the line. the way we are first introduced to this system is they are all daisy chained and to move one bucket you needed to move 5, if one bucket falls over its niehbor can go down too. my advice is always keep around extra tubing, t's elbows and grommets, this system is customizable i seen a vert grow with it.

 

[doogleef]

My bad. Single float on top Medicated.

 

[shnkrmn]

Well, after a long weekend of pinched fingers and a sore back, I have my ebb and grow assembled, tested and running.

Don't the Moms look proud! I know I am. My new grow journal is here:https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/296242-shnkrmn-gets-wet-2010-ebb.html#post3704133

I've just posted the above pics as my first post there, I'll be updating this regularly. It should get really interesting when my new beans arrive (A-Train, Chronic).

I hope you experienced ebb and growers will give me some help as I learn this system. It's a big leap going over to the watery side of things!

 

[GreenThumbSucker]

just hardlined one of my units, what i mean is i used 1/2in PVC, i did this for 2 reasons, one i ran out of fresh 1/2 poly and was too paranoid bcus i seen sludge on the inside of used tubing that had been in boiling hot water and bleached, still looked like diahrea, but 2 i like to arrange the pots so they can be moved in either direction when they get largers or if i have to get in there, i normally do this with the soft poly tubing, so i make a straight run of hose/pvc, lets say 8 sites per line, about 18" apart i put a "T" so the site can branch off this main line, soft poly tubing is used from the bucket to main PVC line, i just cut the soft tube on an angle and slide it into the 1/2 pvc, stays pretty tight, when i used all soft tubing i would get major kinks in the line. the way we are first introduced to this system is they are all daisy chained and to move one bucket you needed to move 5, if one bucket falls over its niehbor can go down too. my advice is always keep around extra tubing, t's elbows and grommets, this system is customizable i seen a vert grow with it.

Last grow, particularily during the bloom phase, I had a lot of slimy stuff in the reservoir and controller when I cleaned out the system every week. Someone said that this was a result of using phosphoric acid based PH Down. Because the solution water is already saturated with phosphorus, the phosphorus dissolved in the water that comes into immediate contact with the phosphoric acid precipitates out into the solution. This is because the solution around the PH DOwn becomes overly saturated with phosphorus. It has nowhere to go so it becomes a solid. This leads to the slimy coating that you sometimes find inside the reservoir and on lines, etc, and in the controller.

This crop I started using Eco Grows brand of PH Down which uses some other sort of acid to knock the PH down and lo and behold, no more slimy crap in the system.

Now when I change out the reservoir it is almost spotlessly clean and I barely have to wipe things down. The difference is stunning and it saves me a lot of work every week.

Perhaps if you used a different brand and type of PH Down you would not have to worry about crap in your hoses. Just a thought.

http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=6140

 

[shnkrmn]

That's amazing information. And I'm getting low on GH pH down! How convenient!

 

[doogleef]

I use very little PH down with my current nute addback feeding program. The GH nutes buffer really well on their own.

Want to avoid crap in your lines? Go with a chem fertilizer and either lots of aeration and/or regular H202.

 

[shnkrmn]

I use very little PH down with my current nute addback feeding program. The GH nutes buffer really well on their own.

Want to avoid crap in your lines? Go with a chem fertilizer and either lots of aeration and/or regular H202.

I'm using Dyna-Gro. That's as pure a synthetic as you can get. AND two airstones and a small water pump just for circulation in the res. AND H202.
LOL. I got it all covered.

I'm running lights 24/7 and I've set 4 floods equally spaced through the day. Any comments on whether that's on track or not?

 

[doogleef]

Sounds good to me, . I run 24/7 veg on smaller lighting (like my 250 tent) but big lights I run 18/6. Other than that, sounds like you are on target! Do you have to chase PH quite a bit using dynagro?

 

[shnkrmn]

Sounds good to me, . I run 24/7 veg on smaller lighting (like my 250 tent) but big lights I run 18/6. Other than that, sounds like you are on target! Do you have to chase PH quite a bit using dynagro?

I filled my res to 45 gallons yesterday and added 1/2 tsp/gal foliage pro. That went to about 460ppm and 5.8 pH without adjustment. Starting with near zero ppm RO water. This morning, having run through three cycles, the pH was 6.2. It took very little ph down added to go back to 5.8. That was 5 hours ago. I'll be home in an hour or so and (of course) I'll be checking. I'll let you know.

I was wondering how to schedule floods on a 24 hour light cycle, so thanks for that confirmation. If I wanted to go to 18/6, I would just compress my 4 floods to the lights-on period, right? Seems like some folks don't flood during the dark period, and others do.

 

[boxing119]

permalink
does anyone spray there plants in addition to the flood and drain some guy recommended it to me today and i was interested if anyone else had tried it?

 

[patlpp]

I filled my res to 45 gallons yesterday and added 1/2 tsp/gal foliage pro. That went to about 460ppm and 5.8 pH without adjustment. Starting with near zero ppm RO water. This morning, having run through three cycles, the pH was 6.2. It took very little ph down added to go back to 5.8. That was 5 hours ago. I'll be home in an hour or so and (of course) I'll be checking. I'll let you know.

I

I'm about to go buy some dyna-gro. What is ur fert regimen? do u use strictly fert-pro for veg? what for flower? Mag-pro? I can't pin down a definitive agreed upon strictly dyna-gro regimen. Thanks

 

[shnkrmn]

permalink
does anyone spray there plants in addition to the flood and drain some guy recommended it to me today and i was interested if anyone else had tried it?

If you mean foliar feeding, you really only need to do it if your roots are locked out and your plants have a deficiency. Just spraying your plants with water doesn't really benefit the plants in any way and can lead to problems with mold and leaf damage. Sure, plants get rained on in the real world but they also get dried out by wind, sun, etc.

Who's the guy who recommended this, and why would you believe him? And what did he say spraying would do?

You believe ME, don't you?

 

[shnkrmn]

I'm about to go buy some dyna-gro. What is ur fert regimen? do u use strictly fert-pro for veg? what for flower? Mag-pro? I can't pin down a definitive agreed upon strictly dyna-gro regimen. Thanks

I just started using this a couple weeks ago, and am in the middle of switching grow systems, so your questions are going to remain unanswered. I'm wondering about the cal-mag question myself, so I'm not supplementing it right now, because it does have a pretty good shot of cal-mag in the formula as compared to most cannabis nutrients. I'm keeping an eagle eye out for deficiency and if I spot it, I'll add in cal-mag or magical. Of course, the clones I just transplanted from hempy are deficient; I blame the Miracle Grow perlite I potted them in, it was too fine grained and held too much water. The clones I ran in DWC with nothing but Foliage Pro are green and lush in comparison. I figure a couple weeks vegging in the ebb and grow will even everything out.

My moms greened up considerably from foliage pro applied full strength; 1/2 tsp/gallon.

What for flower is another question I haven't answered. I got lots of FF Tiger Bloom and all their solubles too. I guess I could use that up, but I'd rather not. I saw a discussion about not using bloom ferts at all but supplementing foliage pro with another dyna-gro product called Protekt, which is a 0-0-3 potassium silicate product. Here's the link:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0708553831544.html



I got turned on to Dyna-Gro by Uncle Ben who, for whatever people say about him, knows his shit. I can't say he steered me wrong. I've been trying to follow his methods and thinking, but it's like having a strict zen master; the best you can hope for is a sound thrashing!