2 liter bottle ebb and flow, built, orchids, kalamchoe, herbs and more...

I built one of these




looks like this




That is not mine. Mine has diferent plants and is now a regular addition to my living room.

I am using the lucas formula. I built a long time ago for pot but never really used it.

I use green ones unpainted. Leaks are a prob to seal. Use teflon tape and string and pvc cenent and it works dry now.


Ph is a bitch for a while trying to get all the dirt out of the roots and the plants adjsuted.

The lucas formula is the perfect form for these.

Lost a rosemary to P lockout. Also lavender was dead when I put it in. I am hoping to fill it all up with orchids or food. I am looking to add a small t5 to supplement window light. A nice green peice to entertain my cat.

pretty cool
try starting the plants in the system to avoid dirt and whatnot
goodluck with ur growing

i am doing good with the rwo liter botle system. however I have discovered orchid madness now and am going to buy a 24 table make a nice stand from wood and use those 27 gal black and yellow tubs that work well as reservoir. I get a lot of light from a window right there but I want to add some light of my own. Does not feel right not doing so.

But i put an orchid under 20k of light lumens and it died right away. It was a clearance orchid tho and they dont last long. I dont mean died. I mean the flower fell off. All did.


So I am looking at 6000 lumens of light as in a t8 strip. Nice price. ORchids are fine so far but I think they want more light by flower behavuior.


Any input on this.

Can you explain how the water flows in and out of the 2 liter bottle / cups ?

Is there a controller or something trying to figure out how to build one but i cant figure out how to make the water rise and drop, can you clear it up for me?
thank you .

just google 2 liter ebb and flow. I would not use it for pot. The roots get so long I hear it clogs after a full sog. At least put some screens. I ran it for a few weeks with pot and it did very well tho.

It uses a pump and in the middle tube with no bottle there is a whole on top. Water will rise in the bottles till it hits the level of the tube with the air hole on top that bends down to the res and then will alter its course to keep the bottles level and the water pumping back down to the res. SOme principle I cannot remeber. Level or least resistance or something.

I found it buy googling. You could use bigger buckets than 2 liter bottles and have greater success.

I plan on using one of these for lettuce. If I get some return on my current project I'll invest into some lights. Anyone grown lettuce indoors with like t8 lights? Those t5's i bought for starting my seeds were expensive =(

I am in the same predicament and thinking of upgrading to lettuce also! lol. Also some herbs. I tried them but not enough light. I am looking at t8s but I cannot get over 6k lumens at most and still look good as far as shop lughts. T12s would be better if they had the 4 footers in 3k lumen range. Also some low wattage hids and some big cfls. This thing has to be attractive or cool or something non trash like as it is the front window. Maybe a 2 bulb four foot t5 or a 4 bulb 2 footer. IDK at all yet not. 12 dollars for a 4 foot 2 bulb t8 at lowes. THat is like 4500 lumens. Maybe with some supplemental sunlught I might get some food.

found the light. HTG 50 bucks for 10 k lumens. also 1 bulbs for 30!