Bucket Flood/Drain system in hydroton,anyone ?

Hi all,new here,just wanting to know if anyone has used a system like this and whats the ppm and feeding times for it,7gl buckets x 4
im doing a feed once per hour and a feed once every 2 hours in the dark period as i,m worried they'll dry out!
there takeing about 3 mins to get to the top and same to return to res,
Im at day 2 in veg 18/6 and am feeding at 5.8ph and 250ppm or 0.5 EC and will increase as they get bigger or is this to low start point,my tap water is 100ppm
They seem fine but any help would be nice as ive never run hydro or grown in hydroton,e.c levels ,ph ,water temps
I like the idea of the air getting pushed out from the bottom and be drawn back in as it returns,im guessing a faster pump is the best option for this anyway any input is appreciated
thanks

just keep an eye on them

i can't really recommend anything without seeing what's going on in your system, but when i do ebb n flow i always try to go for the lowest amount of "dry time", it's just what i like tbh

eyderbuddy said:

just keep an eye on them

i can't really recommend anything without seeing what's going on in your system, but when i do ebb n flow i always try to go for the lowest amount of "dry time", it's just what i like tbh

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cheers dude,il try post some pic,s will help

eyderbuddy said:

just keep an eye on them

i can't really recommend anything without seeing what's going on in your system, but when i do ebb n flow i always try to go for the lowest amount of "dry time", it's just what i like tbh

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How do i know if its really dry?sorry just never used this stuff before,i just went in after its 6 off dark period and they hadn't been feed for 2 hours and I put my hand down in abit and it seemed damp not wet,im hearing people leaving there tables for 4hours plus in between feedings but thats tables not pots,i would think that in my 7gal pots that the moisture levels would be higher,i have seen people doing 1 hour quick flood and drain in pots with good results and others say every 2 hours is the go
Any clue on that buddy?

baaael said:

How do i know if its really dry?sorry just never used this stuff before,i just went in after its 6 off dark period and they hadn't been feed for 2 hours and I put my hand down in abit and it seemed damp not wet,im hearing people leaving there tables for 4hours plus in between feedings but thats tables not pots,i would think that in my 7gal pots that the moisture levels would be higher,i have seen people doing 1 hour quick flood and drain in pots with good results and others say every 2 hours is the go
Any clue on that buddy?

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Well, your plants will look dry for sure, lol.

Now, if you're talking about the root zone... It depends so much on your individual conditions, like ambient humidity, and temperature that its hard to just predict the perfect flood time. As long as the plants seem healthy and you keep the roots from drying you'll be fine.

As i said before, i'd just flood as many times as i can without drowning them

Hey Baaael,

I got Flood/Drain bucket system too. From the start I ask my clone guy, which conditions are clones used to. Most common is about 5,5PH, 0,5-0,8EC. So the starting point is this. Then set the flooding - till the roots are in the balls, they will have enough water to not dry out immediately. So I set the flood to every 6h during day, none during night (18/6 cycle). When the roots grow out of the hydroponic net pot (2-3days), I set the timer to water them every 2h during day, every 3h during night.

If you keep the humidity at right range (check this chart http://www.just4growers.com/media/23631/vpd_2degree.gif), the plants will begin to consume water and nutrients. You will recognize it as EC down and PH up in your res. Then you can start giving them more nutes. But be carefull to not overfeed them. Just add about 0,2EC, keep the PH low at 5,5 with nitric acid and watch every day.
Some people even set the EC to 1,0 from the start. It's all about humidity and temperature (VPD).

Water temps are clear - not below 18 celsius, not above 22 celsius. Actually flood and drain is not DWC where you have to keep the water temp under 20 bcs of air in the water. As you are flooding, fresh air is blown directly to the roots.

3min to flood and 3 min to drain is really fast, but not bad - you can set the timer to flood every 30min when you will need to. I work on 12min flood, 18min drain and everything is cool.

I've been running a flood and drain system for 9 years now. I use 6 inch pots of grow rocks/hydroton in a tray. I've played with LOTS of different timings and feed cycles over the years. Most of the time I flood 4 times per lights on and once while the lights are off. My flood cycle takes 30 minutes to completely fill the tray and 5-10 to completely drain. This is just what works for me, but the plants seem to like it.

If you use pots or buckets that only have holes in the bottom they will stay wet quite a while. If you use proper net post with roots coming out the sides then you will have to watch that the side roots don't get too dried out.

If your plants are really young still, consider fabric pots. They are fantastic in flood train.

Major Blazer said:

If your plants are really young still, consider fabric pots. They are fantastic in flood train.

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ok ,il look into it,cheers

70's natureboy said:

If you use pots or buckets that only have holes in the bottom they will stay wet quite a while. If you use proper net post with roots coming out the sides then you will have to watch that the side roots don't get too dried out.

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yeah mine have 2 pots ,one goes into the other and theres holes in the bottom of the the middle one and a drain outve the outer one bk to res under the pot heights

Thundercat said:

I've been running a flood and drain system for 9 years now. I use 6 inch pots of grow rocks/hydroton in a tray. I've played with LOTS of different timings and feed cycles over the years. Most of the time I flood 4 times per lights on and once while the lights are off. My flood cycle takes 30 minutes to completely fill the tray and 5-10 to completely drain. This is just what works for me, but the plants seem to like it.

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thanks man!im looking into tables now to a i see alot of people using them ,may try bucket and tray systems next to each other and see how they go in the near future

eyderbuddy said:

Well, your plants will look dry for sure, lol.

Now, if you're talking about the root zone... It depends so much on your individual conditions, like ambient humidity, and temperature that its hard to just predict the perfect flood time. As long as the plants seem healthy and you keep the roots from drying you'll be fine.

As i said before, i'd just flood as many times as i can without drowning them

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yeah im talking about the root zone, i was thinking the same thing,there looking good and healthy atm so i guess il keep it at an hour feeding for now and look at them as they mature

To foliage2018 i cant seem to reply to ur post but that is a nice chart man ,thanks!,nice i am right on for the e.c at the moment with 0.5 so that is great!my water temps in my res are like 24%c so i am gonna work to bring that down,let u know how they go,i am not using net pots they just go straight into the 7 gallon of hydro ton and i fill the pot to the top or as far as i can go without them overflowing then i shut it down and they drain bk,i have a bucket inside a bucket with the outer one being the return/drain bucket

baaael said:

To foliage2018 i cant seem to reply to ur post but that is a nice chart man ,thanks!,nice i am right on for the e.c at the moment with 0.5 so that is great!my water temps in my res are like 24%c so i am gonna work to bring that down,let u know how they go,i am not using net pots they just go straight into the 7 gallon of hydro ton and i fill the pot to the top or as far as i can go without them overflowing then i shut it down and they drain bk,i have a bucket inside a bucket with the outer one being the return/drain bucket

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Got it. So as the roots not overgrow hydroton at all, you don't have to worry about drying out. But I guess you can't check the roots. Can you, please, post some photos of your system (can be link to buy). I want to see that.

You don't need pots or hydroton.
Copy my polyester batting method with rock wool cubes on top in a tray.

ANC said:

You don't need pots or hydroton.
Copy my polyester batting method with rock wool cubes on top in a tray.

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i,l have a look,thanks

foliage2018 said:

Got it. So as the roots not overgrow hydroton at all, you don't have to worry about drying out. But I guess you can't check the roots. Can you, please, post some photos of your system (can be link to buy). I want to see that.

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its the nutrafield propot system,u can get them online,it can be used for dwc and top feed as well,theyre pretty good,im running 4 but u can go with how many u want i guess,i feed from the bottom up as u know and i have the pots sitting just higher than the res and they just run back to her after its to the water height i choose,it really quite easy just really wasnt sure on the feed times tbh and the e.c for these systems but mainly feed times but an hour seems to be doing fine

baaael said:

its the nutrafield propot system,u can get them online,it can be used for dwc and top feed as well,theyre pretty good,im running 4 but u can go with how many u want i guess,i feed from the bottom up as u know and i have the pots sitting just higher than the res and they just run back to her after its to the water height i choose,it really quite easy just really wasnt sure on the feed times tbh and the e.c for these systems but mainly feed times but an hour seems to be doing fine

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That looks interesting. It combines classic Ebb&Flow principles with bucket system advantages. Keep going. Actually it's nearly impossible to overwater plants in hydroton. You can set it to water every hour and it won't be wrong.

foliage2018 said:

That looks interesting. It combines classic Ebb&Flow principles with bucket system advantages. Keep going. Actually it's nearly impossible to overwater plants in hydroton. You can set it to water every hour and it won't be wrong.

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ok brother,thanks,i feel better now haha