Commercial/Medical Hydroponic growers.

mediumless is the way to go...

Shit i forgot about this thread .i will try n answer the question blocker posed with a bit more detail.

The pvc pipe i use is for helping to support the panda plastic from sagging while installing the clips and to keep it from stretching over many months of use ,i used 1/2 inch pipe and laid 5 seperate pcs across the top of the table , the pipes kinda act as floor joists with the panda stretched over the top , the pvc pipes lay in a groove/fold in the table at the very top of the table and span across the short side of the table ,when setting up i start out with the 1st support pipe in the center of the table then place 2 supports evenly on each side of the center support .

Then i drape the panda over the table making sure to leave a few inches extra on all sldes ,then i use small squeeze clamps to attach the panda to the lip on the top of the flood table ,i put a clamp about every 8 inches or so ,between the pvc supports and clamps the panda is taught as all hell and wont ever sag.

Some of the net pots sit flat on the bottom of the flood table and some pots sit up about an inch off the bottom , both scenarios work equally welll .

As for flood depth i flood to roughly 3.5 inches for 15 minutes every hour ,my pumps are set where it takes the full 15 minute flood time to reach the 3.5 inch mark then shut off ,in my 4ft x 8ft tables i use 55 gallon barells for the rez and it takes roughly 45 to 50 gallons to reach the 3.5 inch mark ,the volume my pump flow is set at takes the entire 15 minute cycle to reach the 3.5 mark so my pumps in the rez's will allways be entirely covered in water and never dry pump ,dry pumping shortens pump life drastically so i adjust flow accordingly.

For the guy asking why i dont simply switch over to an aeroponic system and accomplish the same massive root mass the reason is simplicity ,an aero system has alot more parts that can\will stop working or need cleaning vs flood n drain systems ,right now all i have to worry about failing is 8 well pumps ,i cant begin to fathom the work involved in cleaning several hundred mist fittings ,for large scale hrdro grows fully enclosed flood n drain is the quickest method for me.

Hope i answerec coherently ,ive been sippin on some hard cider for most the night while the wife sleeps so if ibabbled im blaming it on the booze.

i get it cheers, last question, you cover the pots seperatley and tape down.. just wondering how the fresh air gets into the rootzone from the flood/drain if its air tight?, thanks bud

When the water drains fresh air is pulled into the rootzone.

any pictures?

If its not to much trouble pan can we see some pics? Im curius as to what your setup looks like

Do you think this could be done in an ebb & flow 5 gallon bucket system?

panhead said:

Yeah whats up with single post toronto ?

Im not talking aero,I do flood & drain in standard plastic flood tables,the tables would then be partially filled with a medium & flodded several times each day,the type medium dictated how often we flooded.

What we ended up doing was elemimting all the medium in the table,then covering the tops of the tables with black & white panda plastic,white side up ofcourse

Now pictute the table as having a solid lid on top,this is the way the plastic leaves the table looking.

We cut tight fitting holes using an empty net pot as a guide then put the net pots containing the clones in the pre cut holes.

The panda plastic now serves as the medium in keeping the root mass from drying out,it also acts as a medium by blocking any light from touching the roots.

We increased flood times from once every 12 hours to flooding every hour on the hour.

The space in between the bottom of the table & the plastic retains 100% humidity levels between floods & keeps the root mass healthy & pearly white.

Im still trying to figure out how to post pics on this smart phone do dad that replaced my pc,when i do i will post up some pics.

Click to expand...

hey panhead i know this is a really old thread but i was wondering if you still do this or how you made out doing this? what was your average gpw per table on a high yielding strain? i was wondering if doing this was possible and apparently it is, do you have any journals of this? i wanted to clone/veg in an aerocloner for 4 weeks total (add a netcup and hydroton after a week or 2) then place it in tray like yours for flower in the same netcup i veg in, sound possible? i was going to place the netcups in a 2gal smartpot with more hydroton but i figure the roots would be too long so it probably wouldn't work that way (would it?) so I'm also very interested in how you do it