DIY Flood & Drain

Well after looking at many options for a diy flood & drain, i used information from several members including homebrewer for my diy.

my flood & drain consist of a concrete mixing tub $13.95 @ home Depot and size is roughly 36x24x8, also a 35gal Rubbermaid container $14.95 @ walmart, 2 bulkheads, typically used in aquariums, (free I had several of these), and a cap pump, and a hagen air pump (also free I had them around)

I actually drilled the holes through the tub & the lid of the container at same time and used the bulk heads to attach them together creating one piece. This allow me to move the plants if I wish to another setup, as I plan on making at least 2 of them, without having to move the entire setup. the pump will move with the upper part.
This setup honestly should cost less than $100 easily for anyone, and takes about 45 minutes start to finish if all pieces are together to build.

Here are a few pictures of the setup, will add more pictures as I get it setup.



Update 7/18
Decided to add a backup drain, this way there are two drains keeping up with drainage, just in case something clogs one of them there is always the second.
Picture of system flooding, water level gets no higher than 5" in the tub.

This looks right on the money! I personally learned this from a video on Youtube. I am not sure if I am allowed to publish the exact video, but it is legit and I do not represent the business. I guess just search homemade hydroponics on youtube search, and click on suretogrower's video.

They show you how to make Top Drip, Deep Water Culture cloners, DWC for large plants, and Flood Drain.

The materials they use cost around 50 bucks for a complete system. I wouldn't buy their grow medium, just plug that thing in and use pea gravel and rockwool with a net pot!

I am building a new stealth grow box for this system, with LED'n CFLs. Will be growing Sensi Star and Purple Urkel in my first try with this setup. The box will be 6 foot tall, 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Not trying to jack your thread much love +rep

I just watched the video... it gives some good basics, but wasnt impressed. Their parts list consisted of 2 items that are $60+ each, the air pump & air stone... no reason for all that even in a semi commercial, you can get good air pumps for $20 or less to handle this job. Other problem I see with their setup, with the tray partially on the reservoir and then on the pvc stand, it takes up a lot more space, and for doing water changes you use even more space by having the stand there, and then placing the tray on the ground, then removing the res (dont forget you have the pump in the res and a tube through the top of res to tray to go do your water change. I can tear apart their build but no reason to, they give some good basic ideas, but jus tthink its a bad design the way they did it.

In my design you can lift the tray/lid and walk away with only having to unplug the water pump from the wall and take the tray/lid elsewhere or just set it down and walk off with the res... my design also helps protect from flooding a bit as the try is plumbed directly to the res... I have already thought about adding an additional overflow in case the water level got to high, this would ultimately make another step to remove the tray form the res but would be very safe keeping... to do this you would drill a small whole as high in the tray as possible, then another hole high up in the res, putting a bulkhead in each whole and then creating a PVC pipe in the shape of ] to attach to each bulkhead, this way if water ever reached the hole in the tray it would drain the water down to the res... wouldnt have to seal it or anything, just get a snug fit as it isnt pressurized. You MIGHT get a dribble or two but would be nothing compared to overflowing the tray itself.

great set up. what kind of light ? how many plants, and in what? oh and what strain ? u can only do 2 strains in that set up. og kush or sour diesel.

I have T5's for veg and a 400 & 600 HPS for flowering. Will do 6 plants in a tray. Can only do 2 strains? I know several people who use similar setups growing many different strains. seeds for this first grow in this F&D will be one of the following, silver haze, ice, or white lightning.

Have you grown in this system before ??

No I havent, I just built it

when you get to about 4 weeks flower , that tray will be difficult to move. You might want to consider making a table for the tray. I also have just built a similar system a while back and it works great for veg . Flower will need a table. Please take a few minutes and check out both my sigs. I think you might find them of some help and you can adjust to fit YOUR needs. I ust rockwool with NO netpots.

daddio161... I need to give you some credit as your diy was also one that I used for reference in building this. I agree that it might be tough to move, not totally worried about moving it, just like the ability to move it. Biggest reason to move is for water changes, but, either it will be a 2 person move for the tray or I can use an attachment to hook to the pump out bulkhead that will pump all but maybe 1" of water from the res.

I too will be using rockwool, as you do and homebrewer. I probably will use some other info to perfect my little flood & Drain but all in testing.

Thanks for info once again +rep

Doing all my updates in the first post, will keep it all organized and show any changes or updates I do in one area for all to see.

Hey there reverof. so was reading your post about the overflow drain you proposed and i think i have a simpler and more cost effefective way(talking cents here, maybe a doller, but still cheaper). its drawn in the pic. but basically instead of going through the side of the tray near the top and down into the side of the res, y not go through the bottom of the tray as with your other holes but simply run a piece of pipe upwards that is shorter than the wall of you tray. your idea needs 2 bulkheads and a couple pieces of pipe +fitting / a piece of flex hose, my way only needs a single bulk head a a short piece of pipe no longer than your tray is deep. Anyways that just my 2 cents, just seems easier to me. Anyways best of luck

Peace PyspherE Tisk... BubbleBubbleBubble... Ghaw

PyspherE said:

Hey there reverof. so was reading your post about the overflow drain you proposed and i think i have a simpler and more cost effefective way(talking cents here, maybe a doller, but still cheaper). its drawn in the pic. but basically instead of going through the side of the tray near the top and down into the side of the res, y not go through the bottom of the tray as with your other holes but simply run a piece of pipe upwards that is shorter than the wall of you tray. your idea needs 2 bulkheads and a couple pieces of pipe +fitting / a piece of flex hose, my way only needs a single bulk head a a short piece of pipe no longer than your tray is deep. Anyways that just my 2 cents, just seems easier to me. Anyways best of luck

Peace PyspherE Tisk... BubbleBubbleBubble... Ghaw

Click to expand...

Actually thats exactly what I did, check out the update July 18, I have 2 drains instead of the one. But nice graphic there!

Ah so u did... didnt notice those when i looked the first time... kinda hard to see unless your looking for them. Hope it works well for you

Peace PyspherE

Well all my new seeds came in and are germinating, I am expecting to start using this system to grow 4 Super Silver Haze Autos and 2 Bubble Gum by end of week. Will post some pics of it in use once things get started!

Did alter the drains, I lowered them so that the tables only floods to 3.5 inches, as the rockwool does a great job in sucking up the needed water.

Quick but important question for you guys. With the flood and drain tables and netpots. Say they full of hydroton, where does the root mass go? Doesn't it just hit the table and then take over bottom of the table. With the lights hitting it and stuff?

I use rockwool, the root mass stays inside the rockwool.

I don't know if you ever wanted to put a bell siphon on that, but the concept is simple to grasp. It's as easy as taking a soda bottle and cutting off the bottom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzcKgWLRf0&feature=related

You don't need two bottles. Just Place a bottle over your overflow tube and presto. When the water rises too high in the bottle it creates a vacuum and drains the water straight out the over flower faster than the pump can bring it in.

very cool! +rep, i'm wondering if anyone has any idea where to get a 4x4 flood table that doesnt cost an arm and a leg. unfortunately the cement mixing tubs are not large enough for what i would like to do.

i cant understand why a plastic tray should cost 150$ lol.