For All Cap Ebb and Grow Users

dtp5150 said:

anyone actually build an aquahub kit? I have two, I was thinking maybe I'll try it tonight, heh....

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They arent hard, but they dont include the power sockets or the power cabling to the wall. Kinda dumb. AquaHub says the plan to add those in future kits, so its not exactly 100% of what you need. Plan on another $10 at Walmart.

I rigged up 4 55 gallon drums. 1 1/4" grommets at the bottom. connected with 1 1/4 inch pvc. Sealed with silicon. Works like a dream. But i need a 1000+ gph pump in the res.

Also I've got a siphon problem going from the res to the controller. any ideas?

Billybob88:

I'd strongly advise you of connecting a pump between each reservoir. Its impossible for the nutrient solution to mix by itself with four narrow channels separating the reservoirs. The only good way I can think of is to fill one reservoir with 4x the ppm, then empty 25% into each res then fill each res back to top with water which fuck me -- that's a lot of work!

For the siphoning issue -- do the fill/drain tubes have the little tittys coming out of them at the top? If its just regular hose the entire way without these little air breaks you'll have siphoning issues. Check my grow journal for res/room pictures for the little titty things if you arent sure what they are........

Thanks research! I addressed the problem of trying to get all the res's the same. I start by just making each res equal(water, nutes, etc) Then I have a 400 GPH pump in one res with a 3 way splitter. one tube running to each res. I run the pump for 30 minutes every hour, plus airstones in each res. This keeps the solution constantly flowing and mixing up between each res. Any opinions?



As for the siphon issue.. No little titties on my line.... but I installed 1 little 1/4 inch barb right above the water line on the fill and drain lines. When the pump shuts off you hear a wooosshhh of air running into the line. Solved the problem immediately.

morrisgreenberg said:

people are getting lazy, what used to happen was, a thread was started something like a FAQ like this one on CAP system, so if you went out and picked up a cap system and found this thread you can thumb through it and you will have all your answer before you put your system together, so what i am saying is, before you make a post about your Ebb and Grow system, try checking out this thread from the beginning, me and several other basically answered every single question and problem that you can ever have with this system, so in regard to my friend with the PH flux. flush once every month and you wont have any issues, like i said about 4 posts up, this system has so much surface area between the doubled up pots, res, controller and hoses that nutrient salt biulds get so out of hand that will throw off your readings

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I have read from start to last and I for one appreciate ALL of your knowledge! Thanks

The 5 gallon ebb an grow is done! Took me forever to get it right but its done and working flawless. And y'all were right 220 gallon res was way too much. But it leaves room for expansion on it. And its done, leak free, circulating perfect.

Hopefully my ladies enjoy the 2.5x upgrade of media space.....

A Durban in a 3 gallon soil pot in comparison to the 5 gal ebb.

billybob88 said:

The 5 gallon ebb an grow is done! Took me forever to get it right but its done and working flawless. And y'all were right 220 gallon res was way too much. But it leaves room for expansion on it. And its done, leak free, circulating perfect.

Hopefully my ladies enjoy the 2.5x upgrade of media space.....

A Durban in a 3 gallon soil pot in comparison to the 5 gal ebb.

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I'd like to hear from you in a few months after you get used to the hose connections you have on the buckets. The rectangle hosing configuration looks very clean, I just wonder about you needing the buckets to move around in the room a bit as plants grow etc........

Theres a little bit of flexibility. not a lot though. but I wanted my system to fill extremely fast. with 2 hookups per bucket, its a failsafe for clogging and fills more rapidly. The whole thing floods in 5 minutes flat.

Each line can be maneuvered pretty easily, and as always u can pick a plant up out of the bucket and move it to another site if need be. I'm really liking it so far though.

Kitty and Billybob,
Like yourselves I am running an ebb and gro with 100% hydroton. I am having trouble getting the feeding times down and have read a lot of conflicting times and can't seem to get a straight answer. I have three 1k's, a few wall fans and my room stays at 82 during the hottest part of the day with 34% RH ( I am running co2). When they drain, the hydroton is glistening with water and is wet. Should I be looking for the top inch to start drying out before I water again and by drying I mean not bone dry like the top of the hydroton that never gets flooded, but dry as in not wet looking yet the pellets have a darker color due to being a tad moist?
If this is the case and it still wants to dry out during the night, should I have a flood cycle in the middle of the night to keep things moist? I know they are not really active at night, but don't want to dry them out.

I start mine out in 3x3x4 rockwool cubes. Veg them in the cubes, then when ready for flower they go into my system.

I bury my rockwool cubes pretty deep in the pot so that the bottoms of the cube get soaked with water.

IMO you don't want the top of the hydroton wet, especially at night when its cool and dark. This can promote algae, Powdery mildew, Fungus gnats, etc etc.

The top of my buckets stay bone dry about 3-4 inches down. But I am also using 5 gallon pots.

Even though the top isnt wet, if you buried your plant deep enough, there will be retaining moisture in the rootzone. I personally feed 5 15 minute cycles during a 12 hour day. My system takes 5 minutes to fill completely so they soak for 10, then takes about 12-15 minutes to drain. so they get about a 20-25 minute soak.

billybob88 said:

I start mine out in 3x3x4 rockwool cubes. Veg them in the cubes, then when ready for flower they go into my system.

I bury my rockwool cubes pretty deep in the pot so that the bottoms of the cube get soaked with water.

IMO you don't want the top of the hydroton wet, especially at night when its cool and dark. This can promote algae, Powdery mildew, Fungus gnats, etc etc.

The top of my buckets stay bone dry about 3-4 inches down. But I am also using 5 gallon pots.

Even though the top isnt wet, if you buried your plant deep enough, there will be retaining moisture in the rootzone. I personally feed 5 15 minute cycles during a 12 hour day. My system takes 5 minutes to fill completely so they soak for 10, then takes about 12-15 minutes to drain. so they get about a 20-25 minute soak.

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Thanks for the fast reply billy. I soak about an inch away from the top of the hydroton but I am in the regular buckets. I think I was letting the hydroton dry out too much between waterings. I was only giving them 2 soaks a day... I watched their day cycle yesterday and waited until the hydroton started to dry out under the top inch of bone dry ones. This took three hours so I decided to move my feeding schedule to 4 cycles a day. I also think they need more soaks due to the old o2 in the rootzone and the residual water in the buckets. I have roots growing out of the bottom of the first pot.

yeah run them at least 3 times a day. 4 would be optimal. I'm doing 5 right now cause I just transplanted and trying to get the roots to spread out from the rockwool.

How long does it take to completely fill your system?

I takes a few over 4 minutes until the float turns off the pump although it cycles on and off for a minute or two after that to keep the desired height. It then takes about 7 minutes to drain completely so they are totally submerged for a little over 10 minutes before it starts to drain.
What do you think about night floods? The hydroton seems to dry out about half way into their night cycle. Once again its not bone dry like the first inch but seems to loose moisture about 6 hours in to the night cycle. I know that plants are sleeping and are not up-taking nutrients at night, but it would seem that one soak to keep the clay moist is okay considering its refreshing the o2 since the reservoir is heavily oxygenated. Being 82 degrees at the high point and always around 30-35% rh, it would seem that my medium would dry out quicker. My fans are oscillating on the wall and blow air downwards over the plants so I am sure they are drying out the hydroton as well. I am used to the plant and know she curls her leaves genetically, but I have always used a rockwool slab drip system and water 3x 15 minutes in the slabs so this is completely different.
I have pics of my room in my sig if it makes it any easier.
thanks again for the info!

JeffersonBud said:

Kitty and Billybob,
Like yourselves I am running an ebb and gro with 100% hydroton. I am having trouble getting the feeding times down and have read a lot of conflicting times and can't seem to get a straight answer. I have three 1k's, a few wall fans and my room stays at 82 during the hottest part of the day with 34% RH ( I am running co2). When they drain, the hydroton is glistening with water and is wet. Should I be looking for the top inch to start drying out before I water again and by drying I mean not bone dry like the top of the hydroton that never gets flooded, but dry as in not wet looking yet the pellets have a darker color due to being a tad moist?
If this is the case and it still wants to dry out during the night, should I have a flood cycle in the middle of the night to keep things moist? I know they are not really active at night, but don't want to dry them out.

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Never flood at night. They wont dry out for a few days in a bucket of Hydroton. I read posts here and there where some guy says he floods his trays every hour for 15 minutes. Its stupid.

Veg mode: 1x water per day

Flower mode Week 1-2: 1x water per day

Flower mode Week 3-4: 2x water per day

Flower mode Week 5-8: 2x or 3x water per day

The time it takes the buckets to slowly fill and drain (15 minute flood, and 7-8 minute drain) also gives the roots time to drink the water. If you flood and drain too fast, you may have to water more than if you let them soak for that nice 22 minute drink.

I always water within the first hour of the lights coming on. The second watering would be at hour "1" and then at hour "7". For the third, it'd be hour "1", hour "4", then hour "8". And again to reiterate, no watering at night.

Good luck!

Keeping them 'bone dry' for 3-4 inches is a little counterproductive. You want it within the top inch of the plants, meaning when your watering is flooding the trays, the top one inch of Hydroton shouldnt get wet. The roots are pretty big 2" down and if they remain dry, you risk stunting the plants growth.

ALWAYS put the Rockwool cubes top at the top of the Hydroton too. I see a lot of journals where the plants are in cubes on top of the Hydroton, rather than level to the top of the cube. This is again for the same root issue.

X's are Hydroton that is DRY
O's are Hydroton that is WET

XXXXXXXXXXXXX
OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOO

researchkitty said:

Never flood at night. They wont dry out for a few days in a bucket of Hydroton. I read posts here and there where some guy says he floods his trays every hour for 15 minutes. Its stupid.

Veg mode: 1x water per day

Flower mode Week 1-2: 1x water per day

Flower mode Week 3-4: 2x water per day

Flower mode Week 5-8: 2x or 3x water per day

The time it takes the buckets to slowly fill and drain (15 minute flood, and 7-8 minute drain) also gives the roots time to drink the water. If you flood and drain too fast, you may have to water more than if you let them soak for that nice 22 minute drink.

I always water within the first hour of the lights coming on. The second watering would be at hour "1" and then at hour "7". For the third, it'd be hour "1", hour "4", then hour "8". And again to reiterate, no watering at night.

Good luck!

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Thanks kitty for getting back to me. I hear ya about the watering at night. Since I am not using rockwool cubes and my plants are placed into the hydroton directly it would seem I need to flood at least 3 times a day to keep things moist. When I did 2 watering a day last week, one 30 minutes after the lights came on, and the second 2 hours before they turned off, it seems that the roots started to dry out and the growth was stunted. The plant also felt fry and some leaves were wilting off of the bottom of the plant.
I was under the impression that you and billy were running straight hydroton without cubes but looking at your journal I can see you indeed use the cubes. I am wondering if hydroton with the cubes are better then hydroton alone.

Sorry I dont have something legit up of my new system. I like running the cube in the system, kinda gives them a base to work with. Also makes it super easy to have vegging clones in cubes ready to go into the system.

I could be wrong..... but I like watering 3-4 times a day no matter what. Just upping the ppm and maybe an interval more as they head into deep flowering. But as I always say. Do what works for you! If something is working good that your doing. Keep doing it

Greetings E&G's, I've just started on my first ever grow. I have read every page of this thread (ALL 99) and wanted to thank everyone for all the information they've shared!

My system is custom E&G 20 site, 3.5 gallon buckets, 3/4 inch lines, upgraded pumps and a sealed room with closed loop ventilation on 4 600w lights

Running Cutting Edge Nutes and gonna add the Exhale Co2 bags as well

I'll post up some pics this weekend

I

hi im on my second grow with the ebb and flow
seems this time round im having trouble getting them start some a really doing well and others not so
the only thing i can think of is i didnt put the rockwool cubes deep enough in the pot to start off

billybob88 said:

I start mine out in 3x3x4 rockwool cubes. Veg them in the cubes, then when ready for flower they go into my system.

I bury my rockwool cubes pretty deep in the pot so that the bottoms of the cube get soaked with water.

IMO you don't want the top of the hydroton wet, especially at night when its cool and dark. This can promote algae, Powdery mildew, Fungus gnats, etc etc.

The top of my buckets stay bone dry about 3-4 inches down. But I am also using 5 gallon pots.

Even though the top isnt wet, if you buried your plant deep enough, there will be retaining moisture in the rootzone. I personally feed 5 15 minute cycles during a 12 hour day. My system takes 5 minutes to fill completely so they soak for 10, then takes about 12-15 minutes to drain. so they get about a 20-25 minute soak.

Click to expand...

how are you vegging them what system or have you just got them in a try or of something the like that i was thinking of using aqua farms 4 plants per farm and vegging for 2weeks but i was think wouldnt this cause a lot of stress and damage root zones