For All Cap Ebb and Grow Users

I have had roots get pretty tangled in an aerocloner when I took a longer trip than planned last summer. Kitty's right. you will be able to separate them pretty safely if you get them very wet and work very slowly. Patience is the key. Roots are very strong and they grow amazingly fast.

The most difficult part was getting them out of the unit because they had gotten so tangled with the sprayer manifold, so I could barely get a hand inside to work. Once the lid got free and I could see what I was doing things went better.

Obviously you want to minimize breakage close to the stem.

Thank you Kitty and shnkrmn....you give me hope. I have 12 beautiful Blue cheese plants that look like small trees. The stalks are a little bigger then the diameter of a nickle, I would hate to lose them. I should have never let them get so out of control, but they just grew so fast.

I do have another question.... When transplanting them into the Ebb & Gro should I keep them in the veg cycle for a week or two before I put them on 12/12, to let them recover from the shock and also what about nutes? I currently use GH 3 part flora series and was planing on doing the Lucas formula in bloom. should I run straight water right after transplant or use some sort of nutes?

cooley150 said:

Thank you Kitty and shnkrmn....you give me hope. I have 12 beautiful Blue cheese plants that look like small trees. The stalks are a little bigger then the diameter of a nickle, I would hate to lose them. I should have never let them get so out of control, but they just grew so fast.

I do have another question.... When transplanting them into the Ebb & Gro should I keep them in the veg cycle for a week or two before I put them on 12/12, to let them recover from the shock and also what about nutes? I currently use GH 3 part flora series and was planing on doing the Lucas formula in bloom. should I run straight water right after transplant or use some sort of nutes?

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I transplant from 1 gallon pots, dangle the plant by the roots in my hand, toss it in a 2 gallon pot in the flower room then right to 1000ppm and 12/12. The first few weeks of flowering is boring, so the transplant stress right at the beginning is a non issue......... No need to use water just right to flower nutes.

Thank you kitty..... Oh and by the way I just got done reading your commercial grow journal and subscribed. All I can say is WOW!!! You really seem to know your shit and I'm grateful to have someone like you to learn from.

I am curious about the control bucket you made. Does it work the same as the control bucket that comes with the Ebb & Gro? I've been looking for an inexpensive way to make another set up for veg to make it easier to transfer my plants to the flower room instead of the aeroponicics unit I veg in now. I have the 2 gallon buckets already and you stated that you get 55 gallon res from Craig s list for like $15 all I need is the control bucket and I'm set. I believe it was Aquahub?

researchkitty said:

http://www.amazon.com/One-Voltage-Converter-240V-120V/dp/B000E5W6ZI

Its $12 to get the 120v to 240v adapter....................... That may not be the one you need but they are all sorts of sizes and configs and all around the same price, pretty generic adapter used worldwide by business travelers to use laptops in many countries etc................

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Thanks Kitty, I figured I would have to get a transformer for it, I just kind of figured someone offered a 240v version already.

Hi all...this is an introduction post as I'm new to this way of growing. I purchased a EBB-12 system a month or so ago and as u can see by my profile I've been around and been dirt farming for over 40 years. I got tired of hauling all the dirt around so thought I'd give hydro a try...Started some old mexican dirt weed seed I had around just for practice and glad I did because right off I over-fertilized them..I'm waiting out a conflick I have with the ATTITUDE & SERIOUS SEED BANKS about some bad seed. Anywho, just saying hi to all and thanks for all the info I gained thru reading these 115 pages...Have a great HOLIDAY SEASON and I'll be back after...

cooley150 said:

Thank you kitty..... Oh and by the way I just got done reading your commercial grow journal and subscribed. All I can say is WOW!!! You really seem to know your shit and I'm grateful to have someone like you to learn from.

I am curious about the control bucket you made. Does it work the same as the control bucket that comes with the Ebb & Gro? I've been looking for an inexpensive way to make another set up for veg to make it easier to transfer my plants to the flower room instead of the aeroponicics unit I veg in now. I have the 2 gallon buckets already and you stated that you get 55 gallon res from Craig s list for like $15 all I need is the control bucket and I'm set. I believe it was Aquahub?

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Thanks!

AquaHub is who I buy my control box parts from. Just buy the Ebb & Grow kit, its everything you need except the actual bucket, lid for bucket, fittings and grommets for the bucket.

If you make your own controller ($110) and buy a 55 gallon blue reservoir from craigslist $15-$20 each) and buy buckets for $5 each it makes you wonder what the fuck C.A.P. charges so much for. Well, I know the answer -- convenience and you dont have to make it. Whether or not that convienence is worth $550 to C.A.P. is their concern I guess!

The only complaint I have via veg and round buckets is that the roundness of them make them lose a lot of useable space. I'd rather go square 5" plastic pots so I can fit more in there. Beyond that I'm pretty happy with it.......... Good luck!

THE BEST SYSTEM EVER !! That was a bit much but i got it hooked up to 5 gallon pots with grodan man talk monster yield. Iuse geneeral hydroproducs line and keep it simple method. Awesome results with the contriversial superthrive man we got over 4 lbs. on 9 plants with co2 on 2 hps 1000 watts . Im hooked for life good luck other people with all that wierd stuff this is it for me. now Im doing 12 plants in the 2 gallons pots the system came with 2 into flowering im still happy with the number of tops im seeing there all bushy and happy.

Tamorin said:

THE BEST SYSTEM EVER !! That was a bit much but i got it hooked up to 5 gallon pots with grodan man talk monster yield. Iuse geneeral hydroproducs line and keep it simple method. Awesome results with the contriversial superthrive man we got over 4 lbs. on 9 plants with co2 on 2 hps 1000 watts . Im hooked for life good luck other people with all that wierd stuff this is it for me. now Im doing 12 plants in the 2 gallons pots the system came with 2 into flowering im still happy with the number of tops im seeing there all bushy and happy.

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how long did you veg for? and what kinda grodan. cubes croutouns what size? Good input on the 5 gallon upgrades.

researchkitty said:

Thanks!

AquaHub is who I buy my control box parts from. Just buy the Ebb & Grow kit, its everything you need except the actual bucket, lid for bucket, fittings and grommets for the bucket.

If you make your own controller ($110) and buy a 55 gallon blue reservoir from craigslist $15-$20 each) and buy buckets for $5 each it makes you wonder what the fuck C.A.P. charges so much for. Well, I know the answer -- convenience and you dont have to make it. Whether or not that convienence is worth $550 to C.A.P. is their concern I guess!

The only complaint I have via veg and round buckets is that the roundness of them make them lose a lot of useable space. I'd rather go square 5" plastic pots so I can fit more in there. Beyond that I'm pretty happy with it.......... Good luck!

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Kitty,do you got a link for the diy controller with the aquahub parts?

doniawon said:

Kitty,do you got a link for the diy controller with the aquahub parts?

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aquahub.com?

all i can say to that diy controller is .. FUCKYEAH. thanks again kitty.

researchkitty said:

Thanks!

AquaHub is who I buy my control box parts from. Just buy the Ebb & Grow kit, its everything you need except the actual bucket, lid for bucket, fittings and grommets for the bucket.

If you make your own controller ($110) and buy a 55 gallon blue reservoir from craigslist $15-$20 each) and buy buckets for $5 each it makes you wonder what the fuck C.A.P. charges so much for. Well, I know the answer -- convenience and you dont have to make it. Whether or not that convienence is worth $550 to C.A.P. is their concern I guess!

The only complaint I have via veg and round buckets is that the roundness of them make them lose a lot of useable space. I'd rather go square 5" plastic pots so I can fit more in there. Beyond that I'm pretty happy with it.......... Good luck!

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Yea I bought the control bucket kit from Aqua Hub and it is awesome and I got to build it. Has more safety switches than the CAP controller bucket. I built my system for about half the price of the ready to assemble system.

My plants are less than 6 inches tall and have a bunch of roots growing out of the bottom and sitting in the standing water. One plant has over 8 inches of roots growing out of the bottom of the inner bucket. Any tips?

BiteSizeFreak said:

My plants are less than 6 inches tall and have a bunch of roots growing out of the bottom and sitting in the standing water. One plant has over 8 inches of roots growing out of the bottom of the inner bucket. Any tips?

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As long as you water them every day and replenish the reservoir with H202 and have air stones 1 watt per gallon of water in the rez you should be fine. The 8 inches you can trim, or try to re-transplant the plant back in the bucket by yanking it out and resetting it.

researchkitty said:

As long as you water them every day and replenish the reservoir with H202 and have air stones 1 watt per gallon of water in the rez you should be fine. The 8 inches you can trim, or try to re-transplant the plant back in the bucket by yanking it out and resetting it.

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As always the Canadian Kitty delivers! They're being watered at 9AM, 5PM, and 1AM for 15 minutes with my lights running from 9AM to 3AM. I've been adding H202 every third day and have 2 12" air stones in my reservoir which at this point I only fill to 80 liters since its only running 12 pots and they aren't drinking that much. All that sound groovy?

All sounds groovy. The air stones size doesnt matter, what does matter is how much air is pushed through the stones..... Look on the back of your air pump, if it says 24 watts, then its good for 24 gallons worth of water through whatever air stone size and shape you like. Granted, its not like your plants will mutate or die if the wattage isnt matched per gallon, but that's the easy rule of thumb for adding the most usable oxygen to your mix of nutrients and water..........

The watering schedule is good, but you might change the 9am watering to 10am or so, an hour after lights are on is the rule of thumb.......... You spaced it out evenly, which is nice too.

Hey i got a new controller unit from cap works fine but the drain pump keeps switching on every 5 seconds and not pumping any water out... and ideas what this could be?

researchkitty said:

If the roots are matted together, you must be *very* careful when trying to "un-matte" them........ Soak them in water completely and then slowly, slowly, try to move them apart. You'll be guaranteed to shred some roots but after a few days the transplants should be fine. It may even take up to a week. It may also kill them, so I'd probably snip some new clones or plant some new seeds just in case............

I remember this often from my first grow in a grow box that used a rockwool/netpot situation, but they flowered this way so it wasnt a big deal................

Transplants to Hydroton are often very forgiving

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I'm VERY HAPPY to report that the transplant went well.... TOOK FOREVER to untangle all the roots and I busted a lot of them, but they all seem to have survived. I left my light on all night after the transplant and when I woke up in the morning 10 0f the 12 were all perked up and the leaves were reaching toward the light. 2 were very droopy, but I ran a feeding cycle and they perked up right away. I think they just needed a drink...lol

boxing119 said:

Hey i got a new controller unit from cap works fine but the drain pump keeps switching on every 5 seconds and not pumping any water out... and ideas what this could be?

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Make sure your floats are level. They twist and turn pretty easily. (My future float references are with regard to the BOTTOM TWO floats of the controller, not the upper top ones) If you hold the bottom float up and top float down, nothing should happen. Top float and bottom float up, it should try to drain. When the bottom and top float then hit bottom, it stops draining.

If the floats are level, it could be 'stuck' and that would mean you need to replace the second float from the bottom, as that being "on" all the time would cause the pump to drain and turn off every time the bottom float gets water near it.

The dual floats serve as a way to pump out a few inches of water, and then stop, refill, and them pump some more out. If it was just one float, you get this constant on/off cycle that just burns up pumps.

If I didnt describe this correctly, let me know, but I think I got it =)

cooley150 said:

I'm VERY HAPPY to report that the transplant went well.... TOOK FOREVER to untangle all the roots and I busted a lot of them, but they all seem to have survived. I left my light on all night after the transplant and when I woke up in the morning 10 0f the 12 were all perked up and the leaves were reaching toward the light. 2 were very droopy, but I ran a feeding cycle and they perked up right away. I think they just needed a drink...lol

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Congrats! If your transplanting to flower mode, go ahead and hit em with 12/12 and nutrients right away. Its not unusual to lose say 5% of your roots give or take. They wont miss em, they'll be growing for 5 more weeks of flower still.