++Hellraizers++ DO AND DONTs and in and outs of the ebb&grow/ebb&flow systems

D.A.R.E.graduate420

D.A.R.E.graduate420

Member
HR and others, would love to hear your thoughts on a few things...

(1) Have you ever ventilated your root zone? Tried blowing air in?

I have my E+F baskets covered and a fan hooked up to blow air into the root zone...I'm only at the seedling stage, but I am hoping this might be good way to increase DO, keep humidity up, use adiabatic cooling properties to keep root zone heat down, and thwart root rot/gnats, etc. I also have an air stone in my rez, but was thinking of running ventilation for 15 min after each flood and maybe for 15 min halfway between floods for all the mentioned reasons. I was also thinking with root zone ventilation, I might be able to bump my daily flood counts from 3-4x daily to 5-7 floods daily.
The air-flow will probably cause some significant water evap that I wouldn't have otherwise (my res is covered), but if I monitor water levels I don't think it'll be a problem. Also, as I mentioned, I probably would opt to leave the fans on only briefly.

(2) I'm starting out on a VERY SMALL grow table...it was actually a present, and I sort of fell into this whole hydroponics thing, but I've been enjoying it thus far. The table is only 2'x2', but holds 16 grow baskets. I think I'm going to grow just 1 or 2 plants to start, and then clone from there to get 16 plants, then do a large batch ScrOG. Thoughts?
 
hellraizer30

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
Unless what your venting into your root zone can add DO, i think it will just dry out your root!
Would like to know how it turns out d.a.r.e
 
BCBuddy420

BCBuddy420

Well-Known Member
Thank you hellraizer sir, my pipe used will be 4" and will be semi-flooded with solution and the plants will sit in hydroton. The tubes will be in a 360 degree formation, and gradually curving around down to the next level of pipe. This should carry solution from top pipe all the way through to the bottom but system will be in a flooded state at all times, but with constant movement. To create this I will have adjustable dams at the end of each level of pipe, very similar to Mr.Robinson's design except I have plans to customize and make my own. Would this be more considered a hybrid of DWC and NFT? What can cause root issues besides fluid temp. problems? What is the best practice/products for root health? ( I have used hygrozyme ) How can I cheaply control temp. in res. up or down? And lastly wouldn't a guy expect temp. to change quite a bit when leaving the res.? and travelling distances through pipes, hot grow space, etc. Is there another way to gauge a more accurate temp. reading in solution for when plants are actually receiving?
~BCbuddy420 :leaf:
 
hellraizer30

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
BCBuddy420 said:
Thank you hellraizer sir, my pipe used will be 4" and will be semi-flooded with solution and the plants will sit in hydroton. The tubes will be in a 360 degree formation, and gradually curving around down to the next level of pipe. This should carry solution from top pipe all the way through to the bottom but system will be in a flooded state at all times, but with constant movement. To create this I will have adjustable dams at the end of each level of pipe, very similar to Mr.Robinson's design except I have plans to customize and make my own. Would this be more considered a hybrid of DWC and NFT? What can cause root issues besides fluid temp. problems? What is the best practice/products for root health? ( I have used hygrozyme ) How can I cheaply control temp. in res. up or down? And lastly wouldn't a guy expect temp. to change quite a bit when leaving the res.? and travelling distances through pipes, hot grow space, etc. Is there another way to gauge a more accurate temp. reading in solution for when plants are actually receiving?
~BCbuddy420 :leaf:
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As long as the temps are good at the res and the water is flowing you should be fine, your running
nft style tubes, some folks use aero style sprayers inside the tubes others use a undercurrent like
you are! If this setup was mine i would run just like you are but add air stones up stream of each
section of tube! This will allow air to run through the system, working similiar to dwc and elliminating
Root rot! Now res temps will be critical here to aviod slime!
 
BCBuddy420

BCBuddy420

Well-Known Member
hellraizer30 said:
As long as the temps are good at the res and the water is flowing you should be fine, your running
nft style tubes, some folks use aero style sprayers inside the tubes others use a undercurrent like
you are! If this setup was mine i would run just like you are but add air stones up stream of each
section of tube! This will allow air to run through the system, working similiar to dwc and elliminating
Root rot! Now res temps will be critical here to aviod slime!
Click to expand...
:clap: GENIUS! I will run an multiport air pump with different lengths of air line for each level and install an airstone in each dam. That should max out aeration. I will draw a pic of my design... Thanks again for that critical design plan I was missing. I LOVE it man. No picture drawing is coming... I forgot I don't have drawing skills :p
 
H

Hiker

Member
BCBuddy420 said:
Hey guys :) This is to the OP or anyone, much appreciated. Alot of you guys seem to be quite knowledgeable in hydroponics whereas I am not! Never tried it :? I am humbly asking for a few pointers? I have a plan design of a pvc tube system grow (have done a fair bit of homework) with net pots and a steady current, if you will, of nutrient solution pumped through and back to the rez. Once clones root sufficiently they will go straight to flowering in this setup, no veg. From experience what would be the biggest issues to watch out for? Here's what I would put to practice without any help; EC will sit around 1.0-1.4 never exceeding that. PPM will be around 800-900ish. The solution needs changing every week due to salt buildups, just like flushing my soilless medium. Water must be aerated for DO, using air stones. Solution level is kept on the cooler side and just touching the bottom of the net pots. Ok that's about what I know for now. I would like to know if there's any major issues to watch out for... kiss-ass
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A couple of my friends built a system like that. The biggest problem I see is the flow rate. The roots will start to fill that PVC pipe. They won't completely clog the pipe, but the water you're trying to pump through the pipe begins to move too slow. You either have water coming out the plant sites, or you have to turn the flow down to a trickle. Flowering immediately will help. My advice, from watching them struggle with their system for months, use bigger pipe than you think you need.
 
hellraizer30

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
Hiker said:
A couple of my friends built a system like that. The biggest problem I see if the flow rate. The roots will start to fill that PVC pipe. They won't completely clog the pipe, but the water you're trying to pump through the pipe begins to move too slow. You either have water coming out the plant sites, or you have to turn the flow down to a trickle. Flowering immediately will help. My advice, from watching them struggle with their system for months, use bigger pipe than you think you need.
Click to expand...

Very good points hiker
 
BCBuddy420

BCBuddy420

Well-Known Member
Hiker said:
A couple of my friends built a system like that. The biggest problem I see is the flow rate. The roots will start to fill that PVC pipe. They won't completely clog the pipe, but the water you're trying to pump through the pipe begins to move too slow. You either have water coming out the plant sites, or you have to turn the flow down to a trickle. Flowering immediately will help. My advice, from watching them struggle with their system for months, use bigger pipe than you think you need.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, it's guys like you with great tips like that one, that truly help others out :D I will be flowering from rooted clones, yes and now I will know what to lookout for and avoid in that sense. +REP
 
A

akpaco

Active Member
Just a heads up... I recently purchased a pair of Hydrofarm Lumii grow room glasses and they work really well and there're $25 bucks!!
 
M

Mithrandir420

Well-Known Member
I have a pair of Lumiis as well, and they are really nice. Especially for 25.00. I think the method 7's give a slightly better color correction.
 
A

akpaco

Active Member
hellraizer30 said:
I got method 7 ones but there way more $ :( do they cut all the hps light out?
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They totally cut the hps out.. It's been awhile since I tried the Method 7's on. I do believe the Method seven color correction is better. But like [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mith said $25 bucks is hard to beat![/FONT]
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
whats up guys, been getting pm's about the perlite grow so i figured i would post some pics from today so everybody can see how they are doing. they look great, they are about 28 days in today and the dm gold seems to be doing ok, not sure if its going to significantly increase the yield but they look healthy. someone asked me about watering and want to clarify i havent changed my watering schedule, it is the same as when i ran with hydroton. i water x3 within a 12 hour periode in flower of course, and water x4 in 24 hours in veg.
 

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drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
thanks buddy :) havent been doing much at all with this run as a matter of fact i have been at the grow prably 4 times since flowering them lol, they are just doing there thing.
 
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