Inzane in the membrane, Gorilla Zkittlez, Mango Saphire

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Fair play that's awesome m8,I really like that set up , just can't see the misses letting me convert a room tho
You can get tables in any size from grow stores or make your own. I also have a 3x2 foot table, pretty small but can fit in a closet. My bud has a 4x4 table in his closet.
What I like about flood and drain (ebb/flow) is it is so simple, no root chiller needed like with RDWC and general maintenance is a breeze. Really a quite fool proof system. I've grown in soil (my mothers are still in dirt), RDWC, but this is by far the easiest with the most consistent results. And I like that I am not always throwing out dirt or Rockwool. I have no waste, just wash the stones and go again.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
You can get tables in any size from grow stores or make your own. I also have a 3x2 foot table, pretty small but can fit in a closet. My bud has a 4x4 table in his closet.
What I like about flood and drain (ebb/flow) is it is so simple, no root chiller needed like with RDWC and general maintenance is a breeze. Really a quite fool proof system. I've grown in soil (my mothers are still in dirt), RDWC, but this is by far the easiest with the most consistent results. And I like that I am not always throwing out dirt or Rockwool. I have no waste, just wash the stones and go again.
Man when I was running flood and drain it never failed me. One thing I always did was using 4x8 trays put a pump on both ends of the tray. I always ran the pumps on digital programmable timers. Independent timers. This way if a timer or pump fails the tray still gets flooded by the other pump. Can be a big lifesaver.
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Man when I was running flood and drain it never failed me. One thing I always did was using 4x8 trays put a pump on both ends of the tray. I always ran the pumps on digital programmable timers. Independent timers. This way if a timer or pump fails the tray still gets flooded by the other pump. Can be a big lifesaver.
That's a great idea, thanks for the tip. As long as both pumps go off at the same time it shouldn't drain through the other pump.
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Jefferson,

question about your reservoir, obv the point of ebb and flow is the nute solution draining back into the reservoir, my question, does the nutes stay stable? no ph fluctuation? does ppm get dilluted with each watering?

Wondering how often you have to top up your res, of if your having to completely drain it and refill every so often?

thanks man, i am very seriously considering mimicking your setup.
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Jefferson,

question about your reservoir, obv the point of ebb and flow is the nute solution draining back into the reservoir, my question, does the nutes stay stable? no ph fluctuation? does ppm get dilluted with each watering?

Wondering how often you have to top up your res, of if your having to completely drain it and refill every so often?

thanks man, i am very seriously considering mimicking your setup.
Yes, if you size your reservoir larger than you need to flood your table (about 2x the size) and have the feed at the right EC and PH, then your PH and EC will stay pretty stable. An airstone in your reservoir will alter your ph slightly every few days by a point or two though. Your optimum state is to have your water level drop a bit, and PH rise ever so slightly and your EC drop ever so slightly every day. This signifies that water is being consumed through transpiration, but also that minerals are being up-taken by the root system, as mineral salt concentration lessens, your PH will rise.

With this setup, you can let the plants tell you how to feed. If your PH is rising, and water level is dropping, that means your plants are eating, and could probably use more feed, but you don't have to, you could just PH at this point. If your PH is dropping, and water level is dropping they are drinking water (i.e. transpiring a lot) but not feeding (your mix is getting more concentrated hence PH drop), so likely your mix is too high on EC, or you need to change your reservoir. Anyways I hope I'v said this all correctly I just took a number of huge dab rips, lol.

So.. there are a couple ways you can feed. I have a 100 gallon reservoir. I've done a whole bunch of runs where I don't change the water, just wait until I get down half way and then add another 50 gallons, and keep doing this for weeks, only doing a complete res change maybe 2 times in a full cycle (from clones on the table to crop including veg and flower since only using Master Crop and not changing nutrients from veg to bloom, so no point throwing out res when you switch to 12/12). Doing it this way I must have made that one 22lb bag of Master Crop last me for 6 runs or so (about 25lbs of indoor bud).

However, doing it this way I also noticed I would get deficiencies in some strains (not many) and maybe I wasn't getting my full potential out of the buds. That is why, this round, in this thread, I am changing (i.e. dumping and refilling from scratch) my reservoir every 7 days. The bag won't last as long but I want to see if I get better results (although my results have been pretty darn good) this way. One of the reasons I did it the other way was that I was using an EvolutionRO1000 system, and it was hard on my septic system, and took a full day to get me 100 gallons. Now I discovered the lake water works better than RO so I am using that, and it saves me a ton of money on filters since it is free and never ending.
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
What kind of lighting are you using? So your hitting ~2pounds a 4x4 section?
Yeah easily, and every time now. My best was over 2.5 per 4x4. I use 1.1kw (combined) of Quantum Board lighting. (2)x QB 260xl and (1) x QB 600-H . 3000 Kelvin

This time I might hit a bit less because I only vegged the clones 3 days. It's medical so everytime I do the same number of plants (45).
 

dr.tomb

Well-Known Member
Wow. That's amazing, 1100 actual watt and getting 2268g of dry usable product. That's amazing.

2.06g/watt

Yeah easily, and every time now. My best was over 2.5 per 4x4. I use 1.1kw (combined) of Quantum Board lighting. (2)x QB 260xl and (1) x QB 600-H . 3000 Kelvin

This time I might hit a bit less because I only vegged the clones 3 days. It's medical so everytime I do the same number of plants (45).
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Yes, if you size your reservoir larger than you need to flood your table (about 2x the size) and have the feed at the right EC and PH, then your PH and EC will stay pretty stable. An airstone in your reservoir will alter your ph slightly every few days by a point or two though. Your optimum state is to have your water level drop a bit, and PH rise ever so slightly and your EC drop ever so slightly every day. This signifies that water is being consumed through transpiration, but also that minerals are being up-taken by the root system, as mineral salt concentration lessens, your PH will rise.

With this setup, you can let the plants tell you how to feed. If your PH is rising, and water level is dropping, that means your plants are eating, and could probably use more feed, but you don't have to, you could just PH at this point. If your PH is dropping, and water level is dropping they are drinking water (i.e. transpiring a lot) but not feeding (your mix is getting more concentrated hence PH drop), so likely your mix is too high on EC, or you need to change your reservoir. Anyways I hope I'v said this all correctly I just took a number of huge dab rips, lol.

So.. there are a couple ways you can feed. I have a 100 gallon reservoir. I've done a whole bunch of runs where I don't change the water, just wait until I get down half way and then add another 50 gallons, and keep doing this for weeks, only doing a complete res change maybe 2 times in a full cycle (from clones on the table to crop including veg and flower since only using Master Crop and not changing nutrients from veg to bloom, so no point throwing out res when you switch to 12/12). Doing it this way I must have made that one 22lb bag of Master Crop last me for 6 runs or so (about 25lbs of indoor bud).

However, doing it this way I also noticed I would get deficiencies in some strains (not many) and maybe I wasn't getting my full potential out of the buds. That is why, this round, in this thread, I am changing (i.e. dumping and refilling from scratch) my reservoir every 7 days. The bag won't last as long but I want to see if I get better results (although my results have been pretty darn good) this way. One of the reasons I did it the other way was that I was using an EvolutionRO1000 system, and it was hard on my septic system, and took a full day to get me 100 gallons. Now I discovered the lake water works better than RO so I am using that, and it saves me a ton of money on filters since it is free and never ending.
Wow man thanks so much for that knowledge drop, so much good info in that post and you explained it in simple terms that i understood lol

So i went back and look at your pics, what are you using in your net pots? hydroton? rockwool?

I am building a 4` x 16` foot print, with 1k over each 4` section. I am debating between ebb and flow as your running or drain to waste in coco on a drip system.

My count is 50, i plan to keep 4-6 mothers, so probably grow 40-44 plants from clone.
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Wow man thanks so much for that knowledge drop, so much good info in that post and you explained it in simple terms that i understood lol

So i went back and look at your pics, what are you using in your net pots? hydroton? rockwool?

I am building a 4` x 16` foot print, with 1k over each 4` section. I am debating between ebb and flow as your running or drain to waste in coco on a drip system.

My count is 50, i plan to keep 4-6 mothers, so probably grow 40-44 plants from clone.
If you are 10g per day and you are solely indoors then your count is 49 like me?

I use hydroton in 5 inch netpots. reuse the hydroton indefinitely. no waste, which is why i like it. Coco you are gonna have to throw out and buy again which is more cost. But some people prefer it, whatever works man. This is the way I learned 20 years ago and I have tried everything inbetween and between this and autopots nothing is simpler or better but that is just like, my opinion man...:-)
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
If you are 10g per day and you are solely indoors then your count is 49 like me?

I use hydroton in 5 inch netpots. reuse the hydroton indefinitely. no waste, which is why i like it. Coco you are gonna have to throw out and buy again which is more cost. But some people prefer it, whatever works man. This is the way I learned 20 years ago and I have tried everything inbetween and between this and autopots nothing is simpler or better but that is just like, my opinion man...:-)
Yes 10g/day

I musta rounded up when I used the calculator lol

I agree on the reusing of hydroton and saving on continuously buying medium. Have never used anything other than soil. So it's all new to me.

I'm gonna continue to research this. So you have any other journals or threads showing your setup?

Thanks very much for the help. Some solid info man
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Yes 10g/day

I musta rounded up when I used the calculator lol

I agree on the reusing of hydroton and saving on continuously buying medium. Have never used anything other than soil. So it's all new to me.

I'm gonna continue to research this. So you have any other journals or threads showing your setup?

Thanks very much for the help. Some solid info man
What do you want to see, I can take a pic of whatever? Here is a table full of Blue Cheese by Dynafem fed with MC, 4lbs dry.
20180524_190347.jpg
 

dr.tomb

Well-Known Member
Do you keep the single top per plant? Or do you top at all? Also, out of curiosity were you using SE or DE HPS? Did you use them on this 4x8 flood table setup? If so what was the outcome of those grows?
 

Jefferson1977

Well-Known Member
Do you keep the single top per plant? Or do you top at all? Also, out of curiosity were you using SE or DE HPS? Did you use them on this 4x8 flood table setup? If so what was the outcome of those grows?
I had SE HPS, I do not have the ceiling height for DE HPS. I was using literally exactly 2x the wattage at 2.2kw of HPS and getting almost exact same results although I never did 5+ lbs with HPS like I did with the QB. Could have just been the strain etc, but who knows. Anyways, half the wattage, same results give or take.

The grow above of the Blue Cheese, I had 30 plants and I topped them all one time, vegged for 3 weeks from small clone.
 

dr.tomb

Well-Known Member
So 60 tops at about 30g a top. That's pretty sick.

Any prunning techniques?

I've been running SE 1000w HPS over a 4x4 screen with ~30 tops a screen. Ive been hitting around 1.8p with 9 plants.

This is the first run for me where I replaced those 1000w HPS with DE 945w CHM. Same setup as before.
 
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