My Ebb And Flow (Pics)

What do you guys think? It's actually for tomatoes but none of my friends are into that. So i figured this community would get a kick out of it

nice , very nice .

really like that pvc stand.

did you shim your table forward?

I actually cut the front PVC legs down so that the table would sit like that. It drains a little better.

What water level height should you shoot fro in your ebb and flow?

I flood mine right to the base of the plants. I just measured mine and the water level reaches around 6 and 1/2 inches.

dark farmer said:

I flood mine right to the base of the plants. I just measured mine and the water level reaches around 6 and 1/2 inches.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the fast reply.... you say base of the plants, you mean the level of the rock/hydroton? that is 6 1/2"? then how low does it get after the flow process ends?

Yeah, I consider the base to be around the level of the hydroton. But, I only measured my drain piece, so the drain is a hair less than 6 1/2" tall. And I sorta just buried my plant at about that level.

When it drains completely at the end of each cycle, theres about a "quarter of a pinky" left. It's enough to annoy me, but it hasn't been a problem yet.

That picture just made me realize how dirty hydroton is

Thanks Dark Farmer. I need a bigger res. off to perform more calculations. peace

do you think 3 1/2 inches for my max water height is sufficient? That is as tall as the drain plug goes... give or take. see the pics






So now my hydroton is filling the containers about half way? Am I missing something?

I think 3 12" would work if the roots had more space to fill. I think your problem here will be that your roots can't grow outside of the container.

I believe plant size is proportional to root mass.

so you think I should get the water level high (ie the hydroton level)? I need more extensions for my drain I think.

Yup, thats probably what I would do.

thanks friend... peace and happy growing

What's your cycle time on the ebb and flow system?

Well, I have 2 timers. And the cycles aren't on any kind of exact timing. I have the first timer set for 16 hours of light, and daisy-chained off of that timer is my pump timer. On the pump timer I just spaced every cycle apart enough so that there will only be 4 to 5 cycles per 16 hour period when the lights are on. Sometimes there's 4 cycles per day, sometimes there's 5 per day. Like I said, it's not exact. All cycles last for around 30 minutes, and I think it takes like 3 minutes for my entire tray to fill up to the drain.

Nice setup. As far as you flood times and lengths might I suggest flooding for 4 minutes (1 minute longer then it takes to hit the drain) every other hour. Roots stay wet not swimming, and lots of oxygen. The great thing about flood and drain with clay pellets is its almost impossible to over water, and every time the tray drains its drawing in fresh oxygen. More flood and drain cycles more oxygen to the roots.

Yeah I actually did consider that. The problem is that my timers don't allow for less than 30 minutes. Have any suggestions for a good timer?

Wal-farts has a decent one for about 16 bucks. Its the one I use. Program by the minute something like 20 on/off settings 15 amp.