dark farmer
Member
Thanks, I'll have to check them out after this grow
My Ebb And Flow (Pics)
- Thread starter dark farmer
- Start date
Buick455gs
Active Member
Pic. 15amp 500watt dual outlet.
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dark farmer
Member
Ah yeah, thats definitely fancier than the one I got
Buick455gs
Active Member
There's nothing fancy about my setup. Efficient yes, fancy no. Every thing in my grow room came from wal-fart or the hardware store except my nutes.
dark farmer
Member
Do you keep any kind of logs?
Buick455gs
Active Member
Not anymore. First couple years that I grew inside in soil I would write everything down. Now I have a pretty simple system so I just watch it run.
Easy420forme
Active Member
Yes mine is setup with 30 mins at a minimum. I may have to get the $15 version to shorten my cycle time. I have mine on a continual 30mins of flood every 2,5 hours; which means 8 floods per 24 hours. too much?
Buick455gs
Active Member
Well 30 minute floods are a little long, roots aren't very good swimmers. I like to flood 1 minute longer then it takes to hit the overflow. And my overflow is 1/2 inch under the rim of the pots, plant stocks don't like to stay wet either.
reggaerican
Well-Known Member
that is a sweet DIY system looking good cant wait to see some nice tomatoes..
Easy420forme
Active Member
Here is what I got setup and I partly thank you for helping me out.
Hard to see I know, but it's just over 21 gallons in the reservoir it fills up to just under the hydroton. I purchased some extensions from Lowes for my drain. set it perfectly. 10 bucket system. All I need to do is install the fixture and refelctive insulation. Thanks again.
Hard to see I know, but it's just over 21 gallons in the reservoir it fills up to just under the hydroton. I purchased some extensions from Lowes for my drain. set it perfectly. 10 bucket system. All I need to do is install the fixture and refelctive insulation. Thanks again.
Buick455gs
Active Member
Looks good. Fill her up and lets see what she can do.
dark farmer
Member
hey that's looking pretty nice indeed. what are you using for lighting?
Easy420forme
Active Member
Will do
4 T5's fixture with 2 lamps red and two lamps blue... that is being deliverd today from a friend.
Easy420forme
Active Member
Hi Dark Farmer. here is what I built out of your inspiration. thanks man.
[video=youtube;INrC54jXhEY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INrC54jXhEY[/video]
[video=youtube;INrC54jXhEY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INrC54jXhEY[/video]
reefcouple
Well-Known Member
another small suggestion.. cover up the water, make yourself a cover for the tray that yyour pots fit into..
water + light = PH issues
Nice setup tho bro!!
water + light = PH issues
Nice setup tho bro!!
bird mcbride
Well-Known Member
In my F&D system I use a 3 by 3 foot square pot, 8 inches deep. I fill it up to the top of the rocks with res water and within 15 minutes I completely drain my table. I have a lower res which is a large beer cooler(about the size of your rubbermaid) and a stainless steel liner from a wash machine for an upper res. The pump is in the lower res and an electric valve is used to flood the pot from the upper res. There is a switch in the lower res that interupts the electric valve to stop the water at the preprogramed level. When the timer kicks out, the relay will go off and allow the pump to pump the water back up to the upper res and the rest of the system will resume as normal. The water is completely drained from the pot after flooding from a corner drain. I use relays that have both on and off contact positions. I wish you the very best on all your grows.
Easy420forme
Active Member
thank you. so the t8 lights may alter my ph? I am going to keep ph at around 5.8 t0 6.0. how is that?
I have the lid from the original tub tote container I cut it out of. I could use that I suppose to cover the water?
reefcouple
Well-Known Member
That ph level is perfect..
I went to home depot and found some plastic wallboard and cut to fit then bought a hole saw to fit my circular baskets and now absolutely no light hits the water which made a monster difference in my system, before that I had to scrub everything every week because of the algae growth which made my ph levels go crazy..
Best of luck
Professor Manali
Member
Good thread you got going here, I'd like to see more flood and drain people get together to compare notes. I used to run a 2m x 0.5 m tank (an EF420) filled with hydroton, no pots. LIke you, Buick, I found that it took about 3 minutes to start to overflow, but that it took at least twice that long for all the dead air pockets to get flushed out. So I went with 10 minutes once plants have extensive root systems. I'd also agree with you on the frequency, every 2 hours during light time, the more you can get fresh air drawn into the root zone, the better, I reckon.
Can I ask you guys, do you resuse the granules? If so, how do you treat them?
Easy420forme
Active Member
What about allowing all my extra hydroton float in that water and open flood tank?