question on ebb and flow bucket setup

I'm looking at the 12 bucket ebb/flow kit with a 55 gallon drum as Res. My question is do I need to fill the Res to the top? Mixing 55 gal of nutes and water every week seems extreme for 12 plants. Plus ill probally only run 9 plants. Could I just fill up to 20-30 gal?

How many gallons are you allowing those buckets to flood to? If you want 3 gallons in each bucket @ 9 buckets thats 27 gallons right there. I would want at least 12 gallons, preferably more left in my res during the flood. That's at least 39 gallons.

By the way you don't have to change it out every week. Top off throughout the week with phed water, then half strength nutes and so on. Then at 2 weeks go ahead and do a complete change out.

No way bro. depending on what stage you are in, and the fact that you may only be doing a 9 plant grow. You will need at MAX 12 gallons. I have 16 plants going in 6" rockwool, and using 15 gallons is just about right. But these plants are huge and about three weeks into flowering.

So to answer your question you will probably need 10-15 gallons of water during your grow.

On a side note.

I actually thought the 55 gallon was too big and bulky.

Have you bought this setup yet? I would advise against it honestly, if you want i can give you a detailed setup that is more efficient and is about half the price.. With a million less problems. And everything can be bought at your local hardware store. Good luck.

Let me know

How is that? If I'm using 2gal buckets it will be 18gal plus 4-5 gal in the controller at least. I was trying to get away with only using like 30 gal.
I would like to hear about your set up too.

Mongobud said:

How many gallons are you allowing those buckets to flood to? If you want 3 gallons in each bucket @ 9 buckets thats 27 gallons right there. I would want at least 12 gallons, preferably more left in my res during the flood. That's at least 39 gallons.

By the way you don't have to change it out every week. Top off throughout the week with phed water, then half strength nutes and so on. Then at 2 weeks go ahead and do a complete change out.

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Couldnt you get away with 30 gallons, given that the hydroton is taking up at least a fraction of the space in the buckets?

But can I ask you about what you said. Is it a weeks top off with water, and then half strenght for another week, then change the reservoir? Is that what you mean? Sorry for being dense just want to get it right...

12 buckets, assuming they are 2-3 gallon buckets, will hold about 15 gallons of water. Hydroton takes up most of it. Here's my advice:

Fill up your reservoir to the top. Over one week, plants will drink water. Then when you change nutrients, top off the res, balance the ppm to that week, and continue. When you hit week 8 and are ready to flush, dont add water and it'll drink about 10-15 gallons that final week.

Easy!

So you don't clean out the Res at all during the grow?

420forme said:

So you don't clean out the Res at all during the grow?

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I change my res out 3 times during a 8-9 week grow. I use nutrients that can't be mixed at certain stages, so I have to drain and re-fill my res. The rule of thumb is to change it every couple weeks, but you can go longer depending on the nutrients. Some nutrients (expecially organics) create a slime in your reserviors after a week, so it will vary depending on the nutrients and other variables.

420forme said:

So you don't clean out the Res at all during the grow?

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Only after the plants are done. The nutrients in the res doesnt matter if its staged. If you top off with 20 gallons of water and add 20 gallons of nutes, just add 55 gallons worth of whatever the special new nutrients are. PPM balance with water and ph balance then done.

The nutrients dont get stale in the res, the plants eat them. There's no reason to change out res water at all during a grow.

So just add water daily untill ppm drops low, then add next weeks nutes/water?

420forme said:

So just add water daily untill ppm drops low, then add next weeks nutes/water?

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Sorry, was on a mini vacation. I add water every two or three days, and usually about 10 gallons at a time in my 55 gallon res. I know it needs 35-40 gallons to fill the buckets each time, so it always has at least that. Now of course, in veg or the first few weeks of flower you'll top it off less because the smaller plants drink less, and at the end of flower you'll be topping it off three times a week, but you know.

When you top it off, you dont have to add nutrients if you add under 10 gallons of water. If you added more than 10 gallons, then just balance the ppm out and your done. Usually only have to balance (increase) ppm towards the last half of flowering when the plants do drink it up so fast.

Let me know if you need any more clarification!

Kitty

Ok it's an Ebb and Grow setup? Does it have a controller bucket? How many gallons do the plant buckets fill to?

Your going to want at least 2 gallons for each plant, 2 gallons in the control bucket, and at least 10-12 gallons in the res.

@ 9 plants thats at least 30 gallons. preferably more during aggressive bloom since they drink more.

Research Kitty is right, you want your PPM to stay level as possible throughout your grow. So if your stage of growth calls for 1050 PPM, depending if it rises or falls, top
off with either RO if it rises, or 1/4 to 1/2 strength BASE NUTRIENTS (no additives, unless they are enzymes) if it falls. I would say 3 weeks is the max you could get away with that in your setup, then its time for a complete drain and res change.

PPM and EC meters can only gauge the Total value of the nutrient solution. They wont tell you if a plant is eating more Potassium than Nitrogen etc. So res Changes are neccesary.