rockwool to hydroton

When i go from rock wool to dydroton how far down should the small rock wool cube be set down into the dydroton? and how do i know if the water is going to get to it when water floods. i have a 3 x 3 x7in flood table with a 25 gallon resivor. seems like when i flood the table 95 percent of the water ends up in the flood table, its almost like the resvoir is to small.
im using 6 in net cups and i think that is going to be my problem. should i use 4in net cups so its sets down far enough down in flood tray? or is the 6in net cup good even though whole net cup is not submurged and is about 1 1/2 above the water line. see thats why i want to know how far the rock wool shold be set into the dyroton. should whole rockwool cube be submerged every watering ? thanks for all input

I am assuming that you mean you are going to just fill the table with hydroton.

In that case I hope you are using clones or planting only females as killing plants in a hydroton bed is not recommended.

Now, assuming I understand your question correctly, the hydroton cube should sit at least 1/2" above the water line of the flood table when filled. The cube should not get wet at all during flooding. You should hand water the plants for a few days to a week after transplanting them so the roots grow down into the hydroton.

The hydroton bed should be at least 1" above the level of the flooding to prevent algae growth and to prevent the bed from floating during flooding. Given the fact that you have a 7" flood table a good rule of thumb would be to fill the table with 6" of medium, have the 1 1/2" hydroton cube inserted into the hydroton to its top which would mean that it was 4 1/2" from the bottom of the flood tray and flood to 4" which is 1/2 inch below the rockwool cube.

The hydroton and plants will take up most of the tray so you wont use nearly as much water to fill the tray during normal use.

I am not filling the table with hydroton just the net cups and its going to be about 12 of them. I been flooding the tray right now without anything in it, and you made a execellent point that when i put the net pots in with hydroton it will infact take up space leaving more water in the resivoir. Thanks for pointing that out. What are your suggestion about the rockwool cube in net pot (basket) with the rock wool cube in that? same as before.?

I am plannin on doing the same exact thing as you are. I have two 3x3 tables on a 100 gallon res. with that small of a res your gonna be adding and adjusting nutes and ph alot. Id move up to a bigger res. The bigger the better. But do what nlx says cuz the roots will grow out into the tray and you dont want the roots to see light, so filling the tray with hydroton will cover the roots. Then you dont even need net pots just put the rockwool cubes right into the hydroton pebble bed in the tray. I am running 9 plants in each tray with 1 1000w light on each tray.

NLXSK1 said:

I am assuming that you mean you are going to just fill the table with hydroton.

In that case I hope you are using clones or planting only females as killing plants in a hydroton bed is not recommended.

Now, assuming I understand your question correctly, the hydroton cube should sit at least 1/2" above the water line of the flood table when filled. The cube should not get wet at all during flooding. You should hand water the plants for a few days to a week after transplanting them so the roots grow down into the hydroton.

The hydroton bed should be at least 1" above the level of the flooding to prevent algae growth and to prevent the bed from floating during flooding. Given the fact that you have a 7" flood table a good rule of thumb would be to fill the table with 6" of medium, have the 1 1/2" hydroton cube inserted into the hydroton to its top which would mean that it was 4 1/2" from the bottom of the flood tray and flood to 4" which is 1/2 inch below the rockwool cube.

The hydroton and plants will take up most of the tray so you wont use nearly as much water to fill the tray during normal use.

Click to expand...

Did you mean rockwool cube? not hydroton cube? just want to be sure