Ebb & Flow

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sopappy

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Here's the upper tray with the cover and net pots removed.
Still some water left in there... can I live with this for the ebbin and flowin and just suck it all out when i change rez once a week?

The cover with the net pots is most difficult. I figured 2 inch rigid foam strong enough but it's waaaaay too thick, water rises only to less than half the cup!

I need thinner, say 3/8 or 1/2 inch... all I can think of is wood and I hate to use wood... see those bumps on the bottom, if I sit the net pots sit on those, no weight, I could just use thin plastic sheet to block light.

2nd question... can the bottom of the pots sit on the tray bottom or will the roots be really upset about that (I'm thinking they'll just fill those channels and coome out the sides)

Thanks

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I haven't done any ebb n flow/flood n drain type of hydro but I believe that tray is made for the smaller rockwool cubes to set in place right on the bottom of the tray. The channels allow the excess water to drain out of the cubes so that they don't stay sogged.
However it sounds like you are trying(or thinking) to do a hybrid setup where it becomes a flood/dwc and drain, as it sounds like you are wanting to suspend the netpots above the bottom of the tray.

On the one hand I like that idea as you would be keeping the root area sealed in to prevent the external roots from drying and dying. But its efficiency is determined by how deep the water gets at full flood. You could use a piece of 1/4" plexi glass and cut holes for the netpots to sit all the way down in the sheet. Then pain the plexi sheet white to block out light from the tray. Plus the white will prevent the light from making the tray overly warm. That is what I use in my larger tote system where my netpots hang down inside my totes. The plexi is strong enough to hold the weight and won't absorb moisture like plywood (which makes it heavy and mold susceptible).

The important thing though if you use the plexi sheet as a netpot holder, you have to be sure that the flooding will thoroughly soak the contents of the netpots before it drains back as this will feed and water them well before allowing them to completely drain and begin drying cycle.

quote: Still some water left in there... can I live with this for the ebbin and flowin and just suck it all out when i change rez once a week?
That should be fine. You most likely won't even have to remove the plants to suck out any left behind moisture. Each time it floods and drains it flushes the older water out that was sitting in the bottom. You should only have to clean that after each plant cycle. :)
 
I snipped,)

Incredible. ordered the sheet you describe last week. Picked up the 1/4 inch piece of acrylic (food grade) Friday afternoon. 31 outside, no A/C in here, So far sitting at 19.7 and my RDWC needs cooling with the coils running several times a day to keep it below 20
T5s are pretty warm too, that white is yuge.

These are not fem seeds, I detest fem seeds and don't like bruce caitlin either, it's effed up, puny seedlings, weakly, sensitive plants, never again.

I'm hoping to go to flower in this thing, males will be unceremoniously pulled and roots hacked off if they don't untangle. If i can keep those back-ups in the pots alive, some fems to fill holes too hopefully :)

re-assuring re the puddles, good point

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The plants sitting in diapers on top are back-ups. Of the original 20, I picked the smallest plants for the tray, hoping that they are the girls. These are mostly males I hope.


ZEM commented on the rapid rooters and now when i look at these plants, they look OVERWATERED
I'm dropping the level to just below the plugs... read that somewhere, now I see why...
those things stay too soggy methinks... I switching to those OASIS cubes

View attachment backups.jpg
 
That looks good. Ideal for small personal grower to get a nice yield. The key for them is to keep them small and bushy or allow them to shoot 6-8 colas each so that they don't crowd each other out or stretch in competition for light. You may have to do some tactical trimming as they get larger. :)
 
That looks good. Ideal for small personal grower to get a nice yield. The key for them is to keep them small and bushy or allow them to shoot 6-8 colas each so that they don't crowd each other out or stretch in competition for light. You may have to do some tactical trimming as they get larger. :)

I tried LST and (it's probably my LEDs) but growth was not much different than leaving them alone, ie 2 or 4 smaller colas = one big one is what I found
so this time I wasn't going to touch them, if I run out of height, supercrop

The root growth blew me away, I swear I saw movement hahaha
I'm converting my RDWC buckets to Ebb&Flo
Biggest headache is 125L rez, think I could find some HDPE black container I could use? nooooo
 
Never tried Ebb and flow,,,love DWC though.
Like your setup.. green mojo to yas.
 
LEDs seem to change a lot of the parameters of indoor growing. By the 3rd or 4th run you will have all of the details worked out and the system dialed in. Then you will see the yields :D

The large rez can be challenging for the larger hydro systems. I actually have my rez outside of the flower room so that it isn't taking up room there, and it stays cooler. I still find that I need to put frozen 2ltr bottles of frozen water in the rez during the summer months to keep the temps around 70f. Ideal water temp is 68f but mine has reached 73f without causing issues. Above 73f and issues begin.
 
LEDs seem to change a lot of the parameters of indoor growing. By the 3rd or 4th run you will have all of the details worked out and the system dialed in. Then you will see the yields :D

The large rez can be challenging for the larger hydro systems. I actually have my rez outside of the flower room so that it isn't taking up room there, and it stays cooler. I still find that I need to put frozen 2ltr bottles of frozen water in the rez during the summer months to keep the temps around 70f. Ideal water temp is 68f but mine has reached 73f without causing issues. Above 73f and issues begin.

outside of the flower room, hahaha, we're connected telepathically I tells ya.
I'm running around trying to get 125mL flexi-tank this week, and I'm in the grow shop this am, when it hits me, why not buy a larger footprint tub and put it outside the flower room, cooler too...it was about 1130am EST (what were you doing? harhar)

I fashioned some cooling coils but it is a horrible water hog, I was shooting for 67, I had Pythium once, you saying I could get away with 70, even 73...
always the trade-offs

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Nope,,,i clone in a Bubbler.


I'm going to try cloning 10 in each of these. Rapid rooter/hydroton sits in net pot on heating pad.
water pumped up to fill both trays then drains
somebody else is doing this, not my idea

My connection to the trays is too strong for the plastic and it won't take much movement before it'll crack or tear...
all I can think of is encasing the mess in an epoxy

View attachment ebbflowclone.jpg

View attachment dumbthing.jpg
 
Tons of CO2 in here today. Modified my 2 and 3 bucket systems into 1 ebb&flow...
The REZ is barely big enough at 110L with an inch to spare
I'm putting one of those boy peeing statue fountain in there
That's the control bucket with the pumps and REZ on other side

View attachment newebb.jpg

View attachment 2ndrez.jpg
 
outside of the flower room, hahaha, we're connected telepathically I tells ya.
I'm running around trying to get 125mL flexi-tank this week, and I'm in the grow shop this am, when it hits me, why not buy a larger footprint tub and put it outside the flower room, cooler too...it was about 1130am EST (what were you doing? harhar)

I fashioned some cooling coils but it is a horrible water hog, I was shooting for 67, I had Pythium once, you saying I could get away with 70, even 73...
always the trade-offs

I think I was working on a heavy duty welding machine at that time (I think). I am paying for it now with sore back muscles that are slowly healing from surgery. But I digress :eek:

You can allow the water to get to 73f but don't let it stay there. It reduces the amount of oxygen that can stay dissolved in the water and the plants aren't thrilled. You can get away with maintaining 70-71f but if you can get it under 70f that is best.

If you have trouble keeping it cool enough once you have the bigger rez set up, you can get a small chiller and I can walk you through a nice setup that is relatively easy to build and it will work flawlessly. The portable chillers are a bit spendy but if you have trouble in a medium sized grow with keeping the water cool enough, they are worth the money.
 
I think I was working on a heavy duty welding machine at that time (I think). I am paying for it now with sore back muscles that are slowly healing from surgery. But I digress :eek:

>>>I wouldn't be doing that if I'd had surgery, don't be messing with that. I guess if you've no choice, Warm up and gentle stretching before doing anything. But I'd strengthen my back before doing anything else. Back exercises, get at 'em

You can allow the water to get to 73f but don't let it stay there. It reduces the amount of oxygen that can stay dissolved in the water and the plants aren't thrilled. You can get away with maintaining 70-71f but if you can get it under 70f that is best.

>>>Oh, okay, not for long at 73, great, I get it, I won't chance that, I keep the water between 19.5 and 20 (damn Trudeau AND his boy!)
I mean about 68 so yes, water ALWAYS less than 70

If you have trouble keeping it cool enough once you have the bigger rez set up, you can get a small chiller and I can walk you through a nice setup that is relatively easy to build and it will work flawlessly. The portable chillers are a bit spendy but if you have trouble in a medium sized grow with keeping the water cool enough, they are worth the money.

see >>> up there, HP
>>> nope, no trouble, water cheaper for me so I use coils sitting in the reZ, I read I can let ambient get to more than 80 degrees doing that so I am now looking at HPS again :)
NOT THAT THERE"S ANYTHING WRONG WITH LEDS
 
sopappy i did not read it all but i get the picture very well, your cloning tray is very well designed to keep the pots raised from any water puddles. what i am not sure about is those rapid rooters, as i never used them and don't know how much they wick water, i use the same system using oasis foam cubes that can be flooded indefinitely as long as they drain without sitting in a puddle of water. also i make a bigger box and i places the cfl inside to warm things up, with this i can drop the heating mat save power electric outlets and have less equipment. i flood my plants as high as i can just below the surface to prevent algae. i also do not use any bubbler since my water is being flooded and recirculated every 2 hours in the 12 hours light period, then shuts off for 12 hours when my light shuts off. i find occasional use of h2o2 to clear possible larvae and clean dead roots between grows very useful. Do not over stress or be anal about cleaning and recycling your rocks. i have been trying to get some root disease to grow in that system for years with no success, by cleaning less and letting more root fragments in there, then using h2o2, never gotten any root disease, hell that last run for my veggies i had some growbags that had a lot of root residues that were all over, those veggies are now producing all alike with the bags that are brand new rocks and old root contaminated ones equal, and i only used one h2o2 application in the beginning.
i am not encouraging you to not clean, i still clean for my mj much more than for my veggies just to be safe, and my veggies are more than 100 plants so cleanin all that would be a hassle if i had been more thorough. i am only giving you a good picture of what to expect after years of practice. you might also find it good to cover the growrocks on the top to prevent too much humidity from below the canopy
 
Thanks for the comments, Zem. Dam, I just bought a bag of rooters!
Never heard of those cubes! I'm switching, the young ones look overwatered to me now, but yet, I saturate the mature ones too and they look fine.
But I think you are right, I just lowered levels of both tanks to just below the plug, best I can do until next batch.
Those cubes look perfect, I had only thought of rockwool or similar which I never liked
and the rooter saved me but onward and upward!

I learned from that water prep poll was to even bubble my storage water (pre-change)
I have ton's o' bubbling going on, I don't think you can overdo it except for the cost :-(
I have a 'flume' going in my big rez, I get a fountain when the plants flood :)
 
I'm babbling something fierce today... sativa, hang in, one more
Look at this oddball hanging there? 3-4 weeks veg, and I saw this, just the one and only on this plant...
I've since lost track of it and not a male in there, weird looking thing

just to left of date stamp in top pic
just below cluster in top pic

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