ebb and flood flooded accidenally 4 hours

[leelow]

help this morning i woke up, knowing that i am leaving my babies four 5 day for the thanksgiving holiday. \
last night i did a nute change and stabilized everything \
worked out the bugs on my nutrient reservoir top off system(works great)
made sure all was good .

this morning to my shock i found out somehow my ebb and flow was flooded from midnight to four in the morning in the dark cycle (2nd week of flower) Fourtounatley i aireate my flood reservoir, hopefully stoping any root drowning/damage?
The plants looked good, do you thinke they will be alright.?, they are on a 12 light cycle with, 4 daylight floods for about 15 minute total each, they are in hydrotron. i am using AN sensi 2, the plants were in great shape.
Do you guys think damage was done?

 

[Elephant Man]

I would think the hydroton would have held some trapped air too. Can you check the roots in your particular setup? I know alot of guys in aero that can see their roots do their diagnosing that way.

I have my fingers crossed for your girls while you will be away, I was actually trying to think of a kind of backup plan for you. Maybe you could put air stones in each container and put the air pump on the flood timer?

 

[KADE]

I think they'll be okay.. MJ is a very strong plant... however, I'd let them dry out for a bit b4 starting the flood cycle again.

 

[leelow]

I can only see small groups of roots that have grown out of the holes in the botoms,and out of these, i also drill 8-10 1/4 holes on the bottom inch of each side of each pot . It is really only the outside of the root ball, cant really see whats going on in the core of the root ball.
In a future grow (next grow or the one after),i am going to use big net pots,the largest i can get?(how big?) which i plan on putting through a plastic cover, for my flood plain, susspending the net pots1-2" off the bottom of the res. allowing for more root growth.,also blocking off all light to the flood table water.(preventing algae, and also other organic or not so organic particles falling in the res. I airate the flood table water. with small round air stone fine bubble, inside each pot with hydrotron, on the same timer as my flood pump. Also i put a 120 gph water pump in the bottom of the nutreint reservoir, always circulating/mixing/airaiting.

Thanks for your support e- man, its only been one day,and im freeking out. next time im istalling a webcam so i can watch the ladies, just in case, man i dont know if im going to make it through the week.

leelow.

 

[KADE]

The roots cannot rot in that fast of a fashion.. it is atomically impossible... but the plants themselves could get cell damage... but that usually happens when RH changes and water uptake rates change drastically.

 

[Elephant Man]

If you want to use net pots, I have seen some large (8-10 inches) net pots built into bucket lids. Doesn't sound like your setup is made of buckets though, I have also seen alot of cheap stuff around like drain fixtures and garden shop items that are large and could be modded to work. At my local '99 cent' store, I picked up a few big 'straining colanders' for cleaning hyrdoton. Look around and you will find something that works. Just remember to keep the roots from blocking your drain.

 

[leelow]

elephant these buckets what are the actual size arey 8-10 inchs deep or wide if deep they might be what im looking for. leme know, im not set up for bucket lids but ca\n they be removed from the lids if not i might wnt 1 any way
leelow

 

[Elephant Man]

The net pot bucket lid? It is 12 inches total diameter, with a 10 inch diameter net pot 7 inches deep. If I remember right, it was several dollars.
I think if you are going to have to mod it anyway, you could probably find something cheaper though.

I found a link, they are towards the bottom of the page called 'aero buckets'.
http://www.discount-hydro.com/growmediums.asp

 

[Elephant Man]

I have been searching and searching for a link you should read but can't find it. I had a similar question about my medium buckets and was trying to find a way out of buying $150 worth of hydroton by using these mesh lids.

There is a reason why your containers must be full, really kicking myself right now for not copying that post . I will continue to look for it, perhaps Stoney or someone will chime in.

I have noticed also on a few other forums, the DIY setups there which consist of multiple buckets inside each other seem to INSIST on the smallest possible space at the bottom between the 2 buckets. Even to the point of searching for particular buckets with the right offset. I'm sorry I can't explain why right now, but this is something you might want to look in to before you make any changes.

As far as medium, I am going to try to run with half lava rocks and half river rocks at $4 a bag each. Will be in my journal.

 

[KADE]

Yeah those netpot lids are dirt cheap... well worth the price if u havea bunch of 5 gallon buckets sitting around... can do up a very easy hydro grow w/ a bunch of them.

 

[leelow]

elephant you got me befuddled, can you elaborate a little more., this attachment is a quick rendering of my idea the top pic shows a top view of 4 pots in the cover of the flood table the lower pic shows, a side view showing 2 net pots suspended from the cover, a fill spout connected to a water pump and a overflow. also i will airate the flood table, i believe this set up will allow for more free root growth outside the pots. let me know what you think

 

[leelow]

oops the top view didnt work, hope you get the idea.

 

[Elephant Man]

elephant you got me befuddled, can you elaborate a little more., this attachment is a quick rendering of my idea the top pic shows a top view of 4 pots in the cover of the flood table the lower pic shows, a side view showing 2 net pots suspended from the cover, a fill spout connected to a water pump and a overflow. also i will airate the flood table, i believe this set up will allow for more free root growth outside the pots. let me know what you think

I am looking and looking for that info I spoke of, must have been on another forum . I've learned since to take notes, especially when I come across some 'juicy bits'.

The last thing I want to do is discourage a guy looking to do some experimenting . I'm sure with a little flood timing testing and depth testing, your plan will work.

The coolest thing about building your own hydro setup, is with a little planning, it can be adapted over and over.

When you install your drain, do it from the bottom, and use a threaded connector. That way later, you can adjust exactly how much water is left after drain cycle. You see how by doing this, you can easily have a NFT or DWC environment at the very lowest point of your tub. I hope you understand, most hydro setups are actually 'hybrids' or combinations of one or more different styles.

To try to elaborate further, think about an ebb and flow that doesn't fill completely and BAM, you have NFT. Think about a ebb and flow that doesn't drain at all and BAM, you have DWC.

Of course, that is a VERY simplified explanation, but hopefully you get my point. As long as you keep this in mind in your construction, you can change it over and over if need be.

Look at these pics below from my journal of my aerocloner. At the top, the roots are in an aeroponic environment. But, hypothetically, if I were to leave a plant in there long enough for the roots to contact the water, then this setup would become an 'aero/dwc' hybrid. You might see where your setup could even be converted to aero very easily too. Basically, your fill pump would be connected to misters.

Keep us updated, I am SUPER busy right now, but I will be watching and offer any help I can .

 

[leelow]

cool bits elephant.