DIY Systems

yo yo yo

a few questions: how much are you looking to spend? I agree, the prices they charge for these ready made ebb and flow and drip systems is rediculous!!

I'm on my first grow and I built an ebb and flow system with a 2' x 4' tray and a 15 gallon resevoir. With water pump, air pump, air stones, and flood and drain kit my cost all in for the system was about $175. My grow is going great and fast as hell!

I flood three times a day, every eight hours for 15 minuts. I think thats more than sufficient. I found that what seems to be more important than flood frequency is the Ph of the water.

I also found a DIY site that shows you how to build a ebb and flow system with pvc pipe, but you are limitted to how many plants you can grow. I prefer using the tray because I can move the plants whenever I want and squeeze as many in there as possible.

Hope this helps a little.

^^^ Sounds like mr.greens setup from "I Grow Chronic". I was thinking about trying this myself 1 day.

Ok russ its been hard for me to explain to you so got some pics uploaded so i will make a guide of a cheap system and then you can modify it to your needs.

First off you need something like this tank


90L (78cm x 47 x 32) £15

tray
same size but length slightly shorter in length to gain access to the res

£9.50

square pots 3 gallon

£1.70 each

water pump 500l/h

£14.95

Tubing probably about half a meter

£1.50

Splitter to run the pump off to differnt pots

£0.95

dripper line to run to all pots

£0.25 per meter

total cost £43.85

in dollars total 80 bucks

Then you can build your own schedule for feeding, thing is with hydro its hard to over feed as it doesnt hold the water

NGT didn't mention any air stones. You probably want some air stones to put as much oxygen in the water as possible. You'll need an air pump as well. You can get them for about 15 bucks.
You want your tray to be about the same size as what your light will cover. For a 400 W light you could use a 3' x 3' tray.
Also, for hydro, I've been told by many people that you don't need pots that big. 1 gallon or even half gallon are sufficient. I'm using 1 gallon and I wish I used smaller ones so I could pack more plants in my grow area.

Anymore feedback on the pot sizes? A problem im having with the design im trying to think up is the reasoni want to do this is for space purposes, and i was going to use 3 gallon containers.. will 1 gallon really finish a plant? (i dont want my roots growing into a resivor..)

still looking for more info about feeding schdules, what's optimal? links appreciated again, i cant seem to find any articles talking about this very much!

I was told that the roots don't need to search for food like they do in soil, so they don't grow out as far. Also, at my local hydro shopt they got pepper plants, among other plants, growing in pots that are not more than 2 cups (1 pint) in size and they are about 2.5 feet tall and have produced lots of fruit and seem to be doing just fine. I wouldn't recomend pots that small, but that is proof enough for me, that its possible and it works.

How big do you want the plants to get?

'Hydroponics allows you to use smaller containers for the same given size plant, when compared to growing in soil. A 3/4 gallon pot can easily take a small hydroponically grown plant to maturity. This would be difficult to do in soil, since nutrients are soon used up and roots become cut-off from oxygen as they become root-bound in soil. This problem does not seem to occure nearly as quickly for hydroponic plants, since the roots can still take up nutrients from the constant solution feedings, and the medium passes on oxygen much more redily when the roots become bound in the small container. '
Hydroponics - growing hydroponics marijuana