# DIY flood tables and grow trays



## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

Today I built up my own flood table and 4 grow trays from lumber, lined with a waterproof poly membrane, and finished with a drain hole.

This flood table is for my veg room and measures just short of 4x8ft, sitting 3 1/2ft off the ground which is an ideal working height for me and suits perfectly the lights and room dimensions.



I also built four smaller grow trays, one for each of my lights in flower, built to fit 4 x 7 gallon pots, or 6 if I have to push it.



All these are fitted with a drain hole so I can collect runoff when I pull the plug.

They are not built to hold water all the time, although they probably could cope with that.

I have a lot of lumber stock around so this came in super cheap, but even from scratch this can easily be achieved for much less than the cost of hydro flood tables or similar if price is your prerogative. 

Build specs to follow with pics...


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

Here's a decent view of the framing.

Table surface is OSB board (using the smooth side up to avoid ripping the membrane), framed underneath with 2x3 lumber for rigidity and 4x4 posts for legs. At 42" high this is tall to suit me and my needs: now I don't have to bend or sit to prune, LST etc. My plants are right where I want them.

On top of the surface is a 2x4 frame to give it sides, like a low tide tray. All wood seams were caulked for protection.

I will be adding additional bracing across the legs once I move it into the space, and also at this height I've won myself some free storage space the table. I'll probably shelf this up for a reservoir and other bulky stuff to keep out of the way. I like to keep the floor completely clear.



Stacked on top are the smaller tables for the flower room, with 10" inch legs only to keep them slightly elevated enough for me to slide something under to collect runoff. These have been sized to fit my flower room with just enough room to walk/work between them, and can be positioned to best suit the lighting footprint.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

I ran a drain hole into each table like this, working as close to an edge corner as I could. 

A 1 1/8th hole saw bit cut half depth to counter sink the plastic piece I chose to use as a sink hole, and then ran a 7/8th hole bit all the way through.

 

Here's the plastic piece recessed into the wood to finish nice and flush with the table surface. I opted for whats called a box adapter used in PVC electrical conduit as I couldn't find anything similar in plumbing that had the 'lip' feature to keep it in place in the hole.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

Now for setting down the lining. I went about gluing with Liquid Nails as I had a bunch lying around, and its cheap.

As with most things I like to squirt it out liberally and rub in with a putty knife, and I think most men are the same.

 

Once all the surfaces were smothered in white stuff I knew I was done here.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

I cut a piece of 6 mil poly lining to fit the box and the sides with enough to fold all the way over the edges of the wood.

Working quickly and cleanly I smoothed the lining over the surface, pushing out as many wrinkles and air pockets as I could manage. The corners are tricky but a bit of wrapping-paper folding does the trick nicely. I let the glue do its thing whilst I cut the trim to finish the top sides.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

I used some 1x furring strips to finish the side tops with a little ledge, mitering the corners for a neat finish. They're tacked down through the lining for extra hold, and all seams between wood and plastic were caulked with waterproof sealant.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

The excess lining was then trimmed away from the outside of the table edges for a clean finish.


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## ruwtz (Jul 18, 2016)

Here's the drain hole sunk into the poly lining. I am ignoring my pedantic self and choosing to find peace with the damn wrinkles.

 

The box adapter drain hole is met on the underside by a 3/4" conduit sweep, glued with PVC cement and all edges caulked. The sweep is finished with a cap that I can pop off when I want to drain the tables after watering.

Pretty simple really. And probably a bit ghetto, but hey it suits my needs and I saved a bunch of cash.


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## aprox (Sep 6, 2016)

This is pretty cool.


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## powerslide (Sep 16, 2016)

nice man


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## cindysid (Sep 16, 2016)

I just built something similar with a pond liner I had lying around. Mine are trays for my 5 x 5 tent and veg closet. I even put a similar tray (using the floor in place of wood on the bottom) in my new 9x9 grow room. I'm always spilling water or soil, so now I can get out the wet vac for a quick cleanup with no worries about it damaging the subfloor! Your trays are awesome. I appreciate your attention to detail. The wrinkles really bug me too, especially in the grow room! The plants are in there now though, so any imperfections are undetectable!


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## legallyflying (Sep 18, 2016)

Pretty decebt build. I would however steer way clear of OSB.. when it geta damp it falls apart. 

We just built 160, yes 160 3.5 x 8 foot tables. 2x4 material, 1/2" ply and pond liner. Cost us $50 per table.


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## ruwtz (Sep 18, 2016)

The trick is to not get it wet then eh?!


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## legallyflying (Sep 18, 2016)

no, the key for you is to not rip 6 mil poly.


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## ruwtz (Sep 19, 2016)

legallyflying said:


> no, the key for you is to not rip 6 mil poly.


Smartass


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 22, 2016)

My flower room is narrow. 4'x8'. I just built this table 17"x 8'. I used the oatey liner rubber from HD. Will find out how it works in a few weeks.


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## jijiandfarmgang (Sep 24, 2016)

I used to grow using tables. They can be cool if you get around the caveats. Basically no light should hit down below. I've seen some pretty cool encapsulating ideas using poly.

- Jiji


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 24, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> I used to grow using tables. They can be cool if you get around the caveats. Basically no light should hit down below. I've seen some pretty cool encapsulating ideas using poly.
> 
> - Jiji


What do you mean by "below"? The Res?


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## Bareback (Sep 27, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> What do you mean by "below"? The Res?


I think it's the root zone . I don't mean to answer for someone else, but that's what I think.


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## jijiandfarmgang (Sep 30, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> What do you mean by "below"? The Res?


Well you don't want light hitting the res. But what I meant was you don't want light hitting the roots. The plant will still grow either way, its just better that the lights don't hit the root zone, so It doesn't hinder the roots growth.

- Jiji


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## SnailPowered (Sep 30, 2016)

You can also get algae growing in there, and other things that can die and start to stink. I'm working with aquaponics and I have found a lot of people reporting funny smells because of the light getting into the grow media.

Most importantly, awesome beds! Those are really nice looking IMO. They may be home made but in the pictures they appear to be very well made! Mine would have a lot more wrinkles in the plastic hahahah.


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## CanaTN (Sep 30, 2016)

Nice work man, fellow carpenter/do it all guy myself and I am upgrading my operation to a much larger scale than my dwc currently and in the middle of designs planning and room size configuration etc. And this is almost exactly what I came up with except I'm going to make it about 3x deeper cuz I'm doing aeroponics in it this time. But yeah everything u said -I'm like damn did I write this post? Lol. Good work man, what state do u live in?


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## HydroRed (Sep 30, 2016)

Nice work! Looks pretty rugged and well built.


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 30, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> Well you don't want light hitting the res. But what I meant was you don't want light hitting the roots. The plant will still grow either way, its just better that the lights don't hit the root zone, so It doesn't hinder the roots growth.
> 
> - Jiji


Thanks for your response. My plan is to use smart pots filled with coco coir. What do you think?


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 30, 2016)

Thanks everyone! Carpenter I'm not! Pipefitter actually. I'm thinking it might be too tall. Its just tall enough for a 55 gal Res to fit under but I wouldn't be able to let the plants get over like 42" tall.


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 30, 2016)

CanaTN said:


> Nice work man, fellow carpenter/do it all guy myself and I am upgrading my operation to a much larger scale than my dwc currently and in the middle of designs planning and room size configuration etc. And this is almost exactly what I came up with except I'm going to make it about 3x deeper cuz I'm doing aeroponics in it this time. But yeah everything u said -I'm like damn did I write this post? Lol. Good work man, what state do u live in?


Ohio


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## jijiandfarmgang (Sep 30, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> Thanks for your response. My plan is to use smart pots filled with coco coir. What do you think?


I'd use something rigid, so not smart pots. I used a bunch of 8 inch net pots designed for 5 gallon bucket lids. They have a large rim giving you a bunch of options. 

- Jiji


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 30, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> I'd use something rigid, so not smart pots. I used a bunch of 8 inch net pots designed for 5 gallon bucket lids. They have a large rim giving you a bunch of options.
> 
> - Jiji


Are the net pots rigid? Like plastic? How many gallon? Filled with coco coir? My plan was to just set the pots in the table without anything else in it so I can slide them if need be.


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## jijiandfarmgang (Sep 30, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> Are the net pots rigid? Like plastic? How many gallon? Filled with coco coir? My plan was to just set the pots in the table without anything else in it so I can slide them if need be.


Net pots were rigid plastic. I'm just saying if your flooding the table with smart pots the cocco will be super saturated and move around a lot.

Part of the fun is experimenting, I'm only making suggestions. If I were using cocco in a flood table, I wouldn't flood it, I'd use a top feed adjustable manifold. If I were flooding I'd use something more porous that doesn't float much like expanded clay pellets or whatever they are called now.

- Jiji


- EDIT.....I meant the smartpots themselves will shift around in place.....
If you use ridgid plastic filled with a light material like expanded clay, they may float a little and shift around the tray......


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## Tigerpaws (Sep 30, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> Net pots were rigid plastic. I'm just saying if your flooding the table with smart pots the cocco will be super saturated and move around a lot.
> 
> Part of the fun is experimenting, I'm only making suggestions. If I were using cocco in a flood table, I wouldn't flood it, I'd use a top feed adjustable manifold. If I were flooding I'd use something more porous that doesn't float much like expanded clay pellets or whatever they are called now.
> 
> ...


Gotcha! I thought about top feed also. The main reason I built the table was to have more of a maintenance free setup. We camp and take a 2 week vacation every year so I'm trying to come up with something that I can feel confident to leave for that long.


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## jijiandfarmgang (Sep 30, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> Gotcha! I thought about top feed also. The main reason I built the table was to have more of a maintenance free setup. We camp and take a 2 week vacation every year so I'm trying to come up with something that I can feel confident to leave for that long.


Well you picked the right setup. If your coco becomes over-saturated you can always mix it with perlite, or clay pellets (chow mix.)

- Jiji


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## Bareback (Oct 1, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> Well you picked the right setup. If your coco becomes over-saturated you can always mix it with perlite, or clay pellets (chow mix.)
> 
> - Jiji


Do you more info on this chow mix ? I kinda wanted to mix some stuff but I've no experience with coco after reading a good bit I haven't found a testamony on it to were it fit my set up , as I am changing my set now I'm still not sure where it going ( rdwc or edd and flow ) if have any advice it would be appreciated .
Peace out bare


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## Tigerpaws (Oct 1, 2016)

jijiandfarmgang said:


> Well you picked the right setup. If your coco becomes over-saturated you can always mix it with perlite, or clay pellets (chow mix.)
> 
> - Jiji





jijiandfarmgang said:


> Well you picked the right setup. If your coco becomes over-saturated you can always mix it with perlite, or clay pellets (chow mix.)
> 
> - Jiji





jijiandfarmgang said:


> Well you picked the right setup. If your coco becomes over-saturated you can always mix it with perlite, or clay pellets (chow mix.)
> 
> - Jiji


If I did top feed I could lower my table right? Would you drain to waste or reclaim?


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## CanaTN (Oct 1, 2016)

Bareback said:


> Do you more info on this chow mix ? I kinda wanted to mix some stuff but I've no experience with coco after reading a good bit I haven't found a testamony on it to were it fit my set up , as I am changing my set now I'm still not sure where it going ( rdwc or edd and flow ) if have any advice it would be appreciated .
> Peace out bare



Trust me man I've had every hiccup in the book in this aspect, the rdwc especially if u have a 5gal bucket system is more trouble than its worth. Can't clean out water I'm buckets easily, lines keep popping off if not secured right and flooding room I had that a lot, plus u are running a pump and bubbles for no reason. Just go with aero, cheapest option anyway and most effective. The ebb and flow u have to fill up table with some kind of media. Aero just whatever u want to grow in like a tote or whatever is cheap a little pvc pipe a pump and a 5 dollar bag of nozzles and u r in business


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## Bareback (Oct 1, 2016)

Thanks got any links so I can read up before I stupid questions ,( like do you have any links to site I'm already on lol )
Peace out Bare


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## CanaTN (Oct 1, 2016)

Just search "aeroponic"
It's real simple all u need is some 1 inch pvc pipe and make u like 1 foot squares out of it to fill up ur grow container, which u will need to draw it up and figure how many corners and 3 way splitters u need, not hard and cheap. A submersible pump and a piece of old garden hose and hose clamps. And a pack of 330 degree mister heads on ebay. U drill holes in the top of pipes and screw misters in. Connect this setup to the hose to the pump. Plan to have legs on bottom to raise it up but u don't want water flowing through legs. So hell cut some pieces of pipe and duct tape it or zip ties or something lol. The rest is easy to figure out u just need the rest of ur usual stuff, nutrients pH test kit and here's number one trick : get a bottle of battery acid from parts store, mix this 1oz to 31 Oz s of water and use this bottle of solution for pH down. Careful it still only takes a couple splashes for 20gal. Mix well and let it sit b4 checking ph. As far as the setup u can have for example 2 sterilite totes one full of water and one with sprayers and plants on it with a drain hole gravity down to rez. Feel free to ask questions on that, u can get my phone number or pm me on here for further questions so we don't hijack this thread any further, but I did want this post on here cuz of the helpful pointers for new readers.
pCe


Bareback said:


> Thanks got any links so I can read up before I stupid questions ,( like do you have any links to site I'm already on lol )
> Peace out Bare


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## jijiandfarmgang (Oct 2, 2016)

Bareback said:


> Do you more info on this chow mix ? I kinda wanted to mix some stuff but I've no experience with coco after reading a good bit I haven't found a testamony on it to were it fit my set up , as I am changing my set now I'm still not sure where it going ( rdwc or edd and flow ) if have any advice it would be appreciated .
> Peace out bare


 Not really....some people swear by it for rdwc on another forum. I pretty much just used either one or the other. Coco is going to retain more water than hydroton..... 



Tigerpaws said:


> If I did top feed I could lower my table right? Would you drain to waste or reclaim?


Well, you can lower the table to what ever height you need as long as its higher than the res. 

I would reclaim in a setup like that and use a fibrous coco. 

You don't have to necessarily fill the whole tray up with hydroton or media, you just have to fill the net pots.......but what I was saying is that if light hits the bottom of the table, roots wont grow outside the netpots, and this will stunt growth. You can fix that multiple ways, such as putting a layer of poly over the top of the table, and cutting holes for the net pots to sit in. Or sometimes theres a SOG and hardly any light penetrates to the bottom of the tray.

.....but this is all my opinion on stuff. Theres more than one way to skin a cat. If you plan on doing a crop of clones in a table all one strain, its pretty hard to beat the simplicity and reliability of ebb and flow.

- Jiji


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## Tigerpaws (Oct 3, 2016)

Would a plant in a 5 gal smart pot get rootbound? I like the idea and simplicity of the ebb and flow and that was my original intention when I built the table but at the height that I have it, so my 55 gal Res can slide underneath it, it puts the bottom of the table that the pots would sit on at 36" off of the floor. My ceiling is at 8'4" so that puts the lens of my LEDs at approx. 7'4". Take 12" off of that, canopy height= 6'4". 6'4"-3'= 3'4". So this means that I can only grow a plant including pot 3'-4" tall. I don't think I like that restriction. Maybe I don't need a whole 55 gal Res and could cut it down another foot and only have 45 gal? Or lower it even more and do a top feed and waste the runoff in a separate container? This is a hobby for me so quality trumps quantity. What do you think? I only plan on 4-6 plants at a time.


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## HydroRed (Oct 3, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> Would a plant in a 5 gal smart pot get rootbound? I like the idea and simplicity of the ebb and flow and that was my original intention when I built the table but at the height that I have it, so my 55 gal Res can slide underneath it, it puts the bottom of the table that the pots would sit on at 36" off of the floor. My ceiling is at 8'4" so that puts the lens of my LEDs at approx. 7'4". Take 12" off of that, canopy height= 6'4". 6'4"-3'= 3'4". So this means that I can only grow a plant including pot 3'-4" tall. I don't think I like that restriction. Maybe I don't need a whole 55 gal Res and could cut it down another foot and only have 45 gal? Or lower it even more and do a top feed and waste the runoff in a separate container? This is a hobby for me so quality trumps quantity. What do you think? I only plan on 4-6 plants at a time.


You could also use a large heavy duty tote from the hardware store. They carry 27- 37 gal "tuff totes" that can hold up to 700lbs for about $8 and they are low profile and fit very nice under a 28" high table. Throw the res on a movers dolly so you can maneuver it where you need to. Once you fill it up it becomes real hard to even budge without wheels. It works very well for me in my small 4x4 flood & drain setup.


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## Tigerpaws (Oct 3, 2016)

HydroRed said:


> You could also use a large heavy duty tote from the hardware store. They carry 27- 37 gal "tuff totes" that can hold up to 700lbs for about $8 and they are low profile and fit very nice under a 28" high table. Throw the res on a movers dolly so you can maneuver it where you need to. Once you fill it up it becomes real hard to even budge. It works very well for me in my small 4x4 flood & drain setup.
> View attachment 3795988 View attachment 3796007


Nice setup! I like that idea. Nice light also! Mind sharing some details and a parts list for the light? I'm using 3 Advanced Platinum 300 watt LEDs at the moment in my 4'x 8' room. I'd like to add a 4th light to cover another 2'x3' section of the room.


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## HydroRed (Oct 3, 2016)

Tigerpaws said:


> Nice setup! I like that idea. Nice light also! Mind sharing some details and a parts list for the light? I'm using 3 Advanced Platinum 300 watt LEDs at the moment in my 4'x 8' room. I'd like to add a 4th light to cover another 2'x3' section of the room.


Sent you a pm with some info.


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## 2com (Sep 26, 2019)

HydroRed said:


> You could also use a large heavy duty tote from the hardware store. They carry 27- 37 gal "tuff totes" that can hold up to 700lbs for about $8 and they are low profile and fit very nice under a 28" high table. Throw the res on a movers dolly so you can maneuver it where you need to. Once you fill it up it becomes real hard to even budge without wheels. It works very well for me in my small 4x4 flood & drain setup.
> View attachment 3795988 View attachment 3796007


How much water do you actually put in those 27 Gal totes?


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## HydroRed (Sep 26, 2019)

2com said:


> How much water do you actually put in those 27 Gal totes?


When Im only filling one tray per 27 gal tote, I use about 10-12 gallons. Thats enough to fill the tray when flooding and still have plenty of water in the res for the pump to not run dry. Once the plants are really drinking, I'll usually add about 2-3 gallons every few days. I've used as much as 21 gallons when I was getting my system setup to run unattended for 7 days (which worked perfectly).


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## 2com (Sep 26, 2019)

HydroRed said:


> When Im only filling one tray per 27 gal tote, I use about 10-12 gallons. Thats enough to fill the tray when flooding and still have plenty of water in the res for the pump to not run dry. Once the plants are really drinking, I'll usually add about 2-3 gallons every few days. I've used as much as 21 gallons when I was getting my system setup to run unattended for 7 days (which worked perfectly).


Cool, thanks.
So it's a safe "20 Gal" reservoir then.


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## HydroRed (Sep 26, 2019)

2com said:


> Cool, thanks.
> So it's a safe "20 Gal" reservoir then.


Easily.


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## sf_frankie (Feb 23, 2021)

Tigerpaws said:


> Nice setup! I like that idea. Nice light also! Mind sharing some details and a parts list for the light? I'm using 3 Advanced Platinum 300 watt LEDs at the moment in my 4'x 8' room. I'd like to add a 4th light to cover another 2'x3' section of the room.


How do you like those lights? At first glance they look like shitty Amazon blurples but I went and checked out their site and they have some crazy high par numbers! Surprised I haven’t seen more of them, the numbers seem legit!


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