First time hydro, going to try Ebb/Flow - is this a reasonable plan?

ANC · Aug 21, 2018

Watch how that tiny Swazi seedling shot up past everything

Jefferson1977 said:
I just didn't like having to worry about the water temp. My ebb and flow reservoir gets up to 85 degrees sometimes and is regularly at 80, and I have no root rot etc. Plus it was a super pain to change the water.

Look up python and aquarium, you can buy or make your own... if you have access to a tap It can be used to fill the tank or start the siphon to drain water with the same pipe.

Jefferson1977 · Aug 23, 2018

ANC said:
View attachment 4184555 View attachment 4184556

Watch how that tiny Swazi seedling shot up past everything
View attachment 4184557
Look up python and aquarium, you can buy or make your own... if you have access to a tap It can be used to fill the tank or start the siphon to drain water with the same pipe.

Cool idea, but I run ebb and flow now and could care less about changing one reservoir, it isn't a pain. I was referring to my 12 site RDWC which was a pain to change and suck shit out of each bucket. Stuff is going well in my ebb and flow.

ANC · Aug 29, 2018

Lol, the root carpet is over an inch thick in places...

This is the easiest grow I've ever done... no ppm or pH measurements made to date... I just pump out the water every week, wash the tub and refill her.

ANC · Sep 13, 2018

Been a while since I updated
The tray was carried to the flowering room... it weighs nearly nothing.
Also, I removed the tall sativa to its own pot... I just cut a square into the root carpet and replaced it with a new piece of batting. I will take it outdoors, I hope it is a boy. All the signs are there except balls. I have a cutting of it going too.

Had too many side projects and the bitches got a bit wild... Just gonna flip them and let them do their thing. The cloner has been running with cuts for a week already.

Keep your dick in a vice.

Demetrius Powell · Sep 25, 2018

Larry3215 said:
Hello everyone! I am hoping to get some feedback on my first ever hydro plans. Im in the final weeks of my first MJ grow in soil and its going pretty well. I have decided that I want to try a hydro grow next time around.

After tons of reading, I have decided to try an ebb/flow setup with two plants in scrog. My grow tent is roughly 7 sq ft (28”x38”x48”tall) and I have a 300 watts LED light fixture using 3500k Solstrips (the same led’s as in Quantum Boards).

I have read a ton of threads and one common problem is heat in the rez from submersible water pumps. In order to reduce the heating problem, I am going to use an air driven water pump instead of a submersible, mechanical pump. I can mount the air pump remotely and cool it with a fan, so hopefully I wont have heat issues.

Im going to have two interconnected 5 gal totes as grow buckets filled with hydroton. They will be connected in series with the water entering one and draining from the other one. The rez is going to be another 17 gal tote with at least 3 DIY air stones. It will be under the table the tent is sitting on.

Im going to try Mega Crop for nutes.

Attached is a rough sketch of the layout. I have done some ‘wet’ trial runs and it takes roughly 15 minutes to fill and about 1 minute to drain using the automatic siphon – no electrical timers needed. The air lift pump runs full time. As soon as the 5 gal totes get to the preset fill level, the siphon trips and drains back into the rez and the cycle starts all over. Those times are based on just water in the totes. I haven’t tested with them full of hydroton, so the final times may be a bit different, but I expect the same ratio of fill time to drain time. I can adjust the fill and drain times by tweaking the siphon and air lift pump rates, so there is some flexibility.

Anyway, I love to get some feedback, advice, suggestions, criticisms, raspberries, etc. A lot of my reading and research has been on this forum, so I already owe you guys a bunch of thanks!

View attachment 4083521

Buy a 4x4 tray you can use an ordinary clothing tote for a res I'll go higher than 17 gals if I was you

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

Yeah, my reservoir is way too small. half the water is gone after 3 days. But I'm gonna keep at it as a reference point. then I will adjust a few parameters next round.
The next table is going up in a few hours. I saw some 250L totes... currently using a 56l one.

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

OK, I decided I will document the next set of plants going through the new table...
So, to start I cut a bunch of clones and made a simple cloner... Ignore the white spots, it is just dust from the table saw I used to cut the table. The previous table was made from PVC tube, but I had lots of wood left to use.

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

Here you can see how nicely it works, I had 100% of cuttings root. There is nothing but water in the bucket, but I sprinkle some root hormone into the water on about day 6.

Inside the water is a simple pump, with a vertical pipe, blocked off on the end and a simple 360 degree irrigation sprinkler inserted into the cap after drilling.

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

Here are some more pics.
You can see the cuttings are held in place with neoprene foam I cut out of a children's play mat.
You can put more than one cutting in a disk, it is OK the plants are small.
Once rooted, transplant them into rockwool cubes that have been pH adjusted and finally watered with a feeding solution at clone strength... I cheated and used the organic feed I normally use in coco.

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

Ok time to set up your slanted table, the rear legs are taller than the front to help gravity feed water to the hole later on in our process.

I cut the polyester batting to the size of the tray and add a little peepee at the hole to suck out any water that doesn't make it to the lip of the hole. Next I put panda film on and then the new clones go on top of that.

For now the clones are just sitting on the batting... I had other things to get done.
So, you will need to wait for the next installment. Basically not much is going to happen with the cubes until we see roots peeking out the bottom. Water them by hand if needs be from time to time.

I will put up the film tomorrow and show you what it should look like when you are this far.
We still have a few days to set up our feed line and reservoir... but they are not needed right away.

The best part about this system is the tray is so light, my wife and me can carry it full of mature plants to the flower room without any effort,

led1k · Sep 26, 2018

ANC said:
View attachment 4205665
Ok time to set up your slanted table, the rear legs are taller than the front to help gravity feed water to the hole later on in our process.

View attachment 4205666 I cut the polyester batting to the size of the tray and add a little peepee at the hole to suck out any water that doesn't make it to the lip of the hole. Next I put panda film on and then the new clones go on top of that.

View attachment 4205669
For now the clones are just sitting on the batting... I had other things to get done.
So, you will need to wait for the next installment. Basically not much is going to happen with the cubes until we see roots peeking out the bottom. Water them by hand if needs be from time to time.

I will put up the film tomorrow and show you what it should look like when you are this far.
We still have a few days to set up our feed line and reservoir... but they are not needed right away.

The best part about this system is the tray is so light, my wife and me can carry it full of mature plants to the flower room without any effort,

Super helpful! Waiting for tomorrow :-)

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

No problem... start doing the math on how much you spend on hydroton, soil or coco for a 4x2 tray normally... and the shit of dealing with it post grow. That is probably a dollar's worth of batting, and 10 dollars of cubes.

Demetrius Powell · Sep 26, 2018

ANC said:
No problem... start doing the math on how much you spend on hydroton, soil or coco for a 4x2 tray normally... and the shit of dealing with it post grow. That is probably a dollar's worth of batting, and 10 dollars of cubes.

I hate hydroton I use perlite haven't grown in a min since my buddy got busted but I'm a ebb and flow guy the only thing I'll buy is a flood tray I use to use rockwool but I found perlite to be alot cheaper plus you can flood the plants more than once a day

Major Blazer · Sep 26, 2018

I'm doing my first ebb/flow grow, 2 weeks into flower now, and took a very traditional-ish route with 3 gal fabric pots filled with about 2" of rockwool cubes on the bottom and hydroton above it and this has been the easiest grow I've ever done. Maybe it's just all around experience? Hard to say but the results are speaking for themselves. My biggest annoyance is that it's actually so hands-off, I'm a bit bored lmao.

Demetrius Powell · Sep 26, 2018

Major Blazer said:
I'm doing my first ebb/flow grow, 2 weeks into flower now, and took a very traditional-ish route with 3 gal fabric pots filled with about 2" of rockwool cubes on the bottom and hydroton above it and this has been the easiest grow I've ever done. Maybe it's just all around experience? Hard to say but the results are speaking for themselves. My biggest annoyance is that it's actually so hands-off, I'm a bit bored lmao.

Congrats I use 1 gallon square pots what I use to do was create a mother from fem seeds then throw my clones under 12/12

Demetrius Powell · Sep 26, 2018

Major Blazer said:
I'm doing my first ebb/flow grow, 2 weeks into flower now, and took a very traditional-ish route with 3 gal fabric pots filled with about 2" of rockwool cubes on the bottom and hydroton above it and this has been the easiest grow I've ever done. Maybe it's just all around experience? Hard to say but the results are speaking for themselves. My biggest annoyance is that it's actually so hands-off, I'm a bit bored lmao.

By the way what nute line do you run?

Demetrius Powell · Sep 26, 2018

Major Blazer said:
I'm doing my first ebb/flow grow, 2 weeks into flower now, and took a very traditional-ish route with 3 gal fabric pots filled with about 2" of rockwool cubes on the bottom and hydroton above it and this has been the easiest grow I've ever done. Maybe it's just all around experience? Hard to say but the results are speaking for themselves. My biggest annoyance is that it's actually so hands-off, I'm a bit bored lmao.

General hydro is my favorite brand I like to keep things simple

ANC · Sep 26, 2018

Demetrius Powell said:
I hate hydroton I use perlite haven't grown in a min since my buddy got busted but I'm a ebb and flow guy the only thing I'll buy is a flood tray I use to use rockwool but I found perlite to be alot cheaper plus you can flood the plants more than once a day

I hate the mess perlite makes, these trays are watered every few hours once the roots hit the batting.

led1k · Sep 27, 2018

Demetrius Powell said:
General hydro is my favorite brand I like to keep things simple

Megacrop! One part. Amazing. Lots of folks including me love it.

ANC · Sep 27, 2018

I suppose I need to post for the record that I used the Flora 3 part series for the plants above.
I have had nothing but trouble with it in coco, but it has been uneventful in hydro.
It does really produce a shitload of trichomes, but so does being stressed the fuck out the whole time.

First time hydro, going to try Ebb/Flow - is this a reasonable plan?

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