Oh - haha! Yes:
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Basically I run a simple ebb and flow system.
This pic shows it pretty well. This was before my first run. I did the first one in one gallon cloth pots sitting on top of the river rock there. This last grow I made a lid to put over the tray and hung net pots off of it.
On top is a 3x3 Botanicare tray with 6" walls.
Below is a 40 gallon tote for a reservoir.
Inside the tote is a water pump (300gph or something along those lines).
The tray sits on top of a stand/table made out of 2x4s.
The tray is connected to the pump in a tote via a hose and fitting, and also has an overflow valve with another hose back down into the reservoir.
I typically run the flood cycles so that the plants are flooded for 30 minutes every two hours.
The plants do not get any feeding during lights off, so the pump runs approximately six times per day only during lights-on right now.
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This might be my only option. Due to the space restriction.
I originally wanted and Resavior so I could have a place to drain, mix and most importantly it was to cool the water down.
Eb N flow doesnāt offer that unless I get a chiller.
I guess Iāll think about it a day or two
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I donāt use a chiller - never have. Temps in my reservoir right this minute at 75F. I use Hydroguard and Hygrozyme in my reservoir and have 4 two inch air stones being powered by a 930gph air pump. Since my roots are sitting in the water 24/7, I donāt really think itās needed. Oxygen to the roots is supplied in between floods and during the night period, so I donāt sweat oxygen levels in the res.
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Yes - it sits on the tent floor under the tray.
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When I keep my water inside the tent, it gets close to the tent temperature. No matter what it is.
But I have a small tent. Which was the reason for getting it out of the tent.
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I assume, the res being under, keeps the lights off it.
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My garage looks the same except itās all my wifeās crap.
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Let me ask a dumb question.
On RDWC, the flow between the buckets,
how the heck do you get the flow to balance against the pressure of the pump?
The connected buckets have to be larger volume flow than the pump will put out?
Burying the reservoir in the bottom of the tent is good as it eliminates absorption of light which is a major source of heating. I bought some metallized styrofoam and cut panels I could fit over the totes in my RDWC which dropped temps 5F.
@Bogleg has experience and is able to run temps a bit higher though I would submit that he might have had difficulty in the beginningā¦now that you know what you can get away with I can see that.
You can do DWC just as easily and if thereās no room for a reservoir then maybe a chiller is in order.
One of the things that makes ebb and flow work (in Alās case) is puking clones out of a mother plant so you only have to veg a couple of weeks before flipping. This is in fact whatās required of ebb and flow. DWC allows for bigger (and fewer) plants. Just an FYI: I have no dog in this hunt lol.
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Myfriends, it helped a lot. Thanks!
True-ish. I did get root rot on my third grow when I tried to use some new buckets and only put one air stone in each of them. They were 8 gallon - similar to the Current Culture buckets. Once I went to two air stones in each bucket it resolved that issue.
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This is an important point. For two reasons: one, it would obviously be very expensive to try doing a SOG grow via ebb and flow from seed if you arenāt making your own seeds. Second, variety in the cultivars from seed would make it more challenging to train and maintain the space.
That being said, there isnāt any reason you canāt flood and drain a larger pot/space for larger pots. You could run an RDWC under current style system but run it as a flood and drain instead of constantly cycling. It would involve some different water management plans, of course.
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This is more in line with the system I built. It had advantages and disadvantages.
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Well I have ran DWC for a while now. I can get by easy with 74 degrees and hydrogard and proxicide mix.
Root Rot, Iām the guy who knows how to get rid of it.
I had a plant go completely white with root rot, took me a month but I cured it. Great new roots and lived.
But it is the space that kills me.
If you run 2 plants in a 3x3, in DWC u can fill that place fast. This brings me to SCROG. U cant do SCROG if you are lifting lids.
I need a way to bring the water out if the tent, deal with it, cool it and send it back.
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This is what the guy at the hydro store tried to tell me. Are you him? @Bogleg
Truthfully, I need it to circulate so I can chill it.
Or just drop the 600 on a chiller.
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I still maintain that if you are using a flood and drain type of system you donāt need to chill the water. Up to a point, I guess. If for some reason your water is 100F then you have other issues. But a bigger reservoir will also buffer the ambient heat in the tent some.
Well you got me doing some reading @kw_Bat so now I am going to amend my previous post and say I donāt think you need a chiller if doing ebb and flow, but I have to look for more information regarding nutrient uptake and water temps. I know the āidealā temps for hydro are generally in that 62-68F range for optimal oxygen content and nutrient uptakeā¦ but I havenāt connected the dots on whether or not nutrient uptake is significantly affected by water temp yet, or whether or not the temps are more about the oxygen levels.
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