Flood and drain help please

[kush401]

What's up everyone just wondering what flood times should I do. I have a 3x3 flood table set up to a 50 gal res with 9 clones in net pots and grow stones. I have it on a 270gph pump every 2 hours for 15min there only clones right now. Is that not enough times flooding. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Ps just built it all today clones just transplanted

 

[kush401]

Should I do every 4 hours 15 min increments?

 

[AlphaPhase]

For clones that size, you have the timing about right. I flood my 3x2 table about the same intervals, every 2 hours or so for 15 minutes. When they get bigger and have bigger roots you can flood them less, about 1x every 4 hours. That is one hell of a big reservoir for that size table, do you fill it all the way up? I think I use 20 gallons for my 3x2.

 

[kush401]

Yea all the way up I think it keeps res cooler with no chiller temp at 68f. What do you think about flooding every 15 min?

 

[AlphaPhase]

I would say that's too much flooding imo, but everyone has different methods so ones answer isn't necessarily wrong, I make my flood times by the way the plants respond and grow best and each strain is different, but flooding every 2 hours is a good start, you can flood more often with your system, but just remember that some strains will prefer a longer dry period. What you can do (as I do when I dial in my plants) is lower or lengthen the flood times by 15 minutes and see how they respond over the course of a few days. I would recommend flooding more often with small clones and less often with bigger plants. And good point about the larger res size, I do the same thing for my ebb system. Hey, with out a water chiller, here's a tip, frozen 2 liter bottles of water will help keep temps down. It's what I do when the summer nears.

 

[kush401]

Thanks I appreciate it should I leave it at every 15 min till the roots come through the net and then start backing off time. It's day two in system nothing changed yet

I would say that's too much flooding imo, but everyone has different methods so ones answer isn't necessarily wrong, I make my flood times by the way the plants respond and grow best and each strain is different, but flooding every 2 hours is a good start, you can flood more often with your system, but just remember that some strains will prefer a longer dry period. What you can do (as I do when I dial in my plants) is lower or lengthen the flood times by 15 minutes and see how they respond over the course of a few days. I would recommend flooding more often with small clones and less often with bigger plants. And good point about the larger res size, I do the same thing for my ebb system. Hey, with out a water chiller, here's a tip, frozen 2 liter bottles of water will help keep temps down. It's what I do when the summer nears.

 

[AlphaPhase]

Flooding 1x every 30 minutes would be OK I think, are they rooted clones? And do you have the water level touching the bottom of the net pots? When roots haven't come through the net pots I usually top feed, take a cup of water from the res and pour it over the net pots twice a day. That way the roots won't dry out. Definitely make sure your water level is touching the net pots though, and you can flood as much as you want (I use 1x every 45 minutes for clones that have not had roots come through the net pots, it's very easy for them to dry out) and as the roots get bigger lessen the flood times by 15 minutes every week or so until you've reached flooding every 4 hours

 

[kush401]

The water level is right at the bottom of the net pot most the roots were like a foot so I just layer them at the bottom in a circle and grow stones on top

 

[AlphaPhase]

Oh OK, them you're set, you don't have to flood every 15 minutes then, every hour is fine for now and once the roots get like this every 2 or 2.5 hrs , that's what I do anyways

 

[jcommerce]

I religiously do 15 on / 15 off. I've even done continuous in ebb/flood. Think about it this way...at continuous, it's basically just an RDWC. I'd rather have my roots getting "too much" circulation (whatever that means) than risk drying them out. 15 on 15 off is perfect for water, nutes, and oxygenation.

 

[AlphaPhase]

I'm sure that would work OK as well, but the pump would heat up the water quite a bit with out a chiller. I don't really see the benefit though I've never tried, I can't handle the growth I get with my flood schedules as it is extremely fast and vigorous already.

 

[AlphaPhase]

^^every two hours for my veg table, it keeps the water cooler, plenty of growth and plants are healthy I suppose, also, running more flood intervals could create root zone problems as is more common with dwc type systems since the roots would be submerged much more often than not paving a road to problems if everything isn't dialed in perfectly.

 

[kush401]

Ok thanks guys now I gotta figure out how to stop the pH from fluctuating lol

 

[AlphaPhase]

No problem man. About the ph, is it drifting up daily? It's not drifting down is it? Drifting up is normal and after about 3 days of adjusting the ph to where you want it, it will become stable. I usually set my ph at 5.2 to compensate for the upward drift. After two or three days it's at about 6.2, then I adjust it back to 5.6 and it becomes stable at about 5.8. Hope this helps.

 

[kush401]

No problem man. About the ph, is it drifting up daily? It's not drifting down is it? Drifting up is normal and after about 3 days of adjusting the ph to where you want it, it will become stable. I usually set my ph at 5.2 to compensate for the upward drift. After two or three days it's at about 6.2, then I adjust it back to 5.6 and it becomes stable at about 5.8. Hope this helps.

I adjust it to 5.8 then by tomorrow it gets up to 6.6-7

 

[AlphaPhase]

It will become stable soon and stay stable where you set the ph. It just takes a few days. Next time you change the res water and ph the water, just set the ph lower to compensate, never set it lower than 5.2 though.

 

[jcommerce]

Ok thanks guys now I gotta figure out how to stop the pH from fluctuating lol

I always have to adjust my Ph downward after a nutrient boost. Usually for about 4 - 5 days, I have to adjust upward, then it gets set lock steady. But if the plants are growing quickly, then it's back to add nutes and adjust. Without a doubt, the water volume in a system will reduce it. My bigger systems (60 gallons - 250 gallons) once ph adjusted barely, if at all, fluctuate. A 5 gallon bucket, be prepared to adjust once, if not twice, daily.

My Ice Cream is a finicky bitch. She likes 5.9. I still allow up and down fluctuations of 5.7 - 6.1, but outside of this range, she hates it. I've certainly had more forgiving strains and phenos that can handle 5.2 - 6.2 without much change and, for them, I just simply target 5.8 with allowing up and down drifts.

 

[kush401]

I just did a res change and ph to 5.8 is it OK to keep adding earth juice ph down or up everyday I don't want it to mess with the plants. And do it till ph stays

 

[GSquaredFarm]

I always have to adjust my Ph downward after a nutrient boost. Usually for about 4 - 5 days, I have to adjust upward, then it gets set lock steady. But if the plants are growing quickly, then it's back to add nutes and adjust. Without a doubt, the water volume in a system will reduce it. My bigger systems (60 gallons - 250 gallons) once ph adjusted barely, if at all, fluctuate. A 5 gallon bucket, be prepared to adjust once, if not twice, daily.

My Ice Cream is a finicky bitch. She likes 5.9. I still allow up and down fluctuations of 5.7 - 6.1, but outside of this range, she hates it. I've certainly had more forgiving strains and phenos that can handle 5.2 - 6.2 without much change and, for them, I just simply target 5.8 with allowing up and down drifts.

The beautiful thing about growing a weed is that there are many ways to achieve similar results, and you have to try really hard to kill it.

I use a small 10 gal res for my 3x4 table. I adjust ph only when I top off and change the reservoir. My system tends to creep upward as well, so I shoot for an initial ph of 5.5. My system stops drift at about 6.1, so the plants are exposed to a decent range of ph which facilitates the absorption of more nutes. A smaller reservoir to me was preferable to help conserve more water. A smaller reservoir makes fixing mistakes easier also. I would rather replace 10 gal of water than 60 gal if I made an error with my nutrient solution.

As far as keeping the water temp low, an inexpensive clip fan adjusted to blow over the top of the reservoir works wonders. An air stone run constantly will help keep the reservoir cool without any fan.

As far as the flood schedule goes; I top-fed my table continuously until I saw plants react adversely (only one out of 10 ever showed signs of over watering). I figure water is like light, give those beauties as much as possible until they scream "Uncle."

Bottom Line: It really is all about what you feel comfortable with in your garden. The main thing is to be able to spot problems as quickly as possible so you can correct them.

Best of luck with the little ladies.

 

[jcommerce]

I just did a res change and ph to 5.8 is it OK to keep adding earth juice ph down or up everyday I don't want it to mess with the plants. And do it till ph stays

I'm a Botanicare guy, but I'd HIGHLY recommend you pick of some of Advanced Nutrients PH up and down. I discovered them after I got sick of having to buy gallons of the blue and orange kool aid from GH. AN's PH products are extremely concentrated (I add by the drop in my large systems). A quart will last a very very long time. I've heard Earth Juice PH products can be problematic.