Good or bad ebb & flow setup?

xxbrandon98xx

xxbrandon98xx

New Member

(Just my bong in the middle)

Hey guys, I made my first hydro set up. let me explain it to you, and tell me what you think.


-Two 4 1/2 feet long 4 inch thick PVC pipes.
-Four 4 inch thick PVC corner connectors.
-Pump nozzle / overflow nozzle.
-Rubber tubing.
-Ten 3 inch net pots.
-2 inch Rockwool.
-Hydroton.
-Water pump.
-Air pump/bubble stone.
-Resovoir.


I made the 'tray' out of PVC piping. I drilled five 3 inch holes on each PVC pipe. I use the four corner connectors to connect my two pipes and make it into a oval/squarish shape. On the inside I have my water intake and overflow nozzles that stick out from the bottom, I connect the tube from my water pump and drain tube to these nozzles. The tubes both go to my reservoir. I put my 3 inch net pots into the 3 inch holes I drilled in the two PVC pipes previously. When the water fills it comes about 1/4 inch deep into the net pots. Thats basically it other than filling net pots with hydroton and adding rockwool with plant in it.

Comments on whether it will or wont work?




 
D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
It looks good. Your hoses look clear. You will want black or dark hoses due to algae. Same for your reservoir. I would try and get the flood up to half way up on the pots, but 1/4 should work depending on the flood time and the type of media your using.
Good sound looking system. I assume you have it all PVC glued together? You didn't say so in your message.
 
mrduke

mrduke

Well-Known Member
yeah man that looks like she'll work just fine. I'd use a large rubbermaid tote w/ lid for your res and just set that bitch on top of it.
I assume the drain is on one side and the fill on the other?
Will you run it with constant water (DWC) or more of a ebb & flow type?
How are you controlling the water height in the pipe?

nice job very creative, for about 30 bucks huh
 
xxbrandon98xx

xxbrandon98xx

New Member
Dirty Harry said:
It looks good. Your hoses look clear. You will want black or dark hoses due to algae. Same for your reservoir. I would try and get the flood up to half way up on the pots, but 1/4 should work depending on the flood time and the type of media your using.
Good sound looking system. I assume you have it all PVC glued together? You didn't say so in your message.
Click to expand...

Yeah, its all PVC glued and hot glued. And, i know about the whole clear tube and no lid situation but I couldn't find any dark tubing and I have to have my lid off because the water drips back into the reservoir now (due to a problem with overflow nozzle.)
 
xxbrandon98xx

xxbrandon98xx

New Member
Yeah, Drain on one side intake on other. The reason I put it on the desk it because I needed it high to drain back to my reservoir through the tubes. I have a ebb&flow inatake and overflow kit in it. I'm gonna run it like a flood and drain system. I'm kinda curious about the flooding frequency and how long each flood should last.
 
LoudBlunts

LoudBlunts

Well-Known Member
quoted from your other thread

LoudBlunts said:
multiple threads on the same subject wont do you any good

infact, it'll hurt more than help (because the people who were helping you in the other thread, now have to find this thread)


anywho.... get the idea out of your head of using pvc for ebb and flow

you are making it harder for yourself

just get a res and a tray (a kitty litter tray works fine)

and do it like that.

you are making too much work for yourself and with that system i dont think you'll yield much


i also think the roots will clog/slow the flow of water.


back to the drawing board my friend

i can post some pics if you want of a custom flood and drain i recently did
Click to expand...
 
LoudBlunts

LoudBlunts

Well-Known Member
save yourself the trouble & headache....especially if you are gonna grow from seed to harvest


the roots WILL take over, i promise you


anywho, good luck bro!
 
xxbrandon98xx

xxbrandon98xx

New Member
LoudBlunts said:
save yourself the trouble & headache....especially if you are gonna grow from seed to harvest


the roots WILL take over, i promise you


anywho, good luck bro!
Click to expand...


I guess if the roots start to take over, ill just make it into a 8 plant system. or 6? I'll figure something out. Other than that, anything about hydroponics that I really should know before I start?
 
Syriuslydelyrius

Syriuslydelyrius

Well-Known Member
As others have pointed out the roots are going to clog that system fairly easy. Now now dont loose hope though because I think you maybe able to modify what you have in order to make it work.

As it is now I will tell you exactly whats going to happen your going to have a bunch of water to clean up is whats up. The return line is going to clog and not drain fast enough and the pump is going to pump water all over the place trust me thinking you can correct this by fewer plants is wishfull thinking at best. You need to correct the problem and I have a couple of suggestions. Cut off the drain sides 2 corner connecters and replace 1 side with an end cap with a hole in it for your feed line and put a corner conecter on the other end with a pipe going into the res. The other thing would be cut out a section of the 4in pvc and replace it with a 3way T connector and then a short length of 4in pvc from that connector to the res.

Hope that helps.
 
Syriuslydelyrius

Syriuslydelyrius

Well-Known Member
Fix it now or be ready to clean up a mess. I have given a couple of suggestions and I will give you one more but doing nothing is a mistake. On the drain side the bottom center of the 4in angle connector you can drill a 2in hole and then glue in a piece of 2in pvc that leads to the res. Having an uncovered res and clear hoses are also mistakes that need corrected. You could paint your lines black or wrap them in electrical tape or something, dont leave them clear. Once the plants are established the water they use is astounding. My 18 or so plants will use 30gal of water in a week easy and those neuts arnt cheap so cover that res so the water isnt just evaporating into your room causeing humidity.


edited to add:
This suggestion would be the quick fix and still maynot be perfect because roots will still clog up this 2in drain pipe. One of the other 2 suggestions would be where I would be going
 
xxbrandon98xx

xxbrandon98xx

New Member
Syriuslydelyrius said:
Fix it now or be ready to clean up a mess. I have given a couple of suggestions and I will give you one more but doing nothing is a mistake. On the drain side the bottom center of the 4in angle connector you can drill a 2in hole and then glue in a piece of 2in pvc that leads to the res. Having an uncovered res and clear hoses are also mistakes that need corrected. You could paint your lines black or wrap them in electrical tape or something, dont leave them clear. Once the plants are established the water they use is astounding. My 18 or so plants will use 30gal of water in a week easy and those neuts arnt cheap so cover that res so the water isnt just evaporating into your room causeing humidity.


edited to add:
This suggestion would be the quick fix and still maynot be perfect because roots will still clog up this 2in drain pipe. One of the other 2 suggestions would be where I would be going
Click to expand...


So, basically it would be smarter to do more of a NFS technique?
 
D

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
Look here...
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/124809-dirty-harrys-first-grow-2.html

Post number 14, last pic. That is the ebb & flow I made. It is simply a under bed garment storage container on a shelf with the reservoir under it. I did end up moving the reservoir to the left outside the grow area with black hoses. Reason it was a PITA to change water when it was under the grow table. That made it very maintenance easy. Lesson I learned is I will paint the outside of the table black for the next grow.

These ebb & flows do not need to be difficult.

P.S. The plants are in soil pots in the pic because I was sharing the light with the hydro tray. Not a great idea, have more than one light :)
 
jgreenbeast

jgreenbeast

Well-Known Member
Syriuslydelyrius said:
As others have pointed out the roots are going to clog that system fairly easy. Now now dont loose hope though because I think you maybe able to modify what you have in order to make it work.

As it is now I will tell you exactly whats going to happen your going to have a bunch of water to clean up is whats up. The return line is going to clog and not drain fast enough and the pump is going to pump water all over the place trust me thinking you can correct this by fewer plants is wishfull thinking at best. You need to correct the problem and I have a couple of suggestions. Cut off the drain sides 2 corner connecters and replace 1 side with an end cap with a hole in it for your feed line and put a corner conecter on the other end with a pipe going into the res. The other thing would be cut out a section of the 4in pvc and replace it with a 3way T connector and then a short length of 4in pvc from that connector to the res.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
agreed, cant sum it up en better.
 
Syriuslydelyrius

Syriuslydelyrius

Well-Known Member
xxbrandon98xx said:
So, basically it would be smarter to do more of a NFS technique?
Click to expand...

Neutrient film Techinque, or add sprayers on both sides of each cup, or fill your netpots with hydroton and add a dripper for each pot. This thing you built just isnt going to cut it for ebb & flow. Switch this one over to NFT or AREO with sprayers or scrap it and build an ebb & flow out of a storage tote like Dirty Harrys.


Here is a picture that should make your problem seem rather obvious. (Earl's picture)
 
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