ebb-flo ~ 3 tables with 1 reservoir?

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/129824-diy-stand-flood-tray.html
Here is the flood and drain build and I can understand your not knowing my reputation, most people say it rhymes with vic. You could just take a look at the boxes on the lower right hand side where it has activity levels and rep or click on the name which will take you to the profile. In the profile you will see a spot where you can view all of the threads started by that person. You are right you will not find that flood table build in my blues thread, and if you read much of that sorry, its not in there.
I am not fond of putting plants in a system without having them in individual pots, I like to be able to move them around, just a personal preference nothing wrong with doing that. Not many folks would have recognized the flock rock wool as being orchid pellets.
I think this setup is perfect for you to start with, might as well find out how it works, and you are committed to it. VV:blsmoke:
 

Eharmony420

Well-Known Member
Sup all, just read the whole post. Nice exchange. Victor i read your whole journal. No shit I did, took me 8 hours. Send me some seeds lol. \\

I used one of these. I found that there will be standing water. It is hell for 4 in rw cubes. I found that if i put them in 5.25 by 6 in turbogarden pots that hydro stores sell with some hydroton on the bottom i solved the drainage problem. Also may I Be so bold to say that like vic i like the movable pots. Makes it lot more fun with lights and lst ( a big deal for me) and what not. I gotta get bigger pots for flower, i know.

I used this for a few weeks with ebay bought ebb fittings i installed in the middle. You need the pots with fast dry media on the bottom and your rw sitting on that. Rw will stay way to wet i found.

After a few weeks i got a proper 3x3 table on craigs list for 40 bucks. Looking this morining i see a few more for sale.

good luck, ebb and flow for some reason fascinates me.

Also I solved my stand problem by using a crad table! Thats right i just put the ebb table right on a card table in my tent. I gotta cut the legs down still but it works perfect. The quality of the botanicare tables is such that it makes a perfect workstation to lst and clone.
 

smokingrubber

Well-Known Member
One question Vic. You built the tables with side walls because you were planning on using a plastic liner OR does the botanicare need side support?

I wish we had a fully stocked hydro store local. We have a tore up one with a MAJOR dunce running it. Hardly anything is stocked and all he does if refer you to his catalogs. I'm kind of scared to order a table from him because he'll have to have it shipped and what if it's got a tiny puncture from handling or something? Just iffy.
 

Perfextionist420

Well-Known Member
positive side is less work, negative side is less control. you said you wanted multiple strains and i assume you want multiple stages (perpetual harvest). having a res for each tray is ideal because it lets you control the nutrients to a maximum level however if you want to use only 1 res it can be done
 

smokingrubber

Well-Known Member
I want perpetual harvest . . . but I'm scared that I'm biting off more than I can chew. I just germed 18 seeds (5 ww - 5 sshaze - 8 mix) and I've got 25 more on the way. I want to be smart about it. Dealing with all of the strains may be too much already. I'm hoping to find 2 or 3 strains that love life in my garden, then I'll propogate those and ditch the boo-boos.
 

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
One question Vic. You built the tables with side walls because you were planning on using a plastic liner OR does the botanicare need side support?
You must have looked at both threads. When I built the originals I used side walls because that is what I attached the pond liner too.
When I built the tables for the flood tray I built them with side walls just to stop the tray from sliding, I have all of my tables on casters and I move them around sometimes. I have dropped trays of plants before, its kinda messy, I don't want to have a table of them get caught turning a corner.

I wish we had a fully stocked hydro store local. We have a tore up one with a MAJOR dunce running it. Hardly anything is stocked and all he does if refer you to his catalogs. I'm kind of scared to order a table from him because he'll have to have it shipped and what if it's got a tiny puncture from handling or something? Just iffy.
Have him order it to come into his store on the next delivery, saves you the shipping nad you can make sure it isn't damage. Some of the hydro stores in my area don't have the trays readily available, there is one about 60 miles from me that does stock a lot of them. all of the Botanicare trays are available from him and he drills the holes for the fittings. I have included a couple of picture, I hope they show up well enough to see. The trays are 7" high. I could not duplicate the drainage of these tables. Period.:blsmoke: VV
 

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smokingrubber

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the help everyone. I just wanted to throw out a little update now that I'm on my 4th crop with this setup. Every crop gets better!!!!

I fought hell getting the flimsy tubs to not leak at the drain hole, but I won the battle. There IS an issue with some standing water, but I have everything in their own pots so it evaporates in about an hour. My main problem came from the flimsy plastic. I had to reinforce the table and provide supports for the down-tubes to strap onto. Otherwise everything flexed and twisted when I moved the pumps to change the water. Since everthing is run to one reservior, I can't do the perpetual harvest and flush just one single tub. That's okay, it leaves a good day to completely clean out everything.

The real benifit to this system is the three seperate tubs. One 25 gallon reservior handles everything. It takes about 15 gallons to fill one tub (leaves 10 gallons to prevent the pumps from sucking air), then it drains and 15 minutes later I use the same water to fill the next tub. This requires three sperate pumps and three timers, but it's way less water I have to run through the piss-dribble RO filter. Way less nutes too. I have to top it off with about a gallon every day, and check the nutes every 3 days. Then I clean the reservior out every 2 weeks and it's good to go.

I can easily fit 12-16 big plants, depending on how long they vegged. My very first crop was from some bullshit online seeds and they were 90% male. That sucked. My second crop was from some mostly good seeds and about half the crop was DANK. The other half of that crop looked like seaweed, but I'm still learning. What I learned was: get good clones! The third crop was an all-star affair. Everything was good. The fourth crop got started late and I basically vegged them for 2 weeks before they went to flower. This yield will be relatively small. The 5th crop is currently in the veg room and it's getting big. It will have a huge yield compared to the rest, but I'm getting better with every cycle.
 
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