Hole placement on long ebb & flow table/gutter

Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Every ebb & flow video I see online has holes drilled on one end. I'm using ~18' of 6" wide gutters instead of an expensive flood table.

Each gutter has its own reservoir and a 396 gph pump, so I have more control over what I'm feeding plants along their life cycle.

Gutters fill up without a problem. But they don't drain perfectly.

Also, I cut up thick plastic gallon bottles to make covers over the pump feed (otherwise water would shoot up 2 or 3"). And each gutter has 2 holes: one is 3/4" for the pump & drain, the other is a 1" overflow that I'm trying out at different heights. The holes are next to each other.

Currently, my plan is to place short diy stainless steel stands at the base/narrow part of each k-style gutter (with holes throughout -- it's a type of gutter guard repurposed) to mimic the plastic mold bump and channel effect of a flood table. That should work, but would it be better to drill the pump & drain holes closer to the middle of a gutter if they're beyond a certain length? I'd think it would drain better, but I can't mess around and waste materials if I'm wrong.
 
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OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Apostatize said:
Every ebb & flow video I see online has holes drilled on one end. I'm using ~18' of 6" wide gutters instead of an expensive flood table.

Each gutter has its own reservoir and a 496 gph pump, so I have more control over what I'm feeding plants along their life cycle.

Gutters fill up without a problem. But they don't drain perfectly.

Also, I cut up thick plastic gallon bottles to make covers over the pump feed (otherwise water would shoot up 2 or 3"). And each gutter has 2 holes: one is 3/4" for the pump & drain, the other is a 1" overflow that I'm trying out at different heights. The holes are next to each other.

Currently, my plan is to place short diy stainless steel stands at the base/narrow part of each k-style gutter (with holes throughout -- it's a type of gutter guard repurposed) to mimic the plastic mold bump and channel effect of a flood table. That should work, but would it be better to drill the pump & drain holes closer to the middle of a gutter if they're beyond a certain length? I'd think it would drain better, but I can't mess around and waste materials if I'm wrong.
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Have you tried just slightly shimming the end furthest from the flood and drain fittings? It will effect the flood level from one end of the gutter to the other but + or - !/4' in water level is close enough to have no performance issues. :peace:
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
Have you tried just slightly shimming the end furthest from the flood and drain fittings? It will effect the flood level from one end of the gutter to the other but + or - !/4' in water level is close enough to have no performance issues. :peace:
Click to expand...
Well, here's the thing. I might do that downstairs because it's on a cement floor and I haven't drilled holes yet.

The veg room is a diffetent story. It's on a deck in a metal building/garage built above the bloom room. Because I'll have 7 gutters upstairs (1 standalone for veg and 2 groups of 3 gutters connected by a wood frame), I set up a set of 3 gutters so that the weight is distributed better than having all reservoirs on one side. I don't want all the weight any one joist. So, the center gutter has its res on the opposite end as the gutters on the left and right.

If I lift one end, the gutter(s) running in the opposite direction will be negatively affected.

But, so far, I've only got one set of 3 gutters assembled with holes drilled. So, I could shim the rest of them.

It's a work in progress (a few plants in the pic are exclusions, nothing was set up yet, and I hadn't started measuring ppm when this pic was taken). Veg room. Privacy polycarbonate panels for sun, LED ufo lights for supplemental lighting.
 

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OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Apostatize said:
Well, here's the thing. I might do that downstairs because it's on a cement floor and I haven't drilled holes yet.

The veg room is a diffetent story. It's on a deck in a metal building/garage built above the bloom room. Because I'll have 7 gutters upstairs (1 standalone for veg and 2 groups of 3 gutters connected by a wood frame), I set up a set of 3 gutters so that the weight is distributed better than having all reservoirs on one side. I don't want all the weight any one joist. So, the center gutter has its res on the opposite end as the gutters on the left and right.

If I lift one end, the gutter(s) running in the opposite direction will be negatively affected.

But, so far, I've only got one set of 3 gutters assembled with holes drilled. So, I could shim the rest of them.

It's a work in progress (a few plants in the pic are exclusions, nothing was set up yet, and I hadn't started measuring ppm when this pic was taken). Veg room. Privacy polycarbonate panels for sun, LED ufo lights for supplemental lighting.
Click to expand...
Just slope the center gutter the opposite direction of the outer 2?
Those gutters appear to be aluminum? Might have some major corrosion / reaction going on with nutrient solutions.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
Just slope the center gutter the opposite direction of the outer 2?
Those gutters appear to be aluminum? Might have some major corrosion / reaction going on with nutrient solutions.
Click to expand...
The gutters are screwed in straight across. I think I'll just screw them in at a slight slope, depending on which end the pump is on. That way, I can avoid issues with shimming legs or having one pump divided across 2 hoses (to reduce the number of reservoirs, narrowing the width they'd take up if 3 were on one side).

As for aluminum, the most I'm concerned about is it possibly lowering pH. Roots are contained in grow bags, growing in rockwool chunks; so, it's more like a shallow root system than if soil was throughout the gutter (not in bags). From what I've read about gutter gardens, non-lead gutters (i.e., made after the 1970s) don't pose a health concern (even if you consider cannabis' exceptional absorption/uptake properties (e.g., cleaning up Chernobyl and also removing forever chemicals from soil)).
 
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