Top Drip - drain to waste

I've got a new Top Drip / DTW setup ready to go. Here are some pics... this is a fairly economical setup that is easy to operate and maintain.

The pics are shown for the late veg setup (double density) - with 50 pots per tray. They will flower in two more trays with 24 per 4x8.

70 gallon res for each table, 30 gallon drain res with pumps to waste. The drain pumps are the EcoPlus 185's, the irrigation is done with EP 633's - running 50 x 1 GPH PC Rainbird dripers. In veg, each pot gets one dripper. In flower, each will use two drippers. A Sentinel DRT1 handles irrigation timings.

cool! that should do something dripper lines might be more economical than flooding keep us posted just remember hydroton dries pretty fast

horribleherk said:

cool! that should do something dripper lines might be more economical than flooding keep us posted just remember hydroton dries pretty fast

Click to expand...

Yes - flooding a 4 x 8 effectively takes a 100 gallon res... these are 70 gallon reservoirs draining to waste - but the res changes will be about the same time between. That is a 30 gallon nute solution savings right there. I like the way plants get a perfectly balanced feed each time - rather than recirulating (especially with messy hydroton!)

On that note - the hydroton does dry out quickly! That's why I use it just for drainage under my coco.

Here are the tables filled for late veg... In a week these will be moved to two more 4x8 tables at half the density.

Thanks!

how did this turn out? what feeding schedule did you use? I'm running coco DTW and I seem to be using much less water then most other folks, and I've had a few minor issues so I would be intrested to know what other folks are doing on this subject. The only difference is I am in 5g buckets instead of a big table otherwise our set ups are very similar.

LionsRoor - I'm taking the first steps toward DTW so thank you for the resource and the time it took to photograph and post. I read the thread and what you say about wanting to deliver feed at a constant rate rings 100% true for me.

So how is it going? Any problems or discoveries you can share with us is appreciated. Thanks again! -CropReport

Just curious where one would find these white plastic trays and how sturdy are they? interested in a similar system. maybe more basic (hand watered) and just one huge area for soil where all plants grow together. Any tips / advice also appreciated.

Awesome room man. Looks nice and clean.