DIY Ebb and Flow

Easyrider said:
I have a couple of questions, before I get started. I don't see a lot of long time growers using this, and how secure is thiis site.
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This site is very secure. However, nothing like this is fully secure if LE wants you bad enough. If they want you, they will get you. I'm guessing they could care less about the small fish though...ie you and I.
 
FAIL SAFE OVERFLOW PREVENTION: WHAT U NEED: Athe way to prevent overflow is to place your resovoir under your table, or partially under, and you drill a 2" hole in your tray above where you placed your resovoir. then you place a 2inch pvc pipe in this hole. you put the pipe about an inch below the top of your tray- or an half inch above your desired water level. this way if your pump pumps too much water, the water only rises to your pvc drain, and returns to the resovoir via the "overflow tube". cost: 2 bucks
 
just thought of this as welll...... another benefeit of adding this run off tube is the ability toy cycle your water over the area, and purposely go over the tubes height to utilze the oxygen created via the cascade effect, -although a faster draining medium may be nessacray if you were inclined to run the set up continuously. also the reason you dont want to rely on a timer- especialy with soiless mix, is that your plants may require less water from one day to the next, especially if your environment temps change a bit with the weather- such as a small close with the door exposed to the elemnents. temp would vary drasticly in such a set up i would imagine. - a faster draining medium, such as hydroton -or lava rocks(lava rocks are pimp if u use mychorizae or whatever its called cuz they colonize the pores...) would require a constant flow . no dry roots- oh and dont ever allow light to reach your roots. use a black res. paint it black, whatever. absence of light inhibits algae growth. -(plants dont like zero light, right?)
 
Greendreamin,
The overflow sounds like a good idea. How do you attach the PVC to the concrete tray to have no tank leak. I don't see a fitting at Home Depot to do this. I would think that it might be like a bulkhead fitting. Pleaseexplain.
 
Actually the overflow on the ebb fitting of the ebb and flow fitting set might do a better job of controling excess water from a pump that don't shut off...or whatever. Cost would be zero dollars.
 
Stoned-Medic said:
Sorry if this is a stupid question i'm new to hydroponic growing and have only ever used a soil medium i was curious about the water level...what stops the pump from overflowing the tub? is it time running, rate, something in the pump, or perhaps something on the ebb and flow fittings? thanks in advance
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HI

Ebb&flow fittings from hydro shop $10( I'm sure you could also rig something up found in home depot's plumbing section )

This is what stops it from overflowing. Great setup btw
 
im only new to growing but i would have thought off 10 plants you would have got a higher yeild, on my first grow i got 6 1/2 oz off 2 plants under a 400whps:rollit::rollit:
 
I just built a simple system like this one only modified it a little. This is my first crack at hydro so I thought I would start off slow. this cost me around 90 bucks. I just mounted the tub on top of the res.

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There are times that you need access to the reservoir, such as topping off or changing the solution or checking the pH or PPM.

Having the tray sit directly on the reservoir makes that difficult.
 
ptg707 thanks for the comments. I understand that i may have to get in there but right now I can slide it to the side to have a 6" opening to do my testing and filling or whatever. If it becomes a pain I will build a stand for the flood tub. Right now the tub weights about 10 lbs so if I have to lift it off and set it in another reservoir to clean it that can be done also. First time doing this and like always running before walking into something new.
 
I've copied you completely. Did you have algae? I've got a lot of bare space until the babies grow up. Roots are already on the deck. Doesn't drain completely. Thanks for any help.
 
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