DIY Ebb&Flow Grow Log

Two 50-Gallon Rubbermaid "roughneck" containers
300GPH submersible pump
One duel outlet aquarium air pump & air stones

Heres my homemade E&F system.

The net pots aren't level with the tray when they are in the system.. I hope this does not create any problems.

The water level will just touch the bottom of the rockwool cubes the seedlings are planted in (Should I do this throughout the entire grow?)

I am still filling up my res with RO water... Takes 3 hours for my 2 gallon tank to refill I have a lot of filling to do.

I am planning on putting a garbage bag over the top of the flood tray to block light... also in the pictures the lid isn't on the reservoir.



All in all do you think that this will work?
Comments, please!

welcome to the forum. How is it supposed to work?? Why are your pots so huge?? VV

Well.. I dont exactly know.

I come from a soil background, and figured the roots would need about 5 gallon bucket size to grow. they are in 8" round net pots. on top of 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms cut out.

Its standard E&F, the water pump in the reservoir kicks on for 15 minutes till it reaches the flood level in the flood tray, and then drains back to the reservoir.


I realize that I probably didn't need that much room. I just haven't been able to figure out exactly how this all works...

Only fault I really see is them being so close together .
You might find them competing for space and trying to choke each other out .

The Ghoul

The largest size of pot I have seen used in ebb and flow is about a one liter pot. BY using such big pots you are wasting space and having to pump more water. For soil you might need to use a 3 gallon pot, not for hydro. Since you are constantly suppling your plants with the nutreints they need they don't need a huge root mass. This is supposed to be one of the advantages of hydro. To give you are referrence, I have 20 8" pots in my Flood and drain tables. The inside dimensions of the table are 48" by 32".

Thank you for the replies.

VV: How deep is your flood table with the 8" pots? are those 8" net pots or regular ones?




I'm thinking I should take my rockwool cubes out of my system, and put them in a glass tray since I don't think they have very much root mass below the rockwool. Is this a good idea?