Ebb and Flow System

I would like to build a system similar to the one shown here. I am sure there are write ups and DIY threads somewhere but I just cannot seem to find them.

http://www.hydroponics.net/images/MultiFlow-med.jpg

Can anyone help? I am trying to put together a Ebb and Flow system for roughly 40-50 plants. I am trying to put together this system for to get a cycle going with the plants looking to harvest 10 plants every 3 weeks. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.



Lastly, this may be a pretty noobish question but is there a difference between Ebb and Flow vs. Ebb and Grow?

Thanks for your help guys

you are definitely going to need more then one res for that and allot of space why not just use flood and drain tables for something like that less space more plants 4x8 tables can hold allot of girls what you are explaining is allot of work.

ebb&flow is the technique of growing flood and drain, top feed etc, are types of this technique.

It isnt much cheeper to DIY compared to buying a complete setup.

You can run up to like 48 pots with a 55 gallon drum. And it is alot easier than using a tray to flood and drain. Plus if you want you can get a bigger drum (95 gallon) and run more plants than u know what to with.

Ebb and flow is great. A flood table is a lot easier to work with than the buckets. More plants in the same space.

It is my understanding that a flood and drain table does conserve space and gives you the ability to have more plants in a smaller space. But from what I've read, flood and drain tables setups, your plants are sort of limited as to how big they can get? I believe for the bucket system, they have the ability to get much bigger...Is this true?

drgreentm said:

you are definitely going to need more then one res for that and allot of space why not just use flood and drain tables for something like that less space more plants 4x8 tables can hold allot of girls what you are explaining is allot of work.

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That is exactly what I am looking for!!!Seriously...it's not gonna be much cheaper to build your own? I was looking at a 48 pot system, that thing is over 1k. What makes it soo expensive? I figured I could build one for half the price?

48 pot system would give me a 12 x 12 rotation which is prefect for what I need. I just don't know how I feel about spending 1k on the system.

i81two said:

It isnt much cheeper to DIY compared to buying a complete setup.

You can run up to like 48 pots with a 55 gallon drum. And it is alot easier than using a tray to flood and drain. Plus if you want you can get a bigger drum (95 gallon) and run more plants than u know what to with.View attachment 1356448View attachment 1356449

Click to expand...

Another question that just came to mind....

For a 48 site system, if I am trying to do a 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 rotation, do I need multiple reservoirs and pump/timer controller units? I think for each of the rotational phase, some plants will need to see more floods than others? Say adult plants would need to see 3-6 floods per day while new plants only need maybe 1 flood a day? Is this true? Can you over flood/overwater with this type of system?

Thanks

i81two said:

It isnt much cheeper to DIY compared to buying a complete setup.

You can run up to like 48 pots with a 55 gallon drum. And it is alot easier than using a tray to flood and drain. Plus if you want you can get a bigger drum (95 gallon) and run more plants than u know what to with.View attachment 1356448View attachment 1356449

Click to expand...

hmm never seen someone able to harvest 10 plants every three weeks growing 40-50 with the same res for all stages

mrconfident said:

It is my understanding that a flood and drain table does conserve space and gives you the ability to have more plants in a smaller space. But from what I've read, flood and drain tables setups, your plants are sort of limited as to how big they can get? I believe for the bucket system, they have the ability to get much bigger...Is this true?



That is exactly what I am looking for!!!Seriously...it's not gonna be much cheaper to build your own? I was looking at a 48 pot system, that thing is over 1k. What makes it soo expensive? I figured I could build one for half the price?

48 pot system would give me a 12 x 12 rotation which is prefect for what I need. I just don't know how I feel about spending 1k on the system.

Click to expand...

not sure how big you want to grow them but i have a small room 2 2x4 trays 11 plants in each and mine get pretty big about 3' when done with a single 400 over each tray. if i had the room that could acquire a 48 pot system i could have allot of plants and trays having a good prepetual harvest prably every 2 weeks

drgreentm said:

hmm never seen someone able to harvest 10 plants every three weeks growing 40-50 with the same res for all stages

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Yeah it was a dumb question, I kinda answered it myself when I thought about the nutrients requirement for each stage....So I will have get a setup with 4 different units for the different stages.

I guess at the price of under 600 for a 12 site unit it's not too bad considering the controller unit is about $300 + the buckets about $100 + all the misc. fittings and other pieces required to assemble the unit. $600 isn't a bad price including all the labor it takes to build one of these units.

ya man if i was going to run a pot system i would defiantly just buy one and i am a diy guy myself but for the money to me its worth it so are you thinking 4 seprate 12 site systems so you can get a prepetual harvest?

Yup. 4 separate units that way I can get a yield every 3-4 weeks. I hoping to harvest 1.5 - 2 lbs every harvest. These baby will be under optimum growing conditions and will be fed the best nutrients. Hopefully I can execute everything properly and make this happen.

I still got a ways to go, got lots more to learn before I can start putting together a system. Hopefully I can get everything planned out and be growing by Feb-March. It looks like it'll take me over a month just to put everything together.

The hard part about this game is TELLING NO ONE. I don't wanna ask my friends to help me put anything together and I don't want to tell friends about my op. I wanna keep this all to myself. So it'll take me lots more time to put together my grow room.

Still gotta figure out what equipment I need. Looks like I have the Ebb & Flo stuff figured out, pretty straight forward, I'll just end up buying 4 of these units....

I HAVE READ GROW JOURNALS FOR OVER TWO MONTHS, BEST WAY TO LEARN.. Just favorite them (go to Thread tools and scroll down and click, now your "subscribed") ,,, . Read at least 3hrs a day, and eat lots of fiber! I have read over 8-12hrs a day many a time... you will learn more this way than asking and waiting for every little answer... Google has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the search feature,,, its your best friend, the search engine on here sucks...

frogster said:

I HAVE READ GROW JOURNALS FOR OVER TWO MONTHS, BEST WAY TO LEARN.. Just favorite them (go to Thread tools and scroll down and click, now your "subscribed") ,,, . Read at least 3hrs a day, and eat lots of fiber! I have read over 8-12hrs a day many a time... you will learn more this way than asking and waiting for every little answer... Google has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the search feature,,, its your best friend, the search engine on here sucks...

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I have to agree that this sites search engine leaves A LOT to be desired. There is a wealth of information on the net, probably more than even the most advanced grower can assimilate. For a lot of people though, that info is lost. There are quite a few folks that are not very good at create search strings and therefore only scratch the surface of what an "experienced" Goolgler will find.

Cool grow you have going on there!

you are doing the best thing, talking to fellow growers, ask questions befor u spend money. 48 pot systems? thats a big area to grow in plus the lights? if u want to go big like i think u do, u may need 4 1000w systems for the pots. think about this, 4 4x4 ebb & drain systems with 50gal rez, with 4 600 or 1000w systems 20-25 plants per table one cola plants,i think u will get what u r looking for that way. read al b fuct harvest evey 2 weeks take ur time plan everything out look at ur grow area how u going to run ur lights fans water.....? know what ur going to do befor u do it.

Yup I hear you guys. Great advice. I've been reading quite a few journals, I am doing my best to make sure this time around when I get my op up that everything will be up and running accordingly. There have been a few journals that have sparked my interest which is similar to what I wanna do. I might just mimic it...

Jojodancer - I do plan to run about 4-5000 watts HPS lighting system. Probably gonna look into chillers and CO2 for the grow up also. I wanna be able to harvest a good amount every 3 weeks.

I came across this grow system the other day, anyone know why it's soo expensive as compared to the one I originally posted?

Check out this link - http://cch2o.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=39&products_id=120

this to me looks like a recirculating DWC heard them also called under current this is nothing like your first system you posted all res's are constantly full i believe and water is always moving in one direction.

drgreentm said:

this to me looks like a recirculating DWC heard them also called under current this is nothing like your first system you posted all res's are constantly full i believe and water is always moving in one direction.

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I think you're right. I am looking more into this unit and it looks like it is a DWC.

Looks like this DWC setup actually conserves alot more space than a 12 site ebb and flo I was looking at...gosh the price tag is high...

Is there a prefer method for growing? DWC vs Ebb & flo? Or is that just user preference?

mostly just user preference i used DWC for a while and liked the results in veg never used in flower though always done ebb in flower but it seemed to me in veg they grew very fast some crops over a inch a day.

I don't have experience with neither. My last grow I went aero and built my system based off of stinkbuds plans. I never made it to flowering due to poor planning and execution. However I will say, I was vegging 30 plants in my aero unit and they seemed to grow great, just like you mentioned about 1" a day.

Looks like the Under Current system is the hot system over at THC Farm, seems like all the guys over there are using this system. These things are freaking expensive, I might go with the ebb system I originally posted about, and upgrade to the UC system after my 2nd harvest probably.

How do like like the ebb system maintenance? Difficult? Thats one thing that I am worried about, maintenance on my aero systems were in a pain in the ass. Water changes were ridiculous and time consuming.