Hey fellow growers,
I just finished reading this entire thread and garnered a ton of info. I have the CAP Ebb and Flow Monster system and am in my sixth week of flower. It is my first grow in this system and I love it. I have had zero overflows,leaks or controller problems. I have either been lucky or maybe CAP has fixed some of the issues,not sure which. I have run the system as built for the most part. I will summarize the few things I did outside of CAP's recommendations in addition to how and what I am growing.
I put metal hose clamps on ALL hose connections.
I had a small bucket of hot water at my side while installing grommets and hoses and dipped each grommet and hose end prior to installing grommets on buckets and hose ends onto hose barb elbows,tee's etc.,it made installation a piece of cake. I did in fact have two grommets leak ever so slightly for a day and then they stopped leaking and haven't lost a drop since.
I have an eight inch disk air stone in my reservoir powered by a 20 amp air pump.
I took 1-1/2 inch PVC cut into 2 inch pieces and through them in each outer bucket before installing the inner bucket. This raises the inner bucket so theoretically roots aren't sitting in water 24/7. This recommendation came from a video I saw that was made by the STG guys. I don't think this is as big of an issue as has been discussed because the water isn't stagnant because it gets changed every time you have a fill cycle. I have never once lifted the buckets up so I have no idea whether or not roots are going into the lines or not. The reason I went with the Monster setup was my "consultant" who runs three 60 site E&G systems told me that the smaller buckets are too small and if I ran them I would occasionally have roots clogging the lines,not because of the size of the buckets necessarily but because of the 1/2 inch lines.
I grew my plants from seed in 4 inch rockwool cubes and put them in the E&G system when they were about 4 inches tall.I am using rockwool croutons as a medium and I intend to keep using them,they have worked flawlessly and I like the idea of tossing them when done instead of cleaning hydroton. I bought a huge box of them at my grow shop for 90 bucks and didn't even use half the box for six five gallon buckets,one plant turned out to be a hermie so it was sacrificed obviously.
Run 4 fill cycles for 15 minutes daytime only,so every three hours during flower and every six during veg.
I am running a modified regimen of Advanced Nutrients Grand Master line minus the bennys because I am running sterile with H2O2 and also CalMag. I will post my exact nutrient mixtures if anyone wants to see it,it was written out for me by a commercial grower and growing consultant with many years of experience.
I keep my PPM's at 1000 and my PH at 5.8 or thereabouts. I was having to bring the PH down every couple days. I was told it was from the H2O2 usage,it raises PH. I am now running the AN PH Perfect base nutrients it buffers it right within 5.6-5.8 and have not had to PH down since,pretty amazing stuff.
I am running 2X 1000W HPS on five monster plants,they are Moby Dick by DinaFem and can't wait to see the yield,not the best way to maximize my light usage I know,but it was just something that happened to go this way. I am vegging on a table twelve Juicy Chronic to go in the E&G system once I chop these giants.
I keep my reservoir chilled to 62-69 degrees,this is absolutely critical in my opinion. If I couldn't chill my water I wouldn't bother growing as it invites too many problems and I don't like problems. My chiller was sitting in my grow room before I purchased my lights. I know many successful growers that grow with water temps outside of these parameters and I can honestly say every single one of them has had issues that I have never had even once so far.
Flush with Clearex every two weeks with 2 gallons by hand per bucket from the top to waste and then with plain water,also from the top. Refill res with nutes and I am done. I have had no lockout issues and my plants look spectacular.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to veg for much longer than I normally would,about six weeks,I am at week six of lower and my plants are seven foot monsters.
I will post anything else that I might have missed but right now I need to go check up on my ladies.
I just finished reading this entire thread and garnered a ton of info. I have the CAP Ebb and Flow Monster system and am in my sixth week of flower. It is my first grow in this system and I love it. I have had zero overflows,leaks or controller problems. I have either been lucky or maybe CAP has fixed some of the issues,not sure which. I have run the system as built for the most part. I will summarize the few things I did outside of CAP's recommendations in addition to how and what I am growing.
I put metal hose clamps on ALL hose connections.
I had a small bucket of hot water at my side while installing grommets and hoses and dipped each grommet and hose end prior to installing grommets on buckets and hose ends onto hose barb elbows,tee's etc.,it made installation a piece of cake. I did in fact have two grommets leak ever so slightly for a day and then they stopped leaking and haven't lost a drop since.
I have an eight inch disk air stone in my reservoir powered by a 20 amp air pump.
I took 1-1/2 inch PVC cut into 2 inch pieces and through them in each outer bucket before installing the inner bucket. This raises the inner bucket so theoretically roots aren't sitting in water 24/7. This recommendation came from a video I saw that was made by the STG guys. I don't think this is as big of an issue as has been discussed because the water isn't stagnant because it gets changed every time you have a fill cycle. I have never once lifted the buckets up so I have no idea whether or not roots are going into the lines or not. The reason I went with the Monster setup was my "consultant" who runs three 60 site E&G systems told me that the smaller buckets are too small and if I ran them I would occasionally have roots clogging the lines,not because of the size of the buckets necessarily but because of the 1/2 inch lines.
I grew my plants from seed in 4 inch rockwool cubes and put them in the E&G system when they were about 4 inches tall.I am using rockwool croutons as a medium and I intend to keep using them,they have worked flawlessly and I like the idea of tossing them when done instead of cleaning hydroton. I bought a huge box of them at my grow shop for 90 bucks and didn't even use half the box for six five gallon buckets,one plant turned out to be a hermie so it was sacrificed obviously.
Run 4 fill cycles for 15 minutes daytime only,so every three hours during flower and every six during veg.
I am running a modified regimen of Advanced Nutrients Grand Master line minus the bennys because I am running sterile with H2O2 and also CalMag. I will post my exact nutrient mixtures if anyone wants to see it,it was written out for me by a commercial grower and growing consultant with many years of experience.
I keep my PPM's at 1000 and my PH at 5.8 or thereabouts. I was having to bring the PH down every couple days. I was told it was from the H2O2 usage,it raises PH. I am now running the AN PH Perfect base nutrients it buffers it right within 5.6-5.8 and have not had to PH down since,pretty amazing stuff.
I am running 2X 1000W HPS on five monster plants,they are Moby Dick by DinaFem and can't wait to see the yield,not the best way to maximize my light usage I know,but it was just something that happened to go this way. I am vegging on a table twelve Juicy Chronic to go in the E&G system once I chop these giants.
I keep my reservoir chilled to 62-69 degrees,this is absolutely critical in my opinion. If I couldn't chill my water I wouldn't bother growing as it invites too many problems and I don't like problems. My chiller was sitting in my grow room before I purchased my lights. I know many successful growers that grow with water temps outside of these parameters and I can honestly say every single one of them has had issues that I have never had even once so far.
Flush with Clearex every two weeks with 2 gallons by hand per bucket from the top to waste and then with plain water,also from the top. Refill res with nutes and I am done. I have had no lockout issues and my plants look spectacular.
Due to circumstances beyond my control I had to veg for much longer than I normally would,about six weeks,I am at week six of lower and my plants are seven foot monsters.
I will post anything else that I might have missed but right now I need to go check up on my ladies.
