Heaths Flooded Tube Vertical

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forestboy

Active Member
The most inspiring set up ever!!

I'm stealing the idea and modifying it. Building a 6 tear setup, slightly wider and doubling it as a figure 8 still using only 1 res, possibly sunk into the ground. I am also gonna drill holes in the in each adjustable collar. I want to be able to slowly fill the chambers up to the collar height but then have pumps disengage untill all chambers naturally drain over a relatively short period before pumps reingage slowly filling chamber again, thus allowing roots to sit in moist air for approx half to 3/4 their life span. Bit risky maybe as power failure would kill plants in a very short space of time but I'm gonna use 2 pumps so other than a power failure I should be ok!

BTW cheers Heath
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
Oh also I am gonna use x2 600 hps attached to a light mover on rollers so as 1 light lowers the other raises and so on and so forth!
 
jigfresh

jigfresh

Well-Known Member
FYI, I run something like this setup and live where there are a lot of power outages. I found that the plants do alright even with no water for quite a while. I think I put 2 gallons through, 2 or 3 times in 24 hours and they were fine from what I could tell. I bet they could go longer too.

First time the power went out I freaked and hand watered 4 gallons every hour, for 42 fucking hours of no electricity. Guess it was good practice for having a baby with all that waking up overnight.

I loved my flooded tube setup so much. I hope you do too.
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
jigfresh said:
FYI, I run something like this setup and live where there are a lot of power outages. I found that the plants do alright even with no water for quite a while. I think I put 2 gallons through, 2 or 3 times in 24 hours and they were fine from what I could tell. I bet they could go longer too.

First time the power went out I freaked and hand watered 4 gallons every hour, for 42 fucking hours of no electricity. Guess it was good practice for having a baby with all that waking up overnight.

I loved my flooded tube setup so much. I hope you do too.
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Thanks for that feedback. That actually galvanises my theory that the plants would in fact do better if the set up could drain. Based on that I may test how long it takes to fill to colar height and set pumps to run for this period only allowing drainage at the instant the levels get to maximum height. I guess as long as the temps aren't too high the roots and innards of the tubes would remain very humid/ damp for quite a few hours. May in fact only activate timer once an hour and see how plants respond!

Cheers:lol:
 
richardhocutt

richardhocutt

Member
If the roots are costantly submerged in the water flowing through the pipes... Why dont they get root rot then? This is something that I just dont understand...
 
oceangreen

oceangreen

Well-Known Member
richardhocutt said:
If the roots are costantly submerged in the water flowing through the pipes... Why dont they get root rot then? This is something that I just dont understand...
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water temps and no they are not constantly submerged.. a timer pumps water through them at timed intervals..
 
ScoobyDoobyDoo

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
oceangreen said:
water temps and no they are not constantly submerged.. a timer pumps water through them at timed intervals..
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also the readily available oxygen in most hydro systems like rdwc and undercurrent where the roots actually do sit in water. on heaths setup the roots are sitting in water as well i believe. that is why there are dams built in. but as long as the water is oxyginated and the temps controlled than you are fine.
 
jigfresh

jigfresh

Well-Known Member
oceangreen said:
water temps and no they are not constantly submerged.. a timer pumps water through them at timed intervals..
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Like scooby said they are indeed submerged in water all the time. Its the dissolved oxygen that allows the roots to breathe, keeping water temps down is crucial.
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
jigfresh said:
Keep us posted on things. Always fun to see a new project.
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Will do man. Gonna be a while though cos my current build is cycling I don't have anymore space or time at the mo. If it aint broke don't fix it kinda thing. But I'm looking for another space cos I want to build this badly. Probably a few months away!
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
jigfresh said:
Like scooby said they are indeed submerged in water all the time. Its the dissolved oxygen that allows the roots to breathe, keeping water temps down is crucial.
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Absolutely it is! But if memory serves me well the optimal temp for plant health and max dissolved oxygen is 21 degrees. Also dissolved oxygen at this temp within water is only 2% of that which roots would be getting from the air in even a soil medium so I fail to understand how this guy is getting such good results. I don't doubt him at all but it's baffling! Defies conventional knowledge, there shouldn't be sufficient oxygen!

He states that the speed in which the water travels is how the plants are receiving sufficient oxygen and I guess this must be it i.e molecules of o2 are passing dissolved within the water at such a rate that the roots can perpetually replenish themselves from the the fast flow. This has to be the reason but I still don't fully understand cos the roots will still only be able to access a max of 2% of their requirements at any one moment!?!?!?!?
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
The other thing I was thinking is this... the collars are half way up the tube. The net pots bases are I guess about half way down the tube. This is critical initially to stop any dry zones between the plant and the root entrails. I guess he gets air in the zone within the net pot and when root growth builds many will lay on the top of the flow of water.

What I'm saying is I am sure that oxygen uptake could be greatly improved and if this is the case bear in mind the prolific yields he's getting from minimal watts, the sky is the limit!bongsmilie
 
Green Troll

Green Troll

Active Member
forestboy said:
Absolutely it is! But if memory serves me well the optimal temp for plant health and max dissolved oxygen is 21 degrees. Also dissolved oxygen at this temp within water is only 2% of that which roots would be getting from the air in even a soil medium so I fail to understand how this guy is getting such good results. I don't doubt him at all but it's baffling! Defies conventional knowledge, there shouldn't be sufficient oxygen!

He states that the speed in which the water travels is how the plants are receiving sufficient oxygen and I guess this must be it i.e molecules of o2 are passing dissolved within the water at such a rate that the roots can perpetually replenish themselves from the the fast flow. This has to be the reason but I still don't fully understand cos the roots will still only be able to access a max of 2% of their requirements at any one moment!?!?!?!?
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I am not 100% sure, but if what you are saying is right, and water holds that 2%, the fact that is flowing, that have a new 2% within seconds. So all those 2%'s are adding up to what the plant needs. I might be wrong but that is how it works in my head =) Like how you need to circulate air in your grow room for new CO2.
 
sqydro

sqydro

Active Member
the waterfall in the res creates the DO about 8 -10% anything over 15% is toxic then it is pumped round the sytem at high speed, roots thrive in it, and as for yield its because he has crammed a zillion plants round the bulb no light wasted at all, very efficiant way of growing, and obv diallage and the fact hes a wizzard plays a part lol
 
Green Troll

Green Troll

Active Member
sqydro said:
the waterfall in the res creates the DO about 8 -10% anything over 15% is toxic then it is pumped round the sytem at high speed, roots thrive in it, and as for yield its because he has crammed a zillion plants round the bulb no light wasted at all, very efficiant way of growing, and obv diallage and the fact hes a wizzard plays a part lol
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Ohhh i didnt know more than 15% was toxic. How does that work? I mean, what about bubbleponics/DWC with a mass of air rocks? I heard you cant get too much oxygen in your water.
 
sqydro

sqydro

Active Member
air stones do not add DO the best micropore air stones will create the same as a waterfall in ur res, its the aggitation of the water that gets the DO in there, ga exchange takes place at the surface as its broken, fluming and waterfall better ways of running DWC ive done both and stonless wins hands down for me, horses for courses though
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
so are the gray dams inside the pipe home made? assume so ..plastic? they are glued? silicon ? to the inside wall? are they even necessary?
 
sqydro

sqydro

Active Member
yes for this style with the veg and dwc the collars keep the level touching the net pot bottom with out them its just nft basicly
 
F

forestboy

Active Member
sqydro said:
the waterfall in the res creates the DO about 8 -10% anything over 15% is toxic then it is pumped round the sytem at high speed, roots thrive in it, and as for yield its because he has crammed a zillion plants round the bulb no light wasted at all, very efficiant way of growing, and obv diallage and the fact hes a wizzard plays a part lol
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This makes sense. Of course, the 2% figure I stated was the percentage of oxygen the plant needs in total including what the leaves take in. I'm now wondering if a figure 8 would be too much. Ie by the time the water got to the end plant it would have depleted the amound of oxygen atoms within the solution and plant growth would decline as you got to the last plants or beyond half way! Hmmmm!

Dammit, I want to do the figure 8 for the cool factor!
 
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