How often and how long to flood?

Running a 12 bucket ebb and flow system with a 50 gal res..

As some of you know who have similar systems it takes a few minutes for it to actually flood fully, so im not sure if 15 minutes is enough or if I should flood for 30 minutes because of the time it takes to flood. Also, how often should I flood? Every 3 hours? Every 4 hours? etc.. Also, what should I do during the dark period?

So in summary:
-How often? (ex: every 3 hrs or every 4hrs?
-How long? (ex: 15 minutes or 30 minutes)
-Dark period? (ex: do I flood?)

Thanks for the help..

dont flood in the dark. the rest depends on temp in room. i do 4 times in the 12 hour light period for 12 min each. first flood 15 min after light comes on and last one within an hour before dark.

So I shouldn't flood in the dark at all? Even during 12/12?

not at all in the dark. that i know for sure.

Never flood in the dark, I make sure not to at least one hour before dark. To determne how many times what state are you at. When it is a seedling not much but when it gets 5 feet tall it is a total dif situation. What stage are you at?

4x4 table, 11 three footers, 6" rockwool cubes, I flood 3 times during the lights on for 15 min a piece temp around 70. But with my old ac the temps were around 84 then I flooded them 4 times 15 min a piece as the rockwool dried quickly. Temperature plays a big role I learned and also the size of the plants. I also don't flood in the dark.

At that height I watered for 20 minutes 4 times a day starting one hour after lights on and never watered one hour before dark. With that said once it got into flower and got closer to 4 feet I went with six times a day for 30 minutes. Works for me, two hours drying is pleanty once she gets big and has more needs. Good luck.

chrishydro said:

At that height I watered for 20 minutes 4 times a day starting one hour after lights on and never watered one hour before dark. With that said once it got into flower and got closer to 4 feet I went with six times a day for 30 minutes. Works for me, two hours drying is pleanty once she gets big and has more needs. Good luck.

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Question that will help the original poster too.

What medium do you use, what are your temps like, and also you say 20 minutes is this total time as in the time it takes to flood and drain completely?

Thanks

I flood like 8 times per day i flood and keep the runoff for few minutes, total would be about 7 mins

When I ran my bucket ebb and flow system I ran it twice a day for vegetative and three times a day for flowering. As for timing you only need to go long enough to fill all the buckets; about 15 minutes.
You do not need to flood at night.

A good schedule might be something like this:

Vegetative: Flood when the lights come on and every 6 hours til they go off.
Flowering: Flood when the lights come on and every 4 hours til they go off.