DWC vs. Ebb-n-Flow

I'm looking for help on deciding what type of system I want to build in my closet without having to break the bank to badly. My closet is is 6ft. x 2ft. and 6ft. tall. I have some experience using a pre-made DWC system 1 time helping out a friend, but I am wondering if maybe building and switching to an Ebb-n-Flow system might be better, or is sticking and building my own DWC more efficient? Anyone wanna help out?


1love

looking to grow 6-10 plants

Well for DWC all you need is a bucket, airpump, and airstones. And of course clay pellets, baskets, etc.

DWC is nice for the massive root oxygenation, but an air pump/power failure can kill plants.

Flood systems with plants in pots of absorbent media are a lot simpler both in construction and operation. Maintenance like tank changes can be simplified to flipping a couple of valves and turning on the pump- a cup of coffee later, you refill the tanks. Done.

DWC ops can be more productive than flood systems but the difference is fractional. I run floods with plants in pots of Fytocell in my continuous harvest op. Low maintenance & plenty productive.

Al B. Fuct said:

DWC is nice for the massive root oxygenation, but an air pump/power failure can kill plants.

Flood systems with plants in pots of absorbent media are a lot simpler both in construction and operation. Maintenance like tank changes can be simplified to flipping a couple of valves and turning on the pump- a cup of coffee later, you refill the tanks. Done.

DWC ops can be more productive than flood systems but the difference is fractional. I run floods with plants in pots of Fytocell in my continuous harvest op. Low maintenance & plenty productive.

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High gk.. you ask!!

I'm looking for help on deciding what type of system I want to build in my closet without having to break the bank to badly. My closet is is 6ft. x 2ft. and 6ft. tall. I have some experience using a pre-made DWC system 1 time helping out a friend, but I am wondering if maybe building and switching to an Ebb-n-Flow system might be better, or is sticking and building my own DWC more efficient? Anyone wanna help out?
AlB is right: 'you want your tequila with or without salt?'
I'm thinking that I run DWC because of space (I'm thinking that e&f take more room? Yes!? what do I know?). I would guess (<guess) that E&F ther is more humidity. Lucas (Ask Lucas) is an E&F guy but yet I grow DWC. WTF!

Boy am I ripped! Sorry for the rambling.^^^

Massive roots and yield DWC: I use a battery backup for the pumps....
for short outsages and for prolonged outgages, (Florida you know.) I have a generator.. Necesity (<spelled wrong, right!?) is the mother of invention.. I heard that somewhere, kinda catchy.

Yield is fantastic in DWC.. prb same as E&F..

Boy am I ripped! What were we talkin about?

ILB Bac AlB and gk.. gotta regroup.

Don't get me wrong, I love DWC for a lot of reasons, but because I'm a stoned slacker, I opted for the lazy man's method. Floods really are no brainers. I can ignore them most of the week and look in on them when I'm having a moment of energy.

Al B. Fuct said:

Don't get me wrong, I love DWC for a lot of reasons, but because I'm a stoned slacker, I opted for the lazy man's method. Floods really are no brainers. I can ignore them most of the week and look in on them when I'm having a moment of energy.

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Do you think that E&F requires more room to operate in?
^^North and South? East and West? I grow in a 2x4x6' box.

I'm kinda on slacker time myself but don't find the 5-15 minutes a day I have to do daily too much a PITA (right now!)
but one must plan ahead.. or at least look at a more simple method. Like I said, right now I use battery backups, for the pumps...
but all these things cause more heat. Fuggin heat.

Thanks for the chat. good question gt.

4maggio said:

Do you think that E&F requires more room to operate in?

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Six o'one, half-dozen of the other. I'm sure I could build an op of equal capacity in the same floorspace by either method. In either case, the res is below the plant, so no more floorspace is used either way. In the case of flood, you just buy a tray suiting the space you have.

My main preference for floods is driven by the portability within the op of plants in pots of media. You can pick them up and move them around easily for maintenance, put duds in stronger light positions, etc. Not so easy with most bucket based DWCs.

dwc is great but i keep fucking my plants up when day 45 of flower comes. my roots die off because of alge and my air stones get so dirty they wont work after about two weeks and im using foxfarm nutes so thats not the problem. most likely i believe in its better to use a hydro soil like coco in a big 30 gallon container with only one maybe two plants if you dont plan on vegging long. dont use either the ebb or dwc unless you buy calmag or magical and plz use protek its worth the money. i suggest using a coco mat under perfect pots> perfect pots are square pots used in ebb systems the coco mat will allow the roots to grow into a massive mat under the pots but you cant move them after they grow into the mats. but my friend we are talking about small trees on a table that can only hold so much weight so they table can break if they get to big and your talking about flooding your house if they fall on the res tank. N

dwc is the cheapest yet way more testy..it takes up less space but you have to have access to each bucket cause you have to check the ph each day. i am using both now and ebb and flow is easy as pie when you get your nutes right..

kingkush said:

dwc is great but i keep fucking my plants up when day 45 of flower comes. my roots die off because of alge

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Use 50% grade H2O2 at 1ml/litre of nutrient, every 3-4 days. Will fix you right up.

Blocking light to your buckets will help stop algae, too. Most plastics, even if coloured black, allow a lot of light transmission, which is none too good for roots, either. Cover the buckets up with a sheet of pandafilm.