ebb flow system questions N00By

Lt. Dan said:

I read a couple of posts up that you have decided to go with coco but, if you're still interested in Flood and Drain, here's a few links to the setups that I copied.
I'm on my first grow and it's a DIY Flood and Drain under a 600w HID using Dyna-Gro nutes.
Homebrewer's grows:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/395741-testing-beneficial-bacteria-ebb-flow.html
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/358562-dyna-gro-vs-general-hydroponics.html
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/346767-purple-urkle-looking-1-gram.html
Dadio161's grow:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/372572-dadios-flood-drain-closet.html

Cheers, and good luck with your grow!

Click to expand...

....dude youre freaking kidding me right?!?!
homebrewer is a P.R.O. grower. you cant show someone whos brand new to growing homebrewers grows and think that thats a good idea. wow, homebrewer has the absolute basics on nutrients and plant health absolutely perfect which isnt bad for someone whos new, but homebrewer makes it clear on all of those grows that without being a serious expert... then none of those nutrients or suppliments is really going to make much of a difference.

these people are absolutely experts who know everything they need to and i myself couldnt get as good of buds as homebrewer, the guy doesnt have a green thumb hes got a whole green hand.

(edit:definately dont look at his 1gram per watt grow and think thats something that everyone actually gets. im lucky when i get .74g/watt)

dgaf757 said:

....dude youre freaking kidding me right?!?!
homebrewer is a P.R.O. grower. you cant show someone whos brand new to growing homebrewers grows and think that thats a good idea. wow, homebrewer has the absolute basics on nutrients and plant health absolutely perfect which isnt bad for someone whos new, but homebrewer makes it clear on all of those grows that without being a serious expert... then none of those nutrients or suppliments is really going to make much of a difference.

these people are absolutely experts who know everything they need to and i myself couldnt get as good of buds as homebrewer, the guy doesnt have a green thumb hes got a whole green hand.

(edit:definately dont look at his 1gram per watt grow and think thats something that everyone actually gets. im lucky when i get .74g/watt)

Click to expand...

........Dude, I wouldn't kid you, would I?
Yeah, homebrewer is an excellent grower and has offered me great advice on my first grow. I'm not going to get the yield he gets but, that's not his fault.
Before he started helping me, I had made a couple of bad decisions. I planted 3 different strains without thinking about how each one would grow (height, flowering time, etc.) MY BAD!
The OP asked about ebb&flow and I thought he might be interested in what can be done with a simple Flood and Drain system.
My first grow is about 2-3 weeks from being done and they are looking very nice. Not as green as HB's this far into flower but, it's still looking nice.

What about Dadio161?

Didn't mean to freak anybody out!

Cheers, and good luck with all your future grows.

some good points made. I guess I would reinforce the notion that beginners always get seduced by all these fancy ass techniques that are going to just cause explosive growth, massive buds, life long wealth, etc, etc, etc. If you don't know how to read a plant and give it what it needs, your not going to do well no matter what system you use. Ebb and flow rocks. its easy, cheap, great results, and resilient to errors.

Thanks dgaf, i really hope that guy dont ban you just over a thing like that and my tent is gonna be 2meters tall and i'm planning on fitting 6x 11litre pots in my tent which is 1.2x1.2m so the space should be fine =D and i'm def gonna be sticking with coco.

Thanks for helping me with all my questions mate.

Also, thanks Dan for your input on the dwc system. I was considering that before but i'm just gonna be sticking with coco coir

yeah man, you should be able to grow 6 awesome plants in a tent that size. serious seeds ak-47, tga vortex, and greenhouse/big buddha cheese are all generally the same size (height and width) as well as their flowering times are quite close together too. i would suspect that youll harvest cheese first but i cant wait to see how it goes.

once youre up and running, you should start a journal on your grow. since ive never grown ak-47 id really like to see how they do. and if you start a journal youll have tons of help along the way.

maan i wish i had a tent your size and with your set up. i mean i have a decent set up but with a set up like yours i think youll pull some really nice yields.


Lt. Dan : I know that Hb is a serious what id call a professional grower. ive seen so many new growers get suckered into buying big expensive hydro systems by showing others a grow by someone that id call a professional. so i get kinda defensive when people post these "super grows" to people who are new. i had it done to me on my second grow and it was wasted money, and i found out afterward that the dude who posted it was actually the business owner who wanted to drum up business, so my bad i got kinda irritated

on the thing about keeping in mind what strains you grow and how they should be about the same... thats usually something to keep in mind but in coco or peat you can keep a bigger diversity because you can feed each plant independently, but in an ebb & flow they all have to have pretty much the same height, temps, and EC because youre feeding them outta the same res. (usually HB has multiple res.)

i hope you get a good harvest.

It's all Good, I took No Offense from it, but was kinda' wondering......... What's That All About?

I jumped the gun when I was researching equipment....... I read about cfl's and bought some. read about T5HO for clone area and bought some.......etc. etc. So, I understand how your experience may cause you to become irritated.
If I had read more before I started buying, I could've saved myself some cash..........Oh Well, live and learn.

The cool thing about HB is he uses mixing tubs from Lowes for his Flood Tables and his rez's. and still kick it in the a**

I'll definitely be doing a grow journal on my grow but it wont be anytime soon :'( since i'm waiting for my mate to get his flat and sort it all out but once thats done. The fun starts!!!

Lt. Dan said:

The cool thing about HB is he uses mixing tubs from Lowes for his Flood Tables and his rez's. and still kick it in the a**

Click to expand...

I have three separate ebb and flood set-ups and the only thing in the entire system that I didn't buy at lowes or some other hardware store were the three fill/drain bulkheads. The commercial flood tables are about the biggest fucking rip off ever. With wood and a plastic tarp you can build any size table you want in a couple hours for about $30.

wavey:haha thats odd that i read that tonight, because earlier today my boys girl (he died a few months ago) came by and asked me that if she rented an apartment in her name and she just put some sinple furn. in there would i set up a grow for her and teach her so she can make enough income to support her and her new baby. so i completely feel ya on trying to get everything sorted out and set up esp. since you gotta rely on someone else. def. send me a message when yuo get the journal up and runnin man.

Lt. Dan:yeah people really will push you to jump the gun a lot of the time. but hey those T5's are a very valuable tool when youre vegging your plants, or when youre flowering a sativa dom or 100% sativa because they can be like 2 inches from the plant tops so you have more space, less heat, and the plants dont stretch as much because the lights are so close to them. i use 260watts of cfl's in flowering... it may just be me but i think they add a little more punch in the resin content and color of the plant/buds. (edit: if yu turn the T5's sideways on the back of your growing plants youll get more developed undergrowth and the same goes for hanging cfl's down as low as you can as well as small hps systems. thats what i do with 85w cfls and 70w hps's.)

Legallyflying n everybody else: those mixing tubs the HB has were cheap and i didnt notice that until i bought a new flood table. its 2'x4' for $50 but i only got it because i couldnt figure out how to get a plastic tub to completely drain all the excess water out of the bottom. it created a thin layer of sludge on the bottom which is why i quit using them. also because i needed exactly 2'x4' growing space. but if any of yall know how to construct on that wont break and leak... please send me a link or some rough guidlines on how to make one. i do a lot of automotive collision work and boat work so i made one out of fiberglass but it had that horrible fiberglass smell and it really made my plants sick. i have to either buy or make another 2'x4' flood tray but the height is a serious issue for me. i literally need EVERY single inch i can get. the strain ive been working on is a tall lanky strain and to perfect it i need to have another flowering room and i only have 26-29 inches of total growth i can get before they burn on my lights.

Yo dgaf. You jsut need to put a little slope into in. 1/4 inch per foot is just fine. I built mine out of plywood with 2x4 legs. I originally used a tarp (like from harbor freight) and installed a drain valve using silicone to ensure it was sealed. If you want to make a super durable one, then go get some polyvinvle shower pan liner from HD. Its super thick and rubber like but its not the cheapest thing around. Just use that instead of the tarp. I always put at least 3" of hydroton in the bottom of my tray to keep sludge and hot roots at bay. Well, I used to, but now I use a bucket based system.

pic of one of my flood tables.

legallyflying said:

Yo dgaf. You jsut need to put a little slope into in. 1/4 inch per foot is just fine. I built mine out of plywood with 2x4 legs. I originally used a tarp (like from harbor freight) and installed a drain valve using silicone to ensure it was sealed. If you want to make a super durable one, then go get some polyvinvle shower pan liner from HD. Its super thick and rubber like but its not the cheapest thing around. Just use that instead of the tarp. I always put at least 3" of hydroton in the bottom of my tray to keep sludge and hot roots at bay. Well, I used to, but now I use a bucket based system.

Click to expand...

Ohhh I see what ya mean. That set up along with the on Lt. Dan sent me look like they work perfectally, but i guess its my situation is what makes it hard to do because i have to be under 15'' in height, 2'x4', and its gotta be portable because if i need to disassemble it, i gotta do it fast. and i gotta make sure that its really sturdy so it doesnt leak. ive seen a professional manufactured set up leak at the grommets and it was a real horror story.

im definately going to use all this info and figure out a good set up. im hoping to be moving out to norcal within a couple months too so its gotta be something i can bring with me

(edith and mann, if i had an entire room to dedicate to it id be building that tomorrow morning... but im in a 2'x4'x5'.8''tall grow tent. and that tent is inside a 3.5'x5'x12'tall closet. n i also have a veg area in that closet too. so i guess i need the most simple to make, to clean, to use because i dont have too much room to move around in there but im definately gunna take what you showed me and incorperate it into a couple other ideas i had too. thanks man!)