For All Cap Ebb and Grow Users

morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
Big Fatty said:
supplementing mag/cal is realy dependant on your nutes... If your nutes are designed for RO then it's not needed howerver most do anyways causing lockout and then they assume they have a deficiency. I use Aqua Flakes and you can really only use mag/cal at 1/2 strength or it will lockout... sorry about the spelling.. alarm going off! gotta go
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i disagree, these plants require tons of calcium and even more magnesium, it would be very hard to cause a lockout from calcium. it is some strains that require extra calcium like my PK, anything less than full strength is no good. now you say lockout, but lock what out? what would higher amounts of cal/mag lockout? elevated amounts of phosphorous will lockout the calcium but i havent heard or read on it the other way around. 9 of 10 nutrient companies make nutes geared toward R/O water thus having a cal.mag supplement in your arsenal is always good, infact too much calcium and or magnesium wont lock anything out it would only become toxic and like i said it would take insane amounts of either to become toxic, high amounts of these 2 are more beneficial than not....in hydro people can lock out calcium if water PH is strictly kept under 6.0, some people are so strict that thier water never sees anything over 5.8 and thats not so good, calcium in hydro is best absorbed at ph's of 6.0-6.5 so this is something that needs to be taken into account. i said that phosphorous will lockout calcium, this usually occurs when running a high phosporous bloom booster in a hydro setup where there is no microbial activity, the higher P levels feed the mocrobial life, therefore this is good when running soil or organics or nutes that have been made with kelps and guanos and such, since there is nothing in the media or substrate or water to counteract the extra phosphorous, this will directly lockout calcium. now if you use fox farms beastie bloomz which is 0-50-30 at full strength with no type of microbes in your water and use this stuff for a long flower period you will get calcium lockout, but i dont know anyone who uses bloom boosters like that at full strength for long periods of time. i know fatman is good with water chemistry and i dont know if he would concur with me, but i got this info from a friend who has a PHD in botany on another forum. info like this is gold especially when running different growing types with certain nutrients
 
BeginnersLuck

BeginnersLuck

Active Member
E&G growers; I have a pretty simple question I am over-analyzing I think. My PH in my res will be say 5.76, in my controller bucket it is 6.13, if I test the water in a bucket during a flood its say 6.35. Is this right? I am affraid that my plants rarely get nutes that are in the 5.3-5.6 range cause the runoff is so high that it immedietley dilutes the nutes.

I use RO water PPMs start about 6 and PH is around 4.95 out of the jugs.

So I try to keep my res during veg from 5.5-5.9 ish. But I affraid that the nutes in the buckets is actually 6.0 when I have a res reading of 5.39... make any sense? Whats the experiences? PPMs from Bucket to control to res are all about consistent.

Thanks

BL
 
researchkitty

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
BeginnersLuck said:
E&G growers; I have a pretty simple question I am over-analyzing I think. My PH in my res will be say 5.76, in my controller bucket it is 6.13, if I test the water in a bucket during a flood its say 6.35. Is this right? I am affraid that my plants rarely get nutes that are in the 5.3-5.6 range cause the runoff is so high that it immedietley dilutes the nutes.

I use RO water PPMs start about 6 and PH is around 4.95 out of the jugs.

So I try to keep my res during veg from 5.5-5.9 ish. But I affraid that the nutes in the buckets is actually 6.0 when I have a res reading of 5.39... make any sense? Whats the experiences? PPMs from Bucket to control to res are all about consistent.

Thanks

BL
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I understand exactly what you mean. You get more buildup (thus higher ph and a higher ppm) in your controller bucket since that's where all that gunk builds up. The pump filters most of it out of the water to the reservoir bucket, so it all just stays in the lines and the buckets and control buckets.

The reason the water DURING the flood is a higher pH than both in total, is that you cant test the pH of water while its being poured on the tester meter. It would be more accurate to put the pH meter in the first bucket from the controller, as thats fairly steady water (while still rising) and will give you an accurate reading.

On the pH # part, 5.6-6.4 is a fine range, let it fluctuate a little bit. Plants take in different nutrients at these ranges in different quantities, so the flux is good. :)
 
scooby83

scooby83

Well-Known Member
hi ive done 1full grow with the 24 pot system the only problem i had was the roots growing into pipes and a little root rot in the last weeks
i only got 54 oz of the 24

i have invested in a co2 system now so might be a little better this time
how many 600w lights would you recammend of 24
im trying to use 8 600w hps in cooltubes but cant keep it below 32 degrees c
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
people are getting lazy, what used to happen was, a thread was started something like a FAQ like this one on CAP system, so if you went out and picked up a cap system and found this thread you can thumb through it and you will have all your answer before you put your system together, so what i am saying is, before you make a post about your Ebb and Grow system, try checking out this thread from the beginning, me and several other basically answered every single question and problem that you can ever have with this system, so in regard to my friend with the PH flux. flush once every month and you wont have any issues, like i said about 4 posts up, this system has so much surface area between the doubled up pots, res, controller and hoses that nutrient salt biulds get so out of hand that will throw off your readings
 
BeginnersLuck

BeginnersLuck

Active Member
morrisgreenberg said:
people are getting lazy, what used to happen was, a thread was started something like a FAQ like this one on CAP system, so if you went out and picked up a cap system and found this thread you can thumb through it and you will have all your answer before you put your system together, so what i am saying is, before you make a post about your Ebb and Grow system, try checking out this thread from the beginning, me and several other basically answered every single question and problem that you can ever have with this system, so in regard to my friend with the PH flux. flush once every month and you wont have any issues, like i said about 4 posts up, this system has so much surface area between the doubled up pots, res, controller and hoses that nutrient salt biulds get so out of hand that will throw off your readings
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Dont be a fucking forum nazi
 
BeginnersLuck

BeginnersLuck

Active Member
researchkitty said:
I understand exactly what you mean. You get more buildup (thus higher ph and a higher ppm) in your controller bucket since that's where all that gunk builds up. The pump filters most of it out of the water to the reservoir bucket, so it all just stays in the lines and the buckets and control buckets.

The reason the water DURING the flood is a higher pH than both in total, is that you cant test the pH of water while its being poured on the tester meter. It would be more accurate to put the pH meter in the first bucket from the controller, as thats fairly steady water (while still rising) and will give you an accurate reading.

On the pH # part, 5.6-6.4 is a fine range, let it fluctuate a little bit. Plants take in different nutrients at these ranges in different quantities, so the flux is good. :)
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Sounds good its what I do. Set it at like 5.3 (res) during veg and let it drift as high as 6.1, 5.6-6.3 during flowering. Just seems odd that they are soo off.. I am good with this though..

Thanks RK

BL
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
First off, I am building custom Ebb & gro's. 5 gallon buckets, 3/4 inch lines. 2 hookups per bucket.

I have been actively hunting these damn float switches. Anyone know a good place to get them that are like $5-6 dollars? I need like 50 of them. Ebay is okay but I need a reliable place.

Also, Any ideas for a 240 gallon res that can fit through a door? hahaha
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
billybob88 said:
First off, I am building custom Ebb & gro's. 5 gallon buckets, 3/4 inch lines. 2 hookups per bucket.

I have been actively hunting these damn float switches. Anyone know a good place to get them that are like $5-6 dollars? I need like 50 of them. Ebay is okay but I need a reliable place.

Also, Any ideas for a 240 gallon res that can fit through a door? hahaha
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http://www.aquahub.com/store/ifloatfloatswitch.html#

Also check out the do-it yourself link. The res ur gonna have to hook up in tandem !
 
scooby83

scooby83

Well-Known Member
scooby83 said:
hi ive done 1full grow with the 24 pot system the only problem i had was the roots growing into pipes and a little root rot in the last weeks
i only got 54 oz of the 24

i have invested in a co2 system now so might be a little better this time
how many 600w lights would you recammend of 24
im trying to use 8 600w hps in cooltubes but cant keep it below 32 degrees c
Click to expand...
bump bump ????
 
researchkitty

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
For 24 plant sites I'd recommend 4 600w lamps and a 3 week veg time. Better yet, 4 1000w lamps and a 2 week veg time. If your temps are a problem, tell us about how your air circulation works. I bet you need a cold air intake or a better exhaust.

On the pH note to the other guy: 5.3 is too low. 5.6 is where you should set it to and let it get to 6.3-6.4 that's all.
 
scooby83

scooby83

Well-Known Member
researchkitty said:
For 24 plant sites I'd recommend 4 600w lamps and a 3 week veg time. Better yet, 4 1000w lamps and a 2 week veg time. If your temps are a problem, tell us about how your air circulation works. I bet you need a cold air intake or a better exhaust.

On the pH note to the other guy: 5.3 is too low. 5.6 is where you should set it to and let it get to 6.3-6.4 that's all.
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the room is 20m3 2.6mx3.6mx2.2m
my set up is as follows

4x duel cool tubes (2x600w hps bulbs per tube)
2x rvk L2 fans 950m3 pulling air through tubes from a walk in closet with vents to out side
1x 1500m3 acustic box fan with carbon filter pull air to loft space
1x 1250m3 fan bringing air into the room
1x unis co2 controler with co2 bottle
5x ocilating fans
1x unis fan speed controller

i have the extractor up high and the intake at the other end down low so its pulled across the plants im strugling to have more then 4 lights on because of the heat im going to put an air con just before where the air in is so it bringing cooler air in to the grow space
 
patlpp

patlpp

New Member
billybob88 said:
I get my timers through them. But I dont want to pay 500$ for 50 float switches. Thats kinda outrageous.

Think rigging 4 55 gallon drums together will work?
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Your buying in quantity so 50 would be $294. ($5.84 each) just as you asked. You might even call them up and negotiate an even better price. It's all business.
 
researchkitty

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
AquaHubs pricing is meant for individual or a few at a time sales. I'd agree with patlpp that there's got to be a fairly nice quantity discount for 50 switches.
 
dtp5150

dtp5150

Well-Known Member
anyone actually build an aquahub kit? I have two, I was thinking maybe I'll try it tonight, heh....

also CAP does have a good warranty, but you dont get an interim replacement, so ur crop ( or your life ) is harmed if the controller break u gotta manually flood and drain it.

So, I do recommend everyone buy or make a spare controller bucket! flood/drain 3 times per day manually is a pain, and probably will end up with some kind of user error and flood your grow room hehe it happens!

also I recommend not messing with the system too much once you set it up. At one time I was doing some kind of perpetual harvest, taking out and adding plants. it was working fine but every once in a while there was a hose that came off a little and leaked, and I even had two buckets crack. so, u should really set the pots and not move them around much or take on/off the connectors much.

also I wondered why they included a few clamps when those hoses and barbed connectors worked so well :)

Once I awoke to nearly empty res and wet garage to find the drain pump had ( after testing during the day ) pushed the hose off the controller bucket so I guess there was a 10 minute fountain in my garage some time during the night ( i could see water spots on the wall ) I finally found out what those clamps are for.
 
billybob88

billybob88

Well-Known Member
I talked to the manager of aquahub, He quoted me at 8.99 for 25+. And 7.99 for 50+. Still 400 dollars w/o shipping for 50 switches! Is it just me or does that seem like alot for some plastic and wires...




But about the res situation. I'm trying to fill 24 5 gal. buckets. So I figure I need 200 Gal solid.

I figure my options are building a box with wood and then lining it with a pond liner, or linking 4 55 gallon drums. I think the drums are the easiest and most efficient way to go.
AnyIdeas?!!
 
JeffersonBud

JeffersonBud

Active Member
I Think 150 gallons will suit you very well. Your not going to fill the 5 gals all the way with water because of the medium and plant material. If you did, you would need 120 gallons and they would most likely drink 5-10 at the most so you would never touch 150 gallons total.
 
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