Switching To ACTIVE Hydro Flood & Drain System.....Addvice? + Rep !!!

Ill be switching one of my grows from a passive Hydro drain to waste system to an Active Hydro Flood and Drain system..

My current system is a 4x4 tray with 9 3gallon smart pots and Sunshine#4/perlite as my meduim.

What i want to do is keep the 4x4 tray and the 9 3gallon smart pots but i was thinking i would ditch the sunshine mix for Hydroton LECA balls instead......I would fill the smart pots with leca and place the leca filled pots in the 4x4 tray..... Then i would add a resovoir,water pump, and airstone......

I have few questions though.......

1st, Do i need to fill the tray with leca aswell as the smart pots that are in the tray?? Or do i leave the tray empty and just fill the pots with the leca?? Does it matter?

2nd, I figure leca is alot less porous then RW or Coco so i will need to flood the tray more often. Is this correct?? and if so how often should the tray be flooded and for how long should it be flooed for....

3rd, I also heard that if using Leca i should leeve two inchs of standing water at the bottom of the tray to create a constant capillarity action.. Is this correct?? it didnt sound correct so im questioning that....

4th, My tray has 6 inch walls how many inchs high should i flood the tray?? Or does it go by how tall the smart pot is??

5th, My tray is 4'x4'x7" based on that how many gallons should my resovoir be? i was thinking maybe 35 gallons...... what do you guys think??

Im not dead set on The hydroton balls i was also thinking of coco croutons but heard they float.....I was also considering using a course perlite instead.....any seasoned Hydro guys have any good advice....Im not new to growing only new to the ACTIVE side of hydro systems and there meduims.......


Before this ive always done Sunshine Mix#4 mixed with course perlite but i know i cant use that on an active hydro because the meduim stay wet for so long.
I want something that is going to create more of an exchange of oxgen to the roots....

PLUS REP FOR ALL GOOD ADVICE!!!!

you dont need to fill the tray with hydroton, but you should keep the light from the roots and it does that ok.
the air pump and stone are are the key, if you keep the nutes saturated with air the flood times are up to you. I wouldnt fill to full I think flow is more important, let it drain they will suck up what they want.
I used to use sunshine mix, then hydro... now aero, hydroton works great.. let it soak a while and give it a good rinse before you use it

Also im wondering if i fill the tray with leca will the roots grow through the smart spot instead of what it does normally stopping the root then starting a new root??

Also i dont get what you mean by the "the flood times are up to me if i keep the nute solution saturated" I thought the flood times depended on how porous your meduim was......meaning more porous less flooding and less porous more flooding.......Am i confused on that or am i mis understanding you?

thanks for stoppin in rep to ya..........

The roots will follow the water.
When I say saturated I mean with air, the plants roots get air from the water.. if the air level is to low you will get root rot, but if it is high you cant over water. like deep water culture

canibud said:

The roots will follow the water.
When I say saturated I mean with air, the plants roots get air from the water.. if the air level is to low you will get root rot, but if it is high you cant over water. like deep water culture

Click to expand...

Ok gottcha......... Im thinking maybe a lid for the tray with cut out holes just big enugh to slide my smart pots in....... Would a lid work instead of filling the tray with hydroton? I guess i need to do a cycle and that should answer alot of my questions.

never posted in hydro section, not nearly as much traffic......Im goin post this in the Indoor section see what i get there..

panda plastic with x's cut for the pots

I flood every 4 hours for fifteen mins in straight hydroton. I have found any longer than that and your roots will dry out.

I've grown many times without filling the tray, only the individual pots. It keeps the roots in check and well oxygenated. I've also tried burying the roots in hydroton with positive results. It depends on the size of plant you wish to grow.

Hydroton is the best in my opinion, most other mediums hold too much moisture.