what system... ebb and flow or dwc???

i have grow dwc before and right now my clones are doing good in a small dwc cloner i made.... but my air pump is loud and right now its in my room but i want it in the garage but i cant let my landlord hear it. so i was thinking about doing to ebb and flow.. i think its a lot quieter then having my 600gph air pump going. do u need a air pump going to the res tho?? im ganna have an underwater fan that will help mix stuff up but would i need air pump?? maybe a small quiet one.. i will post pics of what i have right now... thinking about throwing these girls in a bigger system soon and dont know what tho

I would go with the deep water culture personally, it is alot easier to maintain, aswell as you can get some phenominal results.
Also it is alot more stealth than a ebb and flow.
Ebb and flow systems have resevoirs that need to flood and drain which in turn make alot more noise than a (bubbleponics) DWC system.
if you are trying to keep it a secret from your landlord. I would highly recommend DWC over Ebb and Flow just for the stealth and easy removal of the system (if ever necessary). It sounds like a fishtank (absolutely nothing suspicious about having a fishtank running 24/7) as opposed to the bathtub in the closet constantly filling up and draining every 15minutes..

my air pump is loud and if its inside a cabinet its ganna raise questions.... and the water pump is quieter then the air pump.. the only thing that i think would be a little loud is when the water comes out the overflow tube and drops down into the res.. but that could easily fixed by putting a hose on the overflow tube to bring it down to the bottom of res.... the water pump is real quiet...
here are the pics after i got back from store... i spray painted the containers black so you cant see through... and tomarrow after work im ganna finish setting it up and run it to see how loud it is ganna be.... ill post more pics tomorrow

I don't know why people think DWC is easier and smaller. I find it to be more cumbersome and a huge pain in the ass. If you're growing two plants in a little rubbermaid with a gang-load of lame ass CFL's I guess it's easy to maintain. Beyond that it's a kick in the nuts.

I use Ebb & Flow and I've never put an air pump in my reservoir. With proper watering it's unecessary as the roots have plenty of access to oxygen.

My setup is so simple it's disgusting when you consider my results. When my landlord tells me I have a fire sprinkler inspection or what not and I have 48 hours notice I can have my shit torn down in 15 minutes and packed in to van. I park the van in the garage and run by Ozone Generator in the garage and my shit "disappears".

I use cinder blocks to hold up my tray(s). Put them on the outside edges of the tray and put the reservoir in the middle under the tray. Simple Tray over Reservoir design with a pump in the reservoir to send the water up, then it just drains directly back to the reservoir below. Like you said, use a hose if the draining is too loud.

I use 4x4 Rockwool cubes inside 8 in netpots of hydroton. When it comes teardown time I can pick up the netpots, drain the reservoirs, pick up the trays and load all of it into the van.

I can move it all to a friends house, I can leave it in the van for a couple of days (I would have to go visit the van to give them some water.

But in an emergency or in short notice I don't have to figure out how to move one unit houseing 4 or 5 or 6 plants, AND is the reservoir without anyone noticing. It's too "permanently fixed" for my liking.

I tried DWC and it was just more of a PITA for me all the way around. I went back to Ebb & Flow and it's just way too simple for me to really think I'll ever change again.

thnx for all the info and your help....

yeah i did a dwc and it was easy and i did like it but i also want to go ahead and try a new system.... its not much easier to move then my dwc but my dwc system was only one bucket... the only thing thats diff would be instead of my air pump sitting there its a cord for my water pump...

got a question for you laser.... do i need rockwool cubes?? cuz i have my clones inside a homemade dwc cloner and i dont know how i would get my clones into a rockwool cube...?? so if i dont need them should i just place it it the hydroton or what???

here are the pics of my homemade system...

is the tube in the middle called a overflow tube.....like if i went to home depot or lowes i would be able to find it by that name

i have erything for this setup i just dont have the center flood/drain

i got mine at a hydro store so i dont know about home depot.. but you can make your own... what i have seen done before is they use just a regular tube like the blue one in my pic... but they will zip tie a section of a screen onto it... thats the easy way u can do it...

thanks dude very helpful....i did a small set up like urs.........how long do i leave water on for and so on...?

well i just got mine set up too .. never used this kinda system before so im just as new as you.. but i did my research and what they say to do is put your hydroton or whatever your grow medium is ganna be in ur setup and turn your pump on and time it... you want the pump to be on long enough for the water to start to go down the overflow tube. and note how long that took... then u have to watch and see how long it takes for it to drain back down thru the inlet tube and you want to make sure you give yourself time for the plants to take in the new air the plants got....

example..

lets say it takes 10 min to start to overflow.. so the water pump is turn on for only 10 min at a time...
lets say it takes 15 min to drain back out... so total time the plants have water would be 25 min....

then most ppl that are starting out with ebb and flow start with like 3 hours in between... but check up on the plants around hour 2 and 2 1/2... check the plants for wilting and signs of drying out to much.. if they are then just take a half hour off... so if at 2 1/2 hours they kinda look droopy then do it every 2 hours and then half hour off that if you need to....

hope this helps you.. and you have pics or ur system???? i wanna see what i inspired

i will post pictures soon also what type of timer do you have

i dont have my timer yet that one thing i have to look for is a good timer.. ill post back here if i find one ... looking online now

ok kool could use the help

Alternative thought here:

Your pump creates too much noise, so how about you get some rubber and stick it under the pump to absorb some of the noise vibrations.

If you can how about hanging the pumps from bungee cords to again absorb the vibrations.

make a box to house this noisey beast, line it with that sound barrier..(note this is extreme case and u will want to ensure that your pump doesn't get too hot from being in its cage for ever)

I have no doubt that if you truly wanted to you could elimate 95% of the noise associated with your pump.

it sounds like you aren't big time. In that case I'd say DWC, but what do I know? I do not have a resevoir. I do not have to mess with a timer on the controller, or whatever it is for ebb & flow. I have a light with a timer, an S&P fan for lights, a box fan, and two air pumps. How much easier can it get to move an op if need be? And I don't EVER have to worry about my roots drying out with the whole flood drain thing. The growth is explosive. And I hear nothing except the S&P fan...

edit: I agree with Midnight Baker. Shit, set the pump on a piece of foam! Keep a small radio on near the room if you're worried!

in the room while i have the pump in my hand holding it from the top its louder them my tv while im listining to it at a normal level... but i have thought about making a mox like you said but the heat was the question. and its ganna be in my garage that he has been to many times before and i never just have music on... and he is kinda a nosie landlord that asks about things a lot... the only reason i want it in the garage is so i can grow way bigger then im able to now ...

here is the setup i have right now.. its been a while since i posted on it .. i had to cut clones then cut them all down... they where to tall and hitting the light and burning and that was only on day 30 veg... i thought i was ganna be able to lst them ealsy but i was wrong... i have done it before but with 6 plants on the container it was harder them before but i still did it and the bottom branches where taller then the actual top even without it bent down... i dont know those branches expoded... but any ways i kinda wanted to just try a new system but i might sell it to a friend that likes it... but i dont know if i want to

It seems to me that by removing it from it's current location and placing it into the garage is an unnecessary risk that you are planning on taking. By placing it in an area where people whom do not know about your grow and you would like to keep that way...

can you afford this risk and will be ok with whatever may happen as a result?

my landlord isnt here that often but i know he will be after dec... so if i can get a grow in there and get done b4 mid jan ill be good... i have my medical license so im not worried about much... if worst he can say he dont like it he cant just kick me out.... and if he tells me he dont like it i would stop....but i know what u mean...