Ebb n' Gro buckets with perlite?

[Mr Celsius]

Hey, so I was looking for a mediumless hydro system that didn't require a water chiller or a lot less water so I wouldn't need a 1 horse power water chiller... but I couldn't find it, so... I was thinking ebb n' grow buckets filled with perlite instead of hydroton.

Perlite is:
1) Cheaper
2) Much more light weight
3) Completely inert

Hydroton is the opposite of all of perlite.

Now.. the concern: When you flood the buckets, are we going to see perlite spilling out of the bucket because it is so light weight? Also would the flood frequency increase or decrease... ???

Anybody?

 

[Apollo11]

Try PM'ing, 00420, he has finished may grows like the one you are aspiring to do.

 

[OgreSeeker]

That's a good question Mr.C.
PM 00420 but make sure he reports back here! We all want to hear the info to.
Anyone got an answer to this? I'd like to try straight perlite...

Anyone??

 

[1stimer]

Not ebb n grow buckets but it is all perlite.

http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=104065

 

[libby]

whe i flooded my buckets, yes, my vermcuilte floated out and even my plant had a go at floating, had to weight it down, or use a lot less (slower) flood

 

[Mr Celsius]

So top drip it is... makes sense. Bato buckets AWAY!!!! *fly's to Holland*

 

[freeradical]

If you could do ebb&grow with perlite, flood frequencies with perlite would decrease, since it holds much, much more water than hydroton. I wonder if you can flood 100% perlite if you had a lid on it like this (but with the lid on the actual bucket)...

From scoobs thread Pure Perlite Potential

 

[mikecar312]

i've been thinking about 100% perlite for a while, primarily because its lightweight. i don't use buckets but i want to get my ebb and flo trays to work with perlite because i'm tired of lifting heavy-ass hydroton.

i'm potting clones this week so i'm going to use fine perlite instead of hydroton in a few of my pots. my table floods pretty slow so i don't think it'll float out of the pots, but we'll see. i hope it doesn't leak out from the bottom holes of my pots when its draining and clog up my tubing. i'm thinking about laying down a coco mat to prevent it from coming out of the pots but i won't do it unless i need to. i'm going to use the same nute solution as the hydroton and see what happens.