Turbogarden (Ebb & Flow) vs. Econojet(not 2x2) vs. Waterfarm

[311]

Remeber the girl I chopped down on Saturday????? well check this out, she's already been curing for 2 days! She has a perfect crisp to her, and already tastes great! I can't wait till she's actually cure. If she tastes this great now, imagine in 2 weeks! Also look at the crystals on her! Also I really have to thank Bud Candy for all that(I personally think!) Oh yeah, after chopping down about 1 OZ, about 1.5 weeks ago(cause it was dry around my way), I still had a little over 2 oz's(dried) left on her! So I almost got a QP off of her! Still got my other girls in which they will start coming down slowly but surely, within the next week or 2.

 

[311]

Wat's up all. Guess wat, I wound up also gettin a 2x2 tray and 20 gallon res,and I got a Great White reflector to go with the 4x4. Can people still vote on this poll???? Someone let me know. My Cali trip comin up soon. Any of u guys from those parts??? Peace!

 

[mikecar312]

was price the only reason why you chose the great white instead of the magnum?

you said a before that you have left over 296gph pumps which you can definitely use to fill the tray. i use a maxijet 1200 (about 300gph) and it takes 8-9 minutes to fill an empty 4x4.

great buy on the botanicare equipment. i have a few 70 gal res and there is never an algae in them. i own a few trays too which i also like alot. you are the first person i've read that referred to them as flimsy. i don't know if that's the word i would use but i have definitely noticed the thickness of the plastic getting thinner from the ones i bought 3 years ago to recent ones that i've purchased.

algae and salt will build up on the tables over time though. water pools in the groove where you drilled the holes for the ebb n flow fittings and sometimes algae becomes really thick there but is easy to clean off using h2o2.

uneven support of the tray will not allow it to drain fully and cause pools of solution to settle and algae to build rapidly. remember to step up the trays on a slight slant to allow the tray to drain properly. when the trays drain properly, i can wait months before i wipe down my trays with a 20% bleach to water solution. works great for me.

 

[311]

was price the only reason why you chose the great white instead of the magnum?
Well considering the fact that the website messed up on the price. It was listed for $139 and the VERY next day I saw that they raised it to $179. These guys are really cool, and they go by what there website says. For instance, I ordered General Hydroponics tray and res, but the were discontinued, so these guys thru me a Botanicare res and tray, which actually cost about $30-$40 more, so if I want the reflective thingy, I think that runs for like $20, which means if I do buy that reflective, I paid $159 for a Magnum cause that's wat a Magnum is. A Great White with reflective interior. And a Magnum goes for $229 so yes u can say after spending $600, price does become a factor.

you said a before that you have left over 296gph pumps which you can definitely use to fill the tray. i use a maxijet 1200 (about 300gph) and it takes 8-9 minutes to fill an empty 4x4.
It took about 7 minutes to fill my tray BUT about 15 to drain. II think my Hydro guy gave me too small of a fill fitting. It's the 1/2 inch, I'm gonna go get 3/4 fitting tomorrow.

great buy on the botanicare equipment. i have a few 70 gal res and there is never an algae in them. i own a few trays too which i also like alot. you are the first person i've read that referred to them as flimsy. i don't know if that's the word i would use but i have definitely noticed the thickness of the plastic getting thinner from the ones i bought 3 years ago to recent ones that i've purchased.

algae and salt will build up on the tables over time though. water pools in the groove where you drilled the holes for the ebb n flow fittings and sometimes algae becomes really thick there but is easy to clean off using h2o2.

uneven support of the tray will not allow it to drain fully and cause pools of solution to settle and algae to build rapidly. remember to step up the trays on a slight slant to allow the tray to drain properly. when the trays drain properly, i can wait months before i wipe down my trays with a 20% bleach to water solution. works great for me.

My dilemma now is......... I bought 7.5" x 7.5" x 9.25" square pots(1.5 gallons), and I'm REALLY thinking about using Coco. Are those pots too big for the tables???? Should I get the 6" square pots instead? Or will I be fine with a pot that is 9" tall? If I am fine with those 7" pots, then I plan on doing 1 plant per square foot with those pots.

 

[mikecar312]

i believe 1/2 tubing is the most common for feeding tubes in ebb-n-flow. i don't mind using it because the fill and drain cycle is under 30 minutes.

try the coco! you can use the pots (or any pots) you bought just as long as the table floods high enough to touch the roots of your plant. you don't need to fill the whole pot with 9" of medium, you can probably try 5"-6". the upper part of the roots stay moist as long as the bottom can get water. i set my flood level to about 2-3 inches (half way up my 5.5" pot). i use to flood higher but my hydroton would sometimes float out of the pot.

here's what works for me. i'll veg my clone in a 5.5" pot 60% filled with medium (right above my flood level). i'll veg out for a few weeks to get a nice rootball. then depending on the size of the plant, i'll do one of two things a few days before flower - 1. remove the plant from the pot and add 2-3 inches more medium to the bottom of the pot and place the plant back on top. or 2. for a well veg'd plant (4+ weeks), i will transplant the plant into an 8" pot making sure the roots reach the flood.

i prefer using smaller pots cause i like the SOG style but i've flowered in 8" pots a few times and it works great for one plant per square foot. i found it best to lst, fim, top, supercrop your plants if your going one plant per square foot. when doing this style, i train my plants to have 4-6 main branches before going into flower which will become 4-6 nice colas.

 

[311]

i believe 1/2 tubing is the most common for feeding tubes in ebb-n-flow. i don't mind using it because the fill and drain cycle is under 30 minutes.
Funny u said that. I realized the other day that my hydro guy gave me a 1/4" for the flood and 1/2 for the drain. My pump has a 1/2" output thingy, which I told him, when I bought the stuff, a few weeks ago.
So when I wen to the store yesterday, I got a bunch of different tubing stuff. I got a 1" for drainage. I also got some extra stuff for drip irrigation, which I actually am dripping my tomato and pepper plants right now.
try the coco! you can use the pots (or any pots) you bought just as long as the table floods high enough to touch the roots of your plant. you don't need to fill the whole pot with 9" of medium, you can probably try 5"-6". the upper part of the roots stay moist as long as the bottom can get water. i set my flood level to about 2-3 inches (half way up my 5.5" pot). i use to flood higher but my hydroton would sometimes float out of the pot.
So when I went to the store yesterday I also got BioBizz Coco. Dude swore by it. He said it was easy. Just use right out the bag.

here's what works for me. i'll veg my clone in a 5.5" pot 60% filled with medium (right above my flood level). i'll veg out for a few weeks to get a nice rootball. then depending on the size of the plant, i'll do one of two things a few days before flower - 1. remove the plant from the pot and add 2-3 inches more medium to the bottom of the pot and place the plant back on top. or 2. for a well veg'd plant (4+ weeks), i will transplant the plant into an 8" pot making sure the roots reach the flood.

i prefer using smaller pots cause i like the SOG style but i've flowered in 8" pots a few times and it works great for one plant per square foot. i found it best to lst, fim, top, supercrop your plants if your going one plant per square foot. when doing this style, i train my plants to have 4-6 main branches before going into flower which will become 4-6 nice colas.

As I had said I am using those 7.5"(W&L) and 9"(H) square pots. I am not doin clones right now, so the next grow will be from seed to finish.

This is wat I plan on doin. Please throw ur opinion in, and let me know if what I'm thinking of doin is a good or bad idea.

I am going to put Hydroton at the bottom of my pot, until it covers past the side drainage holes(about an inch high).
Then I'm goin to fill the containers with a 50/50 mix of Coco and Hydroton. My seedling are always in Super Starter Plugs.

At first I am going to drip until the roots start reaching to where I can start flooding. How long do u think it would be before I would be safe to start flooding? Should I wait till some roots are visible at the bottom of the pot? Also how often and how long of a period of time should I drip for?

Now as u were saying, my drain is also set at 2-3". I only have 2 of those adapters b4 the actual drain adapter thingy. Now with a 9" pot, should I get another adapter to raise the drain another inch or so? I personally feel that I should.

Also as far as lst, or fim. I just don't have the time this go around. This will literally be 1 month from, now, into flowerin. Needs to be done before the end of May. I'm on a STRICT time schedule for this one. If I don't flower her in a month, then she won't be gettin flowered for a while. Might be a chance of me moving in the end of May. So she either goes as bud ready to be smoked, or still in Veg state. Feel Me? Which in that case, then I will actually probably wind up making some clones off of her. She is a DNA Genetics Sleestack sooooo, I won't mind those babies.

Now here's the last dilemma I'm gonna throw at u. I have used Dutch Master Gold for a year now. I have a shit load of different nute companies. So check this out. If u HAD TO CHOOSE(and I mean absolutely, there was no other choice) from 1 of these companies/recipes, which would it be? Now know this, and keep in mind. I have the WHOLE nute line for all the nute companies listed below. For GH I don't have Liquid Karma and AquaShield etc, but I have Floralicious Plus, and Liquid KoolBloom, FloraBlend, and FloraNectar. Then I also have other additives such as Gravity, Snow Storm Ultra, Overdrive, Bud Candy, CalMag+,Sweet(grape & berry), Fulvic Acid, Hygrozyme, along with the whole Dutch Master nutrients, that I really won't be using this grow, or just maybe for my Veggies. So as I said, just give me ur opinion, and further with an explanation, especially if it's based on facts/experience of ur own.
1)Cutting Edge Solutions
2)Supernatural Brand
3)General Hydroponics FloraNova Series
4)General Hydroponics Flora Series(3 part)

Me personally, I'm torn between Cutting Edge Solution and GH FloraNova. Wat u think? I also think I'm gonna start a poll on this question. I'll post a link in case u wouldn't mind voting.

Dude sorry for making this so long. But its good info and stuff though Thanks and Peace! 3-11, 3-3-11.

 

[311]

So here's a poll I started about 4 different nutes/recipes. Please come vote people. There will be cake and juice! CLICK ON ME!!!!!

 

[mikecar312]

i feel if you take the time to set up the drip system that you can use it through the whole grow increasing watering times as you go along. are you against that? if you really want to flood thru the grow then i would wait to see the roots come out of the holes of the pot and then flood.

i read in one of the threads that the coco will tend to leak out if you have a layer of hydroton on the bottom but i'm a straight hydroton user so i have no experience with that.

you can stack the adapters for your overflow as high as you want as long as the water does flow out of the tray.

you got a lot of nutrients on your list. i use the lucas formula and sometimes sensi a&b, but i've recently been switching to maxibloom. i really like one-part powder nutrients because they are hassle-free and very cost effective. pick any base nutrient and stick with it for a few grows. i've read that floranova is thick and might clog drip lines so you should take that into consideration.

as for additives, i use a few that are on your list. i use hygrozyme (enzyme), floralicious plus (humic & vitamins) and pro-silicate (silica) with all my reservoir changes. i think i find everything i need from these three additives. i use pure flowers as a bloom booster and kool bloom powder for ripening. i spray with nitrozyme in veg and first few weeks of flower.

 

[311]

i feel if you take the time to set up the drip system that you can use it through the whole grow increasing watering times as you go along. are you against that? if you really want to flood thru the grow then i would wait to see the roots come out of the holes of the pot and then flood.

i read in one of the threads that the coco will tend to leak out if you have a layer of hydroton on the bottom but i'm a straight hydroton user so i have no experience with that.

you can stack the adapters for your overflow as high as you want as long as the water does flow out of the tray.

you got a lot of nutrients on your list. i use the lucas formula and sometimes sensi a&b, but i've recently been switching to maxibloom. i really like one-part powder nutrients because they are hassle-free and very cost effective. pick any base nutrient and stick with it for a few grows. i've read that floranova is thick and might clog drip lines so you should take that into consideration.

as for additives, i use a few that are on your list. i use hygrozyme (enzyme), floralicious plus (humic & vitamins) and pro-silicate (silica) with all my reservoir changes. i think i find everything i need from these three additives. i use pure flowers as a bloom booster and kool bloom powder for ripening. i spray with nitrozyme in veg and first few weeks of flower.

Thanks for the info bro. Yeah, It'll have to be the Cutting Edge Solution for a drip method. I'm going away for 2 weeks, I hope that that wouldn't be a problem, figure E&F would be easier this go around. I do wanna drip eventually. I wanna try Aero. There's a whole world to explore. LOL!

 

[captain.koons]

I vote for DIY ebb and flow tables.

 

[NicholasSmokes]

311- Is the Econojet 4x4 really 4x4? The pictures all seem to show the reservoir extending beyond the table. (Botanicare website kinda sucks and does not have this info.)

 

[311]

311- Is the Econojet 4x4 really 4x4? The pictures all seem to show the reservoir extending beyond the table. (Botanicare website kinda sucks and does not have this info.)

NYC huh?????? U from around my old parts????? Ummm as far as the 4x4 being 4x4......... The inside of the tray is 48", but with the lip of the tray, it comes out to like 55". I thought it was 48" and when I got to the place to get it with a station wagon, that I had measured out to make sure it would fit(had it been 48"). The SW was about 53-54". So needles to say, it was short by a hair, so I had to tie this huge tray, and cover it with a king size blanket, so people wouldn't catch on that I was driving a Bob Marley stickered SW with a 4x4 Botanicare Tray on top. As far the pics show the res being extended....... That's just the front part of the res bro. I've noticed most companies do this. They make a res to match each size table, and it's made so that ur tray can rest easily on ur res. SO what ur see is not a res that is bigger than the tray, but rather a small res, that is positioned perfectly to help hold up ur tray. If u don't understand what I mean, let me know, and I'll post some pics to explain better. Hope that helps.