Anyone run flooded vertical tube?

[pip313]

Has anyone actually ran a vertical flooded tube sea of green? Im a small plant count large plant guy but 2.17 grams per watt is insane. I wouldnt mind only running a bulb or two. So does anyone have any practical advice? I already read heaths thread so im looking for any new info.

http://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/149998-heaths-flooded-tube-vertical.html

 

[vangaurd]

i played with it on a small scale and it works but you MUST be committed to it for it to work well. This is no half stepping grow! you have to on it everyday pruning, checking ph, good air exchange so on and so forth. This system requires a lot of plants to hit those numbers that Heath did. The system works but it is costly to construct and like i said you must be 100% comitted to it..

 

[Airnut]

The Viking strain has been resurrected from the past.
Proberbly aint the exact strain used by heath in the flodded tubes, but its the one that comes very close to it, in my opinion.

My tip to run these setups..
Nr 1. Choose a no strechting strain. To much sativa strecht in a coligrow setup is a hazard.
-Make a clonefactory. Do at least twice the amount of clones needed, the more the marrier in order to get a good uniform canopy.
Think hardly on mounting autosetup for topping water and hold the PH in check. Either DIY or purchased items.
-If flooded, use a tankreservoir big enough to hold all the water from the pipes, if a poorly glue is used and every dam is bursting the water returns to the lowest possible place, ussually the floor, a big tank is thereby a very handy safetyfeature to have.

There is a lot of space available to the roots using the orange type PVC pipe.
If absoluty no veg is used, or max a weeks time upon the rootet cuts, it is possible to step down to a smaller tube and they will still accommodate enough room for the roots and water to pass. This can make the setup cheeper to build, but opposite seen it can then be fitet with another floor to hold even more cuts. I have done that.
Also the way of growstyle does affect the workload. If growing without cutting sidebranches off, the plant use more space sideways, holes in the tubes then demands to be further apart. But if only dicks is grown in the setup, the holes can be made closer to eachother so more plants can then be fittet into the system, but also the worktime does get higher.

 

[CannabisFox]

Umm, I also tried it and I am still proud of it. The easiest way of growing with the exception that it is hard to make a stable, simple and working construction.
I did it without dams - not a problem. Only reason for using them is too make the system secure against blackout.

 

[pip313]

Thanks guys im going to use the gasketed pipe and a res with overflow capacity so hopefully leaks wont happen. Im not building it yet so dont get excited for pics too soon.

So do you think running it with a larger res is a good idea? I plan on using 2 smaller water pumps instead of 1 in case of failure with a pc backup power supply. 4 inch pipe is the mininum im considering using, any smaller and the netpots supposedly become unstable. Also i like the idea of it being more like dwc than nft and small pipes overflow easier and that would suck.



Daily maintenance is ok by me im already doing it.

After running this system did you stop using it and if so why?

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Also i like the idea of it being more like dwc than nft

by this you mean your putting dams in, or you plan to just flood the whole damn tube?

 

[pip313]

Its designed to have dams and yes i plan on using them.

 

[CannabisFox]

After you read Heath's Thread, this is also good: http://www.420magazine.com/forums/do-yourself/130694-diy-recirculating-dwc-pvc-tube.html#post1192591
Especially failures are well described. too big pump, dams too high(or too damn high? ), etc etc ...
The wooden framework is genius.

I assure you: the dams will bring more problems then solutions. If you build them in do it exactly like Heath: Make them turnable.


edit: Btw daily maintenance is not necessary. Of course not! The system is designed to run on its self. After it is set up and the NL is dialed in you just let it grow. What can go wrong: Plants grow to different heights > some may bend over, NL runs out; yea thats basically all. Unless ofcourse you didnt set up the system correctly.


edit2: the size of the rez depends mainly on how often you want to make a new NL. I say: the bigger the better, because it is more stable(in terms of ph). Though heath suggested to refill the rez completely after 2 weeks or so due to salt build up. I play with the thought of mixing some ideas of the biobuckets into the system to avoid that.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

by this you mean your putting dams in, or you plan to just flood the whole damn tube?

Its designed to have dams and yes i plan on using them.

After you read Heath's Thread, this is also good: http://www.420magazine.com/forums/do-yourself/130694-diy-recirculating-dwc-pvc-tube.html#post1192591

After another flooding incident I removed the dams, when it flooded again because the roots grew so much it created a lot of drag.

most people seem to remove the dams after some time as they cause as much trouble as anything. Or at least thats what i read.

Theres another guy in the vert forum that has heaps of experience with these guys, i cant remember his name. (might be the architect?)

 

[pip313]

Runnin the dams upside down is the same as not using them. I know towards the end water might have to be adjusted down but i dont want a gap in the beginning.

Mistakes I noticed from that 420 thread:

Do not put plants on angles, the design is for straight up.

Silicone does not make a good seal, gasketed pipe or solvent weld only.

He installed the dams wrong, he couldn't adjust water height.

He did not fill the system nor did he use any veg time.

His plants were not the same size and you need very consistant plants in this setup.

This was his first time with the setup and still got a pound. Pretty good for making some mistakes.

 

[pip313]

His second try was 1.2 gpw or 2.67 pounds. I feel plant count is responsible for yeild not so much wattage which is why what heath got with a 600 pound wise is close to what this guy got with a 1000. So gpw wise a 600 is the better choice.

 

[CannabisFox]

Those gaskets are a hell lot of work ... After building that system a few times I am now searching for another solution. Currently thinking of just plugging the ends together and sealing them with waterproof tape or silicon(which worked well in sealing leaks in my case).

You can do a run with seeds (as heath also did btw, but different vert system) but as usual its better to get your moms and cuttings prepared in advance...

btw, might I ask when do you plan to start building?

edit: of course plant count is everything. short veg massive numbers, all shaped equally. search for posts from DHF in this forum for gathering the best advices you can find.

 

[pip313]

Did you buy the proper lube and how did you bevel the pipe? With as many pieces as this uses i would think buying the 70 dollar bevel tool would be worth it.

For me the dams have to be gasketed but do you think the rest should be slovent weld? I do not consider silicone an option.

 

[pip313]

I have 2 months before I will have the room i need to harvest a tree first.

 

[CannabisFox]

Before making a new threat I try to find some ideas here ...


I WAS THINKING .....

why are we always using those pvc-tubes (like heath)?
Instead it would be a much easier procedure to have a flexible tube, like a hose. 10meters or so just laid around (or in) the framwork, without gluing and plugging, drilling holes in it and thats it.
Could be much easier, cheaper and even safer - IF the right product could be found.

The online thing which goes barely in the direction I'm thinking of can be seen here. Material is Polyethylene.
But I cannot find some with 10cm/4inch diameter and overall I would like to discuss this with someone.......

 

[CannabisFox]

pvc
any length
metal strengthening

 

[ghostmade]

taged

 

[CannabisFox]

Give me some month' and you can tag my report ... until then I will do the theory.


Right now I am thinking ... that tube on that picture has a 3 inch diameter same thing with 2 inch gets a lot cheaper. What happens to the flooded tube is the tube is too small and the roots grow?
Overflow can become an issue. But that is mainly because heath' concept includes a certain level of water in the tubes. which then gets raised by the roots functioning as a dam themselves.

With that flexible tube I came to the idea that we dont have to have different tube-"floors" just one downward helix without dams ofc. I think that would decrease the risk of overflow massively since the water flows faster back to the reservoir.

But the question hereby is if that system would still work since it wouldnt be a DWC anymore. MAYBE: Once the roots reach a certain amount they would maybe just soak the water up functioning as a capillary simply through their mass. only question mark I have here is if the water would have enough oxygen everywhere in the system

 

[FlowerFarmer]

for whatever it's worth..

I've ran a suspended SWC stadium (fast flow) and ran into overflow issues after dense root mass was established. This was in 8" PVC, 10ft lengths with 7 plants per tube.

I didn't have adjustable overflows, but rather a 2" uniseal overflow installed at a height to keep the water level at the bottom of my net cup. I ultimately had to continuously reduce the flow, and still had spillover out of the net cups the entire grow. Perhaps I vegged too long and should have installed my spill over a little lower.


The downward helix sounds bad ass. Like a coiled spring. The discrete mobility and flexibility of a setup like this make my mind wander.

Plus you never have to worry about lack of oxygen in a fast downward waterfall.

 

[CannabisFox]

behold...... the future of growing:

^^

Plus you never have to worry about lack of oxygen in a fast downward waterfall.

I wonder about that...as far as I know water gets oxygenated when the water surface gets broke..
like it happens in a waterfall, for example just water bubbles dont oxygenate the water when they break through the surface they do.
But thats just theorie I read naturally I agree with you!



Roots really become huge. here is what one has to calculate with..

but even with the tube full of roots... I wonder if the system would still work THE SAME with reduced water flow to barely hold 'em wet end change the water in the tubes successively.



...and imagine ... what if the tubes would grow with the growing of the roots? ... Like vertical hanging tubes without hard pvc but some soft material... wonder if you could make that in helix form but I doubt that.