DIY Ebb and Flow $50! Instructions step by step

[HAPPYTREE]

Great tutorial LK. Its awesome to see yoU step to the hydro and already bustn out the diy E/f. Again great job of explaining everything and the pix accompany the directions nicely.Great setup to get you rollin for cheap.

My beans finally arrived.YAH YAH

HT

 

[Levitikuz]

Thanks alot HT, glad to hear your seeds came! Oh your gonna love Sadhu!!
Good luck with em!

 

[Guest]

great tutorial! how often do you flood with your hydroton? (what's your schedule)

 

[Levitikuz]

In these systems i flood every 2 hours 15 minutes each flood.

they seem to perfer this over every 3 hours, as how i had it before.

 

[Guest]

Good stuff!

On your drains/mesh.

I don't know how much experience you've had with ebb and flow but I grow roots sometimes seen em over a metre and a half in ebb and flow. Out the tub down the pipe and round the corner, into the res...

One time my roots were so thick the drain (13 mm) drained faster that the water could get out of the root mass in the tub, and subsequenttly screwed up the auto siphon making it cycle in ever decreasing circles (and increasing water levels)

Don't get me wrong I like it! Love it in fact. It's very timely considering I'm hellbent to get some DIY ebb n flow weed going.

If you do have drainage issues come visit organic hydro and I'll teach you the auto siphon and standpipe trick.

Here's an ebb and flow bed with a tomato..

 

[Levitikuz]

Damn thats a huge plant!
I see how that could screw things, hopefully my roots dont get to big, im not planing on growing these to big tho!
Thanks for the heads up man.

 

[Guest]

Glad you like it just sharing the love. That toms aquaponic, feeds off the nutes produced from my ponds waste.

The DIY Linkorama is in my favourites, an awesome resource and you deserve to be there.

Please keep us updated how these go, I'll be watching and cheering on the team. And will link ya as soon as I'm away with my DIY ebb n flow.

 

[Levitikuz]

My grow with these tables is in a grow journal, so ill keep its updated there, so far these babies are loving this system....and i like it alot more then my dwc and aeroponics i had goin...
There is a DIY section this should be in? sorry if i posted this in the wrong place...hopefully it wont get deleted, can it be moved?

 

[Guest]

Nono, you are already in the DIY Linkorama, scroll back through the thread you'll find it in a signature link. This is a great place for this thread. I'll find the grow journal, and thanks again for input I've told a few boys about this design already and they all like it.

 

[Levitikuz]

Ahh i see, no problem man, if you got any questions about it feel free to ask or pm me.

later man

 

[In Vino Veritas]

Why aren't you using regular ebb/flow fill-drain plugs? They are like 1.99 for the set at the most expensive of hydro outfits.

This is awesome, wish they made these tubs bigger.. Or at the very least made those cheap-o blue kiddie pools square or rectangle.. Thanks for sharing mate!

 

[Levitikuz]

My hydro shop is about hour half away and when i felt like putting one of these together it didnt include 3 hours of driving lol .... so i was looking for a way to put one together on the spot without needing to goto a hydro shop....

And of course you could use the ebb and flow parts from the hydro store with this set up, i am just a really impatient person when it comes to things like this and i didnt feel like putting my project on hold because i needed to drive 3 hours!! And the ebb and flow parts would probably work better but the way i show you works just fine (not sayin do it either way)
Thanks for all the input its good to hear it! Nest time i goto my hydro shop im going to pick up those parts and the next table i make ill use em, i bet i like em more lol =]

Oh and BTW about those tubs, they do make bigger ones...they are right next to the small ones i use for my tables in the concrete section at lowes. I would say they are about double the size, if you put 2 of these together it would be about 1 of those, my buddy uses one and it works great, and hes ot 15 plants in it.

 

[relief]

Looks good Levi.

I told you that your friend was wrong. Plants grow much faster in ebb & flow than they do in soil. I LOVE ebb and flow systems, less root rot, less temperature issues, less reservoir issues and it grows super fast.

I see you have two tables like I do. I use one for sativas and one for indicas.

 

[Levitikuz]

Looks good Levi.

I told you that your friend was wrong. Plants grow much faster in ebb & flow than they do in soil. I LOVE ebb and flow systems, less root rot, less temperature issues, less reservoir issues and it grows super fast.
Thanks man
I see you have two tables like I do. I use one for sativas and one for indicas.

Thanks man
Yah thats what i love about em too! Im going to have alot more tables here soon, the 1 i used to make this turtorial is my 3rd one and its goin into action in about 2-3 weeks when the clones are ready =]

 

[BlindDate]

I don't understand your setup. Isn't the tray supposed to drain back through the pump? Isn't the other fitting supposed to be an overflow drain with a tube that extends upwards? I've never seen an Ebb&Flow like that. How do you prevent overflow?

 

[Levitikuz]

ok this is how my set up works, i mean i got 10 plants growing in them to prove its success right now =]
You have 3 1/2 inch barbs coming thru, 2 of them are for drain and 1 for pump and obviouisly the pump one will act as a drain as well once it goes off. The pump is adjustable so you can adjust how much water it pumps out.
So the pump pumps the water up into the tray flooding it, and while it flooding it is also draining at the same time, and the reason it doesnt overflow is because you control how fast the water pumps up.
so once you have the pump on the correct pumping setting it floods to the level you need it to to soak the roots and drains at the same time basically counter acting its flood...so it only floods so high.
it takes me about 3-5 teswt runs to dial it in perfectly....do you understand?
I guess its kinda hard to explain in words...but once you get ur hands on it you will figure it out quite easily...very simple

 

[Guest]

Very nice set up Levitikuz.....Keep us updated on the grow..

TrIGG

 

[s13sr20det]

great write up.

repped.

 

[Levitikuz]

Thanks Trigg and s13, i will keep the grow updated =]

 

[BlindDate]

ok this is how my set up works, i mean i got 10 plants growing in them to prove its success right now =]
You have 3 1/2 inch barbs coming thru, 2 of them are for drain and 1 for pump and obviouisly the pump one will act as a drain as well once it goes off. The pump is adjustable so you can adjust how much water it pumps out.
So the pump pumps the water up into the tray flooding it, and while it flooding it is also draining at the same time, and the reason it doesnt overflow is because you control how fast the water pumps up.
so once you have the pump on the correct pumping setting it floods to the level you need it to to soak the roots and drains at the same time basically counter acting its flood...so it only floods so high.
it takes me about 3-5 teswt runs to dial it in perfectly....do you understand?
I guess its kinda hard to explain in words...but once you get ur hands on it you will figure it out quite easily...very simple

That is a dangerous way to do it. As the roots grow and fill the tray your inflow/outflow rates are going to change. Why don't you do it the correct way, by using an overflow tube set at the desired height?