E&f Vs Dtw

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bankcee

bankcee

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what are your thoughts on this might be leaving soil pretty soon. might have a good opportunity coming my way.

anyways looking at either ebb and flow or drain to waste. I like the idea of drain to waste for ease on my mind of the water and nutes and ph being tested everytime before a feed. but where I'm planning this I'm not sure of noise would be an issue with fans pumps timers and all the system running I don't know much about it and that's why I'm here. I've read a lot but figured I'd ask.

how often are you DTW growers feeding? how noisy is your setup? what's easier if any of you have ran ebb and flow as well? how often did you deal with root rot in ebb and flow or bacteria or anything like that?
 
stonestacker

stonestacker

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I love the simplicity of my DTW. Currently using rockwool switching to coco.
I feed lights on only. every 1 1/2 hours from 10-30 seconds. I find it very important to monitor runoff and adjust feed accordingly. For six plants I shoot for one gallon +or- of runoff every 24 hours.
 
Savage Henry

Savage Henry

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No additional noise, at least with the submersible pump I have plumbed into my drip lines.
 
stonestacker

stonestacker

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Noise, I use a sump pump to discharge my runoff. So a little more but I choose when to dump.
 
bankcee

bankcee

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noise is gonna be a huge factor for me. as well as time. what has the lesser amount of maintenance? of these two? I know soil is a lot less maintenance and a lot more forgiving but I wanna make the switch.
 
bankcee

bankcee

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I think this is another good question that just popped into my head. I'm looking for the least expensive of the two systems here and I'm leaning more towards flood and drain because of recirculating water. as opposed to fresh water everytime and "draining to wastr" but anyways I'm looking at cement mixing tubs as my table but I've always notices channels in hydro bought tables is there a reason for that? would a cement mixing tub be no good due to a lack of channels?
 
cemchris

cemchris

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They are both good. I have ran both over the years. Ease of systems is pretty much the same with a little different setup. Things to note: Flood and drain is better for non concrete plant numbers. It just a whole lot easier then having to setup additional drip lines, shutoffs, ect. You can run 4 plants and then 36 in E&F without having to change a thing. DTW will use more nutes and water. DTW will be an easier system to manage overall since you always have fresh nutes going into the plants and you are also feeding top down which will eliminate a lot of buildup when using something like coco. Most of the time DTW is using tables anyways so you pretty much have extra gear with this setup. Its all personal preference really. DTW I think grows a faster then E&F. I look at it as nute/water cost vs flexible plant count when it comes down to it. Also plant size. If you want to rock 5 gals plus go DTW.

Noise isn't a factor with either

The channels are so the pots/ roots dont sit in residual water and they all the water drains back to the drain fittings.

As far as feeding DTW/E&F. Towards the end I'm usually 5-6 times a day with lights on.

If you are a hydro newbie DTW will be a lit easier to jump into. Its simply maintaining PH and getting your feed times right.
 
cemchris

cemchris

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I'm looking at cement mixing tubs as my table but I've always notices channels in hydro bought tables is there a reason for that? would a cement mixing tub be no good due to a lack of channels?

Anything that holds water and lets it drain back to the fittings will work. If using something w/ a flat bottom just put something under the pots. Hell even a little gravel will work.
 
bankcee

bankcee

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Anything that holds water and lets it drain back to the fittings will work. If using something w/ a flat bottom just put something under the pots. Hell even a little gravel will work.

would like a coco mat work. I wanted to run flood and drain and use the large rockwool cubes and sit them on a coco mat.
 
bankcee

bankcee

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another thing I'm considering.. how do flood and drain 5 gallon buckets stand up against a table with smaller pots or cubes?
 
bankcee

bankcee

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I like this setup and I do this to and sit these pots in a coco mat in the table but will this protect the roots? what kind of protection do the roots need. I know they can't be in direct contact with light so would this not work in a flood table?

Downloadfile 6
 
cemchris

cemchris

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Thing about Coco mats. 1 they are expensive. 2 they lock your plants in place and you can no longer move them. I used to run them. If using rockwool just use another cube/bigger cube or slabs and place them on top. Pretty good if vegging/blooming on the same table. If not you really dont need them. Concentrate more on feed times then pot size in these setups. You are feeding the roots directly pretty much and they grow as such. Small pots will still grow huge plants. Pot size if more for support of the plant so it doesnt fall over. Why you feed multi times a day vs 1. I would just use strait hydroton in the baskets. No need for the coco liners/caps. You will get tired of cleaning hydroton though lol. No need to protect the roots. They will come out of the sides/bottoms and prune themselves back accordingly.

As far as 5 gal buckets you will either have to transplant a smaller plant deep enough that the rootball is sitting at the water level of the table or hand feed/drip till the roots drop into the feed zone. Also as your plants develop their root system you can start dropping the water level a little on your table.
 
bankcee

bankcee

488
63
Thing about Coco mats. 1 they are expensive. 2 they lock your plants in place and you can no longer move them. I used to run them. If using rockwool just use another cube/bigger cube or slabs and place them on top. Pretty good if vegging/blooming on the same table. If not you really dont need them. Concentrate more on feed times then pot size in these setups. You are feeding the roots directly pretty much and they grow as such. Small pots will still grow huge plants. Pot size if more for support of the plant so it doesnt fall over. Why you feed multi times a day vs 1. I would just use strait hydroton in the baskets. No need for the coco liners/caps. You will get tired of cleaning hydroton though lol. No need to protect the roots. They will come out of the sides/bottoms and prune themselves back accordingly.

As far as 5 gal buckets you will either have to transplant a smaller plant deep enough that the rootball is sitting at the water level of the table or hand feed/drip till the roots drop into the feed zone. Also as your plants develop their root system you can start dropping the water level a little on your table.

appreciate you taking the time to point all this out. I really do appreciate this kind help. so I've read about the roots being in contact with direct light I'm sure they will be at one point and on some part of the table.. what is the deal with this? does light effect roots of in direct contact? my diy tables are black.
 

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