CF89 said:

so what feeds those top black hoses? the pump in the reservoir? does this run 24/7? why?

then it gravity drains down to the reservior, so head pressure and heights are an issue here?

im scared of something leaking and making a total mess.

Click to expand...

I have my pump set to run 15 min every two hours, off during lights out. You can run it 24/7 without issues too, and I may do so mid flowering, depending on how the plants look.

The reason for constant fertigation is it can encourage incredibly rapid growth. That's why UC works so effectively. I've heard guys talk about being able to literally watch the plants grow.

With gravity draining, you have to have a certain degree off level for the solution to return to the res effectively without pooling. Something minimal, like 3 degrees at least. Height can be an issue, but so long the drains are slightly above top level of the solution in the res, you can have the return lower on the res without dealing with the solution trying to equalize across the containers. That's why I designed this system to be ran outdoors. Bury the res in the ground, and the sites could sit on a short platform a few inches off the ground. Indoors, it complicated things.

I'm also nervous about leaks, but there are wifi flood alarms and other options available to prevent a huge mess as well as alert you to problems.

CF89 said:

so what feeds those top black hoses? the pump in the reservoir? does this run 24/7? why?

then it gravity drains down to the reservior, so head pressure and heights are an issue here?

im scared of something leaking and making a total mess.

Click to expand...

i know the feeling on the leaks im on the third floor the level on my system is kept the same by the reservoir if I add a stop sytem like as simple as a toilet float and connect it will feed accordingly to the proper levels.

mine will likely be constant but ill know that in the next day or so. But these are the floats you can use to either drip feed your res on either system

CF89 said:

Yeah the top feed thing seems weird.

So basically. The plant sits in that pot. The roots dangle down and sit in a bucket of water with an air stone. That’s basically it?

Keep the water temp, ph, and nutrients happy and that’s it?

Click to expand...

Top feed is professional speak for waterfalls at the end of the day the diagram is a very poor representation but it is what its meaning the falls are placed top of bucket the current is sucked below keeping everything mixed equally and the airstones are running as a constant. You set your pots normally even with bottom to 1/4 etc etc. Even in the beginning. In a waterfall or top feed the water falling is the equivalent of no air stones necessary... for max air you run both the splashing of the waterfalls the bubbles of oxygen and the pulling of the undercurrent all promote massive massive roots each one does work but together supposedly the perfect storm. Thats why all my pipe is 3 in with grates to stop the roots from clogging and blocking the undercurrent pathways. All I ever read about it is wrong or too small pipe and your kinda in a bind. In a recirculating system it runs 24/7 a dutch bucket or drip hydro or even ebb and flow all run very differently. They use timers like previously mentioned to let the water flow from top to bottom at a controlled pace generally added by a controller.

Let me correct the for waterfalls statement any hydroponics systems getting fed from the top drip feeds, ebb and flow, any high low system basically is that way i definitely misspoke there. Deep water or recirculating deep water has no high or low beyond a few inches. To my knowledge. Thats why you can mark the side views if you have them to know when they need food added without opening the pots up to check