Setting up new ebb and flow grow space.

threatco · May 18, 2020

Got my clones rooted and ready to go. I have a room which holds my hot water tank which has 66 in by 42 in of available grow area.

I'll be adding posts as I go along with more details.

Included in the pictures is one of the shark bite tees that was too small to fit in tubing normally so I had to expand it with some tightly wrapped electrical tape.

I also learned within the past 48 hours that two-by-fours are actually 1.5 by 3.5.

For more ridiculous stuff like this, feel free to follow along.

redshift75 · May 18, 2020

very nice ill be following as i look to do this in the future ;)

One drop · May 18, 2020

Got my popcorn and chair ....

threatco · May 18, 2020

Got 2 of these on Amazon, listed at 20$ in error. Should have been 100$+

Has programable features meant for fountains. Super over kill but I will be splitting it 4 ways and running it on lower setting.

Yes, I ran out of yellow electrical tape. So one of 9 tee ends gets to be red.

3/4" ID to 3/4" tee
Then 2x 3/4" to 1/2" reducers
Then to 2x 1/2" tee to 4x 1/2" elbows finaly to the 4 intels

threatco · May 18, 2020

The part of this build that takes the most finesse for me is making the holes for the inlet and drain. I use a 7/8 spade drill bit to start it out, slow to avoid rips. Then it's spinning the old chef's knife in the hole till the hardware fits snugly in there and can screw on with the threading. Then a bit of clean up to smooth it out.

I did ruin a couple totes developing this technique a while back. But feel pretty good about the end results I get now.

threatco · May 19, 2020

Got everything installed and ready to go.

Flip the pump on and one in the front has a little leak, but hand tightening it sealed it completely.

I though I was good. But I couldn't see the back right one very well.

I squeeze down there and parascope view it with my phone cam. And its leaky for sure. Of course had to be the least accessible one.

In hindsight I should have leak teated all 4 in the tub before installing, but I was too cocky about my hole making as displayed above that after the first passed the leak check I just assumed all were good.

Initially I had hoped to have enough room underneath to crawl to beside the water tank if maintenance was required. After moving my resivoir tote into place I now though there was no way in hell my fat ass was getting through there.

But with this leak needing perhaps just a hand tightening I resolved to do it. Necessity is the mother of contortion, or so they say. It was properly ridiculous but I managed it, only to have the leak stubbornly refuse to reduce at all. Every drop on my arms a lesson in humility.

After a good half hour squeezed under there I finally gave up. Pulled off the hoses from the near and far right hand totes and pulled them out.

I put the clones from the leaky tote back in the domed tray. (Sorry babies)

I removed the inlet hardware and figured it may have been threaded on a bit crooked. Also the joint of the molding stuck up roughly to the touch.

So I smoothed down the joints all around. Doubled up on making sure the drilled hole was extra clean and free of burrs.

Put it back together and leak tested it in the tub, which passed after a few adjustments.

Lessons have been learned.

threatco · May 19, 2020

Also, I need more hydroton. Can barley fill them to 2 inches with the 15 gallons I had. I'll top it up later and extend the outlet height when I do.

One drop · May 19, 2020

Very cool I like the guts n bolts views , all that tubing, with ebb n flow do you make the totes rock from one side to the other or am I getting things all co key up ?

Aqua Man · May 19, 2020

Ooooh nice.. I'ma tag along on this if ya don't mind.

threatco · May 19, 2020

One drop said:
Very cool I like the guts n bolts views , all that tubing, with ebb n flow do you make the totes rock from one side to the other or am I getting things all co key up ?

Hey. The totes are stationary. A submersible pump pushes water up the inlets in the middle. It fills until it reaches the height of the outflow and then overflows back through that into the same totes.

Then when pump turns off, the rest of the water drains down the inlet and back through the turned off pump.

In pure hydroton ive gone with flooding every 3 hours during lights on. You only need to flood long enough to fill, then it can turn off. My mechanical timer makes floods last 15 minutes.

HeadShine · May 19, 2020

Fellow Home Made Ebb and Flow lover here, gonna follow along for your journey. Good luck!

threatco · May 21, 2020

So here is a little update.

EcoPlus Ebb & Flow brand on Amazon is total crap. After pulling out, redoing the hole, smoothing the joints, testing it in the tub for a leak, putting it all back, and after all that it still leaked a little bit from the 1/2 inch inlet and a lot from the 3/4 inch outlet.

The outlet is over the reservoir so not critical, but I really want this to just not leak at all so I am not reliant on that reservoir positioning. The 1/2 inch dripping is unacceptable, even if it's only like 1 drop every min as that goes right onto the floor.

While I was getting more Hydroton I picked up a new ebb and flow drain kit. This one looks the exact same as the Botanicare ones which have worked spotlessly for me. It cost like CAD 6$ compared to 25-30 on Amazon so yeah...

I took the two right-hand ones all the way out of the room again. Emptied it out, expanded the hole, installed the new ebb and flow kit, and put it all back.

Hallelujah, no leaks at all. Not even from the 3/4 inch outlet.

I also got my new lights from Yuanhui. Put one in this room for now.

Next issue to address, with the higher Hydroton level, and 4 inch height on the outflow now, I can hardly fill all 4 totes before the reservoir gets too low.

Time to shop for a new bigger reservoir.

threatco · May 23, 2020

Thinking about getting one of these for the resivoir. Do you guys think it will leak water around the wheel?

Aqua Man · May 23, 2020

Nope shouldn't.

threatco said:
Thinking about getting one of these for the resivoir. Do you guys think it will leak water around the wheel?

I prefer the HDX boxes from home depot

cemchris · May 23, 2020

threatco said:
Thinking about getting one of these for the resivoir. Do you guys think it will leak water around the wheel?

You want to double stack them or use a ratchet strap around the rez or they will bow when you go over about 30 gals to be safe. I use the 55 gal HDX totes as rez's.

On the ebb fittings make sure the o-ring is on the tote side on the top not the bottom. That can cause them to leak when you tighten them down if they are on the bottom.

revfunk · May 23, 2020

threatco said:
So here is a little update.

EcoPlus Ebb & Flow brand on Amazon is total crap. After pulling out, redoing the hole, smoothing the joints, testing it in the tub for a leak, putting it all back, and after all that it still leaked a little bit from the 1/2 inch inlet and a lot from the 3/4 inch outlet.

The outlet is over the reservoir so not critical, but I really want this to just not leak at all so I am not reliant on that reservoir positioning. The 1/2 inch dripping is unacceptable, even if it's only like 1 drop every min as that goes right onto the floor.

While I was getting more Hydroton I picked up a new ebb and flow drain kit. This one looks the exact same as the Botanicare ones which have worked spotlessly for me. It cost like CAD 6$ compared to 25-30 on Amazon so yeah...

I took the two right-hand ones all the way out of the room again. Emptied it out, expanded the hole, installed the new ebb and flow kit, and put it all back.

Hallelujah, no leaks at all. Not even from the 3/4 inch outlet.

I also got my new lights from Yuanhui. Put one in this room for now.

Next issue to address, with the higher Hydroton level, and 4 inch height on the outflow now, I can hardly fill all 4 totes before the reservoir gets too low.

Time to shop for a new bigger reservoir.

View attachment 975771

Looks like a 240W quantum board, no???

threatco · May 23, 2020

Thanks a tonne for sharing your experience and pics.

Yeah I assumed I would need to cinch it somehow no matter what kind I get. Helpful seeing yours in use.

I might keep the lid strapped onto mine and just cut holes on top for tubes. Figure I'll get more structure and less algae that way at the cost of some accessibility.

The shitty ecoplus hardware actually came with 2x O rings, one for each side. Maybe the bottom one hindered it from making the top one tight.

All the other ones I have installed except 1 have just the top side of tote with an O ring.

That 1 exception is the 1 eco plus inlet and outlet that miraculously are lot leaking.

threatco · May 23, 2020

bubblefunk said:
Looks like a 240W quantum board, no???

Yeah it sure is.

cemchris · May 23, 2020

Yeah it's hit or miss sometimes with those. I only really ever use the top o-ring. If you ever end up replacing them next time go with a bigger fill diameter. 3/4 is good. 1in is better (depending on pump outlet size). The bigger the fill the quicker it will fill and drain. Makes it that much better. I usually just run the pump right to where it hits the overflow and turn it off. More of a backup.

Welcome to the ebb life. Pretty soon you will have boxes of shit like this laying around :D

revfunk · May 23, 2020

threatco said:
Yeah it sure is.

Right on!!! What spectrum? I love mine, it's for flowering only so 3000k + 660nm

Setting up new ebb and flow grow space.

Setting up new ebb and flow grow space.

threatco

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