Which hydro system uses least amount of water?

[Green-Girl]

I am using an ebb and flow setup right now with mostly hydroton. I have to use a lot of water to get the water level high enough in the tray so the roots get wet. Like 15 gallons for 5-6 plants. I end up throwing out a lot of water & nutrients at the end of the week.

Just curious if a drip system uses significantly less water. How about drip to waste, vs. recirculating drip system vs the ebb and flow with hydroton?

Its a plus if the system can be used with coco, cause I think that medium may be a tad better for the roots than hydroton.

Looking for advice from people who have used more than one different setup.

Thanks!

 

[mrdizzle]

top feed is your answer, requires about 3gals to be in the tubing and drippers, so you can run a much smaller res, or only have to waste a small amount of water when you change out the res because you have used the solution without any add backs. Ebb n flow requires a lot of water to flood the whole table, so you have to add back twice a week so you dont dry pump.

 

[Midnight_son]

Drip system

I currently run a top feed recirculating drip setup with Hydroton. Last run was 8 plants. Res holds about 14 gal. When they were rockin they would use 4-5 gallons of water in a 24hr period. As far as waste goes, I let my solution get to a minimum (Just covering the pump) before I do a Res change. Probably Throw out 6-7 gal.

 

[motta-tokka]

Running 8 5 gallon buckets, plus the 18 gallon res with RDWC. Add up how many gallons that is. I will NOT change out the water until flush time.. How? Beneficial bacteria. Look into this and it can be your friend with many different hydro systems ;)

 

[Hrpuffnstuff]

hand watering ...

 

[Green-Girl]

Cool it looks like a top drip system should at least save me 30% of the water and nutrients I use. Not to mention aeration benefits.

I guess the next question would be how difficult/expensive would it be to construct a homemade one using the trays I already have? I just don't want to get into one of those never-ending projects so if its super complicated I might just invest in a bucket system when I save up some money. I've heard those are super easy to maintain.

Thanks guys

 

[Lost]

handwatered coco..

What are you trying to do? What size space do you have what lights etc.. Going by water used is not the best way to decide how to grow. what are your production needs.. What is your experience level? Is growing herb what you do or just something new to try? All this will help us figure out what works best for you. Some people are not all about 4-6 hour days in a grow room. Others love it.. :)

 

[Green-Girl]

Hi Lost,

(I will try to give you all the info without rambling)

I am a newbie (about 5 months exp.) but I am trying to learn fast. I guess I had a rough start because I put my complete trust in an "expert" helping me grow, but they ended up giving me misleading information, such as "you don't need to test PH" etc... and I wound up self teaching using the internet, and folks at the hydro store. I truly appreciate everyone who has helped!

I have 1600 Watts of HPS in bloom, and 500 Watts of CFL in veg. Its in a spare bedroom decked out with panda. My goal is to harvest 1 lb per month of top shelf weed and donate to the clubs.

I have 4 ebb and flow trays. I was doing rockwool in Hydroton, but the roots weren't growing out of the rockwool b/c of the different absorbencies and I had all kinds of overwatering/underwatering issues, so now I am doing coco in plastic beer cups in the pre-veg then putting them into hydroton filled containers. So it ends up being coco and hydroton. That combo is working great! :) Then in bloom I move them into the new trays and put hydroton in the trays to give extra space for roots to grow.

I do like being in the grow room, and playing detective trying to find out what the plants want. I would 10 times rather grow plants then be cooped up in an office. It just takes me 3 days to make the RO water that is needed to change the water, and I feel bad pouring it all down the drain the following week. I am not complaining just curious about a better setup :)

Apologies for long story!

 

[Lost]

What do you have for a R/O setup? There are 150 gallon per day units on ebay for 130.. Might be a good investment. You can buy a trashcan (I like the rectangle shape ones the automated dump trucks use), and install a float valve so it top itself of on its own.

As for the dumping all that solution out, just save it and water your coco puts.. Just get a few going in a 5 gallon, and use the old water to water the new crop. After a while tho, its just like taking a long shower. In fact your 30 minute shower even with a flow restrictor will run you 80 gallons so its not a huge deal.

 

[Green-Girl]

Thanks for putting the water thing into perspective, Lost. I like your trashcan idea! So you basically get the ones with wheels on them and wheel it into the grow room, then use a water pump with a long tube to fill up the reservoirs. Sounds awesome. :)

My RO is the stealth RO 100 gallons/ day. Probably should have got the one on eBay, mine was $220 :( Live and learn. Thanks!

 

[Lost]

Actually, i have a hose connection from a sink in another area. I use a splitter at the sink and at the hose end where I connect the r/o. That way the r/o is in the room i need it (and the splitters have an on off valve which is handy when the can is full.) I have a 500 gph pump and a hose to fill whatever res I need to. At 64 gallons its too heavy to move once its full, and I have one system that is 250 gallons a fill up, So i have a small army of trashcans, lol..

 

[Xceptional]

Hi Lost,

(I will try to give you all the info without rambling)

I am a newbie (about 5 months exp.) but I am trying to learn fast. I guess I had a rough start because I put my complete trust in an "expert" helping me grow, but they ended up giving me misleading information, such as "you don't need to test PH" etc... and I wound up self teaching using the internet, and folks at the hydro store. I truly appreciate everyone who has helped!

I have 1600 Watts of HPS in bloom, and 500 Watts of CFL in veg. Its in a spare bedroom decked out with panda. My goal is to harvest 1 lb per month of top shelf weed and donate to the clubs.

I have 4 ebb and flow trays. I was doing rockwool in Hydroton, but the roots weren't growing out of the rockwool b/c of the different absorbencies and I had all kinds of overwatering/underwatering issues, so now I am doing coco in plastic beer cups in the pre-veg then putting them into hydroton filled containers. So it ends up being coco and hydroton. That combo is working great! :) Then in bloom I move them into the new trays and put hydroton in the trays to give extra space for roots to grow.

I do like being in the grow room, and playing detective trying to find out what the plants want. I would 10 times rather grow plants then be cooped up in an office. It just takes me 3 days to make the RO water that is needed to change the water, and I feel bad pouring it all down the drain the following week. I am not complaining just curious about a better setup :)

Apologies for long story!

i posted a review on a ro i picked up. $115 with float switch and does 150 gpd 0ppm. shit has worked flawless. purewaterclub.com look for the $115 model with the free float switch.

you waste 15 gal? hell i'm wasting about 30 each time lol. i can not let my res get below that or my buckets dont get filled (Ebb and Grow) so i do no add backs at the end of the week (cycle) and let it drop to 30 before i dump it all down the drain. with house and garden nutes this is no cheap draining lol.

 

[Green-Girl]

Lost - that sounds pretty crazy lol. You are giving me ideas. You must have a sink in your grow room for the waste water. I would have to get a super long waste tube to reach the bathroom. I wonder if that would work. Do people use 30 foot waste tubes?

Xceptional - the 15 gallons is just one tray! When you add it up I throw away about 50 gallons per week. oh well its for a good cause :)

I will keep that RO system in mind if I ever have to buy another

 

[greenblood]

Water usage in general is dependent on plant size, rate of transpiration, etc.

So for the op, the better question is, "which hydro system wastes the least amount of water." It's definitely not auto top feed or hand top feeding.

Probably the answer is (1) subirrigation systems and (2) whatever the most pH stable recirculating system is

 

[mrdizzle]

hempy buckets, If you looking to use the least amount of water, the skip the RO.