I’ve got my DIY ebb and flow system all set up, one problem that’s been bothering me is i cant seem to fully drain my grow buckets there’s always an inch of water at the bottom ( a recipe for diseases in the long run) what can i do? The pump can only perform on a certain water level ( 1 inch ) so what now?
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Mine pumps water up and uses gravity through a low drain back to rez.
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Thing is my reservoir is already 5 feet high. I don’t think ill be able to use a tent this way, btw what size is your tray? Also please mention tray depth.
I’m thinking ill ditch the bucket method…SHIT
If solution is being refreshed periodically I don’t see a major issue with residual solution. So long as roots are exposed to air between cycles you should be fine.
I took two large footprint totes and cut 12" out from between the top and bottom of tote, permanently affixed the lid to the top part, filled base with hydroton and Bob’s Your Uncle:
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Im sorry i dont understand? Do you mean you decreased the height of the tote?
And how does the yellow lid block out light or it’s not a big deal?
In short do roots not need more room to grow? I’ve been flustering about tall buckets all this time for nothing? LOL
I cycle every three hours, my substrate is coco croutons ( Cuz hydroton isn’t available here ). My plants aren’t looking happy thought 
I cut a section out of the tote, leaving the top and bottom. The cut off top sets over the base. Yellow lids can be painted or covered in foil etc or left alone.
Typical ebb and flow grows many smaller plants in small net pots so huge root balls aren’t needed.
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What pump are you using? When I did ebb and flow all water gravity fed back to the res through the pump.
Dang shit, im becoming even more convinced that a grow tray wouldve been better.
Btw how big can you grow each plant inside tgat plastic tote of yours?
Kinda sounds like you were more focused on this than necessary. Are you sure the system is issue with your plants and its not just a matter of an issue with your solution ph or concentration?
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You can get about 2 dry oz per station. Figure 3/4 lb of dried flower for the same footprint.
Gonna keep logs, i’ve change medium to COCO croutons and COCO fibre (70:30) mix to keep the roots from drying out too quick and maybe hold some nutes for the roots to feed off of. Btw how many cycles should there be in a day, whats the rule of thumb?
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Some tasty figures. Btw how many cycles of ebb and flow should there be, what’s the rule of thumb here?
How should roots be looking right before the next flooding? Almost dried out or a little moist
I ran once every 3 hours but found out through trial and error lol.
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Was that with coco? Been reading alot around here about coco but haven’t seen much info in auto feeding. I’ve only ever used 1.5" wool cubes for seedlings then into netpots filled with the c!ay balls. Veg I feed every 3 hrs on 18hr light then every 2 hrs on 12/12.
Not really feeling I would gain by switching to coco in my system. Sounds great for manual feeding though? Am I missing something buddy?
How high are those totes? 12 Inches? How many gallons each?
Tote started off this high
Cut off this high
And the top
Put together
There is about 2" of clearance between the bottom of net pots and bottom of tote.
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My lawd that’s some craftmanship, how did you cut em so straight. So im guessing around 6 inches after the cut? I’m asking again cuz im gonna place a order rn!
I did it on the table saw. You could mark it and cut it with a jigsaw or handsaw too. You can also get some Krylon plastic paint in a rattle-can if you don’t like the yellow. 4" net pots is as large as I’ll go and had to buy a $35 hole saw to punch the openings. Standard ebb and flow fill/drain fittings from Amazon.
Reservoir is a 29 gallon tote directly underneath plant tote and drains directly to it so air isn’t needed. Runs for 30 minutes every 3 hours IIRC once plants dropped roots. Bottom of tote was loaded with hydroton to keep it flat when not full of water.
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