I knew the next update would be a good one after seeing nothing for over a week 
Good work! The lights looks professional!
What other options are you trading against ebb & flo?
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I like the idea of ebb and drain or flow for these reasons:
- I basically add anything I want to grow on the table and it will survive
- Easy to experiment with media/containers
- I can start with a large number of plants, say 16 in a 4 x 4 grid. And easily remove males or undesirable phenos
- I can switch it up and just plop a bigger container on the table and things otherwise work the same
Essentially, it’s the flexibility I like about the idea. Just throw it on the tray and go. Downside being I lose about a foot of height unless I get really clever.
It seems to me other systems (DWC, drip, wick) are most suited to a small number of plants. I want as many flowering plants as possible to select temps and effects, and keep mothers alive until that is accomplished. I don’t care about yield, I want to make selections.
Maybe I should start by asking if that is even a decent concept?
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Ebb & flow is awesome, it works great… I just wanted to know what else you were considering 
Sounds like it will fit your needs and they’re super ez to put together.
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Is there anything else I should be looking at? I am 100% newb at hydro but I have put a good amount of time into looking at different systems and flood/drain looks like my best option, especially in this tiny space.
I’m actually really excited about trying hydroponics. I’ve done lots of soil analysis and targeted amendments doing organics outside. Can’t wait to actually just know exactly what the plants are getting in real time
Certainly open to other things though, haven’t bought anything yet
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I’m sure you’ve checked out all the reasonable options and for what you’re looking to do I’d say it’s a good choice 
. Ebb and flow is a staple hydro setup. Water goes up, water comes down. Really only a pump to worry about and its duty cycle is so low. So you sleep easy at night
What are you thinking about for medium and nutes?
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I was planning to talk to the local shop about it when I go in. I’ll probably need to special order a 2x2 table I’ll probably do that through them just to give them some support. And pick up trays and stuff.
I really like the idea of rockwool cubes but I also really like the white mesh starter pots maybe filled with coco. Any recommendations?
Planning on running Megacrop 2-part. I really think it’s well-balanced and complete, regardless of cost. I already have plenty of that. But again, open to suggestions.
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I’d say rockwool, hydroton(expanded clay balls) or a mix of are good options for ebb & flow so you have little debris returning to your reservoir, but that’s just what I’ve used in the past so I’m biased. Coco is awesome, keep it in your considerations! I don’t know how well it works in ebb and flow but I swear I’ve seen ppl here doing it. Million ways to skin this cat and they all have pros and cons
Lots of ppl are using megacrop, use it especially if you already have it & have been using it. Hydroshops kill you for tray stands ($$$$) but its always worth checking.
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I guess Blumats would be the other one? Unless that’s classified under a drip system… the auto fill would solve a plant count / container issue for a hybrid/octopot system, then you’d have to clean the line regularly though.
Benefit of octopots for me is the simplicity. But you are a man of precision, so they might hinder your progress.
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You’re a madman 
Awesome job 
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I’m out of likes, not unappreciative 
Thanks for all your input @NoCal.
@shade I love the idea of the octopot, especially with auto fill. But I can only fit 4 of them in my space. If I were growing just one, it would be great. I’ve seen the results here it’s a nice setup. Bluemat sounds great too (and I’d be 100% on this train if I was running organic). They have the gravity feed 12-pot setup for $160, I’ll take a better look. That may fit the bill too.
@Coda thanks! It’s not alive yet…soon!
They know me a bit at the shop they will probably recommend based on that. They’ve seen me take quite a journey in the last couple years 
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I spent some more time looking for trays before I go to the shop. I assumed 2x2 would be, well, 24" x 24" but they are more like 28" x 28" which won’t fit. That MegaGarden saves me lots of headaches I think. Any thoughts?
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I tried OD trays (3x3 and 4x4) and they just don’t fit in the same size tents. You can take the outside lips off with a saw but they basically touch the corners of the tent 
.
Ignoring the price that kit it does seem good for your space. Low stack height, good dimensions for your tent if they are using outside measurements.
Couple things to think about are reservoir access and res size. 8 gallons might be enough but those little mag drive pumps will leave 1-1.5” inches of water in the res when they start sucking air. Also looks like you have to remove the whole tray to pull the reservoir out?
Ramblin on. Good morning 
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You can see alot of work mental and physical very nice and clean !
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@NoCal I share several of the concerns. I watched some reviews of the system on the way into work.
Draining reservoir to wash it seems easy enough if I elevate it slightly - maybe 4". The level indicator tube rotates to drain it and I can use a transfer pump from there. I also looked at different pump options I think that is a tractable problem.
It’s all a matter of deciding which set of compromises to make. I guess that’s life. I don’t think there’s anything that gives me the capability to run at least 9 plants without a little ingenuity and DIY. If it isn’t obvious by now, neither bother me
@Thetravler thanks man!
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Found a few posts from years ago about it. 
SOG seems to have given way to ScrOG and LST with fewer plants for higher production. Not sure if these sort of systems fell off because of that (moving towards fewer plants and lower plant count density) or because of drawbacks with the system topology.
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Beginning of a Garden Update 23 December 2023
There’s gonna be a lot of rambling in here, just a warning.
I’ve got the tent all kitted out. I ordered the Hydrofarm Megagarden picked up a new, low-profile pump.that’ll let me use all the 9 gallons the small reservoir has to offer me. I’ve got all the hardware I’ll need to use it - 25’ of braided line and fittings, quick-connect for my sink (so I can control the temperature of the fill water). I’ll sit the whole thing on some foam to elevate it and make it easier to drain when I exchange the reservoir contents. Waiting on some wicking mat material for the veg-side. I’ll cross that bridge as I get there over the next few weeks. I’d like to have a small reservoir wicking into the veg trays for my moms.
Long story not exactly short I spent about an hour at the hydro shop talking to the guys about the plan and the 2x2 flower chamber. They shared the opinion of most here that phenohunting in a 2x2 with a tiny table isn’t realistic. I’ve decided I want to try anyway. Perhaps, likely even, that ambition will shortly bite me in the ass. But I’m ready for it, and will proceed anyway. I find solace in knowing I can readily accomodate 1-2 plants with the same setup. For whatever combination of reasons I’m used to my crazy ideas working. I constantly fear Dunning-Kruger is behind most of them 
My half-witted logic tells me there is little harm in SOG’ing many plants and picking the best ones. Will the expression be different when I take that clone outside? Sure. But it seems to me that picking the best inside probably isn’t going to hurt me outside. Picking something easy to trim, nice look, smell and effects I can’t see wildly backfiring outside. I mean, for the last two summers there has been NO selection really, just whatever I get from the bean. Almost random, although I picked the vigorous ones last summer. But - if it does, fail that is, I’ll post it. As I am wetting these seeds I worry perhaps a solid humbling is forthcoming. So it may be.
I’ve decided to attempt to pop some of my crosses made last year. The 907 Blue Genes Mom crossed to pollen I received: Shiskaberry (@SHSC-1 ) and AKBB NL#1 (@Klyphman)
Decided to do 18 beans total, assuming 50% make it through to flower (females) and I can fit all these somewhere for a few weeks. I’m also guessing some of them won’t pop, who the fuck knows maybe none of them pop. I’m running a few less-ripe beans just to see what happens. Dash of H2O2 and warm water on the towels.
A note to myself about the seed prep: Dried branches to crisp, sifted seeds, non-sealed ziploc for a month or two, sealed and tossed in chest freezer for a few days. Came out yesterday and thawed in drawer until now.
6x 907 Blue Genes x Shiskaberry (2 left):
I wish I had more of the Shiskaberry cross but bud rot crushed that branch outside. 8 total collected seeds that I’m SURE are the Shiska. There’s several seeds I found trimming but they are bastards this plant got quite a few male donors.
12x 907 Blue Genes x NL#1 (11 left if they are good I’ll send 'em to @Klyphman):
Ready to go:
Into the veg chamber. I stuck them under the tray, the heatmat is off because it’s about 80F in there when it’s running. You can see the veg-side ventilation control adjacent to the veg exh fan on the far side. It’s always on and constant speed. Near side you can see my environmental monitor, I really like these Inkbird WiFi thermometers/hygrometers. I had used them to monitor my shed/dry box all the way out in the shed, now they are all in or around the tent. I’ll probably buy another set, they’re less than $15 each.
I adjusted the lights essentially to the “ceiling” and turned them to 400ppfd at the height of the tray. Anyway that warms things up nicely. I’ve been playing with fan speeds attempting to get an idea of where I want to be and run things once I have plants in there. Just getting a feel for things.
I assume I want high 70s-low 80s when lights are on and 65-70 when they are off. We’re flirting with that now. I have the primary ventilation nominally running at 2 and it kicks to 6 when the main flower chamber gets to 77. I’m liking the ACI Controller 69 Pro. I picked up another outlet to run my water pump with a splitter. I think I can run all my switched outlets from 1 port (Flower light, veg light, flood pump), which leaves me with a spare port if I need it. Exhaust fan is port 1, outlets will be port 2 and 3, and my fancy circulation fan will be port 4.
Cheers guys, hope your holiday weekends are fantastic!
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24 hours in, none of the beans have yet cracked. Perhaps pointless update but noting to myself no germination yet. Looking back at last summers seed popping 2 days seemed to be the timeframe. We shall see tomorrow, Christmas. What a perfect day for the birth of NL and Shiskaberry crosses.
This is the first time I’ve tried to germinate a seed that I deliberately produced myself. So, my curiosity level is much higher than if I were hatching a pack of beans I purchased. I have an intrinsic skepticism of my own work. I think that’s why I post so much.
I haven’t gotten a shipping notification from groindoor.com about my MegaGarden shipping. Had really hoped to have that arrive so I could get it setup this coming week I have off. Guess it’s no big deal, I won’t have plants to shuffle in there for another few weeks at least.
I was looking into getting an RO Buddy 100 GPD 3-Stage RO Buddie Reverse Osmosis System – aquaticlife.com or something similar I could use to keep a few 5 gallon buckets of clean water around. Normally a single one for top-ups and fill 2 at my leisure for res changes. My water looks like this:
The last few, because they are last in the water were intermittent in the picture. I redid 3 tests and just kept score on that image. Fairly confident in pH around 7.8-8.2 according to this test, and carbonate 180-240ppm although leaning toward the former.
From what I’ve read I can just run it the way it is, adjust pH down when I fill the res and offset my ppms by my starting levels. Or I run RO and start from nothing. I don’t seem to have absolutely crazy well water (I’m municipal) or something where it’s almost mandatory I run RO. Any thoughts?
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Damn it start to be pretty neat over there ^^
On your water rates, it look like turned in one direction : dirty delivering “plumbery”. A flush can be salvatory i guess (even for the humans living there ^^). Just to give an idea.
Neutral + PH, hard water, carbonated, high QAC (enemy of CEC) … it look like you have dirty delivery plumbing. So the water wait inside dirt before being delivered to the house and carry some funks.
It’s possible to operate a flush of the house and from the house, but depend mostly on how it’s build, no generic solution.
I mostly used it for motherplants but Ebb&Flow and coco is the most efficient combo for the level of retention and it’s fastness. By laziness i often used GHE tables (1sqm ones) but they have their flaw : the tank volume necessary that i find quite stupid, specially in plain summer.
If you can limit the volume of water that need to stay in the pot’s table for a cycle, it will be better overall. And the tech being quite simple, it’s possible to build it in various way. There is one quite compact overall here :
Now you have to think about the medium and to dodge the usual traps, IT HAVE to possess a good water retention for good cycles and perfs. Rockwool is good on this point by example but give far better results with very oxygenated setup and letting the roots live their life : 15% NFT, DWC, Aero, drippers … PH is also quite low and your water isn’t specially playfull for this atm.
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My thoughts would be to use something like a Boogie Blue Plus filter along with some sort of Bacillus beneficial in the water to help neutralize that quaternary ammonium that stuff is nasty:
https://www.boogiebrew.net/water-filter
If you wanted to double it up and really filter hard without the expense and waste of RO you can plumb something inexpensive like this upstream of the Boogie and use the cheaper filters as a sacrificial first line of defense:
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… i just assumed this would happen eventually anyway? may as well skip ahead.
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