Ebb & Flow vs Drip

[razzapiggy]

So I am in the process of trying to figure out which system I want to set up. My room is pretty damn crammed, so I'm trying to set up the system with the least amount of maintenance. I have no problem working in my room but it's sometimes hard to get around all the tables and do tons of work.

I would love to hear your experiences, opinions, frustrations with both systems.

I am leaning towards the ebb and flow because it seems like less maintenance... but I don't like the fact that you can't move your plants around once you do set up the ebb and flow. I suppose you could leave your plants in 3 gallon buckets and use the expanded clay pellets with an ebb and flow, but I envisioned just filling up my table with the rocks and throwing the babies in.

[rhizome]

Drippers mean dripper maintenance, unless you're going to just use open 1/4".

I always do E&F in sub-containers, just to cut down the amount of hydroton I need. Works well. No sense having hydroton level in subs much higher than flood level.

Organics in drip can be a nightmare of clogging, etc.

My $.02 US

[razzapiggy]

So I have a 4X8 table, and a 3X3 table, you would put something inside of those tables instead of just filling the tray with hydroton?

[razzapiggy]

bump

[rhizome]

Well- flooding a 4x8 requires a HUGE res-100-120gal- expensive in terms of nutes, just so you know.
You'd need like 4-500 liters of hydroton to fill it as a bed- I'd do smaller containers full of hydroton to cut that expense, not to mention being able to re-arrange the plants if needed. Standard nursery pots work fine.
You can space the smaller containers w/ " blanks"- 2 liter soda bottles work well, as they displace volume w/in the tray. Fill em w/ h20 so they don't float. Reduces minimum res volume- but adds dead weight to the table ( think about how much a flooded 4x8 weighs). Put em on their side if it'll better match your flood profile- you don't need a level in the bottles any higher than max flood, that's just extra weight. Or any mechanism to displace volume w/in tray that appeals to you will work. Plastic's a good idea- I wouldn't use cinderblocks, f'rinstance...

For that size table, RW slab works well, drip or flood. Lower max flood level=smaller res/nute$.

How much biomass feeding off res @ end of cycle? If yer growing trees, math changes...

You can also do a bunch of, say, 2-3 gal polypots w/ constant drip from 1/4" tube- use a couple of feeds per cell, in case you lose one. Again, more complicated, but smaller res/lower nute$.

Cost/benefit equation- depends on yer nute cost, how often you change res, etc.

[razzapiggy]

I am going to opt to put them in three gallon pots filled with hydroton, I agree it cuts down on price, but more importantly it gives you some mobility within your tray. I am not fully understanding what you mean about blanks displacing volume, but we aren't all together super concerned about the weight of the 4X8 because we built a sturdy structure to support the table and also have supports in the middle of the table so the weight should not be a big issue. Using the braces under the table should help to absorb the weight of the table in three sections, so I don't see a huge problem.

Trying to stay away from rockwool, pretty sold on hydroton, have seen good results using that as a medium. Love the fact you can just wash em and use them over again as well! =)