What would work better?

I am wondering what you people think would work better:

There is a 4x4 flood and drain type table with a cover and cutouts for 12 square pots filled with hydroton.

What would be the best formation?:

1) Fill the tray with nutrient solution and aerate the solution with 6- 8 air stones. This would be a sort of DWC set up where the roots stay submerged in the aerated solution.

2) Connect a reservoir and a pump and use it like a true Flood and Drain system. Aerate the solution in a reservoir, and flood the table several times per day.

3) Connect a reservoir and a pump and let the pump run constantly (or pretty close to constantly). This would sort of be like NFT I guess.

So, any experts care to weigh in on this? I want to know which would be the most effective and produce the best results. Thanks!

Number 2. don't try to make it what it is not.

If you want DWC get some 5 gallon buckets.
If you want NFT get some square fence post and cut some holes.

All would produce about the same. It's all about tuning in your setup.

Thanks...I am wondering if anyone else has set their trays up in an unconventional way? The lid was added to this system so there would be better root development. Roots did not grow very well when plants sat in the tray in rockwool...

Hey Tstation,

I am actually in your exact same situation. I used to put my plants in my tray in rockwool cubes but I was not happy with the results. Rockwool stayed too wet and the roots just didn't seem to develop to their full potential, so I started using individual pots and instead of putting my 1" rockwool cubes into 4 or 6" cubes I just put the 1" directly into 6"x6" square pots filled with hydroton then placed those in my tray with even more hydroton so that the roots could grow out of the pots and into the hydroton in the tray. I am still not pleased with this because it is A LOT of hydroton SOOOO....

For my next set up I am going to put lids on my trays and cut out 12 5" circles per 3x3 tray. I'm gonna put 5" net pots into the lids so that the pots are suspended a few inches above the bottom of the tray.

I am going to turn my trays into a RSWC (recycled shallow water culture) and have the pumps on 24 hours a day with a bunch of air stones in the tray. I want to do this because I am always impressed with the root systems that I see on other peoples DWC systems. I don't see any problem in doing this. I have seen a number of homemade DWC/SWC systems using Rubbermaid containers with multiple plants that work perfectly well, and this is the exact same concept.

My concern with doing a flood and drain with this setup is: Since there is no medium to retain water for the roots then how often would we have to flood? I suppose you could flood and drain A LOT considering that DWC works just fine. So what if you just constantly let your tray fill then drain; fill then drain; fill then drain... you get the idea.

Anyway, I would be really curious to see what you decide to do. I am not going to switch my system for a few months because I have to wait till my current grow is done, so we should stay in touch.

I'm all for creativity, and trying new ways, so screw the conventional way try something new!! I say you hook up the res and put the air stones in your tray, and try the RSWC I described above. Consider letting your tray drain completely once a day just to make sure your roots are getting all the oxygen they need, and maybe drain it completely at night since the roots won't really use the water in the dark. That is what I'm gonna do with my trays anyway!

I hope this helped a little. If you decide to get creative please post pictures! I'm really curious!

Well, I've used the 4x4 trays, and put the girls in square pots about 6x6" and they were about 10" tall filled with Hydroton, then ran a 1/4"feeding line directly into the hydroton...maybe a couple of inches down. The girls had lots of depth to develop roots, and the rocks kept them aerated very nicely. Its a very nice system.

keylime