Suggestions for simple 5 gallon bucket flood & drain?

[Dantes Monkey]

Hello everyone! I just ordered my new LED lights and grow tents. I am planning a perpetual grow with three tents (3'x3') with four 5gal buckets per tent and one reservoir per tent. I was planning on building a few DIY ebb & gro controllers, but I'm now thinking about building a platform for my tents with my reservoirs underneath to save some floor space.

I want to have my medium (hydroton) and plant in one bucket with some holes drilled in the bottom and put that inside another bucket with my plumbing attached. I already have all of the 5 gallon buckets and a few pumps. I'm hoping to not use a controller bucket, but I can if need be. My biggest concern is preventing overflow.Does anyone have any suggestions for a simple flood & drain bucket setup?

Thanks!

 

[momzer]

Hello everyone! I just ordered my new LED lights and grow tents. I am planning a perpetual grow with three tents (3'x3') with four 5gal buckets per tent and one reservoir per tent. I was planning on building a few DIY ebb & gro controllers, but I'm now thinking about building a platform for my tents with my reservoirs underneath to save some floor space.

I want to have my medium (hydroton) and plant in one bucket with some holes drilled in the bottom and put that inside another bucket with my plumbing attached. I already have all of the 5 gallon buckets and a few pumps. I'm hoping to not use a controller bucket, but I can if need be. My biggest concern is preventing overflow.Does anyone have any suggestions for a simple flood & drain bucket setup?

Thanks!

I have a medical grow setup that is similar to yours.
Get a CAP bucket controler, large garbage can for a reservoir, 3/4" hose and set up your buckets on the floor.
Cover the floor with a large tarp in case of spills.
Why waste valuable vertical growing room by putting your reservoir under your buckets?
You don't need a reservoir for each area if you keep the nutrient level low throughout all phases. Lucas formula says you can grow all plants with only FloraNova Bloom, so I mix FN Grow + Bloom together, (when I have flowering plants), keep it low (350-450 ppm) and use one reservoir for everything: babies transferred from my GH Rainforest, mothers in one area and vegging/flowering plants in the other. If you keep the nutrients low, the plants will use what they need and reject what they don't.
(Outdoor soil contains all nutrients and all outdoor plants do the same thing.)
Best of luck!

 

[Dantes Monkey]

I have a medical grow setup that is similar to yours.
Get a CAP bucket controler, large garbage can for a reservoir, 3/4" hose and set up your buckets on the floor.
Cover the floor with a large tarp in case of spills.
Why waste valuable vertical growing room by putting your reservoir under your buckets?
You don't need a reservoir for each area if you keep the nutrient level low throughout all phases. Lucas formula says you can grow all plants with only FloraNova Bloom, so I mix FN Grow + Bloom together, (when I have flowering plants), keep it low (350-450 ppm) and use one reservoir for everything: babies transferred from my GH Rainforest, mothers in one area and vegging/flowering plants in the other. If you keep the nutrients low, the plants will use what they need and reject what they don't.
(Outdoor soil contains all nutrients and all outdoor plants do the same thing.)
Best of luck!

Thank you for the input momzer. What I was actually thinking was putting the tents with the buckets inside on a raised platform and putting the reservoirs underneath that platform. Just like you said, why waste valuable vertical space. I could build a similar controller to the CAP for about half the price. I was just thinking that if my res were under my tents, I could eliminate the pump out and probably all of the relays and switches if I had an easy way to prevent overfilling/overflow.

 

[Flyinhigh]

Dante you have a solid plan. And as long as your drain doesn't clog you should be fine.