Greenislands 5 Gallon Upgrade Ebb & Gro TEK

[munki]

I wonder if a coarse copper screen could be employed. Roots hate copper; pots lined with copper paint can prevent roots from becoming root bound, at least from what I had read in the past.

[McBudz]

Cool setup man..

Couple questions come to mind..

Are you using the original controller unit or have you made some type of modification? The original will not allow the 5 gallon buckets to fill as much as the originals fill. My guess is it will fill anywhere from 1/2 to just under 2/3 especially if elevating the buckets .5-1" to help send the bottom bucket water back to the controller.

What size reservoir do you intend on using and for how many 5 gallon sites?

Great work

[obxgardener]

Wow - I was wondering about larger res size ebb & flow - can't wait to see the monsters you'll be able to grow!

[Soniq420]

Pulling up a chair

[greenisland]

Mcbuds, Yes I am using the original control module, just in another taller bucket or trashcan. I am buying the control module by itself. It doesnt come with the control bucket (atleast I dont think it does). It does however come with all the float switches and 2 pumps (from what I read, if I remember right atleast). Which is perfect because when it does come with the black bucket its connected to it permanently, and I would have to cut it off! Plus just the fact that its even connected to something that you will want to rinse off later seems idiodic to me, because it would be so much easier to clean (the way their assembled from the wharehouse has the electronics right next to where you want to spray) if it wasnt attatched. The fittings for the floats are different than the grommets in the bucket, (for those who didnt know this)they are threaded hard plastic, and that is why they use square buckets for the "control bucket". And that is why I have to follow suite. I was thinking of using a rectangle trashcan,



but the sides arent straight up and down usually and that could have a negative effect on the float switches.



So Im going to be looking for a straight sided trashcan to use as the control bucket. I have seen kitchen trashcans before that are tapered only on two sides and perpindicular to the ground on the other two sides, and that would work great. Also Im goping to make my controller able to come off the bucket so I can clean it, uuuggghhh, finally. So yeah, Ive already thought of that factor and trashcans is what Im thinking...anybody else have an idea of something better? Im open for suggestions always! Oh and Im only going to have 10 buckets/plants as usual, sometimes its 8 (they get big! even in the original system). And as far as a reservoir goes I could probably use the original 50 gallon drum but I think instead I will be using a 55gallon rubbermaid roll around reservoir. Its just like the usual big rubbermaids you buy at walmart or whatever accept its like 3 times thicker, barely flex's when filled to top with water (other cheaper ones contort pretty bad under the weight of the water). And what I like most about these rubbermaids is they have 8 inch wheels on one side, and there strong enough to hold the weight of the water and still roll! Ive been using them for a while. If you look earlier in my journal you can see one that I used to put all the old rootballs in.

And Munki, I have never heard that about copper before. Thats crazy. My guess is that if theres water on the other side of the screen it will grow through just about anything, BUT I have never heard of the whole copper thing your talking about. Thats absolutally forighn to me, never heard of it. It would be an interesting thing to try out though. Like I said earlier though for now Im going to try and live without any screens, and if I run into problems with the roots still I will have to change my strategy and then Im all ears, copper would be something I would try for sure. As of right now its been a huge pain in my ass just to get the GROMMETS so Im trying to not buy to much for this. Im trying to keep things (as backwards as it sounds) simple. Cause I want it to be as easy as possible for someone else to replicate, and the more peices you add the more you have to clean in the end, and anyone who has ever had to flush all the lines and buckets of this system knows its a huge pain in the ass. Im so glad so many people are reading this journal. Thx guys. And keep the comments coming. You never know what I may have forgotten. I WILL however go over every little detail of the setup when the finished TEK is posted, and trust me there are a lot more little details than even I would have ever imagined. Later yall. I hope to have pics up later today of the current grow, cause this journal has been all about the TEK recently I want to make sure everyone doesnt forget there is still a grow going on in the backround which is really the main focus of this journal...Actually I might ask a moderator to split this in two so they dont clogg each other...uugghhh I dunno yet. Peace out guys! And thx for all the comments!

[McBudz]

If you bought the retail version of just the controller module then yeah it comes assembled to the rectangular bucket. : / Not sure if you arranged something seperate with CAP.
Sounds like you have a good plan. I'll keep my eyes out for a suitable controller bucket..

[greenisland]

Well than it sounds like I will be drilling me some rivets to get it off. lol. Thanks for the info Mcbuds! Im hoping it doesnt come attatched though, and no I had no special arrangement or anything.

NOTICE: This thread will be split into two seperate threads for ease of use. This thread will stay the same while the other will be named "Greenislands 5 Gallon upgrade Ebb and Gro TEK". This one will saty on topic with the grow room, while the other one focuses on the 5 Gallon Ebb and Gro TEK. That way questions dont get mixed up etc. Thanks everybody, and as soon as I get the link I will add it to my signature, stay posted everyone, and thanks for reading!.

[munki]

Heh. Everyone is still posting in your other journal. I think you created a monster mixing the two up in there to begin with but that horse is already out of the barn.

There was some question on your tube diameter choice. I think you are OK though some theory may be necessary. Look here to start.

Volumetric flow rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For simplicity, we will assume a straight tube so overall volumetric flow rate is equal to the cross-sectional area inside the tube times the velocity of the incompressible fluid (we can put water solutions in this catagory). So, if you want more more water in a given amount of time, you have two variables to work with. The internal area can be increased by enlarging the pipe and/or the speed of the fluid in the pipe is increased.

Now, in practice, you have a pump that will deliver the water to the tubes. Increased pipe diameter will lower the velocity of the water as you reach the pump's upper limit of flow, but that pipe diameter increase will also lower the back pressure on the impeller in the pump increasing its maximum flow rate.

I would think that increasing the tube diameter will increase the flow rate. Why not setup a side by side test your self and see how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon version built the old way and one built the new way each hooked up to the same fill system. Do them separately though and that should help you make up your mind.

Oh, about having media in the buckets. The more media is in a given bucket, the less room there is for water so it will fill faster than an empty bucket.

[PitViper]

sorry man i posted on the wrong thread bro ill post here now.plz dont take anything i say as an put down.I am just trying to help.we realy do work with this system alot, i just dont want anything to happen in the middle of your grow.most of the pros and cons we have seen.with the ebb it even comes down to the nutes you use.

[PotPie]

hey greenie, check out this link for grommets. I think this is what you are talking about but I'm not sure. It may be late for this time around but keep it in mind for the future. We ordered from them wednesday morning and received it wednesday afternoon! I'm in Los Angeles and they have a warehouse here but still, they have warehouses allover the country. GL and thanks for the TEK.

BTW, I am in no way affiliated with this company. I'm just a happy customer.

[munki]

Nice find PotPie. Man, I love the internet.

[greenisland]

Thank, you everyone for posting in the new journal. Its going to make things a whole lot easier for me in the future. So Munki, the thing is with this system is there is no pump feeding the buckets, its all just gravity, and the waters need to even out. I used 3/4" Inside Diameter Poly tubing. The inside diameter of my "t"s are larger than the outside diameter of the old 1/2" poly tubing. Im out of town on bussiness this weekend but I should be back on Monday or so to start finishing this TEK up. The Control Unit was sent out yesterday, hooorahh!!!
And Pit, beleive me I dont, lol. I have never taken anything youve said to offense. I just really am struggling to understand your thoughts. Realistically you would have to straight out come out and call me names before I would get upset. And all you have done is take time out of your day to help me, how could I take offense to that? :).
So stay tuned everybody! Ill be back working on this project on monday. Thanks for everyones help to, Munki, Pit, and everyone else too, its all very much appreciated, thank you.
Oh and thx for that grommet website too man, next time I will be sure to just order them over the net, rather than run around all over town trying to by 3 here, 6 there and 5 there.
Thanks everyone!

[Droopy Dog]

Originally Posted by munki

I wonder if a coarse copper screen could be employed. Roots hate copper; pots lined with copper paint can prevent roots from becoming root bound, at least from what I had read in the past.

NOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!

Copper is toxic to plants and in a nute solution would be very bad ju ju.

When I was a landscape supervisor and needed to kill an unwanted tree that we couldn't get at to cut or spray, I would just take bare copper wire, wrap it around the trunk and tighten it enough to cut into the cambium layer. Wasn't fast, but it worked.

No copper.

DD

[munki]

Originally Posted by Droopy Dog

NOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!

Copper is toxic to plants and in a nute solution would be very bad ju ju.

When I was a landscape supervisor and needed to kill an unwanted tree that we couldn't get at to cut or spray, I would just take bare copper wire, wrap it around the trunk and tighten it enough to cut into the cambium layer. Wasn't fast, but it worked.

No copper.

DD

We are trying to employ that toxicity to our advantage. I do not recommend wrapping a copper wire around the trunk of the cannabis plant as it would meet the same fate. There are products that do employ copper hydroxide that are used as root barriers. The roots when approaching the copper tend to branch rather that try to turn and wrap around the pot. There have been latex paints and nettings used to control root growth.

[greenisland]

All, very interesting! I hope the control module gets here soon. Then we can get this show on the road!