Greenislands 5 Gallon Upgrade Ebb & Gro TEK

[The Butcher]

have you checked into water cooled lighting? I checked into that samw system before it's just to hard to drop all that $$$ and then have to cut down on the space for the room.It uses a seperate rez which means fi the water isnt temped rite them it wont work as efficently as it should that was just one of the cons i found.But on the other hand as long as the room stay ool and your rez is in a cool place then no worries.

and yeah we figured out that we needed the 2 x 4 's after we got there..(((DAMN IT!!)))

 

[greenisland]

So yeah I looked into hydro innovations stuff some more and it would just be a real hassle. but also very expensive. Probably actually more like $4000 not $2000 like I was saying earlier. But yeah as far as space goes Im at no shortage for that. My main limiting factor right now is electricity. I have a 60 amp 120volt line into the room so Im not saying actually not having electricity Im just saying i dont want my bills any more outrageous than they already are. Anyhow, should have some more to talkj about after work tomarrow. Im hoping to get some things set up.

 

[Sonzor]

Feel you on the electric bill and don't even grow indoors except to start off my plants and clones under CFL's and my summer bill over $600 a month. I can only imagine what it would be like with a full blown indoor grow. Good luck and great job so far. Lots of great info..

 

[greenisland]

Sonzor you have no isea how much I love your post! It makes me feel sooo much better knowing that I dont pay more than everyone else in the world. You pay more than I do even! My AC is BRAND NEW,well, the condesing unit is new, the fan unit is not. The expensive part is new, and its very big but DAMN it eats electric in the summer. The damn things doesnt even turn off some days. Just runs all damn day! I need to get new windows and insulate things better. Anyhow hope to have the first experiment undcerway tonight to test how the buckets will flood and how fast. Should have something to post after that!

 

[retired again dude]

Looking good there dude! .....I also use a ebb and grow with 12 - 2 gallions

Best thing I ever bought.....after putting it together and using it a couple of times I though I could have build this setup myself.

Good luck with your project.........

 

[PitViper]

Feel you on the electric bill and don't even grow indoors except to start off my plants and clones under CFL's and my summer bill over $600 a month. I can only imagine what it would be like with a full blown indoor grow. Good luck and great job so far. Lots of great info..

2400w in the summer and Im paying 900 a month. grrrr

 

[PitViper]

Looking good there dude! .....I also use a ebb and grow with 12 - 2 gallions

Best thing I ever bought.....after putting it together and using it a couple of times I though I could have build this setup myself.

Good luck with your project.........

for 400.00 It just isnt worth building it yourself...I have 2 of them

 

[PitViper]

Sonzor you have no isea how much I love your post! It makes me feel sooo much better knowing that I dont pay more than everyone else in the world. You pay more than I do even! My AC is BRAND NEW,well, the condesing unit is new, the fan unit is not. The expensive part is new, and its very big but DAMN it eats electric in the summer. The damn things doesnt even turn off some days. Just runs all damn day! I need to get new windows and insulate things better. Anyhow hope to have the first experiment undcerway tonight to test how the buckets will flood and how fast. Should have something to post after that!

Ive been following bro....curious to see the results

 

[Sonzor]

Sonzor you have no isea how much I love your post! It makes me feel sooo much better knowing that I dont pay more than everyone else in the world. You pay more than I do even! My AC is BRAND NEW,well, the condesing unit is new, the fan unit is not. The expensive part is new, and its very big but DAMN it eats electric in the summer. The damn things doesnt even turn off some days. Just runs all damn day! I need to get new windows and insulate things better. Anyhow hope to have the first experiment undcerway tonight to test how the buckets will flood and how fast. Should have something to post after that!

My house is pretty much brand new (4 years old), I have two AC's and during the summer they never turn off. We do turn it off at night and sweat it out to save a little but holy cow it's insane. If I had your grow I would be in the thousands I bet. Anyway hope thats not the case for you. Good luck

 

[greenisland]

No, luckily its not sonzor, lol. Just one AC unit. So this has been a huge ordeal to undertake actually. Expensive and one hell of a learning experience too. Yes it cost just as much to build one as buy one, atleast pretty damn close I think. To get the controller off the bucket has really been interesting. Ive had to rewire things and all kinds of crazy things to get this thing set up right. I hope to have pics and updates up late, late tonight. I screwed up my first control bucket/trashcan so I need a new one then Im back to work. I can tell everyone this though....your lucky Im doing this first because there are a lot of things I will put in my TEK that I wish I had known when I started. I go into detail later. Anyhow hope to have some pics up later...hopefully.

 

[greenisland]

Ok, well Im not sure if any of you caught that mad raving of me hating CAP or not, but I deleted it myself, because I was still able to EDIT my message and zI fealt like it was unnescessary punishment onb my part. But man, CAP gets on my nerves sometimes. Im Stiiiiill working on this, hope to have some pics up soon

 

[greenisland]

Ok, good news everyone! The tested went PURRRRfect. Seriously, everything is so much smoother and nicer...quite literally the unit makes less noise just from having less turbelunce (im guessing). The two buckets I tested on fill up in less than 30 seconds, so Im guessing ten of them would take, maybe 2 minutes, tops im guessing. The water stops right at about an inch from the top of the bottom bucket which is perfect. But it also has me thinking that a bucket that isnt from home depot and that doesnt have a crazy huge 4 inch lip might be better for the top buckets just because it would sit lower in the bucket and you could use more of the top bucket and have more substrate in there too. What I was really suprised was how easily and fast it dumps water, and just how freely the water seems to flow in these larger diameter lines. Just fyi, I was using the original pumps (as I intend to on the final unit) and 5/8 semi rigid pvc tubing for like irrigation I beleive. Its just slightly larger than the 1/2" tubing that comes with the full set, I used it because Im lazy and didnt feel like heating up 1/2" tubing like you have to if you want to fit it on those huge ass pump fittings (if you have a ebb and gro and you set it up you know what I mean,...why dont they just make a barbed fitting?). Anyhow, the tubing I used slipped on a lot easier, so I used it for the test. So I finally have everything put together and all the custom peices made. Now I just need to asseble the entire unit but that wont be done until the room is built sometime next week I think. However I will start to assemble my TEK pics for everything cause its FINALLY almost over with. YEAHH!!! Oh, and not a single leak anywhere either, thats what happens when you do it right the first time! lol, and as you will see eventually when my completed TEK is up it took ME like 2-3 tries before I finally "did it right" right, lol. Well hopefully that means that anyone else that reads my TEK when its done wont have to make the same mistakes as I did. (and beleive me I made plenty, fixed it, made a new one, fixed it, etc). Ill say this for sure A TEK would have helped me GREATLY. Heres a couple pics I uploaded so all of you could see the cute little 2 bucket ebb and gro *TEST* run. Hope it holds ya over guys! Till next time, Hidy Ho!!

Thanks for reading everyone!!

*EDIT* See my flashy "voided" warranty sticker flapping in the wind in the second picture, lol. Hope I dont screw that peice of hardware up, ,,, cause they definetally wont send me a replacement after what Ive done to it, lol!

 

[420fied]

Beautiful. I'll be consulting with you, viper, and Mr Smith in the future on an E&G setup. Thanks for sharing.

 

[greenisland]

Heres a couple pics of the completed "control" bucket.

 

[Sonzor]

Mad scientist you are. Obviously you are very good building things. Not something I would or could attempt. Great job... And can not wait to see it all up and running...

 

[greenisland]

Sonzor, that is exactly why Im making this TEK, so people like you CAN do this. I gaurantee that if you follow my TEK (when its up and done) you will be able to build this unit successfully..or atleast thats my goal here...to make easy step by step directions how to build what I am. Wait and see what my TEK looks like when I put it up here in a week or so, and then tell me what you think you wont be able to do, because I think this TEK build is definetally within reach of the common person. Or atleast thats my goal.lol.
Thanks for reading my thread Sonzor!

 

[Sonzor]

I am going to take you up on that challenge and believe me when I say you got your work cut out for you. LOL

 

[greenisland]

Cool, maybe we could even get two of these units going, that would be cool to see them in two different journals.

 

[greenisland]

OK, so I know this is off topic but you guys just gotta see my new thread. Its a real short story about something that happened to me yesterday. Im sure you all will get a kick out of it, or maybe you will be mad like I was, either way heres the link, Pot Blunders Check it out!

 

[420fied]

GI,

I'm going to build an E&F unit someday soon. I am hoping to follow this and consult Viper, McBudz, and Mr Smith as well. Having all 4 of you guys to use as a resource is invaluable for all of us that have never used E&F.

I'm a huge fan of your work. Thanks for sharing this with all of us and keep the info coming!