THConnoisseur
New Member
whats up dudes?? ive been readin the forums for years now and theyve assisted me wit all my soil grows and i attribute much of my knowledge and success to the info ive obtained from this site, so THANK YOU ALL! im switching up my closet set-up in about a month when my (last) soil grow finishes flowering to an ebb & flow system. ive narrowed down most of my concerns to 3 relatively "newb" questions that id love to have answered in the meantime so i FINALLY joined the site! thanks to anyone in advance who helps the new guy... 
alright, so im goin to have a 4x4 flood tray in a 4.5x6 walk-in closet. for the first grow i plan on using the 400w MH/HPS ive had for the last 2 soil grows and want to have 9 plants total (3 rows of 3) in the tray.
FIRST QUESTION: Medium!? i definitely prefer to move my plants around and check them/prune them almost daily so i believe options like cocomat + rockwool or fillin the entire tray wit hydrotron arnt for me. SO, how exactly do i use standard pots or net pots in a flood table? standard pots large enough to contain all of the rootmass would be too tall for the 6" deep table, but the 4" or 6" net pots would have roots growing out the sides and right onto an uncovered flood table, wouldnt that cause root rot within the 1st few days of it happening? how do people use individual pots in a flood table?
SECOND QUESTION: Algae!? even if i do use pots, that leaves a lot of exposed areas of the flood tray which definitely doesnt drain ALL THE WAY after a cycle. some water remains in the grooves and since that water will have nutes in it when im growin, wont that cause algae growth almost immediately? would i have to fill the entire tray with a few inches of hydrotron anyway just to block the light? (which would interfere with my freedom of moving the plants around)
THIRD QUESTION: Flood Cycle!? i had my system set up in the living room (haha) when i first got the tubing/pump/tray etc. to check the water tightness and flow of everything and its works great but my concern is with the pump. if im using a standard daily timer wit 15 min intervals (the ones were all used to using for our lights/exhaust) but it only takes 9 minutes to flood my entire table, do i need a different digital timer to set it to for only 9 or 10 minutes? ive read that as soon as the medium is saturated you want to drain, how exact is that info? could my table be completely flooded for 5 strait minutes before draining (which takes about 13 minutes). this would be about 30 minutes for a total cycle, is that normal?
THANKS AGAIN DUDES!!
alright, so im goin to have a 4x4 flood tray in a 4.5x6 walk-in closet. for the first grow i plan on using the 400w MH/HPS ive had for the last 2 soil grows and want to have 9 plants total (3 rows of 3) in the tray.
FIRST QUESTION: Medium!? i definitely prefer to move my plants around and check them/prune them almost daily so i believe options like cocomat + rockwool or fillin the entire tray wit hydrotron arnt for me. SO, how exactly do i use standard pots or net pots in a flood table? standard pots large enough to contain all of the rootmass would be too tall for the 6" deep table, but the 4" or 6" net pots would have roots growing out the sides and right onto an uncovered flood table, wouldnt that cause root rot within the 1st few days of it happening? how do people use individual pots in a flood table?
SECOND QUESTION: Algae!? even if i do use pots, that leaves a lot of exposed areas of the flood tray which definitely doesnt drain ALL THE WAY after a cycle. some water remains in the grooves and since that water will have nutes in it when im growin, wont that cause algae growth almost immediately? would i have to fill the entire tray with a few inches of hydrotron anyway just to block the light? (which would interfere with my freedom of moving the plants around)
THIRD QUESTION: Flood Cycle!? i had my system set up in the living room (haha) when i first got the tubing/pump/tray etc. to check the water tightness and flow of everything and its works great but my concern is with the pump. if im using a standard daily timer wit 15 min intervals (the ones were all used to using for our lights/exhaust) but it only takes 9 minutes to flood my entire table, do i need a different digital timer to set it to for only 9 or 10 minutes? ive read that as soon as the medium is saturated you want to drain, how exact is that info? could my table be completely flooded for 5 strait minutes before draining (which takes about 13 minutes). this would be about 30 minutes for a total cycle, is that normal?
THANKS AGAIN DUDES!!
