Thursday, December 17, 2015

First time, beginners DIY guide Ebb and Flow Table setup - Part 2 (Prep Work)

Now that you have all of the supplies your next steps are to get started on your new project!

- First you may want to soak your seeds for 24-48 hours in water, or a mixture of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide)
- While those are soaking you can start drilling holes in your tote. Make sure that you use the whole saw size that is the same size as the ebb and flow fittings. You are going to place two holes in the top of that tote. I placed mine towards the middle. The Mason Mixing tub had a bit of a bow in the center of it, which is fine because that is where the lowest point is located. That means water will flow towards that area when it is draining.
- Remember that the lower ebb and flow fitting is what the pump hooks up to. The taller one is the drain.
- Here is a picture of the Mason Mixing tub on top of my reservoir:

- Once you have those holes drilled in the top of the tote, now you can line up the mixing tub on top of it, and drill those holes.( I took the lid off of the tote, lined up the holes, then drilled them to make sure everything lined up the way I wanted them to line up.
- Next, you will need to put the fittings in. I placed them around the mixing tub. They are free hanging into the tote.

- Here is another picture of the fittings on, and inside of tub:

- After that you can hook up your pump to the pipe, hook that pipe up to the small ebb and flow fitting.
- Next, you will want to fill up your reservoir. This is just for a test run. Make sure you have at least 25 gallons in your reservoir. Turn on your pump, and set a stop watch. Wait for it to get to around 18-19 gallons full, then stop your stop watch. How long did it take to fill up your reservoir? It takes around 8 minutes for mine to fill. Now you can set your timer to that time limit of "on" for 8 minutes.
- I let it flood the table three times a day. You can do two, or more than three if you would like, but I prefer 3 times a day.

- Setup your light, and your hangers. Adjust your light to the correct  height (can be as close as around 10-16 inches above the plants).
- Start soaking your rockwool, and growstones.
- Soak the growstones 48 hours in advanced. I soaked my initially in regular tap water in a bucket for 24 hours. Dumped that water, then added pH balanced water, plus 1/4 strength nutrients to the water. Let them soak for another 24 hours.
  - The first soak helps remove any dust.
  - The second soak preps the growstones for use.
- The rockwool can be soaked 24 hours prior to being used in pH balanced, 1/4 nutrient strength water.

Part 1
Part 3

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