Flood and drain short veg chamber build.

[Mr Burns]

So I'm going to bubblers from soil so I need to get into this rockwool thang.
I'm going to build a clone bucket soon but first I need a veg chamber that would take 4 inch rockwool cubes with clone pellets in.
So off round town I go and I obtained two under bed storage containers for under £10/$17 that have black lids.

This needs to be finished but what you'll see is how far I got with it today.

Un container.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1375&stc=1&d=1137270744

Next find the level that will have the lid catching the rockwool in place when it's all together. Install the staging.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1376&stc=1&d=1137270744

Next cut the spare lid down and make holes for the flood and drain to operate through.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1377&stc=1&d=1137270744

Fit the overflow.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1378&stc=1&d=1137270744

I have the overflow just below the rockwool top surface. This is the overflow which would drain back to res and nothing else.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1379&stc=1&d=1137270744

Overflow and rockwool.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1380&stc=1&d=1137270744

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1379&stc=1&d=1137270744

Drill the lid out to take the rockwool cubes. This chamber is so I can bring the clones on from young to around 2 weeks veg so I made big enough holes to get the plant through when lifting the lid but small enough just to pinch the rockwool corners.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1382&stc=1&d=1137270744

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1383&stc=1&d=1137270744

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1384&stc=1&d=1137270744

[Cranky]

pucker thread bro...looks good to me but as ya know i aint no expert on the old hydro side of things.....what i do want to know is whos fekin wendy house have you been cutting up???:D

will be looking forward to seeing it in action;)

nice job

cranky

[Mr Burns]

whos fekin wendy house have you been cutting up???

Cranks that went over my head like I don't know what. Wendy house?

B.

[Cranky]

sorry bro...wendy house/play house.....those white plastic tubes and connectors are whats used in the frame work of a wendy house/playhouse (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005B48X/203-9400186-3915106)

;)
not to worry though:D

cranky

[Dibbz]

Good ideas dude well done for sharing how not to spend so much cash in shops on them kinda systems!!:cool:

[CB]

Good ideas dude well done for sharing how not to spend so much cash in shops on them kinda systems!!:cool:

indeed dibbz......bit of DIY will go along ways


time to get it on burnsy me O'l mucker :p

look'n forward to a few updates of this in action


grow on

[Jr. Greenthumb]

So, Have you figured out how many gallons you'll end up with in the reservoir yet?

I'm on my 2nd grow with a flood and drain system. So far I am NOT impressed and have seriously considered going back to the bubbler buckets.

Looking foward to seeing this come together for ya. :gthumb:

[Mr Burns]

Thanks peeps.

Jr, this is only a short veg chamber before going into the main room and flower so it'll be the only flood and drain part of the grow. I built it flood and drain to get a higher litreage and hopefully a 'clean short veg' without having to drain a small bubbler tank and re-fill, nute, PH etc etc. This way all 8 will have around 100 litres to keep em going compared to 40 if bubblered. Did I explain that OK?

I'll be fitting the inlet and drain today or tomorrow and showing uploading pics. First grow will be 8 topped white russians and after that a real treat. :p

Total spend so far, £17/$26.

Oh Jr. The bubbler set up will be around 500 litres.

[midwestbluntman]

Burnsy
looking great man,I havent seen a pic of the real money involved yet,but DIY is the way to go.If your mind is set on the rockwool,you may want to research a bit for flood schedules.R/W holds alot of water for a good long time.
So what size and kind of pump are ya planning on running in there?Thats going to be the biggest chunck of cash involved.I bet you will have this up and running for under $100 bucks,Try and touch one in a hydro shop for that kind of money,lol.When selecting your pump keep an eye out for the pumps lift,just cause it pumps 300gph doesnt mean it will lift the water high enough to reach your table.That was the mistake i made when selecting the pump.My pump pumps 120gph but only has about an 18" lift,thats why i had to build the feed manifold on mine.

[Mr Burns]

MW.
The pump for this isn't a DIY one. I went with a hydro specific 1000lph with a 58 inch 1.5M lift. The actual lift is 43 inches/1.1 meters or I can halve that if I wanted to raise it on a shelf. I chose to buy this from the hydro guys in case of a pump failure. As they replaced my ungermed White Russians I no doubt think they'd replace a broken pump on the spot so I went with them. Had I not I could have saved £15/$23 but off ebay and probably with a dodgy warranty!

As for flood and drain times MW, I understand theres an ideal on this but I'm not sure whether its a math thing or just how long a 4 inch block should be flooded and how often? Something I need to look into. The multi daytime digital timer is there, just the research and final construction to go.

You were right about the costings as far as the short veg cab goes though. Total costings so far is £42/$70 including the lift pump at £25/$37 and only the fill and drain hose to go. I'd estimate the total cost of this short veg chamber at another £10/$16 putting the total at £52/$86. Not a bad estimation MW?

[midwestbluntman]

sound good man,1000lph sould more than be enough for it,in fact you could prolly run 2 with it.

[XzoomD]

wow, burns! great build!
I wonder if something similar could be made into a cloner?

[Mr Burns]

Cheers MW. If I need to split it with a T for something else there shouldn't be a problem.

Ahhhh XzoomD.

Looky what I found........ plain ole water too.......

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1400&stc=1&d=1137350105

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Hey bro, Another Q:

Have you got your bubbler buckets built already?

[Mr Burns]

I'm cutting into them today Jr. I can't finish them until I recieve my foil tape though. What are you thinking?

[CB]

[Looky what I found........ plain ole water too......


say burnsy with roots like that you might think about more than just plain water :eek:

[Mr Burns]

Cheap it's not my bucket but something I found on the net. Just a container, heater/stat and air stone. I'm trying to think a way to do them in rockwool and in a tub..... :hmmmm:

The short veg chamber has been altered. I weren't too confident at it's simplicity and thought maybe with more technicality it would be pertfected, but I want to keep away from technical and keep it basic.
For this reason I ditched the tray that the rockwool sits on and cut the lower portion of another tub of the same size. I then cut a hollow in each side to act as cascades or an overflow into the lower chamber. I also drilled 5 holes in the bottom of the new tray all at 1/8th of an inch. The pump should flood the chamber faster than these holes can drain and once the pump shuts off and the nutes fall below the cascades the 5 holes should drain within 5 minutes. I'll time how long it takes to drain and adjust the controller accordingly.

For the res I've bought a swing bin. As floor space is a premium I've gone taller and up in volume. The heater element is mounted upright which isn't ideal but hopefully the amount of air will give good circulation and no cold or hot spots.

Everything is hot glued in place but removable. I've also installed some soaker hose as this seems to be the way to go but as you will se in the pics this needs to be plugged one end and attached the other.

Tomorrow the PH & EC meter shouild be here and if so I'll be firing it up!

Things still might change though!

[tripnoncid]

what ever happened t this thread? looks promising(sp?)..I would like to have something similar in my veg chamber :)
trip

[midwestbluntman]

trip
mr burns dont log in much these days,He spends most his time at one of the more active sites.Every once in while i see him logged in but he spends most his time over at HC.thats a shame cause he was/is a good grower.

[Cranky]

i do beleive mr burns has knocked the forums on the head.yes,is a shame indeed.

cranky