Flood and Drain (Ebb and Flow) systems are very popular with home hydroponic
growers for many reasons. Besides how easy they are for anyone to build, you can use
almost any materials you have laying around to build them with, so you don't need to
spend much money to grow plants hydroponically. Also they can be built to fit in any
available space you might have (both indoors or outdoors), and there is no limit to the
different and imaginative ways to design them for that space. Along with being
inexpensive and easy to build, plants grow very well in flood and drain systems. The
flood and drain system works basically like it sounds, by simply flooding the plants root
system with nutrient solution. Only periodically rather than continuously.
How a hydroponic flood and drain system operates quite simple. The main part of the
flood and drain system holds the containers the plants are growing in. It can be just one
plant, or many plants/containers in series. A timer turns on the pump, and water
(nutrient solution) is pumped through tubing from the reservoir up into the main part of
the system using a submersible fountain/pond pump. The nutrient solution continues to
fill (flood) the system until it reaches the height of the preset overflow tube so that it
soaks the plants roots. The overflow tube should be set to about 2 inches below the top
of the growing media.
When the water filling/flooding the system reaches the overflow tube height, it drains
back down to the reservoir where it recirculates back through the system again. The
overflow tube sets the water level height in the flood and drain system, as well as
makes sure the water (nutrient solution) doesn't spill out the top of the system while the
pump is on. When the pump shuts off, the water siphons back down into the reservoir
through the pump (draining the system).
What you need to build a Flood and Drain (Ebb and Flow) system:
- A container for the plant's roots to grow in.
- A container (reservoir) to hold the nutrient solution.
- A submersible fountain/pond pump.
- A light timer to turn the pump on and off.
- Some tubing to run from the pump in the reservoir to the system to be flooded.
- An overflow tube set to the height you want the water level.
- Growing medium of some kind.
There are many different ways to build a flood and drain system, and they are very good
for growing small to medium size plants. Even for growing large plants with larger flood
and drain system designs. You can use just about anything to build one including
buckets, tubes, 2 liter bottles, storage totes, water bottles, an old ice chest, trash cans
etc.. Just about anything that can hold water can be used. The imagination doesn't stop
there either, there are many ways to flood and drain the roots in the system too. Below
are some examples of how the three most common ways used to flood and drain the
systems work.
(Tip 1) Make sure there is a way air can get in the top of the overflow without spilling
water out. A "T" connector with an extension that is a few inches above the water line
will work nicely. This will keep air pockets from forming in the system and make sure it
floods and drains properly.
(Tip 2) Make sure the overflow tube is bigger than the water inlet tube from the pump.
Otherwise because the water is only going out through gravity, and water is coming in
through pressure from the pump, you could wind up pumping in more water than what is
going out the overflow. That would lead to water building up and spilling out the top of
your system, unless you reduce the pressure (volume) from the pump.
There are basically three main types of flood and drain system setups
Plant containers in series design
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This type of setup is most commonly used when many different containers with plants
are being watered (flooded) at the same
time. It's important to remember that the
system with the plants (containers) to be
flooded (watered) needs to be above the
reservoir, like on a table top or bench. That
way the water can flow back to the reservoir
by simple gravity, and thus drain the system
correctly.
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First multiple containers are all connected
together through tubing so that when the system is flooded, they all flood evenly, and all
at the same time. For simplicity, instead of having a separate overflow for each
container being flooded, there's usually only one overflow tube. It connects to the
system at the base where all the containers are connected to. And when the water
height reaches the top of the overflow, it spills over and goes back to the reservoir to be
pumped through the system again. The
height of this one overflow tube will set the
height of the water level in all of the
connected containers with the plants in them
(as long as it's level). You can change the
water height in all of the connected
containers by simply adjusting the height of
the single overflow tube.
Flooding tray design
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The flooding table/tray flood and drain (ebb and flow) system type setup is useful when
you want to place plants in the system
temporarily, need to be moving them around a
lot, or starting plants to be placed in another
larger system. Instead of flooding separate
containers with plants in it, this method only
floods one container. Usually a shallow square
or rectangle container that sets on top of a table.
The reservoir usually sits directly underneath
with easy access.
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Water is pumped up from the reservoir into the
flooding tray on one side, and the overflow is
on the other side of the flooding tray. That
makes sure the water actually circulates from
one side of the tray/table to the other. Like any
flood and drain (ebb and flow) system, the
overflow tube height sets the water height
during the flooding cycle, and can be adjusted
as needed.
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The plants are grown in regular plastic pots
or baskets, and placed in the flooding tray
like regular potted plants. However, unlike
regular potted plants, hydroponic growing
media is used to pot the plants instead of
using potting soil. Once the plants get big
enough, they can be transferred into a
permanent hydroponic system.
One downside to using the flooding table is the algae growth, and should be cleaned
out regularly. Because the top of the tray is usually left open, light is allowed to get in to
the nutrient solution in the bottom of the tray, That allows algae to grow. The algae
alone isn't really bad for the plants, but it does use up dissolved oxygen in the water.
Serge tank flood and drain (ebb and flow) system design
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The serge tank type of flood and drain setup is useful when more vertical space is
needed. Typically with flood and drain systems, the reservoir is always lower than the
hydropnic system. That's so the water
(nutrient solution) can drain out of the system
through gravity back into the reservoir
through the overflow, and when the pump is
off. But you can still set up a flood and drain
system even when the water level in the
reservoir is higher than the hydroponic
system it's supposed to flood and drain back
from. That is with the use of a serge tank.
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The serge tank type of flood and drain system
costs more to build because there are
many more parts needed. It works on the
principal that water seeks it's own level. In
other words, the water height in one container
will be the same in another container when
they are connected below the water line. The
serge tank serves as a temporary reservoir
that controls the water height in all the containers with the plants in them, and is only full
during the flooding cycle.
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The serge tank flood and drain (ebb and
flow) system operates by pumping water
(nutrient solution) from the much larger main
reservoir into the serge tank when the pump
timer goes on. As the water level rises in the
serge tank, the water level rises evenly in all
the connected plant containers at the same
time. When the water level gets high enough,
a float valve in the serge tank turns on a
pump in the serge tank. The pump in the
serge tank then pumps water back into the
main reservoir. At this time both the pumps
are on (pump in main reservoir, and serge
tank).
After the timer for the pump in the main reservoir shuts off, the pump in the serge tank is
still on. The pump in the serge tank continues pumping all the water back into the main
reservoir (draining the system) until the water level gets low enough. At that point a
second float valve shuts off the pump in the serge tank.
Source : Homehydrosystem.com
Source : Homehydrosystem.com
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