What is best med. for Flood and drain?

[Greenkitty]

Just bought a new flood and drain table and was wondering what the best medium for flood and drain is? Least problems and most efficant as well as cost effective. I bought rock wool cubes when i got the table but understand there is some issues with it and want my first grow in it to be as trouble free as possible. I have cuttings in the clonner now and will be ready to go soon. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Greenkitty.

[SFC]

Coco has treated me pretty good,and I understand they have Coco setups for what you speak of as well. Good to see you back in the game my friend:thumbsup:

[greenthumbdanny]

Good to see you again greenkity haven't seen you since GK. Doesn't look like I am welcome over there no more.
What is wrong with using rockwool cubes thats what I have always use. Problem free. The cubes need to be preped first before use. Which is KEY.

Starting with my cubes I prepare them by letting them sit in tap water with a mild solution of Formulex (seaweed solution) with a ph of 5.8-6.0, EC is 1.0 for 24 hours or more. You have to do this because the rockwool cubes have a high ph as it is at 7.5 and your tap water can be shitty so you can see where that can be a prob. Now you are ready to place your rooted clones in your 4x4 cubes.. Do this and your life will be eaisier and you wont be saying wtf..

For my 55 gal res, I let ph balanced tap water sit for 24 hours or more. Then I go ahead and mix up my nutrients. All nutrients vary and have different recomended ppm's, EC, TDS etc etc. So pay attention to your lable. I use pure blend pro veg and bloom along with other important supplement solutions. This is what works for me.
Early veg 500-600ppm's EC 1.0
Peak veg 800-900ppm's EC 1.5-2.0
During early flowering I increase to 1000-1200ppm's EC 2.0
Peak flowering 1200-1300ppm's EC 2.0
Then I flush for a week or more depending on my lazyness.

Your ph can flux strongly depending on your system so its important to get that dialed in along with what your strain likes and can handle..
Its not good to just keep dumping in chemicals to maintaine your ph at 5.8 let it drift as low as 5.2 - 6.0 that way your plants can get everything available to it. When I see my shit fluxuate low then high I know my ladies are absorbing nutrients properly. Make sure your nutrient temp is around 68-72 deg this is important as well..

I use a tri-meter by nutradrip. Its a bit pricey but worth every penny. I believe this is the most acurate tool out there on the market. It measures everything you need to acurately maintain your tds(ppm's)/temp/ec shit without costly error's. Hope this helps dude.. I would really read up on some grow guides which could answer a lot of your question.

PS.. I forgot to add your hydrotron rocks need to be washed and rised very well before use. You do not want any of that red residue in your mix. Rinse untill you see clear water coming out..

As for COCO I have never went that route. Hope this helps Kitty.

[SFC]

Sounds like GTD has a bit more experience on Hydro than I do,and what he said makes damn good sense. If I were going ebb,and flow I would.....
I didn't rinse my hydrotron on the last grow. Everything turned out pretty good, but that is something I will keep in mind.

[greenthumbdanny]

I have heard a lot of talk about coco going around lately. I have never read up on it. I don't even know what it is.. Can you explain in a nutshell?

[SFC]

Can you explain in a nutshell? LOL.. yeah, they are ground up coconut shells. Then they steam the to get the salt off of them. There are different grades/sizes. I prefer the (mixed coco) they have larger chunks. The profit disc is one in this category. Botanicare makes quite a few different deals especially for ebb,and flow. It is a PH neutral medium that is reusable,(under the right conditions) Besides myself,and Tiberon, maybe Mistical (I think) not a whole lot of people here are using it yet. But as time goes on I think you will see it catching on more,and ,more. I actually didn't use it on my last grow, but that was a DWC with Hydrotron as the medium. I plan on scoring sme more profit disc's for the next grow (look for early ,08):thumbsup:

[Greenkitty]

Thanx guys. Just getting back on the sites again. Have been a care giver for my parents for the last 6 years. My mother passed away 9-20 so i'm triing to start my life back over again. Lost dad 3 years ago. Time to start a new life.

[bongrip420]

my condolences for your loss Greenkitty.i have bought 6 coco bricks myself.looking forward to trying them soon.cant give any advice because its a new thing for myself also.good luck!!!!!!

[greenthumbdanny]

Greenkitty sorry to hear..Starting over is what Im all about now.. Glad your hear.
Do you remember giving me a pecan pie recipe over at growkind?

As far as the COCO goes. As of now I might try and learn something new..hmmmmm coco..