Hello all

Any ideas on best way to run pump on NFT system .

constantly or timed ....????

all new ideas welcome too ...

cheers ..

I haven't grown NFT for a few years, before I had the knowledge available from here, but I used to run my pump 24/7

I used to run an NFT 205 and i had the pump on 24 hours day, the plants grew like monsters. I dont see why you would need to run it for less than that as the whole point of NFT is to have the nutrients running through the roots at all times.

WHen new plants are put into the system I use only pure water for the first 4-5 days
I run the pump on for a couple of mins every hour gradually increasing the on time more and more each day until the roots are growing in the mat.
After that its on 24/7 until near harvest time.

The idea is to encourage the roots to grow into the mat , small on times + little or no nutes helps this.

Hi,

I run my pump 20 mins on and 20 mins off lights on, 20 mins on 2 hrs off in the dark period. I personally find this method better than 24/7. IMO it allows more air around the roots but the dry times are short enough to not allow the roots to dry out, and seems to help stop the dreaded pythium (sp?)

All the best

DrG

24/7 from start to finsh

BE WARNED, they grow like feck

As above be sure to get some air in the res and i run a heater in mine and a air pump and a few air stones
also if haven't already got one get a cf meter
Im just about a week of putting my 4" cubes on the tray prob put a few pickys up if i get time ...

Thx for the advise chaps..

plain water for 4/5 days never herd of that they still need food even when rooting if anything less N helps root better..
by the time mine have gone onto the table they are well under way in 3 inch blocks and take a ec of 1.0 no probs ....

i also run 24/7 from the start make more of a angle for run off and start at a trickle and ajust when they start to grow

i know by putting it on a timer for 20 mins of ect its still very wet on the tray and as said above nft is ment to run all the time ,,they dont turn them off on big veg grows toms ect ect

I always used a good tilt on the table but never ran 24/7

15mins on 45 off is what i used to do with great results

Horses for courses innit

On the 5 days of plain water, i'd say forget that, you gain nothing, in fact you will stress them seeing as they have no food

Owd

I think the 5 days pure water is the recomendation from nutriculture ( leaflet comes with the system ) Ive only bin doing nft for 6 months but allready had my best result so for (21 onz under 600 wats) thats with the pump running 24 7 , the first week I use a mild mix of canna aqua vega the second week a mix of vega and flora folowed be flora for the bulk of the remaining flowering time ,the last few weeks I slowly switch back to vega and at the end I just feed a very mild vega mix , the well grown clones are on 12 / 12 from the minute they go into the trays and they still have time to develop massive root systems .

On my nft tables i used 4" rockwall cubes which hold a lot of moisture and don't forget the spreader matt holds water to.
I used to run the 2 pumps per table only on when the lights were on so in flower they were on for 12hrs on and 12hrs off.
I also used an air pump in the res to airate the water.

H

Thx again

ONce again some great info from you lads...

I like the idea of 2 pumps ,,, If one fails theres always a back up running...

Would love to run only when light is on ,, save on elecy and noise at night...BUt will have to see if it works for me ...

Be lucky....

I like the sound of that mate ....

sounds like an awsome result under 600watts, 21 oz's!!!

How many did you do?

interested in the switching back to veg in last weeks. do you use a mixture of both veg and bloom together say 80/20, 60/40, 50/50, 40/60, 20/80. what week do you start switching to veg? why do this?

some do this so they dont flush (feed plain water)

here read this

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...&hl=*flush*

pump on 24/7 as soon as they go in the tank

....if you're concerned about soaking your cubes/roots aren't that established;

break some tile spacers into "T" shapes...tuck 1 end in the bottom of the cube at each corner and this will raise the cube slightly from the matting

i adjust my flow rate through the grow...at first i'll have the pump on a wee bit but as the root mass/plant size increases i up the flow of the pump

with the tank slightly raised at 1 end to avoid pooling this method works well

atb