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Laph's Latest Folly - DIY Mini Flood & Drain System


Laphroaig

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Time for a mini update.  Allot has happened since last time, mainly reservoir problems!  Every single water butt I seem to get has cracks in it and the way I had things set up a 80-90 litre dustbin just wasn't enough volume so I made some changes, starting with the media.  Before I was using recycled clay pebbles but I've swapped to three inch cubes and the results have been spectacular.  I think it's the heating effect of the lamps on the black inner pots but the plants seem to love it because they're shooting up.

 

I did the Archimedes thing and lowered the overflow pipe so the pots only fill to 1cm below the top of the cubes and now the 80 litre dustbin is quite adequate for my 28 plant mini flood & drain. :) 

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  • 6 months later...

Well my experiment using the 3" rockwool blocks was a disaster, but you have to try these things.  A breeding ground for root rot with the light getting in.  I ended up binning all the plants and disinfecting the whole setup with bleach.  So now I'm back on clay pebbles again and it's working fine.  I've also managed to get a generous new 140L nutrient reservoir which, running at a low EC, I'm only bothering to change monthly and the plants are happy.

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