EBB & Flood project

After using the EBB & flood hydro system for few harvest, I was sure which system I wanted to build as a large greenhouse hydroponic system.

A few pics of the previous results:

^{Inca Berry (C. baccatum)}

^{Dutch-Habanero F1 (C. annuum x chinense) flowering}

So, the decicion was very easy.
I prefer using large, wide containers for growing as they're very comfortable to maintain and plants can be easily moved, added and removed.
Much easier planting than with soil!

It's very hard to find as large containers as I wanted for this project so I had to build containers myself.
I used plywood which I saturated with epoxy.
I also used fiberglass on corners to make the containers both stronger and to prevent any leakage.

Now, to the project:

^{Measuring and planning.}

^{Starting to build the 500L nutrient container.}

^{Attaching the corner cleaths with epoxy and screws.}

^{Saturating the bottom of the box.
Holes drilled for the water input/output and overflow tube.}

^{Water output for the nutrient container.
Old nutrients can be removed from the container using simple tap at the bottom of the tank.}

^{The input/output (lead-in) for the water.
This piece will be saturated with epoxy and attached below the input/output hole drilled on the growing container.}

^{Nutrient reservoir starting to look like planned.}

^{The lead-in strainer shown here.}

^{The overflow tube shown here.}

^{Growing container on top of the nutrient reservoir.}

^{The input/output for the nutrient solution in place.}

<sup>Starting to put on the pieces of fiberglass.
They will be saturated carefully with epoxy.


Fiberglass saturated with epoxy.</sup>

^{Checking the spacing for the stands and planning the right spot for the growing container.}

^{Nutrient container painted with gray epoxy.}

<sup>Painting the growing container with gray epoxy.


Growing container painted with gray epoxy.</sup>

 
^{Growing container painted with gray epoxy.}

 
^{Growing container painted with gray epoxy, showing the lead-in + adjustable overflow tube.}

 
^{Both containers drying, an overview of the project room. (Cold side of the greenhouse).
The soil plants (rocotos) are there for colder nights, which is good for them.}

 
^{Growing container filled with washed expanded clay, a little more than 500 liters of expanded clay here!
Timer set to run few times a day. Each run is 5 minutes. At morning, at mid-day, afternoon and night.
The system is ready for the plants!
Total size 4 metres x 1 metre.}

 
^{Cold side cleaned and ebbs running... yes, I built another EBB & flood -system from the leftover pieces, which is smaller,
250x30cm and uses a plastic container for the nutrients.
I'm still planning for more as the EBB  & flood growing is definitely the most comfortable and prolific system there is!}

More pictures to come on the next site updates!