Hello there. As we already know, the ebb & flood hydroponic system is very efficient, cheap and easy to build -- even for people like me. It is also getting more and more popular, and that's why we thought it would be necessary to write a simple, phase-to-phase guide of how to do it. Now, off to work!

The basic principle of an Ebb&Flood hydroponic system.

First step: Equipment

Here you'll notice that building such a system won't make even a poor student go bankrupt; you WILL survive with less than 40 euros. The most expensive thing you'll need to get is a pump. Nothing fancy here, a 4-5 watt pump used for fountains or aquariums will do just fine. As a conclusion, you will need:

- Rockwool cubes, for the plants

- A reservoir for the nutrient solution

- Box for the plants and expanded clay 

- Pipe for intake and overflow

- Cable tie to fasten mosquito net over the tubes

- Mosquito net for covering the tubings, preventing clay to enter the reservoir

- A timer, attached to the electric cord. Turns the pump on few times in a day. 

- A drill for making holes for the tubings, naturally

- Good spirit, creativity and about 30-60 minutes of your life

Step two: Off to work!

As a first manner, we have to assault the growing box itself. Note here that the growing box shouldn't be too deep, since you need more liquid and more expanded clay to fill it for no real reason. So: we need to drill two holes to the bottom of the growing box. One, a bit smaller one for the nutrient intake tube, and the second, which should be a bigger one, for the overflow pipe. The overflow pipe should be larger in diameter compared to the nutrient pipe, because the overflow pipe has to be able to suck out the same amount of fluid that enters the system. Then we are able to keep the water at desired level, which should be around the upper end of plant(s)' roots.



Step three: Mounting!

Now as you have impaled the growing box and all is ready for tubing, it's time to grab your ruler! As said before, the overflow drain SHOULD be bigger than the intake. Be sure to buy such tube that fits your pump. PVC plastic is perfect for usage like this: It's cheap, easily available and it can handle extreme temperature changes. Now measure the intake tube so that it is long enough to go from the very bottom of the nutrient container to around one inch above the bottom of the growing box.



The second hole is for the overflow drain, which basically prevents too much liquid from entering the upper growth box. I recommend you to have only one overflow drain, clearly larger than the intake. I had to put two overflow drains that were the same size as the intake, when one just wasn't large enough to suck out enough of the solution! Now here's the important part: When you measure the overflow,  make sure that the pipe's upper hole is somewhere around 5 centimeters below the upper edge of the growth box.

Now you should have the holes done and tubings measured - It's mounting time. Here it is important to have the tubes stiffly in place, but remember to make them adjustable! I planned to use silicon, but was lucky enough to have it properly in place by just drilling the holes and by using power to fit the tubes. Leak proof and still adjustable!



Then, cut circular pieces of the mosquito net and place them over the tubings' heads to prevent clay from entering the reservoir. This would end up breaking the pump. Fasten the nets with cable tie.

 

Fourth Step: Adding the nutrients & test run!

Here is a very important step thinking of your plants' future. Mix a fairly big amount of your own nutrient solution and measure the pH (this is important! I've got Micro/water -solution with pH around 7). Pour
the solution into the reservoir below the growth box and start your pump!

It should now start to pump the solution from the lower reservoir up to the upper growth box. Once the water level reaches the overflow pipe, it should start
pouring back to the reservoir and voilá, the system is in balance!



Fifth step: Adding expanded clay and plants

As a last step, take some expanded (hydro) clay and pour a rather thick layer of it to the growth box, almost covering the overflow pipes.

 

then place your plants in rockwool cubes on top of this layer, and put on some more clay
to cover the rockwool cubes almost completely.



Sixth step: Voilá!

Congratulations, you have now built yourself your own Ebb & Flood hydroponic growing system! Control the pump with a timer attached into the power cord. The pump should be on 2-3 times a day, for about one minute each time (Or as long as it takes to fill up the system, depending on the size of the system.) 

 Final product on a "night-shift" under a 600w HPS with his fellow mates in pots.

  UPDATE!

Ebb & Flow system after some weeks. 1-litre Mato -bottle giving some scale. I have used a Flora Mato-Micro-Water -solution for feeding these seedlings. It works!

Hope you enjoyed this guide! Questions or comments? You can contact me in IRC with nick kilpikon3 or via e-mail tkinnunen at gmail.com.