# Mulit-flow System?



## Biffdoggie (May 3, 2006)

Anyone else using this set-up? I switched from beds to these guys and the difference is amazing.
More-so I was wondering if anyone else had the same thing going on. They are broken up on two sides of the room with the res. in the middle, 4 rows on one side and three rows on the other. One side will always go better than the other, first it was one side then the other (so i know it's not the lights). They are filling correctly and staying moist, neither side is anything to cry about but one is way bushier.
If you're not familiar-
http://www.hydroponics.net/items/details/multiflow.asp


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## goldbud (Jun 19, 2006)

these are nice setups, i have two with the 48 pots and ,one for veg then just lift the 2gal pots out from the veg srait to the flower room, go to growkind.com and look under may of 2005 i put my first grow there under my little closet, check it out it has my same systems, been using for over year with temendous results. i also use the ez cloner 120 site. i run 4 1000mh over 48 and 4 1000 hps over the flower side.lucky i have garage that is detatched and could be seperated into nice big rooms with ac units installed from the outside going in to bring in fresh air with plenty of fans extractin the heat and cooling the bulbs.if ya have any questions with this system ill try to answer to my best.ph level was easy to maintain.


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## Biffdoggie (Jun 19, 2006)

Yeah, I allready use it, it's a great system. I didn't have such a problem with the  one side this time, I can't wait to have enough room to veg. in them too, I'm not getting nearly what I should be by vegging elsewhere.


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## Devilweed (Jun 20, 2006)

I really do not know much about Hydroponic growing, but unless I am missing something, those individual pots seem rather small for growing???  Then again I grow in soil outdoors so I assume one would need a far larger pot for their plants to flourish.


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## Biffdoggie (Jun 20, 2006)

This system has plenty of room for root growth, once they get to the bottom they can even go out the drain holes and go another 4 inches down and start filling up the area between the two buckets with no rock in them. There's also more room in between the rocks for roots to grow into, you don't need nearly so much root space, plenty of folks use 6" cubes for the entire flower process.


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## Devilweed (Jun 20, 2006)

Thanks, that reasuring.


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## Biffdoggie (Jun 21, 2006)

Are you thinking about going hydro devil?


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## Devilweed (Jun 22, 2006)

Yea, it looks good so I figured I should take a look at it, so now I am just reading up, but will probibly build my own soon.


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## Biffdoggie (Jun 22, 2006)

You can totally make your own, the only thing you might have to order would be the float switches.
If you are in an area that has a "craig's list" website, I have bought a couple of systems off it for a very good price.


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## Devilweed (Jun 22, 2006)

Thanks, Ill check that out, I get rid of stuff through cragslist all the time.  Did your system work well?


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## Biffdoggie (Jun 22, 2006)

Yeah, it works great, as stated I don't have room to also veg in the buckets and due to time constraints can't really take the extra three weeks to a month to veg and flower in the same ones, if you have the space to double the buckets for veg or the time to veg in the same ones you flower, you will have some very weighty results. I do pretty well as it is now but not full potential.


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## Stoney Bud (Jun 22, 2006)

Hey Biff, I like the way that system looks man. Would you give me a crash course in the fill, drain cycling your system has? I can tell what I think happens, but I'd love it if you'd explain the flow to me. I've set up some outside systems that are similar but I really couldn't tell from looking at the setup pic.

Hydro is so cool man! You can do anything with it almost. I'm setting up a PVC hydro system that will be 6 feet off the ground and circle my yard. I wish I could put some pot in it, but only ornamental vines for now.

I love to tinker with new designs. Have you ever done the Vertical Hydro? I keep thinking of setting one of those up too. It looks like fun.


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## Biffdoggie (Jul 2, 2006)

Sorry for the lack of response Stoney, I just got my computer back in working order.

It's pretty simple really, two small pumps, one in the res and one in the controller bucket. The controller bucket has four float switches in it (two of each that act as a fail-safe for each other) and a timer with 15 min. fill time intervals. 
when the timer kicks on it starts pumping from the res to the controller bucket which sits level with all the buckets and then gravity feeds through the tubing. It will fill up in about 5 minutes depending on how many buckets you have and will stay full for however long you set the timer for. Once the timer kicks off the pump in the controller pumps it all back into the res and stops once the lower float switches are deactivited. 
As long as the controller and grow buckets are level you can't overflow them as the top switches will stop the flow from the res once it's at the top of the controller.
The grow buckets are two buckets tucked into each other, one with holes in the bottom that you put the medium in and one to handle the water. This is really handy because you can lift out the insert and move stuff around if need be.

The back yard system sounds awesome, I wish I had the room to do an outdoor hydro system around here. I haven't used vertical yet but it is catching on down here. Most of the ones I have seen don't seem to have enough room for root growth but you can really pack a SOG in some space with them.


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## Stoney Bud (Jul 5, 2006)

Biffdoggie said:
			
		

> Sorry for the lack of response Stoney, I just got my computer back in working order. The back yard system sounds awesome, I wish I had the room to do an outdoor hydro system around here. I haven't used vertical yet but it is catching on down here. Most of the ones I have seen don't seem to have enough room for root growth but you can really pack a SOG in some space with them.


Thanks Biff, that's one hell of a good description. I was wondering about the float switches and how they worked. Perfect description man.

I like the ease with which you can add units. I'm working on a design for my ebb and flow system that will allow the same convenience.

Thanks again! Very cool system you have there.

Quick question; How do you know if one or more of the float switches isn't working and the backup is? Do they have a red/green indicator light or what? That's the part of the system that makes me nervous. With mine, I worry about the bulkhead fittings leaking. It sounds like multiple switch failure could be the weak spot on your system. Have they worked that out? If both primary and secondary switches go out, will the pump from the reservoir still operate? If so, it would cause a flood? There are small lights you can buy that will come on if both switches fail and even disconnect the power from the pump if you add one more inexpencive sensor/switch. Probably only a few bucks but would save your bacon if it ever happened.

Good luck to you man!

PS: Sorry to hear about your PC man. I hope it didn't hit your wallet to hard to repair it.
.
.


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## Biffdoggie (Jul 20, 2006)

Sorry for the delayed response, I just got back into town.

I haven't had any problems with the switches as of yet but it would seem the potential is there. I believe if they fail they are made to fail in the off position to prevent a flood but you would still be in trouble if ou didn't catch it quick enough as the pumps would stop.
These don't have any kind of indicator lights but upgrading to some that do sounds like a solid idea.

Thanks for the good idea!

The computer didn't cost too much, just the grief of dealing with it all.


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## goldbud (Jan 27, 2007)

i have 4 48 pot systems for 3yrs wouldnt trade them for nuthin

(Photos edited by Stoney Bud. No possible identifying photos are allowed to be posted here. Thanks - Stoney)


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