I would like to build a ebb and flow bucket sytem from scratch.

by Matt
(Venice,CA)

Could you let me know all the products to build the ebb and flow bucket system? And maybe the easiest way to build a 8 bucket ebb and flow system with a 25 gallon reservoir.




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I would like to build a ebb and flow bucket sytem from scratch.

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Apr 15, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Parts needed for ebb and flow bucket system
by: Larry, Webmaster

Building an ebb/flow bucket system is pretty well documented on this site. Basically you need 1 plastic container to hold plants maybe 2 feet by 3 feet and at least 8 inches deep, a plastic container to hold maybe 9 gallons nutrient water (I use a clothes storage container) and 2 plastic '90 degree thru wall barbed fittings with nut'.

You will need about 10 feet of flexible tubing sized to fit the barbed fittings, a timer, a submersible hydroponics pump, growing medium like pea stone and hydroponic nutrient.

Follow the directions for construction detailed on this site. Pretty much the only work involved is drilling 2 holes in the growing container for the barbed fittings...everything else is pretty much just assembled.

As for a system with 8 buckets just get a very large nutrient solution container - how large depends on the density of the growing medium and a properly rated pump. The tubing x 8 would be 80 feet, you would need 8 growing containers and 16 barbed fittings.

Of course you could always redesign the parts of the system for better efficiency such as 1 large, shallow growing container instead of 8.

I would recommend building a small system first, getting some experience in how it runs then you can design a bigger one easier.

Getting the proper pump is covered on this site but as a refresher...if you use 8 buckets with pea stone...each bucket is 20 inches x 16 inches x 8 for a total of 2560 cubic inches divided by 1728 to get cubic feet of 1.48 cubic feet.

Pea stone is 80% dense so 1.48 x .2 = is close to .3 cubic feet x 7.5 gallons water in a cubic foot = 2.25 meaning that pea stone in that size container would hold 2.25 gallons of water. Pumped 5 times per hour = 11.25 gallons pumped per hour. Figuring 1 pump for all 8 containers each at 11.25 GPH = 90 GPH rated pump needed.
This also tells you the size of the nutrient container...each pumping needs to pump 2.25 gallons nutrient into 8 containers = 18 gallons. So a 25 gallon container in this case would work fine.

Complex? Not really and, don't forget, all of this info is specified more clearly in the 'hydroponics pump' section of this site.

My recommendation which I mentioned before is to build a small one first...look at it as building a prototype before the finished product....

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