plywood tables

I've got a 6'x10'x7'8" area for flowering and I'm wanting to switch from buckets to flood and drain tables. 2x4 frame, plywood bottom and sides lined with a suitable liner (maybe shower pan liner) to make it water tight. its going be "L" shaped divided into 4 tables- 3'x3'x5" with separate res under each table.


any suggestions, ideas or comments? maybe do a nft instead of f&d?

 

ebb n flow is the way to go


fill n drain holes in the front where your knees would hit and put a HALF inch of fall to the holes from back to front

 

thanks CC, if I remember right you use a 1k over your 3x3's. would a smaller bulb work? I have 3 400's and 2 200's. I was planning on getting a couple of 600 and space em out evenly. I also have some 2 bank 4 foot flo's I will putting on the walls about mid plant high

 

NFT, RDWC, DWC, DTW, etc etc all require cleaning, and ebb n flow tables are easiest to clean. Imagine how much time it would take to clean all the plumbing for whatever system you contemplate. The more complex the system, the more crap you gotta clean every few months. When I ran RDWC I had a ton of 1" tubing that was a PITA to take apart, never mind clean. Took hours and that's running it through a dishwasher (wife LOVED that :LOL. With a flood table, you have the table, the res, and one maybe two feet of straight tubing to clean. Way way easier. minutes to do a good job as opposed to hours. And cleanliness is next to godliness you know.


As for building your own tables and reservoirs out of wood - I think it's a cool idea. I would line it with epoxy resin, then paint it with a good high gloss enamel paint. The thing is the finished surface is going to be rough compared to a commercial plastic molded surface, and therefore harder to clean. I wouldn't do a custom wood/epoxy build unless I knew I would run the system forever, and could get the thing smooth enough to clean properly. I mean the set-up time to get a well designed and built system would be a lot.


I dunno man. I have a similar space but even more height restricted. So I have even more reason to go custom. But the time and energy involved to make it right…. lots to time and $$ too.


I was gonna buy commercial stuff and learn to SCROG real good. In fact that's what i am doing.

 

CC I read your table pics post from last year and that answered the light q.


FF I like the epoxy and paint idea. I was thinking about the shower pan liner because it's about 1/8" thick, comes in 4 foot wide rolls and its flexible. I can fold the corners in each individual table instead of cutting the material. if I took apart the fill and drain fittings I can pull the liner out and clean it if I had to.


I am wanting to make this a permanent sturdy table.

 

I don't have experience with the shower pan liner you speak of. Give it a shot if you think it will work!


I have used epoxy resin a lot. I built a wood strip canoe that is sheathed in fiberglass and epoxy resin. In doing that I became familiar with West System epoxy and have used it for lots of stuff. It is the ultimate glue. It's like liquid billiard ball. The trouble is it's expensive. I think to get enough to do tables you'd be looking at $250 - $300 for epoxy resin and hardener. Check out West Marine online. That;s where I get mine.


If you do this you gotta do a thread man….

 

I have built a couple tables from wood and painted it with fiber glass resin. It gets nice and smooth. And if you want to make a top for it you can make it with Plexiglas. Line the Plexiglas with tin foil to cut out light and paint it with fiberglass resin also so no water gets to the tin foil.

 

600s are best for tables IMO, don't waste your time with 1ks unless your growing plants that go above 2ft tall

 

I got a 3'x6'x5" table built and divided into 2 (3x3tables) last night, not going be ale to do the fiberglass resin thing. man a 3x3 table is huge. anyway I'm hoping to have these 4 plants into one of the tables this morning. all I need to do now is get the liner put in. due to recent events at work, money is tight so I had to re-use wood to get it done. its not the prettiest table, I'm going paint it but after its all up and going you won't see much of it anyway.... its functional. CC I plan on growing them between 3 and 4 feet tall. one bulb right in the middle of the plants and the flo's on the wall. I have 2 150 mh, and 2 250hps I can incorporate in the bottom of the canopy if needed. im gonna buy some more hps lights or at least some conversion bulbs for all these 400 mh ballast I have.

 

that's some pretty huge plants man, might wanna rethink that part, big plants don't do too well in tables, ive been there a few times and wasted time,space,money and nutes and the yield was seriously compromised, you can get the same off a 2ft plant as you would a 3ft plant in tables

 

well shit, so much for the big plants. I made this permanent, and I'm tired of messing with the buckets. I can fit more plants in this system than I could in the bucket setups I had. If the room wasn't tore up right now I'd post some pics. I still have to make up some plywood tops to cover the table. I will finish it, clean up a little and take some pics tomorrow

 

its all about the root system man, if you can perfect your VEG system as far as light leaks into the veg table, then your guna be successful.......its all about them roots but this time you can see them to make a determination on your setup/skills

 

i got the top made, 4 holes cut in it for now for the 4 plants i got. would it be better to top feed with a 1 gph dripper all day or fill and drain twice a day? i got some picks i'll upload after while

 

:nopics:

 

im trying hang on

 

alright fuck it small or super large im leaving it. whats not shown is the liner I put in. when I do the one on the left ill take some pics

 

anybody else use for top feeding?





im going to move the sink and shelf and put the other table along this wall.


how do you get regular size pics up? I never used to have this prob posting pics

 

right sized pics


the girls in their new home





waiting to lined





the whole table





my favorite plant





im going to build another just like it on this wall for a total of 4 3x3's





trying this instead of screwing hooks into the ceiling everywhere. I can slide the unistrut nut back and forth to adjust the lights or whatever





its still a work in progress, I need another coat of paint on the walls and floor, plug covers put back on etc.


I had to use the camera instead of my phone for the pics.


can someone delete the 2 lower post for me?

 

Nice pics bro!!!


Yeah it's always a work in progress for me too. Every fuckin night it seems, another project of some kind. I love it though which is why i stay up all night doing it.


So what's the shower liner stuff? just paint? I gotta look this up...