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ebb & gro what's the best way to clean after harvest

SMARMY ARMY

SMARMY ARMY

Member
after harvest what is the best way to clean this system and remove all the water without making a big mess?

I was thinking of elevating the buckets above the controller and hopefully that will drain all the water into the controller and then I can pump it out.
does that make sense???
also do I need to take apart and clean all of the hoses or just use them as is?

thanks
 
Philosophelon

Philosophelon

Member
There is no easy way to clean an Ebb n Gro. I just used to remove the inside bucket and dump out the water in the outside bucket. Because the drain hose is an inch or so above the bottom of the bucket, you always wind up with about an inch of water in the bottom. Cleaning all the fucking tubing is a huge PITA, there is no easy way to do it, you just have to pull all the tubing apart and clean it. You might be able to get away without cleaning it every cycle, but you run an increased risk of pathogens in your system. Honestly, an Ebb n Gro is one of the most difficult systems to clean, if you are trying to reduce labor, you might want to set up an E&F table or coco drippers.
 
D

ddftre

New member
Just buy a big shopvac and suck all the water out of the buckets, remember that you need to empty the shopvac and it gets heavy.
 
Mist

Mist

Member
I plan on just using the a hose with sprayer gun to clean and flush everything out. I have a garden hose adapter on my bathroom sink and I use that to fill my resovior and also to flush the hydroton whenever I feel the need. That little adapter replaces the one with the aereating screen on you sink and is indespensible. Nothing like having water at hand without having to carry any buckets or worrying about spills on the way to the grow room.

So after harvest I will remove the inner buckets for cleaning in the tub and then take a green scrubbing pad and go scrub all the outer buckets and just flush them out while the pump in the controller pumps the water to the drain in the bathroom. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so.
 
G

globel

Member
a shopvac is your friend. If you cant disassemble the system, what i do is take out the liner buckets with hydroton and clean all that separately. with the system still on the floor i put a single drop of soap in each bucket and scrub them down in place on the ground. then i rinse it out and use my shopvac to make it dry and clean. I don't grow using any beneficial's in that system. it helps keep the system clean thought the harvest. It also helps ALOT by adding 1/4 cup oh hydrogen peroxide to your res every week, this keeps the system clean also keeps the roots white. also stop light from hitting the hydroton helps.


I pour the hydroton into my cement mixer to clean. I find this is the only way to clean 50+ buckets of hydroton without feeling the need to stab someone in the face out of frustration.






*note picture of spider is cool
 
Lazyman

Lazyman

Overkill is under-rated.
Veteran
You can use a bit of bleach if you flush it out a couple times, they are a huge PITA to clean.
 
G

grow nerd

My plan of attack will probably include a scrubbing brush (like toilet brush), a sprayer nozzle, and hose. I'm thinking after the initial scrub, a quick soak in a bleach/water mixture (in a 55gal drum?) might help sanitize the buckets.

After the clean I'm about ready to convert the C.A.P. system into a top-drip DTW coco pot system. By the way, how large are the E&G pots? 1.5 gal? 2 gal?
 
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