flood timing over a 24 hour period.

[bruce]

Can somebody give me some info on the best flooding schedule over a 24hour period.I have heard some people using 2 cycles every 60min continuously throughout the 24 hours while some people stop during the night.Any advice would be great.

Also is there a best time limit on how quickly the grow beds should reach capacity before they drain? how long should the bed stay full before it starts to drain and how quickly should it drain compared with the flooding.

Hope this makes sense!

[badflash]

Most of the F/D systems I've seen go about 2 cycles an hour. You want to drain quickly so the the drain capacity need to be large compared to the fill. You want the roots to stay damp but not be water logged.

[bruce]

If possible could you be a bit more specific. If i am flooding twice in 1 hour can you give me a rough idea how long the flooding should take? 10min, 20min? It seems that the flooding process is more of a flushing minerals through the bed rather than an actual flood ! am right in thinking the bed never actually fills to its capicity during the process as it should be draining at the same time?
Are the flood and drain pipework diameter the same to ensure the flow and return run at the same speeds?

Thanks in advance

[badflash]

I don't believe the time is all that critical. No flooding and drining do not happen at the same time. There are lots of ways to do this, but the simplest way is with auto-siphons that kick on at a pre-set level and rapidly drain the system, then shut off. In all the systems I've seen the only common factor is draining the bed to allow air to get to the roots.

In most of the systems here, people slowly fill the bed, then rapidly drain it. In the barrelponics system the bed is rapidly flooded, then drains just about as quick. The max flood level should be an inch or two below the top of the media to prevent algea growth.

Check stucco's system Expansion (http://www.diyaquaponics.com/forum/showthread.php?190-stucco-s-system-Expansion/page3) for a typical bell siphon setup.

http://www.fastonline.org/content/view/12/26/ is the barrelponics website.