I just finished a grow in my EB jr. Exceptional results. Mid grow I noticed the reservoir filling quickly and holding much less water. When cleaning the EB ,I saw a good amount of soil in the reservoir. My question: should I use some fabric to isolate the reservoir? @WildBill
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Yeah your run looked like it went real good.
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Yeah, it’s something that I haven’t seen others teach. Jeremy of BAS doesn’t teach it. He says it doesn’t matter, I disagree.
I install the plastic window screen on the media separator. All I do is cut it out and hot glue it in.
In my mind, it was just a measure to eliminate the possibility of a problem developing. It’s basically the same thought of keeping any nutrients out of the reservoir to avoid any problems from microbes going crazy in the reservoir water and then dying. That can flip the PH It caused all sorts of problems. You didn’t know it because I’ve done it 6 years ago and I failed to mention that one part to you. 
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Unpopular opinion…potentially…
But I don’t use a screen, and can see roots in the reservoir. I think this is good, so there’s always fresh, plain water available if the plant wants it. Now, I don’t fill the reservoir all the way… I Either fill 1 gallon, or 1.25 gallon at a time, and leave about a 12 hour dry time before refilling. I use hydroguard every time I add water. The bacteria contained in it will keep issues at bay…
Also, the roots grow into the corners, holding them together…so you don’t have to worry about washout. And the corners are in the reservoir.
Are you planning on keeping roots out of the corners also?
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You use HydroGuard and I use EM1. While mine is an inoculate, they both perform the same end function, they keep the reservoir clean.
Screen or no screen, either one works fine. Screen does give you an additional measure of certainty that you won’t have any problems in the reservoir. Debris from your media is just a slight concern.
I have cautioned people about doing top watering to add nutrients and that washing down into the reservoir, could’cause a problem in the reservoir.
Now your adding one gallon to a regular earth box reservoir is perfectly fine.
Sitting here thinking about that, It does raise an interesting question in my mind.
With only filling one gallon at a time in the reservoir, you are going to have more cycles of the moisture level in your pot.
I don’t fill up either, But I do add two full gallons.
Which is better for the plant?
More moisture cycles
Longer time fully saturated.
I haven’t a clue!
My Corners usually end up as a big glob of roots!
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My thought was… the increased number of wet/dry cycles in the rez would give roots a bit of time (as you know they also need oxygen) to breathe, and help with roots spreading out, searching… and the increased frequency of drying will avoid root rot.
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Not really, since the corners are technically in the reservoir. Meaning, there’s already media in the reservoir. The screen is really only keeping roots out of the res, which in my mind, you want roots in the res. The hydroguard keeps the baddies at bay… plus, when I tore into the root zone, after I harvested Blue Dog, I was rather surprised to find really zero media in the res, other than some perlite. Now, that could be because the bottom grid held it back…but more likely the bacillus from the hydroguard did its job, and digested it.
The picture in my mind of how these sips work… It’s like a tiny piece of the forest floor..you have your mulch layer, under that is the top layer of organic material getting broken down, under that is the actual useable dirt that feeds the plant, and below that is the water table. If you’ve ever been in a wet cave, you know you’ll see tree roots that have grown down, through the roof of the cave, and are now dangling into the water at the bottom of the cave. That’s how my squid brain thinks about it anyway haha…
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That is one very distinct possibility! 
That is twice the amount of cycles that you would have by adding two gallons.
As far as the time to add water, I do basically the same thing as you. Once I see the rez is dry, I shoot for 12hrs later to add the water. I do use memory weight as the actual deciding factor on whether to water or not. I check the weight of the pot just as the reservoir dries and that’s the base weight that I use to gauge how light the pot is 12hrs later.
What would be interesting is running a side by side with clones And have one pot filled with one gallon and the other with two gallons at each time. To be honest with you, I think it will be the two gallon fill with the longer sustained ‘wetness’. Indoors, you can easily grow girl large enough to drain the reservoir within 48 hours. I definitely think that is short enough period for good moisture cycling.
BUT, I do think that your 'short cycling’could be beneficial to the plant in early life cycle. It could encourage faster the establishment of the root system.
A side by side comparison would be pretty damn interesting!
I’ve got moisture meters for both top and deep measurements.
I’d really like to do that test in my 4x4, so I can grow them relatively big for more cycles Of watering. The only problem is that is now relegated to big living earth pots that will be continually grown in, one round after the other.
I might be able to do it in the 2x4. I’m gonna take clones of the two strains, 3 plants, that I’ll grow in the 4x4, in case I have a unicorn. I could use those in the 2x4in the next run.
I’m fairly sure that one or both of those meters can store logs. I think that could reveal some interesting data.
In one of Jeremy’s last run in the 10X10, He had a moisture meter in one of his earth boxes just to see actually how wet it stayed. I remembered it stayed really wet!
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I decided to add a screen to my EBjr. You can see the amount of soil and roots that made its way to the reservoir. I only lightly top watered a few times. The soil accumulation probably isn’t a concern from a grow perspective. My issue is I have to water more frequently as there’s less space in the reservoir. So, we’ll see how it works on my next grow. Easily reversible. I also added aeration to the reservoir.
