Cropking hydroponic systems can be placed into two broad categories.
Hydroponic drip system drain to waste.
When growing plants in a drain to waste setup and using a nutrient solution to deliver the plant nutrients it is recommended that you feed with every watering.
Flood and drain is more of a run but no waste system as the water moves up into the column of medium carrying its nutrient load and excess salts left over to the top of the column then leaves it there while it drains back down into the tank to be applied again and partially redistributing the salts as it retreats.
There is no right way to create a hydroponic system.
Depending on the available space plant species and other variables you can use any one of at least half a dozen systems of these one of the most popular and commercially viable options is a drip system.
Drain to waste coco is not wasteful.
A drain to waste system delivers a nutrient solution to the crops and the run off is expelled.
A given garden uses 5 gallons of water to feed all the plants within the waste run off will only be 1 2 to 3 4 of one gallon of solution.
Sometimes these systems are also referred to as feed to waste systems.
In comparison a recirculating system delivers a nutrient solution to the crops and the run off is returned.
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I am actually using less nutrients than a recirculating system.
A dialed in drain to waste system will only waste 10 15 of the fed nutrient solution as run off an example of this is as follows.
This type of low flow irrigation is very water efficient avoiding waste due to evaporation by providing moisture via slow drip at the base of the plants rather than mimicking rainfall from above.