On a flood & drain the pump should remain on for about 15 - 30 minutes. This should be done 4-8 times daily depending on the plant size, evaporation rates, & the media used. The entire flood & drain cycle should not be more than ½ hour or root damage can occur.

I don't know which system produces the best yield. A commercial tomato grower in a desert near me uses NFT for their tomatoes.

If your problem was a watering schedule timers on your system help.

Hello
If you changed your current way of growing to make things easier I think a drip system would be best. I like the ebb & flo and I have had great success with many plants. I know that bigger roots make better yeilds and you can have better root systems with the drip.

I never like to waste money buying new things. I use whatever is free except lines, pumps, fittings, etc. I noticed that you will have a bunch of five gallon buckets left when you switch to Hydro. Why not use the buckets you already have.

You would have to make sure the buckets drain into a reservior with a pump if you want to recycle your nutrient solution. If you drain to waste then ignore the last sentance and the next one. To recycle let the solution collect in one reservoir and get pumped through drippers which go into the buckets to feed them again.

You will need a submersible pump and a reservior and also irrigation lines and all the required parts for irrigation lines(post pump filter,drip heads, drip stakes, pressure reulators). The materials needed for drip is pretty cheap(Look around on the net for the best price and better quality)

If your window is not too low you could build a small table with a slight slope with trim peices as a "wall" on three sides with a vinyl sheet attached on top(4'x8' available at hardware stores). The side that is sloping down without trim is the drain side. Put your reservior under the drain end(try not to let light in the reservior because algea grows in light). Your reservior would have a pump which pumps solution in the buckets. The buckets drain to the reservior and this repeats.

If your mix is course then you must drip constantly. If it retains more water put a timer which takes them through the wet and dry cycle. The best mix I recommend is some kiln cooked clay balls (rocks) which are sold in hydro stores (I can't say the brand name). And also some Coco fiber, you mix the rocks and fiber with more rock than coco in the mix.

I think this mix drains very well and the coco holds some moisture in the mix. If the right proportions are used in the mix you can set your pump low to drip constantly.

Talk about a huge root system your tomato plants would be very healthy. This mix uses some coco which is more similar to soil and in my opinion that makes it easier to grow.

I hope this info helps at all and I will be happy to answer any questions for you.

Amar