Blumat vs Floraflex

[Cmoon]

fabulous rootball GT and a great tip Chevy, upgrade on sticking my finger in.

 

[Jajaja725]

hated the blumats, well and you cant run nutes through them reliably. Calcification will clog the clay. then theres the whole sterilizing between rounds. you gotta pull them apart, soak, clean, setup again, then readjust the drip settings all over again. Pain. The adjusting of the drippers all over again give you inconsistent results. next thing you know your getting over water's an underwaters. over watere sites stall, PERIOD!!!



Verse floraflex cleaning. run pool shock inbetween runs to sterilize rez lines an feed. pre soak drip stakes. setup drip stakes, done. no adjusting needed once you know the system. all your adjusting is done at the recycle timer, or a line "cut off".



over the years ive made so many different drip or water manifolds. i'll have to say the floraflex is nice as long as you follow certain things.



not sure what gr866 is speaking of about being unlevel an changing feed. Dont think your setup right, man.



simply put, each manifold needs pressure. they do not feed right with low pressure. THEN you get inconsistencies!!


follow this an you can get a jump start...

what you need is a larger pump then you think you need. Flora flex need somewhat equal pressure in each manifold at every site.



use a Pre filter screen on the pump. run a large mag pump like a danner or go right for a centrifugal 1 hp pump. search ebay for shallow water pump, 1inch 120v industrial pump, bunch should come up fro $60-100. 1200w or so.





After the pump u need an inline sediment filter, rainbird makes one for $15-30. ebay as well


Use the Flroaflex drip reducer inserts!!!!!!!! I go with the 2gph tan colored inserts. If you go open flow its very inconsistent. the inserts reduce feed flow an increase pressure across the system. then you will get even flow 50ft from res.


If you can pitch the rigid pvc feed line so it drains back into the res after a feed event.Place the floraflex manifolds significantly higher then the edge of your potting container. this way the furthest manifold from the res is the highest. use a level when running the feed line an manifolds. all you need is like a 1/2inch every 10ft to have the lines drain back.



when building, if at all possible,keep the flora-flex manifolds higher then the pots. then the drip feed lines sloped down toawrds to the pot. NO SAGGS in then lines. NO SAGS! sags in the line will create stagnant water. run multiple lines to each pot for redundancy in the unlikely event of a clogged line.



also, i run 4 lines to each container. 4 lines with my pump/system with the 2gph tan reducers gives me 16oz of nutrient per site every 60 seconds of pump time on.



Say you arent mono cropped an you have a few slow drinkers in with the heavy drinkers. all you need to do is bend over a feed line to that site, now you just reduced flow to that site only by 25%. 2 lines bent over an twist tied now your 50% less feed an all the heavy drinkers dont get sacrificed.


in all i have about 30 manifolds an i have very little issues. my biggest problems where all from things i expressed above an now go by. allowing the system to drain after every watering event was a huge improvement.


best of luck

This is very helpful. Thanks!~
Question: I was planning on running a straight 1/2 inch tube down the length of the table (3 tables, each is 20' by 4'), and 1/4 inch line would run from that 1/2 inch tube to each rockwool cube without the manifold, ending with an adjustable emitter. Is a manifold absolutely necessary? What's the best way to prevent siphoning after the pump is turned off? Would you please share photos of your setup?

 

[gmanwho]

This is very helpful. Thanks!~
Question: I was planning on running a straight 1/2 inch tube down the length of the table (3 tables, each is 20' by 4'), and 1/4 inch line would run from that 1/2 inch tube to each rockwool cube without the manifold, ending with an adjustable emitter. Is a manifold absolutely necessary? What's the best way to prevent siphoning after the pump is turned off? Would you please share photos of your setup?

Hey jajaja, those systems have since been replaced. Netafim pressure compensated drip emitters are the way to go. You can find a ton of info on the netafim website.