Oh man Dude, that's a lot of water! Haha, I had a few gallons in my rez the other day. Walked in and heard the pump in air and I had pumped her dry lol, good thing I had a huge tub under one lady. I must have set the timer wrong. I switched my setup to two SSSDH that I put into flower last night. I am still dialing it in, it seems like one ring always pretty much lets more water flow through. I figured it out kind of with one ring higher than the other, the lower ring would always start first and drip more. I am gonna check on the lengths going from the T to the rings, make sure they are the same. Which I thought I did cut them the same.
Coco in Containers - Automated Drip System
- Thread starter TheDude420
- Start date
Unclecrash
Member
Hope he listens to you on the siphon , or he mighthave a 55g duck pond in you grow room.
Unclecrash
Member
Amoeba
Active member
Very good read.
I have a 590gph pump would that be sufficient for 12 plants? Rez would be close to plants I don't think distance is an issue. And PVC vs tubing? After this run I plan to expand a little for the next go so a system redesign would happen again in about 2 months but for now just looking to get away from hand watering.
Buying parts this week thanks again to all who have posted!
I have a 590gph pump would that be sufficient for 12 plants? Rez would be close to plants I don't think distance is an issue. And PVC vs tubing? After this run I plan to expand a little for the next go so a system redesign would happen again in about 2 months but for now just looking to get away from hand watering.
Buying parts this week thanks again to all who have posted!
This subject has been covered here over the years by a variety of folks but the classic design was by Pico using a closed loop manifold.
Here is Pico's design:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=62654
Here is another discussion on some modifictions recently using his basic closed loop design:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=178706&page=2
I tend to use Pico's closed loop design with risers and octobubblers to manage all the 1/4" spaghetti. It saves a lot of drilling and top hat grommets fignger work. But the basic necessity is to use a closed loop design and not a linear design to achieve an even distribution of pressure from the pump. That is what is not being relayed in ths thread frm the OP designs.
There are a lot of ways to do these things and I'm sure many are solid. But from my experience Picos principle is pretty rock solid and always works. And if cheap or DYI is your thing then his design is simly the best out there.
JMHO
Here is Pico's design:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=62654
Here is another discussion on some modifictions recently using his basic closed loop design:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=178706&page=2
I tend to use Pico's closed loop design with risers and octobubblers to manage all the 1/4" spaghetti. It saves a lot of drilling and top hat grommets fignger work. But the basic necessity is to use a closed loop design and not a linear design to achieve an even distribution of pressure from the pump. That is what is not being relayed in ths thread frm the OP designs.
There are a lot of ways to do these things and I'm sure many are solid. But from my experience Picos principle is pretty rock solid and always works. And if cheap or DYI is your thing then his design is simly the best out there.
JMHO
Insulated Rez for outdoor?
Insulated Rez for outdoor?
Hi all... GREAT thread! Great info!
Been thinking about setting up a drip system... I now hand water 10 ladies outdoors in 7 gal smart pots with coco. The problem is, I'd need a rez to be outdoors, in SoCal, and I'd guess that after I mix fresh nutes, the rez would reach ambient temp (100 deg+) within a day. Not good. So, I have a 35 gal blue barrel (from a farm/feed store, $15, and yes, it held soap from a car wash) and an old 55 gal blue barrel. I was thinking about dropping the 35 gal into the 55 gal and filling up the outside with sand, or something, to give it some insulation... and maybe bury the thing halfway in the ground. The 35 gal has a good-fitting black top w/ rubber seal. 35 gallons of nute solution should feed my 10 ladies for 5-6 days, so if that insulated rez could keep temps down for 5 days I'd be in business. If not, it would be a waste of time and $$$. I ain't buying a chiller to sit outdoors in the dust and weather. Whaddaya think? Anyone tried this? I'd LOVE to know if it will work before I start!
Insulated Rez for outdoor?
Hi all... GREAT thread! Great info!
Been thinking about setting up a drip system... I now hand water 10 ladies outdoors in 7 gal smart pots with coco. The problem is, I'd need a rez to be outdoors, in SoCal, and I'd guess that after I mix fresh nutes, the rez would reach ambient temp (100 deg+) within a day. Not good. So, I have a 35 gal blue barrel (from a farm/feed store, $15, and yes, it held soap from a car wash) and an old 55 gal blue barrel. I was thinking about dropping the 35 gal into the 55 gal and filling up the outside with sand, or something, to give it some insulation... and maybe bury the thing halfway in the ground. The 35 gal has a good-fitting black top w/ rubber seal. 35 gallons of nute solution should feed my 10 ladies for 5-6 days, so if that insulated rez could keep temps down for 5 days I'd be in business. If not, it would be a waste of time and $$$. I ain't buying a chiller to sit outdoors in the dust and weather. Whaddaya think? Anyone tried this? I'd LOVE to know if it will work before I start!
I want to set this up for my next coco grow. My worry is that when I do I will need to be investing into water coolers for the rez/rezs. Do you have to do this during summers? It would just be a lot of watts/heat to add to the grow vs hand watering. I loved coco but I had to switch back to soil because it became too much of a damn chore to water especially when plants were seedlings-14 inches. Like taking care of a damn child watering every 3 or 4 hours so they don't dry up.
If you don't have to ever use coolers whats your normal room temp?
If you don't have to ever use coolers whats your normal room temp?
TheDude420
Member
That pump will be fine but you will be running longer pump periods.. i think a buddies 18 site drip runs for 7 minutes with a 550gph pump to achieve 1000mL a watering.
It all depends on the distance you have to move the water and expially the height it is traveling. For every foot, you loose quite a bit of gph.
It all depends on the distance you have to move the water and expially the height it is traveling. For every foot, you loose quite a bit of gph.
TheDude420
Member
That design is solid.. that is pretty much exactly like a small two light setup i was mentioning about in the post above but we used adjustable button style or whatever the ones without the 1/4 sketty tube that just stick directly in the 1/2" lines running across and we also used 3/4" line from the pump with reducers to 1/2" in the rows but even with that you still have to adjust the individual drippers.
The 3/4" line works much better for long rows of multiple lights .. 1K Rows with 4 sites a light. If you are trying to grow a ton of plans under a few lights automated drip system really isn't the best.. I would prefer the ebb and flow tables with clay pebbles and 4 sites per square foot in 5.5" squares and just sog the shit out but if you have plant numbers to worry about then going with the lines without the manifold is the best option IMO.
The 3/4" line works much better for long rows of multiple lights .. 1K Rows with 4 sites a light. If you are trying to grow a ton of plans under a few lights automated drip system really isn't the best.. I would prefer the ebb and flow tables with clay pebbles and 4 sites per square foot in 5.5" squares and just sog the shit out but if you have plant numbers to worry about then going with the lines without the manifold is the best option IMO.
TheDude420
Member
Get HydroGuard if your looking for a very simple way to stop that.. its a little pricey at 49 bucks a gallon but works great. You can also look into pretty much any beneficial bacteria for growing cannabis and you will find tons of threads about great ways.. just remember, teas are great but not for adjustable drippers.. tend to clog.
TheDude420
Member
For a 20 light i would look into purchasing a nice jet pump since you already have plenty of money invested. You could also go with a cheapo pump at least 1500 gph but i would probably try to get up to around 2400 and run 1" tubing from the pump and drop down to 3/4" tubing at each row.. if you run 4 sites per 1K you could do to long rows of lights with 40 sites each row and a 3/4" line running down the middle of both rows with 40 drippers coming off both lines for a total of 80 sites or you could run 4 rows of 20 sites which would be more of a big square.
It really depends on amount of lights and the shape you are going with for your grow.. some people have to work with what they have with strange shape rooms and some people have access to large warehouse space where they can build a small room inside the space in any exact size they want.. If you want post the dimensions of your room and i can post a quick sketch of what i think would work best for your room.
TheDude420
Member
I like the idea of insulating with the sand.. but you said you are in 7 gallons pots so everytime you water you would like to give them at least a gallon so the 35 gallon rez in a 55 would work if you had a few but one barrel would only last about two or three days at the most.
How far is the plot away from your water source? if your out in the boonies you could just run a 1" poly tubing under the ground.. 3/4" might even work if its not too long of a distance.. but if your going up hill don't even bother thinking about that.
More info and i could try to help you out...
how far away..
elevation difference..
do you have power where you are putting the barrels..
your gonna need some sort of circulation for the water or it will get stag and get nasty..
TheDude420
Member
It all depends on how hot your area is but with decent temps you can just run a little extra bennies to be sure no issues.
But if your getting crazy hot summers and you want to relax on the beach.. just set up a lazy man drip system which is just off the faucet with one of those automated timer things that opens of the valve every so often and just top dress with a pellet nutrient every couple days.. you could even run one of those washer dryer splitter things that turns hot and cold into one so you could adjust the temp a little bit even tho at first it will be slighty colder so your not just blasting your root zone with some ice cold water which would just kill your yield and get you some nice shitty fluffy town bullshit. chlorine will kill the bennies but you wont have to worry about your rez getting 100+ degrees or you could look into a chlorine filter. Your not going to have much controll over your ph, ppm since who knows what is in city water these days but you could also use soil instead.
Try it out next summer! Cant hurt to learn a few things if your grow isn't going to come out nice with a rez style anyways due to the temps.
TheDude420
Member
That is really all you need.. a small pump to keep nutes mixed up a bit.. add a venturi tube to your pump outlet (most pumps now come with a fitting for that with the little mini tube sticking out that most people have no idea what is for) for some free air bubbles!
I aggre 7 days is a good change out to make sure everything stays dialed in but if you have to be away from your grow for a few weeks and have a big enough rez you can go a month at least as long as you have a decent pump ( 150 gallon rez i would go with a 600gph pump at least). bottom feed pumps are the best because then you can go all the way through your nutes if your running drain to waste.. instead of dumping those few gallons down the drain to clean your rez or burning your pump out.
Well... I'm feeding about 1 quart each, 3 times a day... they seem to like it... most pots are 5 gal, only two are 7 gal. Hydro store was out of 5's. So, by my math, that's about 7.5 gallons a day, so 35 gallons should last about 4+ days. That's enough to let me sneak out for a weekend or an over-nighter. This is in my backyard, right next to a hose bibb and an electrical outlet. I could easily set up a re-circ pump w/venturi.
Anyway... gonna put some more extra clones outside in a week or so (mid Sept? Just to see what happens)... I'll set up the sand insulating double barrel when I do and let you all know...
