headiez DIY Soil Watering System and Flood Tray

[headiez247]

I figured I'd post how I made my reasonably cheap watering system and flood tray. To see my full room set up check out the links in my sig.

Ok so for this grow I have 16 five gallon containers, and watering was a major pain in the ass. I don't have the kind of space that some of the big dogs have on here.

I got all my supplies at OSH but you can find all this shit online for cheap.


1) We have the "reservoir" where we put our water + nutes. I use a 18 gallon rubbermaid container. $7

2) Inside this container is a 320 gal/hr water fountain pump (for the amount of plants I have in retrospect Id say up that to like 400) $35

3) For water delivery, 50 foot 1/2 poly tubing $10

4) For delivery within the bucket, if you are using a 5 gallon i suggest an attachment like this that spreads the water out 360 degrees

5) For delivery of water from the main 1/2 inch line to the bucket, you use a 1/4 inch poly tubing $10

So, add a few "L's" to get out of the res and I do a full rectangle with the 1/2 inch tubing. then at the end it comes to a T and its a full circuit, and DONE.

Ok, now for the flood tray, needed especially for the last two weeks of flushing. I didn't want to drop $150 on a tray, and didn't want to have people seeing me bring the tray to where I live.

SO, Home Depot it is. This is so easy.

1) heavy duty tarp $7

2) enough 1x2 wood to make your frame $12

3) staplegun tarp to frame.

4) 90 gal/hr pump + 1/2 tubing to bring the flushed water into your bathroom tub to drain out. $24

All done:

 

[cheeseduck20]

Hell yeah..Any pics of where it t's off and comes full circuit? Having a hard time envisioning this but otherwise looks like a pretty simple project, one that even I could figure out. Hope its working for you. Peace

 

[Ghosts]

Hello Headiez,

Very cool set-up!

& timely. I'm trying to figure something for a bunch of big girls...
(You mind if I drop some pics in your thread here?)


I'm wondering how you completely drain your tray...

As I understand it, the smaller 90GPH pump drains your tray into your bathtub.
Doesn't this pump need to stay submergered?

 

[headiez247]

Ghosts I'm wondering how you completely drain your tray...
As I understand it, the smaller 90GPH pump drains your tray into your bathtub.
Doesn't this pump need to stay submergered?

I forgot to include this.

On almost all the smaller pumps, there is a filter piece you can just pull off which exposes just a circular hole which is what sucks the water up. I put this straight down onto the tarp and doing this method I get about 90% of the water out. Whatever is remaining I usually just let evaporate by the lights or if I am really picky I'll use the wet/dry vac to suck the rest up real quick.

cheeseduck20 Hell yeah..Any pics of where it t's off and comes full circuit? Having a hard time envisioning this but otherwise looks like a pretty simple project, one that even I could figure out. Hope its working for you. Peace

It's just a simple rectangle. You can see in the pic above right before it dissapears behind the plants that each end has 2 L's. On the other side of those L's are just a 7 foot length of tubing, at the end of which are another 2 L's so its just one big rectangle. Too bushy right not to take a pic of the whole thing.

 

[G33k Speak]

Is it run to waste??

You don't run it back to the res when you drain it??

 

[headiez247]

Is it run to waste??

You don't run it back to the res when you drain it??

I'm def. no expert at flushing but I guess I figured that the whole point is that we are trying to flush out all the nutrients and stuff, so I figured flushing with always fresh water (with mollases as well) would be the best route.

So yes, it goes right to the tub and down the drain