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How to make a PVC dripper manifold

watts

ohms
Veteran
catafish, you used those connectors in 3/8" hydro flow grommets or 1/4" grommets? I don't see any 1/4 so im assuming 3/8. The 3/8 grommets fit in the 3/8 manifold holes?
 

Catatafish

Active member
Veteran
No 3/8", i used:

3/4" pvc
1/4" hydro flow top hat grommets http://www.hydroponics.net/i/139320
1/4" hydro flow barbed connector http://www.hydroponics.net/i/139673
1/4" hydro flow tubing http://www.hydroponics.net/i/137456
3/8" drill bit for holes in pvc

I picked up all the hydro flow drip stuff at hydroponics.net as i was buying some of the multi-flow buckets at the same time to setup a coco dtw.

If you use something bigger, like 1/2" or 3/4" tubing, go with the greentrees tubing instead of hydro flow. That shit rocks, super soft and nice and easy to work with.
 

Catatafish

Active member
Veteran
I havent tried this solution yet so attempt at your own risk....:)

To make it nice and easy....they sell a 1/2" to 1/4" tee. You could use soft 1/2" tubing as your manifold and then put the tee at each of your drip tube locations. No drilling..no grommets. http://www.hydroponics.net/i/139706

I may attempt this one day.
 

Dr.RedWhite

Active member
Or you can get away with just plumbing 1/2 inch pipe on top of your pots and drilling 5/16th inch holes where you want solution to go. Depends how many plants you have but under 12 this is easy, solid and does not plug up.
 
Growbuddies at my local gardening supply shop turned me onto this when I came looking for a solution to lugging buckets and exacerbating a very painful spinal condition.

I went with a large pump, a cool panda reservoir from GH, 1/2 in PVC for a 2x6 foot manifold to cover two 4x8 flood trays.

I designed an intake manifold for the long, low reservoir so that I can put a shim up under one side of the res and have it sucked dry for single use filling and feeding. The veganic nutrients I'm using must be used within 24 hours of mixing.

Each of my 1/4 inch drip lines will have a valve on them to help me dial in the flow to each pot.

I can't wait to put everything together and try it out. Pico is the KING! So glad I found this article!
 

Mate Dave

Propagator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Food grade pipe fits over a maxi jet 1000 and then you use dripper line and Hozelockdrippers from that food grade tube and bung the end of it.. There is no other cost effective way of doing it.. I have seen so many people fuck about with drippers and it's funny..
 

Calwax

Member
IS THEIR ANY ADVICE ON A LARGE ROOM DRIPPER SYSTEM? i have a storage container style room that id like to do 4x8 tables length wise. would i just scale up your tutorial or should my manifold routing be mounted along the wall and finger down the manifold and route feed lines?

What is the easiest way to go about this, 3 4x8 length wise.
 

svrn

New member
Thank you for the very informative post.

I ended up using 1/2" black vinyl tubing and 1/4" open-ended to each pot. Ended up using a mixture of 1g and not-so-filled 3g smart pots. I didn't feel the need to do anything on the ends for the 1g pots but used a T splitter for the larger pots.

Bought one of those 600gph pumps from Harbor freight and each one takes care of roughly 25-30 pots. Gives a steady flow and releases me from hand watering which is great.

The girls are really loving it too. I'm only about 16 days into flower but the growth is explosive, especially considering I only vegged for 2 weeks (until roots were shooting out the bottom and sides).
 

Zeez

---------------->
ICMag Donor
If you have trouble getting the grommets into the pvc hole or the tube into the grommet, A little dish washing liquid makes it easy. The soap dries and makes a good seal too.
 

greenlegend420

New member
Have you guys tried the hydro halos? I use them just switched from undercurrent/rdwc to top feed and they work great. I run them 24/7 in hydroton.
 

Manchineel

New member
First post here. I was hoping to bump this thread essentially, to see if there have been any updates or more efficient methods being utilised to create the superior DTW system. I've read this front to back. I believe a have a majority of the equipment required to build my own, but I'm wondering if there's beeen any new tricks or methods you growers have implemented since. I've only been growing for twelve months, but my set up is somewhat of a larger scale, for a beginner, and hand watering coco is easy when you only do it once a day, but if I can use smaller pots with frequent feedings for a greater yield, then I'm all ears. I reiterate, I have read this thread entirely, just wondering if there has been any fresh insight over the last twelve months. Thanks crew. Amazing contributions on ICMag.
 

Hookah79

Active member
First post here. I was hoping to bump this thread essentially, to see if there have been any updates or more efficient methods being utilised to create the superior DTW system. I've read this front to back. I believe a have a majority of the equipment required to build my own, but I'm wondering if there's beeen any new tricks or methods you growers have implemented since. I've only been growing for twelve months, but my set up is somewhat of a larger scale, for a beginner, and hand watering coco is easy when you only do it once a day, but if I can use smaller pots with frequent feedings for a greater yield, then I'm all ears. I reiterate, I have read this thread entirely, just wondering if there has been any fresh insight over the last twelve months. Thanks crew. Amazing contributions on ICMag.
I would advise you to check out the coco section and look up some threads there's some helpful info there.
 

40AmpstoFreedom

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran

mikeross

Member
Anyone ever run this type of manifold over say a 20'+ run?


If you size the pump right, in theory does a very long run make a big difference?
 

DunHav`nFun

Well-known member
Veteran
Anyone ever run this type of manifold over say a 20'+ run?


If you size the pump right, in theory does a very long run make a big difference?
Ok Bro.....I`ve built many a Pico style "loopfield manifold" in my day , and the ONLY wayta guarantee consistent pressure and flow to each individual plantsite with such a long run is to use an oversized pump with a bypass back to the rez , a choke/control/ball valve in front of said bypass , and then each tube to each plantsite has to be exactly the same length.....then....

Once you turn the pump on and the manifold is completely pressurized , the ball valve is adjusted down to where each plantsite receives the same amount of juice in front as well as down at the opposite end and runoff is the same +/-.....You need an anti-siphon valve/tube up above fluid level to prevent draining therez after the pump cuts off , but other than that it`s simple.....babyshit.....

I used open ended 1/4" driptubing hooked to basket stakes that sprayed 360 degrees around my #5 smartpots fed once a day back in the day till end of stretch , then twice a day till end of cycle.....but hey.....You said you`re runnin all but no runoff and only up to 5% ?.....what`s your other room set up with.....anyways.....Holler back if I can help bro.....and sure.....

You can go with pressure compensated drippers but they clog after time unless you use drip clean , so caveat emptor on drippers IME , on top of STILL having to design the setup and figure pump sizes and duration of said pump time on to saturate each container equally.........aight....nuff said......Good luck and.....

Peace.....DHF.... :ying: ......
 

roybart

Member

mikeross

Member
Ok Bro.....I`ve built many a Pico style "loopfield manifold" in my day , and the ONLY wayta guarantee consistent pressure and flow to each individual plantsite with such a long run is to use an oversized pump with a bypass back to the rez , a choke/control/ball valve in front of said bypass , and then each tube to each plantsite has to be exactly the same length.....then....

Once you turn the pump on and the manifold is completely pressurized , the ball valve is adjusted down to where each plantsite receives the same amount of juice in front as well as down at the opposite end and runoff is the same +/-.....You need an anti-siphon valve/tube up above fluid level to prevent draining therez after the pump cuts off , but other than that it`s simple.....babyshit.....

I used open ended 1/4" driptubing hooked to basket stakes that sprayed 360 degrees around my #5 smartpots fed once a day back in the day till end of stretch , then twice a day till end of cycle.....but hey.....You said you`re runnin all but no runoff and only up to 5% ?.....what`s your other room set up with.....anyways.....Holler back if I can help bro.....and sure.....

You can go with pressure compensated drippers but they clog after time unless you use drip clean , so caveat emptor on drippers IME , on top of STILL having to design the setup and figure pump sizes and duration of said pump time on to saturate each container equally.........aight....nuff said......Good luck and.....

Peace.....DHF.... :ying: ......


Each room will have a 250gal rez. I planned to run a 1585gph Mondi pump. The rez is on a floor above, approx. 10' which I have read will add about 4psi in pressure but no clue how that translates in the field. I see many run 1/2" mainlines but I've read that the larger the main the more pressure.

Anyways, from rez a 3/4" or 1" mainline drops 10' into the room. mainline splits into 3 zones(each zone is a 4'x24' long tables) into a pico style manifold with 36 sites... so 108 sites off a single 1585gph pump. I plan to add a ball valve to each of the 3 zones just in case I need to adjust but not sure if its needed.

I know your familiar with Issacs grow. He's running a 396gph pump on 48 sites and does well. Based off his setup this 1585gph should work. I guess trial and error we shall see. I'm gonna do a journal on this one too. Won't be up for 2-3 months though.

I've always tee'd off in the rez to control pressure and siphon hole back into the rez is a must(ask me how I know lol). Correct... I do very little run off if any. Main reason was because pots were sitting in saucers and I don't want to have to deal with run off. I used drip clean at the recommended rate and would do a flush end of week 3 with about 20% runoff but not sure if it was necessary. This new setup is on long tables with corrugated roof panels. With the tables and switching over to much cheaper Jack's nutes, I'm gonna do some runoff for insurance but again, not convinced it really needed if your EC is dialed in and running drip clean. Plus with these multi feeds I don't feed that strong to begin with.
 
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