Looking For a Drip System For My Room

[Bad Habits]

Hey Folks. I'm looking for a good drip system that would compliment the the design of my room.

Specs:

- 3 2x8 tables, each with 3-4 10gal pots of coco
- room is on perpetual harvest, so each tray is about 3 weeks different from the next
- 3 separate 23 gal reservoirs: one for each tray
- each tray is on a table which has caster wheels and can be moved

So far I have the reservoirs and the ecoplus sub pumps for moving the water around in the rez.

My buddy does a "horseshoe" drip system: each rez has 2 hoses coming out of it that meet at the end connect: he says this way there is equal pressure among the entire system and each plant receives the same amount of water. He uses super thick rubber tubing with 6 spaghetti lines coming out for each pot.

Given my room and plants are smaller, it seems like his setup might not be ideal for my specs. Given I want to be able to move the tables around a little bit (a foot or 2 in any direction) I want the system to be flexible enough to allow that.

Can anyone post any good articles or links for something that would be compatible with my specs and goals?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Pic of the room layout for visual:

 

[Asslover]

You can do it like your buddys' but without the "horse shoe". Just plug the hose end. Don't worry so much about equalizing things, the difference is negligible. And you can use 1/2" tubing with that spaghetti tubing, I did for 2 years...
How do plan on collecting runoff?
Also, I would reconsider that Ideal Air dehumidifier. They are junk!
Btw, don't forget to poke a hole in the feed line just above the highest water level in your rez. Make it so the water drips back into your rez; this is your siphon break. Without it you will walk into a flooded room

 

[gdbud]

look into blumats people here have had great success using them with coco.
I have been using them for about 4 years in soil and I swear by them.

 

[Bad Habits]

You can do it like your buddys' but without the "horse shoe". Just plug the hose end. Don't worry so much about equalizing things, the difference is negligible. And you can use 1/2" tubing with that spaghetti tubing, I did for 2 years...
How do plan on collecting runoff?
Also, I would reconsider that Ideal Air dehumidifier. They are junk!
Btw, don't forget to poke a hole in the feed line just above the highest water level in your rez. Make it so the water drips back into your rez; this is your siphon break. Without it you will walk into a flooded room

Thanks for the advice, Asslover (fuckin lol at your name tho).

He was saying if you don't horseshoe the first plant will always get the most water, and the plant at the end of the line would always get the least amount of water. Then again, his line spans 50+ feet whereas mine is no more than about 10 tops. You think it's a negligible difference?

Already got the ideal air unit unfortunately, and have read some bad things on here about em Too late now, so I guess we'll have to see what happens lol.

For the runoff, I'll the tables at a very slight incline, with a drain hole at the lower end of the tray that will drain into a plastic container, which I will empty once every day or two into the toilet. Not the most efficient setup, but it'll have to work for now.

Any other advice or tips would be appreciated

look into blumats people here have had great success using them with coco.
I have been using them for about 4 years in soil and I swear by them.

Yeah I've heard some good things about em on here. I'll definitely take note and might change to them in the future, but for the beginning of this room I'm gonna do drip lines DTW for the time being.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Bad Habits]

One more thing, I could use some advice about the size of the pump in the rez.

My buddy uses a flotec 410hp utility pump from home depot for a 100gal rez. Would it be safe to assume something with about a quarter of that horse power would be sufficient for a 23gal rez?

 

[BakedBandit]

Look for the pico drip system thread on here. It's like what your buddy has setup. No need for a big pump with the pico.design. Probably want 2-3 1/4" lines to each 10 gal.
If you could get the Rez for each tray underneath them you could move the while thing as one...

 

[Bad Habits]

Look for the pico drip system thread on here. It's like what your buddy has setup. No need for a big pump with the pico.design. Probably want 2-3 1/4" lines to each 10 gal.
If you could get the Rez for each tray underneath them you could move the while thing as one...

Tracked down the thread, looks like a pretty damn good system to me.

I already picked up 3 23gal slimjim recycle bins that fit nice and snug against the wall. Because I only have 8ft ceilings, my tables are only gonna be like 6-12" off the ground which realistically doesn't leave any space under for a rez, at least not one that can be readily purchased without having to make a bunch of modifications to it.

So if I went with this system, I guess the question still remains - what size utility pump will I need to get the water from the rez to the lines?

 

[Bad Habits]

Another thing - what are people's thoughts on using airstones/a separate pump in the rez for keeping the water moving around?

My buddy uses the ecoplus pumps in his rez just to keep the water moving around because he says it helps to keep from elements falling out of suspension or something.

Was just doing a bit of reading and noticed someone saying that when they use airstones/pump for recirculation in the rez it causes their PH to go up over time. If I want to fill my rez up every 2-3 days, would a pump in the rez for recirculation cause a lot of PH swing? Like say if i start at 5.8, by day 3 would it be over 6.2?

 

[Lowman]

Btw, don't forget to poke a hole in the feed line just above the highest water level in your rez. Make it so the water drips back into your rez; this is your siphon break. Without it you will walk into a flooded room

I don't follow. If I poke a hole anywhere...isn't the feed going to spew out when the pump comes on. I am probably missing the obvious...but clarification would be great.

Cheers,

 

[Treetroit City]

Pico style manifolds work great and are what I use when automating. I use ecoplus 396 for the drip and ecoplus 185 for circulation in the res. You could get away with a smaller circ pump however as I'm in 55 gallon barrels.

The 396 work great for at least 12 plants, maybe more but that's as many as I've done off one res. Currently I use one pump per 4 plants, each with one 1/4" open ended line.

On another note, 10 gallons of coco is pretty unnecessary. What are your goals as far as yield per plant? I use 3.5 gallon pots and average around 8-10 zips per plant but could get an easy lb per 3.5 gallon if I adjusted style ie less plants per light.

 

[BakedBandit]

I use air pump in Rez. Magnetic pumps can pull out trace elements like iron over time.

 

[Bad Habits]

Not to be a complete noob, but to determine what size pump you need for the drippers, do you consider only size of the rez, size of pots, how many pots, or all 3??? Still a bit confused on how I should determine the size for my situation - 1 tray with 1 23 gal rez with 3-4 plants in 10 gals of coco each.

I don't follow. If I poke a hole anywhere...isn't the feed going to spew out when the pump comes on. I am probably missing the obvious...but clarification would be great.

Cheers,

also wouldn't mind some clarification on this

Pico style manifolds work great and are what I use when automating. I use ecoplus 396 for the drip and ecoplus 185 for circulation in the res. You could get away with a smaller circ pump however as I'm in 55 gallon barrels.

The 396 work great for at least 12 plants, maybe more but that's as many as I've done off one res. Currently I use one pump per 4 plants, each with one 1/4" open ended line.

On another note, 10 gallons of coco is pretty unnecessary. What are your goals as far as yield per plant? I use 3.5 gallon pots and average around 8-10 zips per plant but could get an easy lb per 3.5 gallon if I adjusted style ie less plants per light.

Thanks for dropping in, TC!

I think I got the 185s as well for the recirculation, but still haven't decided on which ones to purchase for the drippers.

Do you use one single pump for your drippers?

My buddy actually uses two flotec 410hp per 100 gal rez, so that each end connects to a pump. My rezs are about 1/4 his size (23 gals), and I mentioned only using 1 pump instead of 2, and he said that I should use a 410hp one then. Seems a bit excessive to me for 4 plants and roughly 40 gals of coco. Any input on this?

As for my goals RE pot size: maximize yield while staying within my medical numbers. I can currently have 12 mature plants, so obviously I want to grow as big of plants as possible given my space's size and constraints. Of course, reaching 1g/watt is a long term goal, and the people I'm friends with tell me more coco = more roots = higher yield.

I use air pump in Rez. Magnetic pumps can pull out trace elements like iron over time.

are the ecoplus pumps like these https://www.sunlightsupply.com/shop...ies/ecoplus-fixed-flow-rate-submersible-pumps magnetic? I see they have a "ceramic" shaft, but doesn't say anything about being magnetic...

 

[gdbud]

I don't follow. If I poke a hole anywhere...isn't the feed going to spew out when the pump comes on. I am probably missing the obvious...but clarification would be great.

Cheers,

As the tubing comes out of the pump, but is still in the reservoir and above the water line drill or poke a small hole in the tubing so that the escaping stream of water sprays back into the reservoir.
The reason for the hole and why it must be above the water is so that when the pump shuts off the hole will let air to flow into the line breaking the vacuum caused by the water pressure down stream of the hole and not create a siphen and drain your reservior.

 

[Bad Habits]

As the tubing comes out of the pump, but is still in the reservoir and above the water line drill or poke a small hole in the tubing so that the escaping stream of water sprays back into the reservoir.
The reason for the hole and why it must be above the water is so that when the pump shuts off the hole will let air to flow into the line breaking the vacuum caused by the water pressure down stream of the hole and not create a siphen and drain your reservior.

and that doesn't mess with the pressure of the water when the pump is on at all? is this basically just the cheap version of a anti siphon valve?

 

[cracka magik]

and that doesn't mess with the pressure of the water when the pump is on at all? is this basically just the cheap version of a anti siphon valve?

Hardly, I did this and haven't noticed a difference, use the smallest bit you have. Trying this saved me some a 1.5 hour deep reading online like a madman about anti siphon valves and how siphons work... fuck I used to feel (and still sometimes do) that I spend more time reading than actually growing..

 

[Bad Habits]

Hardly, I did this and haven't noticed a difference, use the smallest bit you have. Trying this saved me some a 1.5 hour deep reading online like a madman about anti siphon valves and how siphons work... fuck I used to feel (and still sometimes do) that I spend more time reading than actually growing..

haha I definitely feel you on that bro! I'd say so far there has been about a 3:1 ratio of researching:growing/doing the build out.

There's just so many details to consider for pretty much every aspect of growing. Shit makes my head spin sometimes. Like I've been meaning to set up this drip system for the past week, and every day it's "I'll get it done tomorrow for sure," but then an unknown detail comes up and I'm like well fuck I need to figure that out first so I don't have to go and correct it later, especially considering how small my room is and when all the plants are in there's gonna be like zero room to maneuver and fix/tinker with stuff....

Thanks for the advice on drilling the hole