Prototype model of Grow Op

[LJ farming]

King and DHF,

Yesterday I spent half the day going over my system piece by piece. Damn do I feel dumb! I have a small ball valve connection on the QDs that connect my primary “looped manifold” to my second manifold on each table. All three were set differently from constructing the room I guess? I opened the three I am currently using for 5 lights all the way and then pulled every single hose out of my plants and put each one in their own red solo cup and powered on the pump for 30 seconds. I could not believe it but all 56 solo cups were filled to what looked like to be the exact same level 3/4 full without measuring. I’m not even joking when I say I almost could not believe my eyes and had to slap myself and look again to make sure what I was seeing was correct.

My system is loosely based on Picos system because I looped PVC from the pump around the entire room and back to the pump. Then I Tee’d off the manifold with garden hose up to each manifold on each table with the octobubblers. So this creates equal pressure for each manifold on each table if you have all the ball valves in the hose QDs set equal. The octobubblers were recommended by the guy at my local hydro store and he does not even sell them. This is the only reason I did not use the exact full on Pico manifold. All of my 1/4 inch feed lines are cut to the same length but I did replace my original feed lines with green floraflex line and it saves my sanity 100 times over again. The typical black drip tube is a serious pain in the ass and everyone would be much better off if the bought the green soft floraflex tube to begin with.

I have several more questions for you guys but I have to get going right now I just wanted to update you on how dumb I felt after finding all the ball valves on different settings.

 

[exploziv]

That is the reason I try to buy the most obvious and coloured valves for irrigation, always diferent colour than the lines and background, so I have a reminder they are there!

 

[LJ farming]

Thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds Exploziv I have been kicking myself for an entire day now. However I’m pretty sure my plumbing is ready for FLIP now so I’m just kicking back and pre partying for 420. (I wish) Now for the hard part since I have so many different size plants. Hopefully it will only take a week or so to figure out how to feed and water 3 different size plants. One of these days I’m going to get my shit together and grow like a big boy I swear!

DHF I’m going to PM you a couple questions so that I do not hijack King’s thread anymore.

King thank you for letting me hijack and not busting my balls. If you don’t have the soft 1/4 inch tube I seriously think you should check it out it’s a little more expensive at $15.00-17.00 for 100 feet but it will save you so many headaches. There are other manufacturers as well. The standard black shit has a memory and just wants to coil back up and also has to be heated just to be put on a fitting. I will definitely be in touch king because it sounds like we are both getting ready to go down similar roads.

Cheers to 420
LJ

 

[DunHav`nFun]

I hated the black driptubing too LJ , but I used basket stakes to plug the curly fuckers into and when the juice hit those stakes it sprayed gently 360 degrees around my containers to prevent any dry spots from occurring and spread shit evenly feed to feed sequence.....anyways....Glad shit`s goin your way bro......Hate those "Homer Doh" moments........Hit me anytime you need a hand , always glad to help.....Happy 4 / 20 tomorrow guys and.....

Peace.....DHF.......

 

[kingape]

King and DHF,

Yesterday I spent half the day going over my system piece by piece. Damn do I feel dumb! I have a small ball valve connection on the QDs that connect my primary “looped manifold” to my second manifold on each table. All three were set differently from constructing the room I guess? I opened the three I am currently using for 5 lights all the way and then pulled every single hose out of my plants and put each one in their own red solo cup and powered on the pump for 30 seconds. I could not believe it but all 56 solo cups were filled to what looked like to be the exact same level 3/4 full without measuring. I’m not even joking when I say I almost could not believe my eyes and had to slap myself and look again to make sure what I was seeing was correct.

My system is loosely based on Picos system because I looped PVC from the pump around the entire room and back to the pump. Then I Tee’d off the manifold with garden hose up to each manifold on each table with the octobubblers. So this creates equal pressure for each manifold on each table if you have all the ball valves in the hose QDs set equal. The octobubblers were recommended by the guy at my local hydro store and he does not even sell them. This is the only reason I did not use the exact full on Pico manifold. All of my 1/4 inch feed lines are cut to the same length but I did replace my original feed lines with green floraflex line and it saves my sanity 100 times over again. The typical black drip tube is a serious pain in the ass and everyone would be much better off if the bought the green soft floraflex tube to begin with.

I have several more questions for you guys but I have to get going right now I just wanted to update you on how dumb I felt after finding all the ball valves on different settings.

Hahaha!

Glad you got it figured out!

I struggled by on my first grow without understanding how siphon works and flooding my grow area every now and then!

I wouldn't mind if you post your queries here, DHF is a treasure trove of knowledge and experience and I am sure we'll all benefit from it.

Do check out Bill Farthing on ICMAG for his nutrient thread!
It is seriously simple and he has DIY recipes for almost everything

 

[LJ farming]

I am already on the Bill plan! Im not sure if I found Bill’s thread or the Hundred Gram Oz thread in coco first but basically both of these are responsible for why I went the way I did in my new room. I cannot imagine doing drain to waste without Bills program. It would cost a fortune it seems. Especially with how many reservoirs I screwed up in the beginning and just pumped directly down the drain. I’m currently running 1.3 EC with CalNit only 15% less than hydro. I have been all over the place but CURRENTLY this is where my 4 strains like it the best. 2 need a little more and 2 could use a little less but so far it’s the best happy middle ground I have found. I definitely need to find 2-3 strains that do well with the same EC and then maybe I can dial in a little better from there. I have a Gelato strain that is fire but the other three strains I have currently can chucked out with the trash. Especially if something doesn’t change big time with them on this grow.

 

[LJ farming]

Kingape,

How did you do your drains. So far my gravity feed drains in rain gutter from the trays to a central reservoir is working great but i haven’t started multi feeds per day yet. It shouldn’t change anything but I’m sure Murphy will teach me a lesson sooner or later. He tried to teach me a lesson right away. I was not running all the runoff through a screen before it dumped into the reservoir and plugged the drain pipe with perlite and coco fibers from the reservoir to the outside holding tank on the third day right as I was getting comfortable thinking all was good. My dehumidifier as well as my RO waste water and any other liquid I need to dispose of all go into the same central drain and then the central drain reservoir is drained by gravity to an outside holding tank I use to fertilize a small permanent pasture on the ranch. Real small as in maybe a 1/2 acre. It will at least hopefully save the cost of a bale or 2 of hay once in a while. Eventually I want to put a backup pump hooked to a float switch in the reservoir so when the drain gets plugged again and I don’t catch it would just get pumped out until I figure it out. I already have the pump and the float switch is only $30 but I’m sure it will take a flood for me to hook it all up. Lol

 

[mojave green]

Seems complicated to run drain to waste.

 

[DunHav`nFun]

DTW`s the easiest shit there ever was Mohave , once you get past the learnin curve.....and....I ran DIY ebb and flow buckets for almost a decade before swappin over to coco , and for the record......ebb and flow buckets are the easiest and most bulletproof hydro setup there is , but......

DTW `s absolutely easier and just as bulletproof without the hassle of havin to monitor Rez EC/PPM`s and keep the plants eatin sufficient amounts of juice constantly.....Believe me.....Rez maintenance gets to be troublesome when you grow LOTS of plants.....anyways....

Your rootporn speaks for itself.....respect....and.....

Peace.....DHF......

 

[LJ farming]

What are you using for emitters King? I am currently just straight tube but a wise ole guy first initial D Last initial F suggested I go to basket drip emitters to help spread the juice. This will be the 3rd set for me and fourth try including open tube end. Im so glad I didn’t try to turn the whole new room on my first trip around the block. The baskets will be here tomorrow from Amazon. There are several different kinds out there and I wanted to go Floraflex because there tubing is badass but it was $20 more because of shipping and if the Hydrobuilder ones are junk from Amazon I can send them back at no charge and move on to my 5th try

 

[kingape]

Kingape,

How did you do your drains. So far my gravity feed drains in rain gutter from the trays to a central reservoir is working great but i haven’t started multi feeds per day yet. It shouldn’t change anything but I’m sure Murphy will teach me a lesson sooner or later. He tried to teach me a lesson right away. I was not running all the runoff through a screen before it dumped into the reservoir and plugged the drain pipe with perlite and coco fibers from the reservoir to the outside holding tank on the third day right as I was getting comfortable thinking all was good. My dehumidifier as well as my RO waste water and any other liquid I need to dispose of all go into the same central drain and then the central drain reservoir is drained by gravity to an outside holding tank I use to fertilize a small permanent pasture on the ranch. Real small as in maybe a 1/2 acre. It will at least hopefully save the cost of a bale or 2 of hay once in a while. Eventually I want to put a backup pump hooked to a float switch in the reservoir so when the drain gets plugged again and I don’t catch it would just get pumped out until I figure it out. I already have the pump and the float switch is only $30 but I’m sure it will take a flood for me to hook it all up. Lol

Seems pretty straight forward!
Running waste through a screen is something you learn along the way .

The way I like to design things is to have minimum number of electronic parts unless they are part of a backup, because shit will eventually malfunction!
So I'd rather use gravity and physics to do the draining.

My tables will drain through a screen>PVC> rain gutter.

What are you using for emitters King? I am currently just straight tube but a wise ole guy first initial D Last initial F suggested I go to basket drip emitters to help spread the juice. This will be the 3rd set for me and fourth try including open tube end. Im so glad I didn’t try to turn the whole new room on my first trip around the block. The baskets will be here tomorrow from Amazon. There are several different kinds out there and I wanted to go Floraflex because there tubing is badass but it was $20 more because of shipping and if the Hydrobuilder ones are junk from Amazon I can send them back at no charge and move on to my 5th try

Floraflex is just expensive shit that is not trustworthy!

For all my drippers and other irrigation needs, I turn to netafim, they are a solid company with extensive research and product designs.

I use their PCJ drippers, they are rated at .5gph

Seems complicated to run drain to waste.

Can you elaborate or link to your irrigation design please

 

[mojave green]

Veg: 2ea flood and drain tables.

Flower: 6ea 5 gal buckets with net pots using a control bucket to flood and drain. 1 hour flood, 1 hour drain. 55 gal nute res in the veg room feeds the flower room control bucket. Nice because I can maintain it lights on or off.

ro res on timed pump to refill nute res.

Plants are born and die in 4x4 rockwool cubes. I hate medium.

 

[DunHav`nFun]

About the basket stakes LJ.....Depending on how much pressure your pump provides will determine how much the juice will spread away from the basket stakes when the juice hits em.....I`ve seen juice dribble down the stakes into the medium and only provide moisture directly beneath em with smaller pumps , and then the plants have to be fed rather have the pump run long enough to make sure the WHOLE container stays "moist"..... and then with pumps like I used that were huge , the juice sprayed out almost to the edges of my #5 smartpots , so it`s all relative as far as flow and pressure`s involved....anyways.....just tryin to clarify and help.....

Peace.....DHF.....

 

[kingape]

About the basket stakes LJ.....Depending on how much pressure your pump provides will determine how much the juice will spread away from the basket stakes when the juice hits em.....I`ve seen juice dribble down the stakes into the medium and only provide moisture directly beneath em with smaller pumps , and then the plants have to be fed rather have the pump run long enough to make sure the WHOLE container stays "moist"..... and then with pumps like I used that were huge , the juice sprayed out almost to the edges of my #5 smartpots , so it`s all relative as far as flow and pressure`s involved....anyways.....just tryin to clarify and help.....

Peace.....DHF.....

GreenGenes has these https://hydrolocksystems.com/ that he uses!

If you're using sprayers, you definitely need a bigger pump.

@DunHav`nFun How do you prefer watering? 4 mm drips, emitters or sprays or what?

 

[DunHav`nFun]

I still use open end driptubing with basket stakes cuz I`m a tight ass old fart that had all the equipment stored in my barn after retirement when I started back up with a small headies closet sized grow.......I adapted to a smaller inline sump type pump connected to the outside of my small rez to prevent havin to use submersibles and then put a net bag around em to prevent shit from cloggin up as well as havin electrified equipment sittin inside a tank of water....,but that`s just me Bro.....

Not knockin anyone`s choice of pumps or drip setup they employ.....I just always erred on the simplest solution with less shit to break down and kill the plants if shit went sideways while I was gone.....and.....I know that pressure compensated drip emitters have come a looong way from when they first started showin up on weedsites , but as a rule.....drippers clog and shit the bed if not kept clean , thus why Dripclean was invented rather introduced to the weed growin establishment several yrs back.....though......I`m sure it was invented for hydroponic greenhouse environments and just got noticed by dope growers by incident / accident but that`s again just my take on things.....anyways....

Peace.....DHF.....

 

[LJ farming]

King,

Do you use one of the external high pressure pumps for your Netafim emitters? Like the Leader or Dab pumps? That will end up costing me another vacation. I am so bummed if I now will need to replace all of my drip shit for a 5th time to get it right. But I’m going to get this shit right and “set it and forget it” and head South of the border and go fishing for a couple days once know everything is running correctly. Which at this point might be another month or 2. It sure would have been nice to have found DHF and King before I made the past 2 months of mistakes. “Homer DOH”

What size pots are you guys using? Also who’s Coco do you guys prefer?

King did you ask me to elaborate on my drip system? I couldn’t tell who was asking who what in the previous posts and if they were talking about DTW or DWC.

 

[kingape]

I still use open end driptubing with basket stakes cuz I`m a tight ass old fart that had all the equipment stored in my barn after retirement when I started back up with a small headies closet sized grow.......I adapted to a smaller inline sump type pump connected to the outside of my small rez to prevent havin to use submersibles and then put a net bag around em to prevent shit from cloggin up as well as havin electrified equipment sittin inside a tank of water....,but that`s just me Bro.....

Not knockin anyone`s choice of pumps or drip setup they employ.....I just always erred on the simplest solution with less shit to break down and kill the plants if shit went sideways while I was gone.....and.....I know that pressure compensated drip emitters have come a looong way from when they first started showin up on weedsites , but as a rule.....drippers clog and shit the bed if not kept clean , thus why Dripclean was invented rather introduced to the weed growin establishment several yrs back.....though......I`m sure it was invented for hydroponic greenhouse environments and just got noticed by dope growers by incident / accident but that`s again just my take on things.....anyways....

Peace.....DHF.....

Yes, drip emitters and submersibles have both come a long way in terms of reliability!

King,

Do you use one of the external high pressure pumps for your Netafim emitters? Like the Leader or Dab pumps? That will end up costing me another vacation. I am so bummed if I now will need to replace all of my drip shit for a 5th time to get it right. But I’m going to get this shit right and “set it and forget it” and head South of the border and go fishing for a couple days once know everything is running correctly. Which at this point might be another month or 2. It sure would have been nice to have found DHF and King before I made the past 2 months of mistakes. “Homer DOH”

What size pots are you guys using? Also who’s Coco do you guys prefer?

King did you ask me to elaborate on my drip system? I couldn’t tell who was asking who what in the previous posts and if they were talking about DTW or DWC.

I use a submersible pump and its sufficient for my needs.
You need to take in account the head (lift up of water) that you will require and factor that in your calculation.

How many drippers do you have or plan on getting and what flow capacity?

I use 6 inch square pots and the normal coco bricks I get at the local horticulture supply store.

I was asking mojave about his system.


I soak my drip emitters in a vinegar and water mixture after every cycle of use.

Anyone have any other alternatives?

One more thing I would like some opinions on...I have 2 flower rooms..both have 2 tables of 4x8.

If I want to do a pvc manifold between 2 tables in one room, how do I do it? Because I might need to move the tables apart to access the plants in the middle row

 

[LJ farming]

I will have 56 if I go 1 hose per plant currently I am running 2 hoses per plant. So 112. Im running square 7x7 hydro farm pots that actually measure just over 6x6. My current plan is 8 per light or 16 per 4x8 table. I haven’t looked at new drippers yet. Currently im running open ended hose at the recommendation of my hydro shop. I think DHF might run this way also. My hydro shop also recommended the netafim gear but said I would need one of the high pressure pumps. The pumps alone run $400-2000 then you need solenoids, another manifold, and some other stuff. The cheapest set up one of those pumps is probably $700+ and it would take a minute to install everything. Let alone Netafim would probably be another $300? I would be fine with a G if I wasn’t on set up number 4 already. So I’m not going to lie but that’s going to hurt a little bit to go that way but also I would rather have my set up right from the beginning instead of trying to dial in something that will never be right.

I definitely took note of soaking drippers and probably my octobubblers in vinegar after each grow.

 

[kingape]

I will have 56 if I go 1 hose per plant currently I am running 2 hoses per plant. So 112. Im running square 7x7 hydro farm pots that actually measure just over 6x6. My current plan is 8 per light or 16 per 4x8 table. I haven’t looked at new drippers yet. Currently im running open ended hose at the recommendation of my hydro shop. I think DHF might run this way also. My hydro shop also recommended the netafim gear but said I would need one of the high pressure pumps. The pumps alone run $400-2000 then you need solenoids, another manifold, and some other stuff. The cheapest set up one of those pumps is probably $700+ and it would take a minute to install everything. Let alone Netafim would probably be another $300? I would be fine with a G if I wasn’t on set up number 4 already. So I’m not going to lie but that’s going to hurt a little bit to go that way but also I would rather have my set up right from the beginning instead of trying to dial in something that will never be right.

I definitely took note of soaking drippers and probably my octobubblers in vinegar after each grow.

Wow!

I don't know why pumps are so expensive in the USA.

I think you should be good with the drip pipes since the octabubblers are Pressure compensated anyway!

 

[DunHav`nFun]

House and Garden`s "Dripclean" @ 1mg per gal completely elimenates any chance of residual salt buildup in containers....Mfr.`s suggestion to keep drip emitters and all equipment clean with no clogs says .04 mg per gal , but old heads found out several yrs ago by accident that the increased dosage did indeed stop residual salt buildup in the medium and we never looked back.....but.....

With your small containers and feeding 6 times per lights on session KG , I doubt there`s much chance for buildup with as many mini-flushes as you do , so there ya go.....now.....1 manifold for 2 tables seems a bit much , especially if you run different varieties that do indeed have different nutrient needs , but maybe you could make it work , dunno......anyways.....I`m sure it can be done with increased pump size but I`ve never seen it done or even talked about on all the boards I have access to......Good luck and.......

Peace.....DHF.....