-
ICMag with help from Phlizon, Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest for Christmas! You can check it here. Prizes are: full spectrum led light, seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Something wicked this way comes
- Thread starter delta9nxs
- Start date
Bad ass
for my manifolds is used 3/8 soft hydro tubing from growershouse. drilled a fuck-ton of 1/8" holes relatively evenly spaced about every 1.5"
3/8 barb fittings are a bitch to find.
on my veg side i used the same as you. get a cup of hot soapy water and lube your fitting or hose and then work it in slowly back and forth. your palm is gonna hurt but it wont get hairy lol
Shit how did I not think of that. I've been using metal hose clamps and these plastic clip things. My rings are 1/4" tho (manifold is 1/2"), holes melted with a hot nail. Only have 4 decent size holes per 7" ish ring but media is evenly moist
Just upgraded my pump so might hit the larger tube rings with more holes anyway
Do the elbows pop off with the pressure? Otherwise if they just leak it wouldn't really matter?
heat gun with the larger hose helps alot. thou its funny how a barb fitting from one mfg to the next will very despite them claiming the same outside diameter.
i use a soldering pen to pop the holes, with a fan sucking air out, preferably out the window. d9 uses a hole punch thing u can get a t some hardware stores. looks like a pair of pliers with a " boot spur" on the end that spins for different hole sizes. i have never used one but been meaning to
with the drip rings to the " tee" i always set push one side of the tube in "permanent" ,an the other side half on. that way when it comes time to take the rings off i dont have to use a heat gun or something to pry the hose off. the "half on " side comes off with a little persuasion.
i use a soldering pen to pop the holes, with a fan sucking air out, preferably out the window. d9 uses a hole punch thing u can get a t some hardware stores. looks like a pair of pliers with a " boot spur" on the end that spins for different hole sizes. i have never used one but been meaning to
with the drip rings to the " tee" i always set push one side of the tube in "permanent" ,an the other side half on. that way when it comes time to take the rings off i dont have to use a heat gun or something to pry the hose off. the "half on " side comes off with a little persuasion.
Sweet, I'll bust out the heat gun tonight.
For some reason I had it my head to run a bunch of t's for the halo. Poking some holes will be way cheaper
Thank you
I tried that, it was shit. Makes for an ugly shape halo. Now I have many spare tees...
On that note, my irrigation system sucks! It was blocked so I removed all rings, tried to unblock, added extra holes and they still aren't working properly.. well one in particular. Plants are vert in tent so I had to squeeze in the middle, broke a 1/2 to 1/4 tee, had to rig something up. Pain in the ass big time. I do have a filter on it Now, dumb me didn't think it was necessary in the first place
So... can anyone point me in the direction of a rock solid manifold/drip system that I won't have to fuck with early on in flower? I'll read through this and other ppk threads, but it only has to service 4 plants in a 4x4 tent...
So... can anyone point me in the direction of a rock solid manifold/drip system that I won't have to fuck with early on in flower? I'll read through this and other ppk threads, but it only has to service 4 plants in a 4x4 tent...
Fwiw, I'm a fan of soap and water to get the tubing on. Not the heat gun. The heat makes the rubber softer, and even harder to get on the fitting.
Once it's on, a quick dose of heat, let it cool (<-important!), *then* add a clamp and it's unlikely to leak. I have some old connections that I've made that I can't even pull apart. I have to cut them off.
The type of tubing you use might be different, I honestly don't know. But with that flexible black tubing, that's what I do.
A couple years ago I had a leak, and I was so disappointed. The way I make the connections, it should never leak.
Come to find out, the bottom of the bucket cracked, it wasn't my connections.
See I had to be different lol made a 1/2" loop manifold with 1/4" tubing and halos to feed 4 plant sites
Next one I might just do the same but 1/2" all the way. Not sure how to calculate pump size needed for that tho
I'll look in to that, price pumps and shit. What gph pumps do you use? I'm in NZ so might not be the most economical solution. Don't think I have enough water in my system for all pumps to draw water simultaneously either so i suppose I'd have to factor in extra timers too...
Thanks Blah, I just read through your first ppk thread - lots of good info in there. I think I'm gonna stick with what I'm doing now for the remainder of flower (another 5 - 6 weeks) then change shit up for the better
My pump is 3000lph so 900? gph. Should be enough for the 4 plants off a single manifold but I'm concerned if I go to 1/2" Rings water level will drop too much, unless I change up a lot of my system. The 1/4" lines and rings I have tee'd off a 1/2" loop manifold I think will work fine now I have a filter plumbed in after the pump, but I might look and getting halos and even drilling them out to enlarge the tiny holes I can see clogging with salts in no time..
Already quite a few things I wish I had done different, but plants look great, much bigger and better than what I've grown before in coco dtw
My pump is 3000lph so 900? gph. Should be enough for the 4 plants off a single manifold but I'm concerned if I go to 1/2" Rings water level will drop too much, unless I change up a lot of my system. The 1/4" lines and rings I have tee'd off a 1/2" loop manifold I think will work fine now I have a filter plumbed in after the pump, but I might look and getting halos and even drilling them out to enlarge the tiny holes I can see clogging with salts in no time..
Already quite a few things I wish I had done different, but plants look great, much bigger and better than what I've grown before in coco dtw
793 gph. I can't imagine a scenario in which that isn't enough for 4 plants.
So are you essentially using the 1/4" rings/tubing (whatever) to restrict flow? Is that what you mean when you say "I'm concerned if I go to 1/2" Rings water level will drop too much"?
A smaller pump would be $50 tops. Would that be an overall cheaper/easier solution than a rebuild?
I actually have a smaller pump floating around but no idea of flow rate
The 1/4" lines and rings are because I used to use this smaller pump, which I'm sure wouldn't keep up with 1/2" line. But Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of solution in my system as my buckets are nesting. Water doesn't cover pump by much so can't afford for water level to drop by much
