Has anyone ever made their own Air Manifold?

[I<3THC]

Hi all,

I am planning a micro medical grow for myself and I have recently switched over to DWC. I ran two grows using a 2.5 gallon bucket and I love the rapid growth found in hydro, I was a soil farmer for years prior.

My question is this: I want to run 5 smaller buckets around 1 gallon each but I only want to run two dual outlet pumps. Has anyone ever made a "Air Manifold" to supply multiple buckets?

I was planning on using a short ( 4"-6"?? ) piece of 1/2 PVC with two end caps on it and 4 inlet ports for the dual inlet pumps and 5 outlets that feed the individual buckets.

Will this cause any pressure loss this way? I really have no experience when it comes to how air pumps flow or accumulators work, but I haven't seen much in the market that allows FOUR inlets into 5-6 outlets.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

<3 THC

 

[medi-useA]

2 dual outlet air pumps?...Th@'t 4 outlets there...just add a Y connector to one of the air hoses and connect 2 airstones to it...

muA

PS RDWC may work better than DWC 'cause of all the nute changes...

muA

 

[I<3THC]

Thanks for the quick reply!

2 dual outlet air pumps?...Th@'t 4 outlets there...just add a Y connector to one of the air hoses and connect 2 airstones to it...

Ah I should have made myself more clear. My reasoning behind the dual pumps is if one fails, I can still work off (minimally) of one pump until it gets replaced.

PS RDWC may work better than DWC 'cause of all the nute changes...

I never considered that, my only issue is I have a very limited amount of space in which to do this with, so that might be tough. But it sure would make the rez changes easier.

<3 THC

 

[medi-useA]

The res does not have to be 'on site'...store it elsewhere...

If you're after an air pump backup....you need a way to store the air or to generate it.

Battery operated air pumps ... or inner-tube might do...

muA

 

[sababi]

<3 i was in the same situation as u and did a long search here and then looked thru the sticky's and found pipedreams thread http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21514 he uses pvc for his air tanks i ended up using an old air tank and tapped in some air zerts i run 2 commercial air pumps into it in case one fails u will find out with dwc O2 is critical to success hope this helps

 

[superpedro]

Hey.

When you use 1 outlet for more than one DWC setup using just an Y-connector, the water column above the airstones need to be the exact same. Off by just a little, and all air flows from the one on shallow water..

IMO This is the kind of splitter to choose.

 

[Balazar]

Check out PipeDream's Tiny Bubbler System. He did a PVC manifold with 2 pumps that have check valves so if one goes out the other keeps supplying air. Remember to put a check valve right after the air pump outlet and before it goes into the manifold otherwise the pressure could escape through the pump when it brakes. I used poly sprinkler like to do mine in my veg room. You can see it in my album. They make a little tool that pops holes in the irrigation line and then you pop little barbs in the holes and attach hoses to them to go to each bucket. I always hot glue around the barbs to make sure they dont leak. In a DWC hot glue is your best friend. You can even get glue sticks now that work underwater so if you can stop the pressure behind a leak you can seal it without draining your system!

 

[medi-useA]

Awww!...I was just making an observation!...throwing I<3THC a bone, an answer to a question I wasn't greatly knowledgeable in nor really interested in...just being polite, you know?...noob [in posts @least] and all, I thought answer now-be polite...throw a suggestion or opinion th@ may/may not help...

And now I'm gettin' Interested on reading the other replies...

'An I got too much on my plate already!

muA

 

[cyberwax]

Aquarium stores sell stop valves that will work perfectly for your setup. Tho then both pumps would be feeding both airstones and if one fails all you will notice is less bubbles.