Simple Hydroponic Drip System Guide

Hey guys and gals, I've been a member only for a short while but I've been growing for about a year now. I used to hand water everything, which wasn't bad when you only have two plants, but anything more than that just gets to be a pain in the ass, especially when you have to go out of town for more than a few days.

That's why I decided to try building a simple hydroponic drip system using nothing more than parts found at most home DIY stores like Home Depot and Canadian Tire. A couple things were found only at my local hydroponic store, but here in Canada it's tough to find actual hydroponic supplies in Home Depot anyway.

So the basic idea here is to just facilitate waterings by running the pump on a timer to water your soil during the lights-on time. I've always been a fan of using pots over trays, simply because they're easier to move around. However this set up could be used with something like coco or rockwool slabs easily.

So anyway, on with the show!

First things first: supplies.

1. (5) Drip stakes to hold the tubing and drippers.
2. (5) Drippers. My hydro store only had one flow-rate size (1 gph), but you can find others depending on your needs.
3. (5) Hole plugs (this is what your drip tubing will connect to).
4. (optional) Hole punch. You can easily just use a drill. I wanted to punch the holes to get a tighter fit. It's entirely up to you though.
5. 5/8" drill bit
6. Drill
7. Scissors or sharp utility knife
8. (7 feet) Flex tubing to connect your drippers to the main water lines. Not sure what size this was, but I'm guessing 3/16.
9. (5) 1/2" 90 degree barbed elbows
10. (1) 1/2" T-shape barbed connector
11. Submersible water pump. This one here is 120 gph. You really don't need much since it doesn't have to move a ton of water.
12. (8 feet) 1/2" ID (inner diameter) black vinyl tubing. This will be your main water lines.
13. (1 foot) 5/8" OD (outer diameter) black vinyl tubing. This will be used for connecting your pump to main water lines. I only needed a foot since my tray is low to the ground. You may need more depending on your tray height.
14. A large tray to hold the pots and water lines. I found this at Wal-Mart for $17. It's one of those "hide under the bed" storage bins that has the locking lid. You could just as easily use a common hydroponic table but due to space limitations this is all I could find.

Building time! Use the 5/8" drill bit to pop a hole in one of the ends of the tray. I made the hole a tad raised incase water runoff from the plants started pooling at this end.


Next, insert the T-shape connector into the hole from the inside.


Now, cut a small piece of 1/2" ID tubing and connect it to an elbow. You want to cut it in a way so that when you slip it over the T-connector, the two pieces just touch.



Next, measure a piece of 1/2" ID tubing to run from one side of your T-connector to one of the corners beside it. I was pretty stoned when I did this, so I just went by eye. Best to measure to be sure though Cut, and connect it to an elbow in the corner.



Now just do the same to the other side and begin running the tubing along the edges of the tray. Not much explanation needed here. At the other end of the tray there won't be any T-connectors, so just run a small piece of tube from corner-to-corner.


When you get everything all connected, it should look something like this:


Here's a view of the tray with 1 gallon pots inside. I'll be trying this with 5 pots, although you could probably squeeze more in there if doing a SOG style grow.



Now we have to pop some holes into our 1/2" main water lines. For this, we use the hole punch, which conviniently has a spot for your thumb to really mash down to puncture the vinyl line.


Use a pot to line up where your holes should go. Because I have five pots, 3 holes will be on one side, and 2 on the other. The way I'm running my feeding tubes is to go across the middle of the tray to the other side, instead of having the feeding tube on the same side as the pot. Gives me an easier time moving them around.


Now we simply insert a hole plug into the hole and twist it until it's good and stuck.



Take one end of flex tubing (feeding tube), pass it through the hole in the plastic stake, and connect a dripper.


Stick the stake/dripper combo into the surface of the soil and do a quick measurement to the hole plug. This is where having a pot of soil just for measuring makes things easier. Cut the feeding tube and stick the end onto the hole plug nice and snug. It should look something like this:


Repeat the process until you have all your feeding tubes and stake/drippers set up. Again, it should look like this:


The tray, drippers, and feeding lines are complete! Smoke break!

Simple Hydroponic Drip System Guide Part 2

Simple Hydroponic Drip System Guide Part 2

When you're done smoking that fine ganja, we now have to get a reservoir going. I didn't include this in the supplies list because a lot of folks have spare containers sitting around and in the end it doesn't matter what size you use anyway- just as long as it holds enough water for your needs. I found this one at Wal-mart for $8.


Figure out where your pump is going to work best. For me, the orientation of the reservoir was horizontal, so the pump sits best right about here:


Next, drill holes with the 5/8" bit for your water feed and power cord.


What I did here was cut out the width of the diameter of the holes to make removing the lid easier once it's in the grow room. This is entirely optional. For me it just makes removing the lid easier than having to disconnect water lines, especially when the pump is running.


Ok, what I had to do here was a little jimmy-rigging. The 5/8" ID hose fits over the small, removable nozzle that attaches on the pump, but not snug enough. What I did was buy a tiny screw-clamp so I could attach the nozzle to the hose, tighten it in place, and simply put it back into the pump.



Into the grow room! Almost there! Place your tray onto your table or whatever is being used to hold it up, and place your reservoir on the floor infront of it. Stick your pump to the bottom of the resevoir so it doesn't move, connect your piece of 5/8" tubing, and do a quick measurement to the elbow. Cut it, and connect it. Note: it does not go on easy. I'm still trying to figure out a better, more secure way to attach it, but haven't thought of anything yet. You'll get to maybe the 3rd or 4th barb on the elbow. As long as there's no leaks when the pump runs, you're golden!


A quick look at the setup:



Next, we want our feedings to be on a schedule that matches the light cycle of your plants. Sync your pump timer with your light timer. The timer I'm using here has intervals of 15 minutes. I think even the standard 30-minute timers would work fine.


Fill the reservoir with water for testing. Before we add the plants back just do a quick check to make sure the fittings are all snug and there are no air leaks to be found.


Add your plants one by one. The dripper should hang right above the middle of the pot, spout facing down.


Once the plants are all added, run a quick test. It will only take about 20 seconds or so, so I didn't bother pHing the water, but it's probably a good idea! You'll probably hear the water slowly filling up the main lines, and then you'll see the water dripping from the drippers. Now all you have to do is time your pump so that every plant gets a nice feeding with not too much run-off from the pots.


All you have to do now is pH the water, add nutrients, and watch them grow! I'm using Coco coir for this guide, which can take a lot of water no problem, and can do two feedings a day if needed. Soil may only require feeding every few days, so a digital timer with more control (1 day on, 1 day off) may work best. Hydroponic mediums such as rockwool will most likely require several feedings per day. I haven't used these mediums so I can't say for sure.

Notes:
- There is no hole for drainage in this guide. Depending on your needs it may be a good idea to add one, especially during the flushing stage. Best way to go about this is to drill another 5/8" hole and attach a hose to it that will run either into the existing reservoir, or into a seperate container which goes to waste. If it's going back into the existing reservoir, make sure to add a fine filter so your pump and/or lines do not get clogged up with debris.

- Key word here is simple. I know there's many ways of growing with drippers and this is just one method. I could have just as easily made this an ebb & flow setup, but like I said, I like to use pots for my plants. That being said though, if anyone has suggestions on how I could make this better or any tips, let me know! I'm always open to criticism - as long as it's constructive!

hello thanx mate im starting to grow again and do not have much funding but thats a good and like you say simple system to do and cheap thank you as u post been very help full to me mr.m

hi i was thinking about you post and i thourgth it be better suited for my needs if i put a four way bit at the water inlet then i could make the dripper sligthy wider with a pipe running down the midle as well but was you system witch help me thanx again mr.m

nice setup

.

Haha wow, I didn't think anybody was even reading this thread. I managed to completely flower 3 plants and the drip system worked well. If you look at my gallery you can see two hashberry and one white russian plants at harvest using this sytem.

A few things to note though:

The hose that I used to connect the elbows is not water-tight. What happens when the water turns on is that the hose leaks where ever it's connected to plastic elbows or T-shaped connectors. I'm sure hydro stores have much better hose to use for your main lines, so try that before the stuff I used.

The hole plugs that you punch into your main feeding lines are also not water-tight, and will require you to tighten them up from time to time.

Drippers need a good cleaning every now and then. Mine got clogged and all that was needed was a good blow-out to get rid of shit building up inside.
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To overcome the leaking issue, I drilled a hole for drainage and had it simply drain back into the main reservoir. This was needed regardless due to water runoff from the pots - something I had forgotten to add in the original instructions.

what If you used like a 1/2 inch pvc manifold and then took your drip lines off of that? I'm sure you could find something to hook up to the pump using pvc pipe I think it might be a lil more rigid and water tight plus you could prolly use it for bigger set up's with bigger pumps for more sites just a thought.I'm looking into something like this to use w/ coco, going to make the switch from dwc to coco. Oh well good read man thanks for the Idea

I like this set-up B , id add a drain line most likely .
Great thread and pictures .

Just going to throw out another way here Not that there's anything wrong with Brett's - just a different method...

There's a great little aquarium pump called an aqualifter http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsCA/ctl3684/cp48948/si1380205/cl0/tomaqualifterpump - only 3gph - but how much do you really want to 'drip'?

Nice thing about it - takes aquarium air line tubing - same size as the drip emmiter tubing I find at rona / home depot...

Put some airline on the inlet - add a cheap airstone - reasoning... It acts as a filter... Keeps things from getting clogged up. I've got a basswood on mine - pick your poison.

Outlet - run up to a decent valve - look for the brass ones, way better than the plastic ones... Something like: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...82130/cl0/pennplaxloktite512waybrassgangvalve is ideal.

Then run airline or drip emitter line out to your plants... Don't necessarily need a drip fitting - you can dial down the flow with the valves to a nice steady drip (just don't throttle the pump back too much) No small orifices = no clogging...



Buisness end of my system: