[FRIENDinDEED]

ok my question is regarding pressure. im always concerned about getting the correct pressure so that i can utilize my pump to the fullest. its a 16 site, 2gl, hydroton, dripper ring set up (ring setup i made myself).

the pump is going to be pumping water up to about 7 inches from the spout of the pump outlet to/ through a half inch T, from there it goes about 18 inches left and right.

from there i have one row of 1/4 tubing going up and down which will feed two rows at a time from the half inch tubing i have 1/4 inch branch off tubes going into a 1/2 inch dripper ring for each site. i am going to be running a ecoplus 396gph pump for the whole system.

in regards to the pressure of the pump, would i be able to run it and have it go to all those dripper rings evenly? or should i use these 1gph drippers?

*i would connect the branch tube into the 1gph dripper, then from the dripper i would connect it directly into the dripper ring

*i havent as yet popped the holes in the dripper rings yet but i am going to be putting the same sized and amount of holes for each ring.

the whole thing is still in production and i havent put the main 1/4 feeding tubes up yet but the dripper rings are assembled, still waiting on hydroton to get here and then ill put everything together. i would have a better idea of how to put up the other lines once i see the containers of hydroton up and ready to go. teh whoe thing is a flood to drain.

i cnverted my grow cab with the necessary holes and viola! i can run a hydro setup and with minimal stuff done to the cab. . . . i'll get a pic up soon, but until then, let me know whether that pump can do the job

Hi FiD,
I'm also in the middle of setting up a drip irrigation sysyem. I'm still learning as this is my first. I don't have an answer to your question. Hard for me to visualize exactly what you have going on there. What medium are you using? I'm going with hydroton since there's little risk of overwatering.

Far as pump and pump pressure...let me tell you what I have planned and hopefully it may help. I got this idea from a dude who had a run-to-waste coco grow...but it seemed like such a good idea that I'm using it with my top drip re-circulating system.

I'm using an Eco 396 also and as the 1/2" hose comes up from the pump, I'm having an inline T to run a hose back to the res. In that "return" line is a ball valve.

Then a 1/2" hose goes up from the T out to where the 1/4" lines are attached to go to the pots.

Once the system is up and running, I can control the amount of pressure going to the plants by manipulating the return flow valve. If it's shut off completely...then full power pumping capability goes to the plants. As I open the valve...more water is returned to the res and less water goes to the plants. It's a way to fine-tune the system buy use of the adjusting valve.

The advantages are...
The pump can run freer with less heat build up and longer life.

The return flow to the res acts as a "waterfall" aeration in the res

flow to the plants can be adjusted infinitely till it's perfect

It's extremely simple and inexpensive...hope I explained it well.
Peace,
ET

[FRIENDinDEED]

i attached a drawing of the setup i'll be running.

*the grey area that you see in the middle is the drain/feed hole in the bottom of the cab.

*i have a DIY tarp i made lining the bottom of the floor. the green thingy is an ebb and flow drain fitting. since the bottom of the cab sits so close to the res i didint need to put a drain tube on it. the grey spot is actually a flange assembly i made but to explain it is gonna be a whole other story)

*the 396gph pump will sit in the res and pump the water up to the ring sites. i am gonna have to put an extension on one of the fittings on the inlet of the pump since my res is so shallow. i figure there is gonna be some water displacement so i plan on having to put some more water in the res to top it off.

*the thickness of the lines pretty much represents what size lines are going to be where in the system, blue dots rep the connectors

i'll have a lil more freedom in the week to take pics of where/what i have setup now. im gonna need atleast 2x 50 liter bags of hydroton to fill the rest of the containers, since all i have right now is enough to fill up just two of the containers.

keep the input coming people, its al much appreciated

[FRIENDinDEED]

had a lil trouble with the digi cam so i had to acquire the pics via other means, but none the less here they are:

in this pic i used my drain trays, from my soil grow, to mark the exact spots where the containers are gonna be. there are two cords running under the plastic for power needs
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?al...ctureid=198849

heres the whole thing without the spaghetti tubes allover the damned place, and you can see how the 1/2" T is used as a main branch. teh 1/4"
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?al...ctureid=198851

this is a pic of the flange i was talking about, that i would need to explain.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?al...ctureid=198852 https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?al...ctureid=198850
first i outlined a 4" hole on the lid of a bucket, then i cut the right sized holes for the drain and inlets (there are two holes actually for the inlets, i am thinking about an aero run at some point and wanted the option). i started to use a hole saw to cut the disc out, but that got a lil messy so i just used a box cutter to cut it out and that worked out a lot better; duct taped it to teh plastic itself and cut out the tape from the holes so i could screw on the drain fitting and put the 1/2" grommet for the main feed line.

but once again another question in the realm of pressure, i wanted to put about six holes in each of my dripper rings. they are 5.1/2" round and i was thinking that six just may be too much and 4 could/would be more sufficient? what do you think?

[PetFlora]

Reminds me of when Little Johnny's teacher told him make up a sentence with the word beautiful in it twice. Johnny thinks for minute then says "You look beautiful in that blue dress; Fuckin' beautiful!"

FiD,
How are we supposed to know how many holes you need? It's a matter of trial and error. And if you'd bothered to read and understand my post above...that simple modification would allow you infinite pressure control so you could match the pressure to the holes...and not the other way around. Read it again and if you don't understand...I'll try and explain. All your pressure issues are solved right there...
ET

[freeride high]

Originally Posted by FRIENDinDEED

new hydro setup: should i use the 1gl per hr. drippers?

yes, or the 2gph or the 4gph. youll figure it out

[CovertCrops]

just leave the 1/4" tube open ended. drip rings and drippers are just going to clog up. I run tables with 8-16 1.7 gal top fed pots. drippers and rings are a waste of time and energy.

[FRIENDinDEED]

to tell you all the truth my worries right now pertain to getting these damned cuts to show some roots. i cant tell whether its the plants im using or the setup im running. i got the setup idea from the hydro shop (a tray, some 2" net cups with hydroton, a long air stone, fan and nuted water).

in kinda using these cuts as a test run of my hydro skills on a lower scale, so while i wait and see with the cuts, i can slowly work on my system as i need to. had to build a res since that was the only way i was going to get enough water for the system itself. (the math for my measurements gives me a 43gl res, i think (hope) that should suffice for the systems needs

of course the tray i built was a 1/2" too high (A FUCKING HALF INCH!!!!) so now the entire cab rests on top of the res. nothing is teetering so its safe from tipping over or anything like that.

the cuts i have in there now are some bagseed sprouts that i had sprouted in soil, cut them at the 2nd/3rd node and put them in the system. then recently i took a princess diesel cut and stuck that in there too after i changed the water out. going on 9 days now and nothing, not really used to hydro so i guess i'll just wait.

my nutes are the budswell (for hydro systems) at 1/2 strength, vinegar for ph down (my water is a nasty ass 8.0 from the tap) and KLN rooting hormone at full strength per gallon since that all the tray holds.

honestly im gonna wait this whole "cuts" thing out and see what happens. i thought about putting some cuts in some RR plugs i have and get the roots started that way. at least i now what im doing just in case the hydro thing for this part of the grow just doesn't work out.

ive never had any real luck with hydro, so im kinda waiting for the bottom to fall out. the ease of it is what im waiting to see actually. the grower that i ask/get advice from has told me that its simple, but i guess i have a "balckwater thumb" when it comes to hydro.

yes, yes i know its too early to tell, which is why im just patiently sitting and waiting to see what happens in all honesty.

peace and keep the advice coming. . . .

[FRIENDinDEED]

PetFlora - thanks for the complement, ive always been better at building hydro systems than growing anything in them, lol, it would seem but it is truly to early to call it quits.

EvilTwin - i got what your saying but im more of a visual learner than anything, show me a pic or two and i can see how to implement it (for me a bullshit stick schematic will do, but i gotta see what your talking about) and in reading your post again, your suggestion has a "what if" and its a big one: what if this pump isn't even enough to get water through all of the tubing to begin with? very large reason why i need the math to begin with


freeride high - now this is the thing that pisses me off about hydro period! isnt there some sort of math that you can use to calculate how much pressure you would need to pump water evenly through however many feet or tubing you have?

CovertCrops - i understand what your saying and i have to ask though, in regards to pressure my question is, once the pump has as many outlets as it needs to utilize its pressure and it doesn't need the other outlets then what happens to those outlets that arent getting water to them?

thats why i asked about drippers and their flow rates, if i dont have any math to tell me how much pressure the particular pump i have can put throughout the system that i have then how can i honestly say that just putting the 1/4 tubes in will be enough?

for example: (not to say anything against him) but i asked to hydro guy at the store the same type of question but in relation to sprayers, the question was what gph rating would i need to get an even spray throughout 9 sprayers within/across 3 feet of 1/4" tubing? he says that i have to just try it out, and i know its not that simple, thats why all of the parts and equipment we use have ratings for and on them. there is math out there to figure this shit out, my thing is i cant find this shit anywhere and i dont know why.

heres an example of why i am so into the math for this: if you have a tube of a certain length and you notice that the output of the pump across that length of tubing is weak, then if you shorten the tubing, the pressure becomes greater, the longer the tubing the weaker the pump will perform, its why any pump will tell you that it will only pump water to a specific height or across a certain distance.

i know the math may be tedious but i would rather go through that, than buying pump after pump "seeing if this one works". ive learned that the more time you spend at your drawing board decreases you likelihood of mistakes and as big as this system is i need to do my damnedest to decrease mistakes! as tedious as it may seem to others i find safety in the numbers and calculations.