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Noobin up a PPK

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DaveTheNewbie

hi again people. I recently built a PPK. The details are in https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=235163&page=37

i just went spongolite as a medium this time as zeolites concern me. They told me the bag was pre rinsed and good to go. i open it up to a face full of dust. Rinsing it leaves this muddy shit, never trust the shop to pre rinse anything.

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I only have room for 1 in my veg tent so here it is, clone planted :

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its Ace Of Spades, which i also have growing in my flower tent now but i have never finished before. Its what i had ready :)

It takes me about 1 minute of pump to fully flood the yellow tub, and about 15 minutes for it to reasonably drain. Im not sure if this is good or not. maybe i need more holes in my tailpiece, or maybe thats how it works? Im flooding once every 6 hours at the moment but as it gets bigger i might increase that.
 
DamnUglyDogE

DamnUglyDogE

Learning the rules well,so as to break them effect
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Good seat...

Good seat...

:lurk:

The new design. . Liking it... work it bro...

----- :alien::ying::alien: -----
 
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DaveTheNewbie

SecondAttempt said:
What is the yellow tub? Size? Cost? Availability?
Click to expand...

im in australia and i think it cost me $5 for a 16 litre tub from Bunnings. They have hundreds in different colours. Everything is more expensive over here tho.
 
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DaveTheNewbie

ok so its 1 hour after i started and i reran the pump for shits and giggles
its hardly draining at all. it seems that the tailpiece is clogged/stuck/blocked already.
And the EC has doubled from the starting 1.2 up to about 2.4
i dont think i can blame this one on the roots just yet :(
i have a feeling that the medium is shit and its just not going to work. I spent ages rinsing it already.

at some point if things dont magically change themselves i may have to rip it all out and replace it.

BUGGER.

EDIT : so i ran my spare with a good dose of coco and it drains just as slow. Works fine with just plain water.
- so how fast are the tailpieces supposed to drain?
- is the a max length tailpiece (mines pretty long)

EDIT2 : i drilled WAY bigger holes in my tailpiece cap and it still drains slow as hell. In fact the coco drains slower than the rocks.

I know everyone else can get these things working flawlessly.
 
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DaveTheNewbie

ok so i ran a shitload of tap water thru the spongolite PPK and measured the runoff. it was about 3.6 EC. so i repotted in coco cause coco wont do that to me.
it looks like it going to take the best part of an hour to fully drain it.

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DamnUglyDogE

DamnUglyDogE

Learning the rules well,so as to break them effect
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Ya should try 1/4"-1/2" holes on the bottom and side's of your bowl.

2cents...

----- :alien::ying::alien: -----
 
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delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
"i drilled WAY bigger holes in my tailpiece cap"

this is your drain problem! a hole small enough to contain the medium is also small enough to form a capillary block.

so it will drain propelled by gravity to a point where the pwt would normally form and then slow down radically.

ditch the drilled cap and use fiberglass screen and a clamp.

i don't know what size tailpiece you are using but my 3 1.5" tubes pass the same volume as a single 2.5".

my turface and screen set up is draining in less than 2 minutes with a small plant in it.
 
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delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
hey dave, i just went over and looked at your build. i see what you mean with the outer tube around the tailpiece taking the place of a bucket. it will work fine if you can hold the plant up with something else like the milk crate. but more expensive than a bucket.

i also see the tailpiece. it looks to be about right for the larger container but you need to saw off everything on the end and put on a piece of screen. a screen presents a capillary pathway that a hole small enough to contain the medium does not.

does your water level setting allow you a 3" minimum air gap? this is necessary for complete draining. 2.5" dead ass minimum to remove the pwt.
 
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DaveTheNewbie

delta9nxs said:
this is your drain problem! a hole small enough to contain the medium is also small enough to form a capillary block.

so it will drain propelled by gravity to a point where the pwt would normally form and then slow down radically.

ditch the drilled cap and use fiberglass screen and a clamp.
Click to expand...

delta9nxs said:
i also see the tailpiece. it looks to be about right for the larger container but you need to saw off everything on the end and put on a piece of screen. a screen presents a capillary pathway that a hole small enough to contain the medium does not.
Click to expand...

so its that simple? The super clever screw on cap that i was so proud of is the single probable cause of issues? Well thats an easy fix. :)
i cant understand why a plastic cap drilled with holes is any different to a layer of fibreglass screen when its all submerged. is that something you could explain?
ps fibreglass screen over here is called flywire in case anyone else from Aus asks what it is

delta9nxs said:
i don't know what size tailpiece you are using but my 3 1.5" tubes pass the same volume as a single 2.5".

my turface and screen set up is draining in less than 2 minutes with a small plant in it.
Click to expand...

its a standard 40 cm sink piece from a plumbing shop. I think thats prob near to your 1.5"
so theres a fair chance that it is just too thin and im going to need more than 1? Thats also not going to be a problem if i sit the top bucket on the res, but a huge problem as it stands with the thin bottom bucket.

delta9nxs said:
hey dave, i just went over and looked at your build. i see what you mean with the outer tube around the tailpiece taking the place of a bucket. it will work fine if you can hold the plant up with something else like the milk crate. but more expensive than a bucket.
Click to expand...

i wanted a "bucket" that fit the right height of the milkcrate, and was thin enough to fit inside. I couldnt find one that fit those requirements so was forced to make one. Its an adaption to requirements rather than a requirement :)

delta9nxs said:
does your water level setting allow you a 3" minimum air gap? this is necessary for complete draining. 2.5" dead ass minimum to remove the pwt.
Click to expand...

I went a 4 inch air gap. Somebody said that was the target distance in the idiots guide thread.

johnnyrotten said:
I was told that if you are using coco that the air gap should be around 3-4 inches...which means that there should be 3-4 inches of your tailpiece that are not submerged in the reservoir...
Click to expand...

thats the one : thanks JR !
 
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DaveTheNewbie

i dont trust recirculating coco. i know people are doing coco PPKs and winning but ive always seen rising PH when i recirc coco so im going to look at other options. At this stage its prob gonna be hydroton or perlite from the hydro store since the spongolite from the aquaponics shop failed.
can anyone post links to threads with PPKs running successfully in coco where the grow log has actually finished and coco is proven to work here? Im just so dubious.

and seeing as i physically cant fit 2 of my PPKs in the veg tent and therefore im forced to use only 1 i may as well build the PPK into the control bucket instead of having alongside. Therefore im thinking im going to ditch the milk crate and sit the top bucket on top of the control bucket res. This will eliminate the 90mm PVC and the plumbing fittings. I just have to adjust the float valve to achieve my desired (4") air gap.
given that i may have to put in multiple tail pieces cause a single 1.5" is small, this might be required.

Why dont i just follow instructions the first time instead of trying to improve everything all the time ?
 
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DaveTheNewbie

hotboxes said:
Dave c'mon seriously you have to ask? My PPK tester is in coco..........
Click to expand...

yeah but yours isnt finished yet
im after one that actually pulled a weight they were proud of.
ive seen (and grown) plants that looked great but had shit weight cause of something like a bad EC, PH, whatever.
 
H

hotboxes

Member
ok well here you go I am going to give you my 420th post to show you something, Look at the other plants in my tent all the plants in there have been in flower the same amount of time. Look at the PPK plant compared to the hand watered plants next to it. Dave I know how to keep my shit in check haven't lost a plant to anything like that in a long time and have run this strain before as I made the seeds. last plant I pulled from a 400HPS hand watered in a Micro box of these seeds was 6.5 ounces dry. believe me she will go the distance, but If you want to wait that long so be it.
 
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DaveTheNewbie

hotboxes said:
ok well here you go I am going to give you my 420th post to show you something, Look at the other plants in my tent all the plants in there have been in flower the same amount of time. Look at the PPK plant compared to the hand watered plants next to it. Dave I know how to keep my shit in check haven't lost a plant to anything like that in a long time and have run this strain before as I made the seeds. last plant I pulled from a 400HPS hand watered in a Micro box of these seeds was 6.5 ounces dry. believe me she will go the distance, but If you want to wait that long so be it.
Click to expand...

i hear you, one of the reasons i made the change was your side by side. ive posted in your thread many times.

so 2 questions :
1) do you modify/change/monitor the PH in the control res?
2) how often do you water and how long does it take to drain?

its only been a day but the young lady is loving it so far!
 
H

hotboxes

Member
DaveTheNewbie said:
i hear you, one of the reasons i made the change was your side by side. ive posted in your thread many times.

so 2 questions :
1) do you modify/change/monitor the PH in the control res?
2) how often do you water and how long does it take to drain?

its only been a day but the young lady is loving it so far!
Click to expand...

Nope I ph my water before it goes into the add back rez and thats it. I haven't checked my ph in the bottom chamber since I started running it. I usually have to add like 3 to 4 gallons every3 to 4 days.

The pulse started out filling to a flood after about 60secs when I first put it into the PPK but now it only takes about 40 to 45 seconds max to fill the top container( must be from the massive amount of roots in there )before it starts over flowing and takes 45 sec. to a minute max to drain, To a trickle. I have my pulse set to every 1.25 hrs/40 seconds per pulse. I have a 250gph pump connected to the pulse ring by 1/2" I.D. tube I couldn't tell you the exact amount of liquid being pumped threw Like D9 could tell you but its a lot. probably close to a gallon if not more, more like 2.
 
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delta9nxs

No Jive Productions
Veteran
did you say plant in coco that finished?

22.43 oz's 2.5 gal of atami loose fill coco in a 3.5 gal bucket with the .170 id drip tubing for both the pulse and the drain. pulsing small amounts frequently. no saturation pulse. jack's and calcinit at 600 ppm or ec 1.2, no ph adjusters or bloom boosters.
 
Last edited:
DamnUglyDogE

DamnUglyDogE

Learning the rules well,so as to break them effect
ICMag Donor
Veteran
delta9nxs said:
did you say plant in coco that finished?

22.43 oz's 2.5 gal of atami loose fill coco in a 3.5 gal bucket with the .170 id drip tubing for both the pulse and the drain. pulsing small amounts frequently. no saturation pulse. jack's and calcinit at 600 ppm or ec 1.2, no ph adjusters or bloom boosters.
Click to expand...

I was waiting for that... :laughing: I believe D9 started or tried coco in the original PPK thread... Was going ta say it yet thought ya might pop in...

I want a bucket full of nugs..... :bigeye:

----- :alien::ying::alien: -----
 
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