building a aeroponics system now..question
- Thread starter Quickee
- Start date
jimmy130380
Well-Known Member
blast them with the tap if you can take em out or take em apart and clean them
or buy a filter bag that takes out a lot of the work
i had brass one so i just twist them out and used a small drill and drill bit to clean them
or buy a filter bag that takes out a lot of the work
i had brass one so i just twist them out and used a small drill and drill bit to clean them
jimmy130380
Well-Known Member
I was running 50% ho2o and nutes and i was cleaning it every 2 days
txhomegrown
Well-Known Member
I use the red EZ clone sprayers and a 396 GPH pump and havent had any clogging problems to speak of. When they do clog an old toothbrush and a small piece of wire cleans them up.
txhomegrown
Well-Known Member
The head on the 396GPH is over six feet. I wish they would also list the water pressure in pounds per square inch at maximum head.
txhomegrown
Well-Known Member
I guess what I am trying to come up with is a way to figure out what the ideal number of sprayers would be for any given size pump. I am having some problems with res temps now that summer has hit, and the smaller the pump, the less heat it generates. But if the pump is too small the sprayers may start clogging and we would be back to the original question that started this thread.
The nozzle spec will tell you what flow you need and at what pressure, for example, 1 nozzle rated at 10gph at 10psi would need a pump capable of generating 10gph at a 22.5ft head.
10 gal is a lot of water and thats from a single nozzle, the plants couldn`t possibly use it in an hour so running it 24/7 gives you little benefit except for heating the res.
If you put the pump on a timer, with 1 min on/4 mins off you`d still deliver 2gph per nozzle to the root chamber at the correct pressure and put 80% less heat into the res.
With a cycle time of 30 seconds on/4.5 minutes off, you`d get 1 gph per nozzle to the root chamber and the pump would run for just 6 minutes per hour.
10 gal is a lot of water and thats from a single nozzle, the plants couldn`t possibly use it in an hour so running it 24/7 gives you little benefit except for heating the res.
If you put the pump on a timer, with 1 min on/4 mins off you`d still deliver 2gph per nozzle to the root chamber at the correct pressure and put 80% less heat into the res.
With a cycle time of 30 seconds on/4.5 minutes off, you`d get 1 gph per nozzle to the root chamber and the pump would run for just 6 minutes per hour.
txhomegrown
Well-Known Member
Now we are getting there. I run 1 on 4 off. I think I will try a smaller pump in the clone unit. It is the only one where the heat poses much of a problem. It only has 8 sprayers so I might get away with using the 185 GPH pump. According to the specs it puts out 10 watts as opposed to 25 watts from the 396. That should save a lot of heat, dont you think?
A smaller wattage submersible pump is likely to have a low head, less pressure and less even coverage.
Try cutting back on the pulse timing and extending the pause time to offset the heating time of the 396gph, you could get to the point where it matches the 10w pumps heat input yet provides better performance due to the higher water pressure.
Try cutting back on the pulse timing and extending the pause time to offset the heating time of the 396gph, you could get to the point where it matches the 10w pumps heat input yet provides better performance due to the higher water pressure.
txhomegrown
Well-Known Member
I only have a 7" vertical rise from the top of the pump to the sprayer assembly. I checked the specs on the 185 and it has a3.9 foot head.
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/ecoplus-185-gph-submersible-water-pump-p-235.html
That should give enough pressure for a good spray pattern. Only one way to find out for sure. I will order one and see how it goes. Hell, its only 12 bucks and I should take the clone unit apart and give it a good cleaning anyway. Plus I need to order some other stuff so the shipping wont be bad to add one more item to the order.
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/ecoplus-185-gph-submersible-water-pump-p-235.html
That should give enough pressure for a good spray pattern. Only one way to find out for sure. I will order one and see how it goes. Hell, its only 12 bucks and I should take the clone unit apart and give it a good cleaning anyway. Plus I need to order some other stuff so the shipping wont be bad to add one more item to the order.