Help designing 1st drip system

Hot Diggity Sog

Hot Diggity Sog

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone,

Here is the setup:

27 gallon rez
396 GPH Pump - I have numerous pumps and can replace with a lower or higher output pump...this one is just what I'm prototyping with.

From the rez, the water moves straight up through 1/2" tubing a distance of 5 feet. It then does a 90 degree elbow and the 1/2" tubing is oriented horizontally in the shape of an octagon approx 5 feet in diameter.

Adjustable drip emitters will be placed every 6 inches. There will be a total of 28 emitters.

I'm a total noob with this equipment so on to my questions:

Should I try and have 1 pump feed the entire thing or do 2 pumps and each pump does half of the octagon?
Should the tubing be one continuous circle/octagon or should it have a crimped end?

If I unplug the water pump, water will flow back into the pump. Is this harmful or dangerous?

Do I need any kind of a pressure regulator or should I just experiment with different sized pumps until I see consistent water flow from the emitters?

Is 1/2" tubing coming from the rez OK or would it make more sense to use larger tubing and then after it makes the 5 foot vertical journey then connect it to the 1/2" tubing?

Any and all thoughts, suggestions, criticism are welcomed.

Thanks in advance,
Diggity
 
gtran

gtran

Active Member
Sounds like you have a pretty complicated grow going on for your first time, dont worry though, i was the same way. Did 5 white widow, 5 purps, and 5 thc bomb my very first run with a cpvc drip system and a ten gallon res. Needless to say only 5 plants made it to flower and they where no where near good bud. Do yourself a favor and grow one or two your first time around in a 5 gall bucket with a few airstones. Youll find maintaining ph and ec will be a whole lot easier and youll kill alot less plants.

Use smaller tubing for the uphill run, it will push water with more power. Water wont leak back into your pump if you turn it off. No pressure regulator needed. just experiment with pump and tube size until you get the right water flow. If that doesnt work switch to DWC, its alot easier and you get better results.
 
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Hot Diggity Sog

Hot Diggity Sog

Well-Known Member
gtran said:
Sounds like you have a pretty complicated grow going on for your first time, dont worry though, i was the same way. Did 5 white widow, 5 purps, and 5 thc bomb my very first run with a cpvc drip system and a ten gallon res. Needless to say only 5 plants made it to flower and they where no where near good bud. Do yourself a favor and grow one or two your first time around in a 5 gall bucket with a few airstones. Youll find maintaining ph and ec will be a whole lot easier and youll kill alot less plants.

Use smaller tubing for the uphill run, it will push water with more power. Water wont leak back into your pump if you turn it off. No pressure regulator needed. just experiment with pump and tube size until you get the right water flow. If that doesnt work switch to DWC, its alot easier and you get better results.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response and advice. It was looking like this post was going to get zero replies.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I'm just not a fan of drippers because of their tendency to clog. This goes double when using media like coco. If you can be certain you can easily maintain them if they do, this should be fine. I felt the opposite; that clogging should be designed out from the beginning. Thus I elected to go with 1/2"elbow fittings as emitters, specifically to allow any foreign material that can pass through the pump to continue through the whole system unimpeded. Thus clogs are all but guaranteed to be eliminated. FWIW, I run big tub RDWC, with chilling. Grow media is hydroton.
 
Hot Diggity Sog

Hot Diggity Sog

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I'm just not a fan of drippers because of their tendency to clog. This goes double when using media like coco. If you can be certain you can easily maintain them if they do, this should be fine. I felt the opposite; that clogging should be designed out from the beginning. Thus I elected to go with 1/2"elbow fittings as emitters, specifically to allow any foreign material that can pass through the pump to continue through the whole system unimpeded. Thus clogs are all but guaranteed to be eliminated. FWIW, I run big tub RDWC, with chilling. Grow media is hydroton.
Click to expand...
What are your thoughts on these as they are what I was planning on using.
http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Irrigation-Sprinklers-Emitter-System/dp/B00DW5GN0G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430820927&sr=8-2&keywords=drip+emitters

They are not really conventional drip emitters but being 1/4" I could see how they still might be clog prone. I like your idea of using 1/2" elbows but that is a lot of extra work.
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
I run a recirculating drip system for 11 plants. I have a 25 gal "heart" with 2 air stones and a 1056gph pump, there is a float valve that is attached to a 55gal reservoir that sits 2ft above my heart, keeping my water level in my heart at a constant height.

From my pump I have a 12" section of 1/2" tube that is capped at the end. I then poked 22 1/8" holes (11 per side of the tube) and stuck some hose barbs in the holes. Then attached 1/4" black "spaghetti" tubing to the other end of the hose barb, and ran these back tight along the return lines untill the got to the buckets. The tubing then comes up and I've drilled 2 holes in opposite sides of the bucket just big enough to get the tubing through, then I'll just point them down into my lava rock

There are 3 main 3/4" return lines coming back into the heart. I drilled a hole in the bottom of each bucket and installed a fitting called a thru hull, which has a hose barb to attach the drain hose to.The drain hose from each bucket is only about 18" long and gets Tee'd into one of the main returns. The buckets sit on raised stands so that the bottom of the bucket is the same height as the water level in my heart. This ensures good drainage and makes is so my root mats are not sitting in a pool of water.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Hot Diggity Sog said:
What are your thoughts on these as they are what I was planning on using.
http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Irrigation-Sprinklers-Emitter-System/dp/B00DW5GN0G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430820927&sr=8-2&keywords=drip emitters

They are not really conventional drip emitters but being 1/4" I could see how they still might be clog prone. I like your idea of using 1/2" elbows but that is a lot of extra work.
Click to expand...
I don't see how it was a lot of extra work; I just bought half inch lines and fittings, that's all.
 
C

CC Dobbs

Well-Known Member
Hot Diggity Sog said:
What are your thoughts on these as they are what I was planning on using.
http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Irrigation-Sprinklers-Emitter-System/dp/B00DW5GN0G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430820927&sr=8-2&keywords=drip emitters

They are not really conventional drip emitters but being 1/4" I could see how they still might be clog prone. I like your idea of using 1/2" elbows but that is a lot of extra work.
Click to expand...
system
Those are called shrubblers and emit a lot of water.
 
Hot Diggity Sog

Hot Diggity Sog

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Not sure how. Bigger sizes were always easier for me to deal with. Anyway, you asked; that's how I do it.
Click to expand...
Maybe the fittings I have and/or the tubing? I find them extremely difficult to get on. After my hands starting bleeding I resorted to a hair dryer to get the tubing blistering hot...then they would go on fairly easy at the expense of burning my finger tips.
 
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