help with my aeroponics setup

Hey all

I need a little help. I built myself an aeroponic chamber which I am planning to grow my plants to maturity in. Everything is perfect except my sprayers. I'm using a Sunleaves 325 GPH pump. I used 4 8" pvc pipes for the outer pipes in addition to 3 6" pvc pieces for the inner pipes as you can see from the pic below



I used 20 360 degree EZ clone sprayers. Here's the problem:

Sometimes the sprayers kick in very nicely and a steady fine mist is produced, while other times (most of the time) the sprayers are very weak or just dribble water. (See videos). Note that I purchased a pvc male to male that screws directly into the PVC joint and the pump snugly because the pump accesories did not fit into my PVC tubing.

sprayers working fine:

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t272/Jebbas/?action=view&current=MVI_1576.flv

sprayers working not so fine:

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t272/Jebbas/?action=view&current=MVI_1558.flv

Any suggestions on what could be wrong?

1. There is a leak causing lack of water pressure.

2. You have a faulty pump.

3. The line is "clogged" somewhere in the main line.

4. You have a power issue causing your pump to not work at full power.

Most will require some testing. That is all I can think of right now.....

JediSmoker said:

1. There is a leak causing lack of water pressure.

2. You have a faulty pump.

3. The line is "clogged" somewhere in the main line.

4. You have a power issue causing your pump to not work at full power.

Most will require some testing. That is all I can think of right now.....

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice man. I'm thinking its a faulty pump due to the fact that sometimes the pump works on the timed schedule and sometimes it doesn't. I'm gonna flush then pipes today just to make sure there isnt a clog though..

20 s[rayers may be the issue, thats too many, you can get away with half thr number try 14 sprayers and see the difference, i had built like 5 different prototyples with similar issues and a 325gph is not strong enough for 20 heads

i have the automatic 360 sprayers. they spin just like a real yard sprinkler, i have only 2 of them and they spray water EVERYWHERE, and i only have a 200gph pump.

you would only need 3-4 of them and trust me water is evenly distributed because they spin all around fast. 2 just of them provide water that cover wall-to-wall in a 45 gal tub.

each sprayer sends out water to cover a 2-3 foot area evenly.

here is a pic of way mines look pretty simple and fairly cheap to build.. notice the spiral sprayers and coverage.

Ok bro here is the easiest and best fix. No matter what those little pricks will always clog. Leak or no leak, cheap sprayer or not. No matter how many times I changed mine, unclogged mine, filtered the water etc... they clog. So I took apart my whole pvc setup, and built a new one with no wholes drill for any sprayers yet. Put the new pvc where it goes, line up where you want your water to spray and drill wholes no larger than 1/16", angle wholes if needed. Problem solved. Will get a pic to ya if ya want. 3' roots. Also since the water flow is so immense to the root I have it on 15min on 45min off cycles.

hey guys thanks much for the help. I'm going to put together a new PVC setup and use only about 6 heads and hopefully that will fix the problem

Yep, I also think you have too many sprayers. I grow six nice plants using only four sprayers. As long as the roots are getting nutrients all is fine.

Vi

ya totally man way to many sprayers, and with to many it is possible that the consistancy of yor flow dont be good

I haven't turned mine on yet but I have 36 sprayers a 600 GPM pump and 15 net pots. Like I said I haven't tried it out yet but I will have it up and running by tomorrow and I'll have pice of the setup.

Skylight said:

I haven't turned mine on yet but I have 36 sprayers a 600 GPM pump and 15 net pots. Like I said I haven't tried it out yet but I will have it up and running by tomorrow and I'll have pice of the setup.

Click to expand...

is your pump yellow, like a fire hydrant?

you'd flood the town with that pump.

joking aside, remember that a pumps efficiency on pumping x amount of Gallons per hour is greatly reduced the more piping you have.

so a 600GPH pump with 5 foot pipe would only be something like 400gph.. efficiency diminishes even more if pushing up vertically. just a fyi.. shorter runs = higher pressure output and better sprayer coverage.

So it turns out I have a faulty pump. I made a new PVC manifold with just 6 EZ sprayers and the same thing is still happening. Damn! What GPH pump would be a good replacement? Sending this faulty one back to the company is out of the question because i accidently broke of the top connector and had to super glue it back to the pump

go 300 gph with 6 sprayer heads works for me.