Skunk Baxter
Well-Known Member
Hi, guys.
I'm setting up a new grow area. The design is something that's totally new to me, and I've been kicking it around and dreaming about it/refining it for several years. I won't get into a lot of details on that now, because I don't want to complicate the thread. The basic design is a perpetual harvest drain and fill system with 4x4 trays and 1000W lights.
There are a couple of aspects of this that I've never done in a grow op before, but with one exception everything is completely solvable from past experiences with other grow rooms. The one thing that I can't really get past at the moment, though, is this - because of height and other space limitations, I have no choice but to place the reservoirs higher than the growing tables. I know, not ideal, but there's just no way around it.
And, that's one that I've never done before. Instead of pumping the water and nute mix up to the grow trays and letting gravity drain it back into the rez, I have to use something other than gravity to drain the trays. Seems to me the way to solve it is use two pumps per tray, instead of one - one pump in the reservoir to pump the water into the tray, and then a second pump in the tray to pump it back into the reservoir. Obviously there are some complications, such as precisely coordinating the timing of the two pumps, but I'm confident I can overcome the engineering challenges.
The only way this can work is if I use pumps that do not allow backflow, or if I install some sort of valves in the lines to prevent backflow. Trouble is, that would only work with the drainage line, not the fill line. Any sort of inline valve that I install on the fill line would also prevent the water from flowing when the pump is on. So I think the only solution would be if it at least one of the pumps had a built-in backflow preventer. Does anyone know if anyone makes one? The surface of the solution in the reservoirs will be a foot and a half to two feet higher than the grow tray, so without some sort of measure to prevent backflow through the pumps, it'll just flood the grow tray and then the grow room. Which is obviously less than optimal.
I know this probably sounds like a really stupid, basic question to a lot of y'all, and I almost feel foolish asking it, but every single grow room I've ever set up has allowed me to use gravity to drain the trays. I've just never had to solve this one before - but, I figure someone else must have at some point. Any ideas, folks?
I'm setting up a new grow area. The design is something that's totally new to me, and I've been kicking it around and dreaming about it/refining it for several years. I won't get into a lot of details on that now, because I don't want to complicate the thread. The basic design is a perpetual harvest drain and fill system with 4x4 trays and 1000W lights.
There are a couple of aspects of this that I've never done in a grow op before, but with one exception everything is completely solvable from past experiences with other grow rooms. The one thing that I can't really get past at the moment, though, is this - because of height and other space limitations, I have no choice but to place the reservoirs higher than the growing tables. I know, not ideal, but there's just no way around it.
And, that's one that I've never done before. Instead of pumping the water and nute mix up to the grow trays and letting gravity drain it back into the rez, I have to use something other than gravity to drain the trays. Seems to me the way to solve it is use two pumps per tray, instead of one - one pump in the reservoir to pump the water into the tray, and then a second pump in the tray to pump it back into the reservoir. Obviously there are some complications, such as precisely coordinating the timing of the two pumps, but I'm confident I can overcome the engineering challenges.
The only way this can work is if I use pumps that do not allow backflow, or if I install some sort of valves in the lines to prevent backflow. Trouble is, that would only work with the drainage line, not the fill line. Any sort of inline valve that I install on the fill line would also prevent the water from flowing when the pump is on. So I think the only solution would be if it at least one of the pumps had a built-in backflow preventer. Does anyone know if anyone makes one? The surface of the solution in the reservoirs will be a foot and a half to two feet higher than the grow tray, so without some sort of measure to prevent backflow through the pumps, it'll just flood the grow tray and then the grow room. Which is obviously less than optimal.
I know this probably sounds like a really stupid, basic question to a lot of y'all, and I almost feel foolish asking it, but every single grow room I've ever set up has allowed me to use gravity to drain the trays. I've just never had to solve this one before - but, I figure someone else must have at some point. Any ideas, folks?
Last edited:
