pump size for large areo setup?

naturalhigh

naturalhigh

Well-Known Member
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hey guys...im in the works of building a farly large aero setup..its going to be modeled after the aero60 setups but the chambers are going to be 8 feet long instead of six and and im going to have 2 banks of 8 on each end so 16 feet long... 8 feet back to back...


in total im going to have a 1 inch line spilt into 3/4 inch then the final sprayer lines are going to be 1/2 inch...with this in mine im going to have 16 8 foot long mister lines and thinking about 250 or soo sprayer nozzles.. about what size pump would be require to spray this...im know im goona need a big one..a 1/4hp or 1/2 and well im thingking at least 1800 to 2800 gmp...anythoughts..or should o go bigger..? how much pressure can pvc take? a 40 gallon rez will be supplying the water for this....
any thoughts?
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
hey natural, i can help you with this. i have a few different sizes that you can go off of, the 8 footer is going to require a pump of over 2000GPH at the minimum, maybe get 2500 to play it safe, i use a 1700 for 5 channel 7.5ft and i had to shut a channel off for lack of pressure, same pump works perfectly on a 5 channel 6ft long system. i also go by atleast 25gph per spray head but you can throw this out the window once your unit goes past 6ft in length. now this all changes if you use aeroflo's design of using a drilled sprayline instead of spray heads. i have another suggestion, you can check out ebay for pumps instead of getting 1/4 and 1/2 HP pumps from home depot and such, those home depot pumps are nice but have to be oil regularly, for around 100$ on ebay you can get 3000gph pumps and bigger
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
i would recommend using 4 pumps for your setup and make 4 "banks" of 4 channels and 4 rezi's, but thats just me. whats your drainage method? i used to use a similar design from stinkbud with holes cut into the res and let in waterfall back, this caused pythium to grow in my rez from light exposure, i had lights very close to the rez and have since got 1/2" grommets and cut 2 holes into my channels for drainage, i would have used one drain hole but couldnt find larger grommets
 
A

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
I don`t see the logic of buying a pump with a 2000-3000gph flow just to lose most of it from pressure loss in the pipework. The same is true for the cost of the power used to run the pump. It would be cheaper to buy (and run) a pump that has sufficient pressure for the job.
Its like using a 50cfm pc fan to run an airstone, loads of flow but no pressure, and not too effective :wink:
 
naturalhigh

naturalhigh

Well-Known Member
morrisgreenberg said:
hey natural, i can help you with this. i have a few different sizes that you can go off of, the 8 footer is going to require a pump of over 2000GPH at the minimum, maybe get 2500 to play it safe, i use a 1700 for 5 channel 7.5ft and i had to shut a channel off for lack of pressure, same pump works perfectly on a 5 channel 6ft long system. i also go by atleast 25gph per spray head but you can throw this out the window once your unit goes past 6ft in length. now this all changes if you use aeroflo's design of using a drilled sprayline instead of spray heads. i have another suggestion, you can check out ebay for pumps instead of getting 1/4 and 1/2 HP pumps from home depot and such, those home depot pumps are nice but have to be oil regularly, for around 100$ on ebay you can get 3000gph pumps and bigger
Click to expand...

oh good thoughts.... yea i will most likly get a 2400 to 2800 mag drive off of ebay..i can get one of those for like 150 thats not too bad.. money isnt really an isssue may also get a chiller or just run it in line..but my spray times dont heat the water bad...1 min on 5 mins off... ba .asfor the drain age...you can buy those larger grommets at your local hydro shop. they oder them from hydrofarm....i think all the way up too 2 inchs..but i think the guy said in the aro 60s they use a 1 3/4 inch... and a pipe inside to raise up and down in the champer to set the water dept.... at for my setup..i thought of it as i was walking my dog.... im was planning on have all the rows come to rest in a nonched out section of a drain plasitic manufold of a another fence post... then use half of one of the fence post caps..and the other half will be nothing but it will be into the drain.....

however i may just build it like the aro60s with the gromets in side for drainage and pipes for levels..that way roots wont grow into the res...the whole set up will be on a masssive NO HOLES BAR 4 feet wide 16 feet long with movers along the intire top....should be interesting..
 
naturalhigh

naturalhigh

Well-Known Member
headbandrocker said:
sweet project,i want one very bad!
are you going to use a chiller?
Click to expand...
i may...

morris.... i was thinking this tho...instead of dropping 360$ for the ez sprayer nozlles... i was tinkering ofthe id of just drilling small holes in the pvc pipe like the aro 60 systems... my reason is that i really hate mesing with those screw in nozzles... i use 15 of them for my new cloner and after i spent screwing each one ofthose in by hand my fingers were killing me...i cant imagin doing 500 of them...soo i may experiment with one of my 460 mag drive pumps and pvc..either i was thinking of getting the smallest drill bit i can find or use some sort of a punch...? what do you think of that idea>
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
atomizer what does not make sense? if your running an 8ft long system insted of getting the proper spray effect you would just get dribble at the end of the system, this is fine and dandy if you want to run an NFT only unit. also natural, most import thing you need is an inline filter between your pump and sprayline, dont want any dead root matter jamming up the sprayers, a $16 raindrip filter will ensure you have no jam ups during your run, may have to clean it once near the end of the cycle
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
that totally cool, yea my thumbs were dead after the cloner, before i go further, you can get very good 330 micro spray heads from BGhydro for .33 and they work just as good as EZ clones. i built my system off of Filthy fletch/Mogie designs, only difference is the 1/2" PVC spraylines are outside the unit as opposed to stinks heads screwed into PVC on the inside, i do it this way for easy maintenance and if i have to change a head out i can without having the roots bury the sprayers, i used 1/4 spaghetti tubing from the 1/2in sprayline, put that line into a drilled hole at the top of the chamber and screw the sprayers into that line, piece of cake, i prefer the sprayhead at the top of the channel, this is where i think SB's design is flawed, at some point roots will get in the way of the sprayers. depending on how close your net pots are you just need 1 sprayhead between 2 sites, spraying downward. but this is a big but, do not underestimate the performance of a jet of water vs. the spray/mist, i once used jet sprayers between the nets and they worked like gangbusters
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
naturalhigh said:
oh good thoughts.... yea i will most likly get a 2400 to 2800 mag drive off of ebay..i can get one of those for like 150 thats not too bad.. money isnt really an isssue may also get a chiller or just run it in line..but my spray times dont heat the water bad...1 min on 5 mins off... ba .asfor the drain age...you can buy those larger grommets at your local hydro shop. they oder them from hydrofarm....i think all the way up too 2 inchs..but i think the guy said in the aro 60s they use a 1 3/4 inch... and a pipe inside to raise up and down in the champer to set the water dept.... at for my setup..i thought of it as i was walking my dog.... im was planning on have all the rows come to rest in a nonched out section of a drain plasitic manufold of a another fence post... then use half of one of the fence post caps..and the other half will be nothing but it will be into the drain.....

however i may just build it like the aro60s with the gromets in side for drainage and pipes for levels..that way roots wont grow into the res...the whole set up will be on a masssive NO HOLES BAR 4 feet wide 16 feet long with movers along the intire top....should be interesting..
Click to expand...
yea the AF uses a 1 1/4" pvc tube and grommet, i would have used it but i didnt want to wait 2 weeks for the order, i am a now now now guy. as for the drainage i like the mutual/shared drain into a large tube, you can use 4inch pvc pipe and elbows, personally this is not ideal for me since the rezis are outside the space, also if you want a great chiller i found a guy on ebay, 1/3HP chillers for $400. you cant beat this deal, plus they are the polar bear chillers, model cc-50, runs very quietly and energy efficient, the compressor shuts down when it reaches its set point just like an a/c. if money is not a problem get chillers, its insurane for your grow, at th same time since i have multiple rezi's myself i had to plumb 2 together
 
A

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
morrisgreenberg said:
atomizer what does not make sense? if your running an 8ft long system insted of getting the proper spray effect you would just get dribble at the end of the system, this is fine and dandy if you want to run an NFT only unit. also natural, most import thing you need is an inline filter between your pump and sprayline, dont want any dead root matter jamming up the sprayers, a $16 raindrip filter will ensure you have no jam ups during your run, may have to clean it once near the end of the cycle
Click to expand...
Ultimately its the buyers choice but it doesn`t make much sense to me to use a pump thats not designed for the task.
A typical 2900gph pond pump (130w) with a max head of 14.5ft as an example, will provide 2900GPH at open flow and 0GPH at 14.5ft (6.55psi), both will cost you the same 130w of power.
If the losses in the pipework and nozzles equate to more than 6.55psi you get zero flow. Sixteen 8ft pipes and 250 nozzles generates resistance to flow.

I`m sure plenty of people test out spraybars/nozzles using the mains water pressure to see how well they perform. Some may even be surprised when their 2900gph (or whatever it may be) pond pump doesn`t produce a similar performance.
A low average mains pressure may be 30psi but you`d still need a pond pump capable of at least 67.5ft head to match it.
 
naturalhigh

naturalhigh

Well-Known Member
morrisgreenberg said:
that totally cool, yea my thumbs were dead after the cloner, before i go further, you can get very good 330 micro spray heads from BGhydro for .33 and they work just as good as EZ clones. i built my system off of Filthy fletch/Mogie designs, only difference is the 1/2" PVC spraylines are outside the unit as opposed to stinks heads screwed into PVC on the inside, i do it this way for easy maintenance and if i have to change a head out i can without having the roots bury the sprayers, i used 1/4 spaghetti tubing from the 1/2in sprayline, put that line into a drilled hole at the top of the chamber and screw the sprayers into that line, piece of cake, i prefer the sprayhead at the top of the channel, this is where i think SB's design is flawed, at some point roots will get in the way of the sprayers. depending on how close your net pots are you just need 1 sprayhead between 2 sites, spraying downward. but this is a big but, do not underestimate the performance of a jet of water vs. the spray/mist, i once used jet sprayers between the nets and they worked like gangbusters
Click to expand...

ahh good thoughts... i can get ez conee sprayers for about a .25 a pop from a guy online...i see where your goin with the sprayer coming from the top.... i thought of that..like the way those aro v sog setups are from future harvest.... however ifi did that would i would have to do is change all the likes to the 1/2 black poly then run spiders.. then have those 1/8 gromits at the top then feed the black light in that then the sprayer? would that black like hold all the pressure? thats the only think im worried about.... my idea is having the pvc in the top right hand corner of the inter post..then angling it at a 45 degree angle and use those 180 degree sprayers that spray left and right,,,,to to hold it in place...every 3 feet im going to have 2 small holes on the outsite of the post where i can slide a zip tie from the top and feed it down then back out.. what do you think about that? i may just go with the sprayers but there has to be a better way to screw them into the pvc...any ideas?
 
morrisgreenberg

morrisgreenberg

Well-Known Member
your design will work great, its basically the AF design(sprayline in upper corner) and your incorperating spray heads, i use 1/2 PVC instead of the 1/2 poly, but i silicon where the spagetti lines go for leaks, since your line is inside no worry about leaks. may want to use PVC since its rigid so you can slide it out when you need. i think your designs whatever way you want to go will be very good, i just didnt want to see you get a 1200gph pump and it not be able to reach
 
naturalhigh

naturalhigh

Well-Known Member
morrisgreenberg said:
your design will work great, its basically the AF design(sprayline in upper corner) and your incorperating spray heads, i use 1/2 PVC instead of the 1/2 poly, but i silicon where the spagetti lines go for leaks, since your line is inside no worry about leaks. may want to use PVC since its rigid so you can slide it out when you need. i think your designs whatever way you want to go will be very good, i just didnt want to see you get a 1200gph pump and it not be able to reach
Click to expand...

ahh good thoughts,,i guessssim goona go with the misters in thecorner...hoever im going to experiment with drilling tinny holes to make fine mister sprays,,, if not i will goo with the ex cloner heads
 
Cissy

Cissy

Active Member
naturalhigh said:
i may just go with the sprayers but there has to be a better way to screw them into the pvc...any ideas?
Click to expand...

Simple enough..

Take an 11mm socket attachment, put it in your drill, then simply slip the E-Z 360 into it. They fit in perfectly! Then all you have to do is pre-drill the hole (I think 11/32 is the right size) and drill them right in. Make sure to adjust your drill's torque to a low setting though.

That's it. No more sore thumbs. Takes about 2 seconds to install and works like a charm.
 
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