Setting up dtw coco 2.5x5 tent

Yeah leaks not only drip solution out, but they can possibly suck air bubbles back up into the lines, which can cause priming issues with the pump..

medidedicated said:

Its possible that reservoir being full added more pressure, I had this happen with a 95gph pump and 5 gal bucket that when half full or less, the halos lose pressure. Halo was kinked which didnt help, I learned how to make these these halos right after that....

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Physics says no.

A submersible pump creates a relative pressure difference. The water level in the reservoir is irrelevant. (unless it's below the pump intake)

Both sides of the impeller are under the same pressure regardless of the water height.

Billy the Mountain said:

Physics says no.

A submersible pump creates a relative pressure difference. The water level in the reservoir is irrelevant. (unless it's below the pump intake)

Both sides of the impeller are under the same pressure regardless of the water height.

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But any explanation on what is causing that on the 95gph five gal bucket setup and now on this setup? Both likely having different explanations.. Il take what ever I can get, Im stumped..

medidedicated said:

But any explanation on what is causing that on the 95gph five gal bucket setup and now on this setup? Both likely having different explanations.. Il take what ever I can get, Im stumped..

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No idea, but you can safely eliminate the reservoir water level as a variable, as it doesn't affect the pump's output.

medidedicated said:

What do you do to lower ph as you shouldnt use ph down

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You use an acid. That's a reagent that lowers the pH. Colloquially called "pH down".

Billy the Mountain said:

Physics says no.

A submersible pump creates a relative pressure difference. The water level in the reservoir is irrelevant. (unless it's below the pump intake)

Both sides of the impeller are under the same pressure regardless of the water height.

Click to expand...

Sure it does matter. A higher intake pressure caused by the water column of the full reservoir increases output pressure (gauge).

Lou66 said:

You use an acid. That's a reagent that lowers the pH. Colloquially called "pH down".

Click to expand...

I don’t even want to bother with it, just gonna start seeing if seedlings can handle 1.1ec and clones. Maxibloom for whole cycle since that worked well for some and would make my setup easier. One reservoir for all plants. At most I can make .7-.9ec feed with .5ec from tap.

Im used to how my tap water based solution behaves. Never needed to figure out how to suddenly raise the PH. Heck, just adding more tap water rises the ph.

Shoot, trouble in the garden again. Would you remake a manifold that houses 1” tubing to a 8 port manifold with … 1/4” tubing? Or larger?

I added another line and made an antisiphon hole because I trust that the best, now that my drain tub is 20 gal and the feed reservoir is 55 gal. Valves can get stuck. Not sure how to use a check valve, where that would be placed and if that can get stuck too or fail.

Using a stronger pump, is 800 gph the max limit for 1/2” tubing? Would you put as many pumps needed to compensate, like 3 pumps instead of one or two? Or would you try re making the manifold to fit a 1600 gph pump?

The idea of using a larger pump would work if I need 800gph but at this rate I need slightly more per tent unless the flora caps make a difference in demand of pressure.

When not connected they pour water just fine but the halos seem to have too many holes but in actuallity doesnt. IMO and that anyone has pointed out.

The pump was set to half way on since I only had two plants for now. Changed it to max power and no difference. So doubling the power not helping suggests more power wont fix it?

Does any of it have to do with distance to reservoir like 8 feet and lifting up 3’ to leave reservoir and then another 1’ to go over a TV. Goes back down to ground level. Then it lifts again 1’ to get to plants. Hoping the devil is in the details.

Why cant I just copy someones setup merely and have the same results. Dtw is starting to tick me off, what the heck. On other hand my 3 gal pots with 6” halos work according to the rule of thumb 100 gph per plant.

Max lift height 6.5ft and if thats relevant to pressure like I think it is, kinda a no brainer.. Id be taking 5ft away making a huge difference but Im no plumber.

but that doesnt stop my 400gph half inch tubing 6” halo setup from working with no interruption from lifting 3 feet but it is taped to wall to go straight to plants, no more lifting.

Now that the reservoir is low, what if it works flawlessly again with the reservoir full? But more power doesnt fix the problem either? Il see later.

Ok, so I made tubing go from reservoir, straight down to plants. Not help. Could the drill but be making too big a hole? I used the smallest drill bit possible that I could buy, I dont think so. I did make too big a holes in larger halo and witness that make it not work. Too much pressure lost.

So I plugged in a 800gph pump on max power and had to unplug it because it was shooting out the halos. So theres that…

I think I may have the solution found just now, 1100 gph pump with half inch fitting included, I wasnt finding it right away so was just panicing not sure what to do. Hopefully that can pump a 8 plant manifold. For sure with the floraflex pots it ought to work.

Can you reduce the line from one inch to half inch? Is it just not ideal? If 1000-1100gph isnt enough, would I have any luck getting much stronger than needed and reduce it and dial it down if it has adjustable power?

I use this pump to run 4 manifolds to 12 plants with no problem

VIVOSUN 1150GPH 100W Submersible... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086QJQK8N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I had problems with flow until I switched from Orbit manifolds to Floraflex. Difference was night and day. No diy dripper rings either. I didn't like my results there much so I have 2 open lines running to each pot equipped with Flora trays.

Ok interesting twist, when I turn the vivosun to half way it is still too much, bursting out the halos. The last pump was 400gph but is another brand. Could it be the 400gph is damaged or advertized stronger than it is or etc?

Doesnt explain why the same pump works on my flower tent but perhaps not as much demand for pressure. I read that 90 degree turns have large effect on pressure.

I just wouldnt know how to setup those manifolds from flora flex. Do they sell the 3/4” pipes or are those pvc? Why do you think they work better than other manifolds?

I may just try spending 40$ to get that vivosun 1150gph pump and see if the suggestion to simply get a stronger pump ends up being the win. Idk how I would setup the flora manifold to the reservoir. Im really new at this.

Yes it likely is a problem with having the main line come out of the top of a tall res, then go up even higher, and back down, then back up again? You'll probably get air lock bubbles in the section going over the TV.. if i'm imagining your setup correctly.. Does the pump make clicking noises or sound like crap when it turns on? If you did have a check valve, it would probably stay fully primed though, and not suck air back into the lines every time the pump shuts off. I'm guessing that is whats happening, but I would need to see the whole system from one end to the other..

Drop That Sound said:

Yes it likely is a problem with having the main line come out of the top of a tall res, then go up even higher, and back down, then back up again? You'll probably get air lock bubbles in the section going over the TV.. if i'm imagining your setup correctly.. Does the pump make clicking noises or sound like crap when it turns on? If you did have a check valve, it would probably stay fully primed though, and not suck air back into the lines every time the pump shuts off. I'm guessing that is whats happening, but I would need to see the whole system from one end to the other..

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So I tape measured 2 and half feet tall reservoir, goes down to the ground and travels 6 and half feet across the room to go into veg tent, then up one foot to disperse through orbit manifold.

It used to go over a tv mount which was surely 3 and half to 4 feet tall from the ground level. I didnt think nothing of it but fixing that didnt make difference. Switching from polasco brand 400gph to vivosun 800gph pump did though.

I just got done adjusting the orbit to mostly closed to flow good instead of bursting and shuffling media, possibly hurting young roots. Pump set to half strength which is 400gph so thats weird that the 400gph pump seems so much weaker.

Maybe the math on the gph doesnt quite work like that when adjusting. I use the same 400gph pump to feed 3 plants just fine in flower area. Has slack for one more plant.

medidedicated said:

So I tape measured 2 and half feet tall reservoir, goes down to the ground and travels 6 and half feet across the room to go into veg tent, then up one foot to disperse through orbit manifold.

It used to go over a tv mount which was surely 3 and half to 4 feet tall from the ground level. I didnt think nothing of it but fixing that didnt make difference. Switching from polasco brand 400gph to vivosun 800gph pump did though.

I just got done adjusting the orbit to mostly closed to flow good instead of bursting and shuffling media, possibly hurting young roots. Pump set to half strength which is 400gph so thats weird that the 400gph pump seems so much weaker.

Maybe the math on the gph doesnt quite work like that when adjusting. I use the same 400gph pump to feed 3 plants just fine in flower area. Has slack for one more plant.

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I'm running a cheap.400gph pump and just tested my setup last night. It is running 3 lines and I'm pretty sure that it's about the minimum pressure I'd feel comfortable with.

Also, just because you turn the pump.to "half power" doesn't mean that it is actually half. A lot of lights are the same way. So I wouldn't put too much weight on the fact that half the 800gph pump.works but the 400gph doesn't. Not to mention, a lot of stuff is falsely advertised in their favor to seem like a better deal.

The pumps can only push water up to a maximum head height, and going up over the res even 3-4 ft might be using more than half of the output depending on the specs. You'll probably get better output if you used the bottom bulkhead of the res instead, with the only height leading up to the manifolds..

I've always steered clear of the select-able output types of pumps, and went for fixed flow ones. Inline capable, so they don't have to be submerged and heat up the water, and sit outside the res. I've been using cheap ecoplus magdrive pumps for years, so they are what I stick with. they been around longer than the other new companies, so I can't vouch for anything else..

How unnecessary is dumping the last 3-5 gallons of solution each refill of a 55 gal reservoir every 4 days? I thought some people would just top it off and dump when it gets cloudy/debree.

I was just doing it to be proactive and keep as fresh as possible but what if I only had to do that monthly, it would save a step and labor. I would keep doing it if that was a great thing to do but maybe its not needed.

Ive been changing things on my regimen to save time/labor with plants not noticing difference.

medidedicated said:

How unnecessary is dumping the last 3-5 gallons of solution each refill of a 55 gal reservoir every 4 days? I thought some people would just top it off and dump when it gets cloudy/debree.

I was just doing it to be proactive and keep as fresh as possible but what if I only had to do that monthly, it would save a step and labor. I would keep doing it if that was a great thing to do but maybe its not needed.

Ive been changing things on my regimen to save time/labor with plants not noticing difference.

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If it's still good, top it off. If it's getting funky, dump it.