Drip System Problem

[justiceman]

I just started diving in to drip systems, but I am considering switching to ebb and flow. See I'm having a problem with my drip set up and I'm not sure how to address it. I use to have 2 stakes per plant on my last tent quest and that wasn't enough to completely wet the whole 2gal smart pot worth of coco. Now I have 4 stakes per plant and It still isn't enough water output to completely wet the whole 2 gal smart pot worth of roots soilles. I can literally stick my finger down in the medium and I only feel wetness right around the drip stakes but not around the whole medium. This annoys me greatly. Got any tips? I have heard and was thinking about installing drip rings instead. If those don't work I might just say f-it and go to ebb and flow. What do you guys think?

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_1804.jpg

 

[leadsled]

What size pump are you using?

I use a 1800gph pump that is about 20 feet away, the water sprays out the drippers.
Then saturates the entire pot
You can try removing the drippers and put in a "t" and then may be able to get away without needing a stronger pump.

Or use 1/4" tubing without drippers and see if that helps.

I have seen setups where the top of the coco is dry but the rest of the container is moist. Not a problem, if you got huge dry spots then I would change things.

Hope that helps

 

[justiceman]

i pump my solution about 7-9 ft away from the manifold, and my pump is 400gph.

I have t's set up already. I have 16 sites. Each site has a 1/4 tube coming off connected to a T witch is then connected to 2 drip stakes. So 32 stakes total or 4 per plant.

I just made some homemade drip rings. I'm going to try those and see what happens.

Hmm so your drip stakes literally spray solution out and wet your whole pots? I need to get to that point. I wonder if my pump strength is insufficient?

 

[sfzoo]

I'm interested here too Justice. i'll be constructing a drip manifold soon for my stadium, and i'll wont' be skimping on the pump. I need the spray action to we the whole pot.

 

[leadsled]

i pump my solution about 7-9 ft away from the manifold, and my pump is 400gph.

I have t's set up already. I have 16 sites. Each site has a 1/4 tube coming off connected to a T witch is then connected to 2 drip stakes. So 32 stakes total or 4 per plant.

I just made some homemade drip rings. I'm going to try those and see what happens.

Hmm so your drip stakes literally spray solution out and wet your whole pots? I need to get to that point. I wonder if my pump strength is insufficient?

drip ring clog easier in my experience.
t's can reduce flow if they use smaller than 1/4" I.D. But if your pump is powerful enough that is not a problem. I do not think your pump is strong enough.

imho 500gph barely works for 16 drippers.

900pgh min would be better for 32 drippers on a 4x4.

I suggest you get a stronger pump. 900-1200gph. The
height of your res also matters. If you can get one to try from , aquarium store, osh, home depot or somewhere where you can return it if undersized.

I found 900 gph per tray worked for me, but 1200 is ideal. But my res is 4 foot tall so that is a factor. I am using a 1/2" line that connects to a 3/4" fitting on the pump and manifold.

Look like you are using a 3/4" inch line from the res to the manifold?

This pic is the drip from a 1800gph pump t'd off to 2 4x4 trays. (each tray has 16 drippers) I use the 1800 gph pump for a single 4x4 tray now so the stream is much stronger/

 

[mrdizzle]

you should wet the whole medium first, then continue to water with the drippers,. once more roots develope you wont have this problem

 

[leadsled]

sfzoo your pump need to be powerful enough for the height of the shelves and then you got gravity going for you.

I should have mentioned another reason why I go overkill on the pumps. Since that is a another factor in pump size.

I use a timer that can turn on the pump in second increments.

if you are using a timer that has a minimum setting of one minute. MAy be better to have a less powerful pump.

that is one way to dial in the proper runoff.

you should wet the whole medium first, then continue to water with the drippers,. once more roots develope you wont have this problem

MrDizzle comes through! Thanks for pointing that out. Earlier I was trying to remember why I did not have this problem before. Could not remember.
dowh, I used to handwater to start em out!!.

One friend had same problem but did not handwater. later the problem went away and never thought about it again.

Now it all makes sense. Thanks MrDizzle.

 

[justiceman]

Sweet you guys thanks! this is great information. I've got a few different options now. I'll definitely hand water at the start from now on. What Mr.dizzle said makes a lot of sense so the roots can go everywhere and create a dense structure allowing water to be sponged in instead of running right through an empty medium.

I also set up some hand made drip rings with steaks. We will see how that works. I made holes on the rings and I'm going to try and use my low power pump to my advantage by turning the rings so the holes face up that way the whole ring can fill with solution before letting any of it drip off. The reason this should work is because the pump isn't strong enough to send jets of water flying at the plants.

If my home made rings don't work coupled with hand watering then I may invest in a stronger pump.

Hey leadsled you said rings in your exp clog easier? To try and counter this I made fairly sizable holes. We shall see if it works out.

 

[Shady]

Whaddup Justiceman... My last three rounds in Coco DTW, were all started by hand watering and not flushing or precharging my B'cuzz coco and Chunky Perlite mix at the transplant. I would fully saturate the pot and then give them an injection at the crown of Roots Excelurator and Great White. After a few days, I would hand water again and it would be at least a week before I turned on my DTW drippers which come out at a steady stream and not a jet spray... Anyways, all the details are in my journal and well documented... :giggle Kinda like my SunHut...

 

[caliogk]

Get an inline water filter, it will cut down on clogged drippers tremendously.

 

[leadsled]

Hey leadsled you said rings in your exp clog easier? To try and counter this I made fairly sizable holes. We shall see if it works out.

yes. were 1/4" lines with holes. you may not have the same problem if the holes are large and also depends on the nutes you use. Also seen a water farm drip ring get clogged with floranova. easy to fix as long as plants are not buried.

If I do a quick shot of water after feeding, I find it helps to keep things clean.

caliogk what kinda nutes you using with that filter?

 

[justiceman]

Whaddup Justiceman... My last three rounds in Coco DTW, were all started by hand watering and not flushing or precharging my B'cuzz coco and Chunky Perlite mix at the transplant. I would fully saturate the pot and then give them an injection at the crown of Roots Excelurator and Great White. After a few days, I would hand water again and it would be at least a week before I turned on my DTW drippers which come out at a steady stream and not a jet spray... Anyways, all the details are in my journal and well documented... :giggle Kinda like my SunHut...

Thanks for the info shady. I do have recollection of the injection at the crown, but for some reason not the hand watering. I just went on your journal and found page 45-48 has some pretty good documentation about hand watering and the amount of drip steaks etc. That SunHut man. What were the dimensions on that again? HAHA just kidding man.:D I've let my sword dull in the past month, but I'm sharpening it once again.

Get an inline water filter, it will cut down on clogged drippers tremendously.

When you say inline water filter. Do you mean for cleaning my tap water?(i already use an r/o filter) or do you mean I can get a type of inline filter that hooks up to my submersible air pump?

yes. were 1/4" lines with holes. you may not have the same problem if the holes are large and also depends on the nutes you use. Also seen a water farm drip ring get clogged with floranova. easy to fix as long as plants are not buried.

If I do a quick shot of water after feeding, I find it helps to keep things clean.

caliogk what kinda nutes you using with that filter?

Ah good tip on that quick shot of water after feeding. Gets all the nute out of the manifold and lines so it doesn't sit there and gunk up.

 

[mrdizzle]

you mind find you have better luck making a ring of 1/4in tubing with 6, 1/4in T's spaced out in it, a 7th T connects the ring to the feedline of the manifold. that way you only have one feedline per plant coming off the manifold, all those outlets helps to slow the overall flow water and evens out the pressure in the feedlines, the slower dripping water will wick much easier and you will get 6drips vs 4drips per plant. Plus the stakes are annoying because the feedline tubing is sticking up in the air and always get in the way

Also I noticed that the stakes make the water drip directly down, but the T's spit the water out a 1/2in or so and that water will wick alot easier than the water rolling straight down the dripstake

 

[justiceman]

you mind find you have better luck making a ring of 1/4in tubing with 6, 1/4in T's spaced out in it, a 7th T connects the ring to the feedline of the manifold. that way you only have one feedline per plant coming off the manifold, all those outlets helps to slow the overall flow water and evens out the pressure in the feedlines, the slower dripping water will wick much easier and you will get 6drips vs 4drips per plant. Plus the stakes are annoying because the feedline tubing is sticking up in the air and always get in the way

Also I noticed that the stakes make the water drip directly down, but the T's spit the water out a 1/2in or so and that water will wick alot easier than the water rolling straight down the dripstake

You certainly have some great ideas mrdizzle. I also dislike the way stakes sit. I actually made drip rings out of 1/4" and installed them yesterday. They are more on the low profile side then stakes. I made 6 holes for water to come out but I never thought of connecting 6 T's to them instead.

http://i1014.invalid.com/albums/af261/fatyfatkins/IMG_1849.jpg

So if I understand correct;y the idea is to connect the horizontal section of the T to the 1/4" line and then position the vertical part of the T as necessary as in point it where you want the water to go. I'll have to see how my make shift rings work out. If they seem less then adequate I'm definitely going to give your idea a shot. Thanks!

 

[grinkeeper]

old thread but great info.. one thing.. is I cant find the rigth grommetns locally.. and online there hard to fimd the right ones... what the outside dimensions across the lip of hte grommet the brim... also the narrower part bellow the brim.. and hieght of the grommet..

thnaks for the great read