Idea's on self watering system for soil?

[donmekka]

these r the mist heads/drippers i use from home depot,they r called mister landscaper mist heads.they r adjustable heads but i just unscrew the caps and use them wide open as drippers.but its more of a nice steady flow coming out that will soak a 7 gal pot in 6-7 mins with one head,i run 2 heads in the biggest 3 or 4 plants usually.
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and i get these manifolds at the hydro store,i think you can order them from hydrofarm or amazon.they have 6 outlets that are adjustable so you can shut them down or run them 50% or wide open or anywhere in between.the bottom of it is threaded for 3/4 pipe and i pull out the screen that comes in it so i dont ever get clogs.i run 3 x manifolds off the 400gph pump so 18 drip heads and it pumps about 10 gals in 6 mins.i just dial down the new/small plants and run doubles in the biggest plants on full throttle with my setup.just need to make sure the manifolds are mounted higher than the top of your res and put a drip leg in the pipe so it cant leak out.the pic above is not correct,those lines should be tied to the stake or a branch up higher than the mist head.otherwise water will run down the pipe onto the floor :)
been there,done that,shitty fo sho :eek: i got about 100.00 into the pipe,heads,and pump and i paid 99.00 for my tank at tractor supply so 2 billz total.i been wanting to try the halos or make some for more even water distr. around the very outer edges of the pot,but it seems fine as long as you use a smaller pump and water a bit slower,it soaks in decent.
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if i make halos i will def use a pump twice as big for better flow.but like i say,6-7 mins x 2 sets does my room well for a 2 day trip and 8 mins once a day works good for a 4 day trip.i could just have a friend fill the tank and walk away and it could go for weeks like that but not with my rotations lol

@sixstring nice set up bro what for timer are you using?

 

[SonOfDaMourning]

I was told when making your own manifold from pvc that you want to put as many feed line you can within a foot as you wanna keep the outlets close to keep equal pressure and also make sure the feed lines are the same length. Also you may wanna run a looped manifold. Im still playing with my drip system.

 

[sixstring]

@sixstring nice set up bro what for timer are you using?

im just using a simple hydrofarm digital timer,like 15 bucks.they have 8 run times or on/off times per day so plenty of options there for dif gardens.

I was told when making your own manifold from pvc that you want to put as many feed line you can within a foot as you wanna keep the outlets close to keep equal pressure and also make sure the feed lines are the same length. Also you may wanna run a looped manifold. Im still playing with my drip system.

yeah bro i set up irrigation for 1 plus acre homes and the general rules are big main line and tees,then just try to make all your sprinkler heads on similar length runs for even pressures.my setup comes up out of the res and splits/tees right away to both sides of the room with equal length runs in hard pipe to the manifolds.from there it drops to the smaller size hoses that run the mistheads/drippers.but i dont always have the same amount of plants in a given area and its real easy to adjust a side down so the big side gets equal water.

i want to add i never use anything but r/o and cal mag in my res just because my plants all require dif nutes,if your room is all on the same flip this setup would be perfect for every day work throughout the cycle.my next addition will be a float to keep my res topped with r/o for additional days away :)

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

@sixstring i was wondering about the pots closest to the manifold if they would get more water, so i turn those down a bit and the water will flow to the farther distant ones?

whats up moodster havent seen you posting in a minute. i am gonna go with the halos for a bit see how they work watched soem videos on youtube and they seem fool proof. but im betting the second theres a power outage they will get messed up, were as the blumats wont.

 

[donmekka]

im just using a simple hydrofarm digital timer,like 15 bucks.they have 8 run times or on/off times per day so plenty of options there for dif gardens.

Thanks bro, now to go check the parts bin....pretty sure I have a 1 or 2 in there.

 

[sixstring]

@sixstring i was wondering about the pots closest to the manifold if they would get more water, so i turn those down a bit and the water will flow to the farther distant ones?

whats up moodster havent seen you posting in a minute. i am gonna go with the halos for a bit see how they work watched soem videos on youtube and they seem fool proof. but im betting the second theres a power outage they will get messed up, were as the blumats wont.

if your hoses are all the same length it doesnt matter where the plants are really.my stuff goes into flower on milk crates or big wood blocks,as they get big i put them on the floor.so i just tie the hose of each plant to a stake or main stem at the same hieght so the pressures are very close.if all your plants were on the floor/or table it would be much easier than my setup.

 

[SonOfDaMourning]

Kid twist thats the purpose of equal runners to the drippers. If the far plant uses 3' of running line and the closer only needs a foot then the closer one will still need 3' to compensate.

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

@sixstring mine basically are 8-9 under a light in the trellis 2 rows of 3 lights per side of the room. so even though theres pots under center and close i should make there hose the same length as the ones that are farther away?

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

Kid twist thats the purpose of equal runners to the drippers. If the far plant uses 3' of running line and the closer only needs a foot then the closer one will still need 3' to compensate.

ok just making sure

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

These are DIY "Halo's" I use.. bought em from a friend for Great Price!
And they Never Clog!!!

nice what are you using to connect the hose?

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

The elbow is smooth on one side and threaded on the other.
The smooth side goes over the pvc.

The threaded sided gets a nice 1/2 male end threaded barb to connect to the black rubber tubing

Should I start a thread :)

no need to start a thread unless you want too this is for all types of ideas anyway. the more that are here the better.

 

[donmekka]

How is he bending the pvc?

 

[SonOfDaMourning]

Them loops are bad ass! Wouldnt you want to compensate the pressure with something? Maybe a ball valve?

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

Them loops are bad ass! Wouldnt you want to compensate the pressure with something? Maybe a ball valve?

soemthing like this? would you put this on after the manifold?

 

[SonOfDaMourning]

Yes, I would think they would have to be stratigically placed for sections or individual lines. Its either gonna be directly off the pump which wont equalize the manifold so im going with the threaded pvc type to hard line into the manifold creating chambers/sections or youll have to put one on every dripper. This is off the head and is all theory atm. I think im making it more difficult than required, just ideas!

Re-thought, if the manifold is kept to a minimum in size the pump is more than needed then it should flood the mani for a faster equalization before the closest point lushes out! It may work, idk, im super interested to see how this all pans out!

 

[sixstring]

Those halos are sweet, i think i could make those with a torch.maybe put a screw type cap on the end for cleaning. I was thinking about using pex pipe instead of hard pipe because it can be shaped with some heat pretty easy. And it's still hard enough to drill out.

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

if i was to put a ball vale on the end of each emitter after the manifold then i could control how much water goes into each halo pretty easy?