Not sure how large your system is, but there are several ways to do it. But if I were you, I would stick with the ebb and flow. I'm pulling 2.3 lbs per light with OG with ebb and flow with pure coco.

But if you insist on a top drip system, you simply need to master the feeding and eventually you'll master it. What medium and how large is your garden?

Factors to consider:

1. Leaks in the line
2. Clogging, try to get drippers that won't clog - home depot has a free sprinkler instructional guide in the sprinkler aisle that shows all the different types of drippers, sprayers, etc. It's called the Drip Irrigation Installation Guide by DIG corporation.
3. Coverage of the entire container to avoid dry pockets and water channels forming (this will cause ph spikes and slowed growth). The #2 Smartpot has an 8 inch diameter, so you want at least 2 drippers. But this also depends on your medium. Some mediums wick better than others.
4. Even pressure throughout your system, so all containers receive the same amount of water...this can be achieved with a zoned system. You can use a Rainbird sprinkler timer and have solenoids at each zone so your pump is only powering X amount of drippers at a time. You want atleast 25psi in your system and the correct amount of drippers being powered at once....this will take some testing.
5. Put inline filters on your pvc or drip lines to protect your pump and drippers.
6. Create a system that will be easy to replace when you need to.
7. The standard for drip systems is using 1/2 inch line for your main lines, then 1/4 spaghetti lines off the main, then a drip stake and drip emitter with 1-3 gph.
8. One tip I have is to add a ball valve in the beginning of your run so you can control the flow of the system by slightly opening or closing the ball valve. If you get a pump that is super strong, then you can reduce the power by simply turning a knob.

The last tip I can give is to avoid changing things due to boredom. If you are achieving decent numbers with a system, focus on getting more grow spots, more lights on and replicating your system to make more bread. Not fine tuning a system to squeeze a little more yield out. The money spent on a new feeding system, could be simply used to feed a whole new room! Of course this advice is only if your goal is creating more profits. If quality is your goal, then have fun with your experiments. Focus on a great labeling system and side by side comparisons so you can actually analyze your results and improve with each run.

Thanks for a wealth of information. I'm thinking about giving the hydro halos a shot. I'll update if I learn anything useful about them.
Quality is always my first priority, and I'm always looking to improve the system whatever ways possible. I think if I tried to put everything into going bigger quality would necessarily suffer.

Hey C, if you look on here somewhere,i do believe there are ppl already using them.I think texas kid may,im not sure though(halos),peace,fuzzy

irrigationdirect.com has good stuff cheap. they have PC emitters that don't clog too easily

i probably wouldn't go the route that Bobby recommends... too complicated.

i hard pipe from my pump to a union,then it branches to each room via hard pipe with inline filters to each. from there it converts to 1/2 line that forms a circle to keep the pressure even. from the 1/2" it goes to 1/4" lines with two PC emitters that t of at the end to cover both sides of the 6" rockwool blocks.

by using PC emitters you don't need to worry about uneven watering, buying more parts to try and balance flow to everything, etc. the trick is to flush your pipes before putting the emitters on to get the little bits of plastic out of there.

Home made pvc system... works extremely well...

lowroller said:

Home made pvc system... works extremely well...

Click to expand...

That looks like a nice system. Question for you - when the pump is off are the supply lines full of water or do they drain?