• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

Dr. Havanger's 2008 Grow Journal

Water setup

Alright, just sorta finished putting together my water setup, though I still have some work to do.



Setup description:
18 gallon reservoir
330 gph pump 'main pump'
80 gph pump 'mixing pump'
~60 ft 1/2 id tube 'main line'
~1.66 ft 1/4 id tube 'feeder line' x 29

Main pump pumps water from the reservoir and into the main line, which feeds into the smaller feeder lines. At the end of the main line is a closed valve, it doesn't feed back into the reservoir. The mixing pump pumps water from one side of the reservoir to the other in an attempt to maintian the mixutre of water and nutes. The mixing pump and main pump are on opposite sides of the reservoir.

As you can see, one of the coupling is leaking. I don't know if it's from screwing the clamp too tight or not tight enough, most likely the former.

Problem 1: The lines that are closer to the pump seem to be at a higher pressure than those farther away. Does anyone know how I change it so that all lines are relatively at the same pressure?

Problem 2: The pump is on a sort of stand, it's not flush with the ground, so it wont suck all the water out. I think this can be fixed by removing the pump out of the reservoir , placing the reservoir above the pump, cutting a hole at the bottom of the reservoir that feeds into a tube into the pump.
 
DrHavanger said:
Problem 1: The lines that are closer to the pump seem to be at a higher pressure than those farther away. Does anyone know how I change it so that all lines are relatively at the same pressure?
Click to expand...


Well... :think: the only solution I can think of for this is replace the end valve with another main pump, so that when they are turned on they push (in theory) equally against each other. Does anyone else have any other suggestions....? :scared: :pray:
 
DrHavanger said:
Problem 1: The lines that are closer to the pump seem to be at a higher pressure than those farther away. Does anyone know how I change it so that all lines are relatively at the same pressure?
Click to expand...

Simple answer is you need to use "controlled flow emitters".

If you are not using controlled flow emitters, then the issue becomes an engineering exercise in fluid dynamics using Bernoulli's equation.

It has to do with outlet line diameters and the flow rate exiting the main supply line at each outlet. The larger the diameter, the more flow exiting, thus the more pressure loss at each line. Friction of the water impinging on the inner surface of the main line is negligible for flow rates less than 5 feet per second.

Without controlled flow emitters, you will have to vary the diameter of your exit lines from the main feed line starting with the smallest diameter closer to the pump and larger diameters further away from the pump (presure source).

Drip irrigation emitters are designed to allow a max flow (i.e. 1, 2, 0.5 gallon per hour etc.), so if you know what rate you want at the end of your main line, you can figure what pressure you need at the source.

Here is a fair assessment...

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/Garden/04702.html
 
You are welcome

Yes sir, you got it...learned about it when I was doing drip irrigation research. From what I have read, 5 gallon containers need a 1 GPH nozzle. I don't remember if that was once a day or twice a day.

I am interested in this type of watering system also...let me know how they work...but instead of using the setup like you have, I was going to use city water and mix the nutes in via an inline "injector" system close to the faucet. Pressure here is high enough to allow me to do this with a main line, a smaller line for each row (6 or 7 total), then feeder lines with nozzles for each plant.
 
Yeah, I'll prob get them and install to night. Was thinking about having it run about 5-8 minutes every Sun and Wed. That should be about 20 to 34 ounces each feeding, which I think is about what I was manually feeding them. Not quite up to 5 gallon containers.
 
I have an email from a "designer" I will forward to you if I didn't delete it...the website was recommended here on THP
 
AJ, I am also interested in this type of setup for my entire garden but do not have a clue as of yet. That link you posted was very informative but there is still alot more I need to find out. Do you know if HD and Lowes carry a complete line of this stuff or are they limited to just the tube and emitters? Any info you have I would like to see also. Thanks.

Dale
 
thepodpiper said:
AJ, I am also interested in this type of setup for my entire garden but do not have a clue as of yet. That link you posted was very informative but there is still alot more I need to find out. Do you know if HD and Lowes carry a complete line of this stuff or are they limited to just the tube and emitters? Any info you have I would like to see also. Thanks.

Dale
Click to expand...

Dale,

I got everything for my water setup from lowes. They had a 20.00 and 50.00 packages with most everything needed (no pump or timer), but not for the amount of plants I'm growing. It'll be around aisle 32 next to the ground sprinklers in the plumbing section ;)
 
First, a BIG Hello
action-smiley-066.gif
I don't know how I missed this post :oops:

Doc...You've got some real nice, healthy looking plants. :)
 
Thanks Pepperfreak!

Well, my water setup is WORKING:!: :party:



Had a test run, and in under two minutes the pots started to leak at the bottom. My next plan is to get some tarp so I don't ruin the carpet too much. I'll most likely have the plants watered a hour after the lights turn on in the morning and then then again in the afternoon, for a minute each time, on Sundays and Wednesdays.

I've decided that I'm going to cut off any flowers at this stage, as I want my plants to grow a bit more and will be looking into topping some of them in the very near future. Here is a picture of another bud in the two plant pot.

 
Put tarp in

Put the tarp in, all I can say that was a whole lot more work than what I expected it to be. :doh:



Will have to do another test run on Sunday to make sure all the drippers are working correctly.
 
umhuh...looks good...I may have to pick your brain when I get started with this kind of set up...

by the way, I must have trashed the email from the drip irrigation guy
 
AlabamaJack said:
umhuh...looks good...I may have to pick your brain when I get started with this kind of set up...

by the way, I must have trashed the email from the drip irrigation guy
Click to expand...

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have :onfire: no worries about the email :cool:
 
Mostly complete with the water reservoir, here is a pic



I'm going to get some silicon glue to close off the holes and prevent as much evaporation as possible. Have my alarm set to make sure the watering goes as planned tomorrow, pretty excited about it :surprised:

Also cut off 6 flower buds today.
 
59 days old

I've slightly changed my water box. Now instead of opening the entire lid to add water, I have a capped tube so that i can easily open and close to add water.





Plants top right



Plants top left

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top